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OUR PRODUCTION
Friday, 22nd March
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2015. Set in an ambiguous time, but perhaps World War II.
Designer - Paolo Fantin; Director - Daimano Micheletto; Conductor - Antonio Pappano.
William Tell (bar) - Gerald Finley; Hedwige, his wife (mezzo-sop) - Enkelegda Shkosa; Jemmy, their son (sop) - Sofia Fomina; Melchtal, a patriot (bass) - Eric Halfvarson; Arnold Melchtal, his son (ten) - John Osborn; Mathilde, an Austrian princess (sop) - Malin Bystrom; Gesler, the Austrian governor (bass) - Nicolas Courjal.
Guardian review (or perhaps news item!)
Read Gerald Finley's comments on his role as Tell, and watch Pappano’s account - with the principals - of the violently dramatic themes and their musical force.
John Osborn was Otello in our Rossini production.
NOT VERY BUFFO
We’re leaping across Rossini’s prolific output to his final and 39th opera. Rossini was commissioned to do a Grand Opera for Paris, of course he accepted and it premiered in 1829.
The overture is famous, but the opera? It’s five hours long, had its first performance in Australia last year for over a century, and is an ungainly piece of work. It was almost immediately cut, and always regarded as difficult, challenging the available singers (especially the tenor, requiring a very high range). And it was politically highly controversial. This isn’t the sly master/servant irony of Barber, but a full force declaration for human liberty. (But careful: Hitler in Mein Kampf praised Tell as the prototype of a Germanic hero and man of action.)
What a contrast! The Barber was opera buffo at its best, cheeky and fun. William Tell is about as seria as an opera can be. The story is from German playwright Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 drama about a legendary 14th century Swiss patriot. Whatever the real history and politics, all of Rossini’s brilliance with music is thrown into character portrayal and tension building. Read this thoughtful assessment in The Conversation.
Oh and that famous overture, by the way, was irrelevant - it has none of the opera's themes or melodies. Another recycling job, this time from one of his many earlier operas, Elizabeth, Queen of England, composed 14 years and 24 operas before William Tell. Ah, Rossini!!
