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Move over, Joan Sutherland
The Met's "Ernani' in HD-Live
Steve Cohen
As we enter the bicentennial of Giuseppe Verdi's birth, many critics complain about a dearth of great Verdi singers. To the contrary, the Metropolitan Opera's recent high-definition telecast of Verdi's Ernani suggests that we're on the cusp of a new golden age.
Ernani is Verdi's fifth opera, written in 1844 when he was 31, and the first to provide end-to-end melodies for a quartet of singers, alone and in combinations with each other. Unlike many of Verdi's early operas (Attila, Macbeth, The Battle of Legnano, I Lombardi), this one omits battle scenes and concentrates instead on romance and revenge. (It's based on a story by Victor Hugo.)
Ernani's formula is traditional, with solo arias followed by fast, flashy cabalettas. What's not traditional is the intense emotionality in the writing, which demands gutsy singing in the mid and low registers. Unlike his predecessors Rossini and Donizetti, Verdi spends less time on high coloratura passages, but Ernani contains more of those than Verdi's late operas, so the singers need excellence from top to bottom.
Most attention on this telecast/broadcast centered on Angela Meade as the heroine, Elvira, the sole woman among three men competing for her love. The program's host, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, noted that Meade has been compared to the immortal Joan Sutherland. Because Elvira requires firmly supported middle and low notes, I think that Sutherland would have been problematic in that role, whereas Meade is superb.
The role calls for a "dramatic coloratura," a daunting label. I'm sure Verdi wanted the emphasis to be on the dramatic.
Beyond Sutherland's ken
I've heard Meade sing Sutherland-associated roles like Norma, Lucia and Ann Boleyn, so I understand the comparison. But in the mature Verdi oeuvre, Meade can be exceptional in roles that were beyond Sutherland's ken. Meade compares favorably with Rosa Ponselle, Zinka Milanov and Leontyne Price, all of whom who sang in Ernani in the past.
Ponselle may have been the best Elvira ever. But her recording of the big "Ernani, involami" aria— made when she was past her prime— is frustratingly abbreviated. Milanov was a Verdi specialist whom I adored, and her floating soft notes in Ernani were gorgeous; but she sounded pressed during the aria in her 1956 broadcast.
Price combined effortless high notes with tawny tones and good Verdian style. Her voice thinned out, however, when she sang words like "m'insegue" (roughly, "with passion"), hitting a B-flat below middle C at the start of her aria, and in a phrase where she cadenzas from a high A all the way down to a middle D on the words "d'amor concesso." There was no diminution of power at any point in Meade's performance. Grace notes and trills also were fine and her voice had warm color.
Because all earlier productions made cuts in Elvira's cabaletta, this uncut Meade rendition will become a touchstone that future generations will consult. On the screen, Meade showed a beautiful face and dazzling smile.
As one sign of the international attention she's attracting, the telecast's first intermission showed Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts (where Meade trained from 2005 to 2009) and a coaching session between Meade and her AVA voice teacher, Bill Schuman.
Glorious old baritones
The baritone in this Ernani was Dmitri Hvorostovsky, whose long silver hair framed a ruggedly handsome face. He's a superstar with charisma as well as mellow legato. He made the aria "O sommo Carlo" breathtaking.
When the Met performed Ernani in 2008, the role was sung by Thomas Hampson, who was Hvorostovsky's equal in the part. This comparison brings to mind those glorious old days when the Met could offer a baritonal alternation of Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill and Tito Gobbi in Verdi roles.
Elvira's older suitor was played by bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, in his vocal prime at age 62. He's superb at conveying world-weariness and introspection, a standard-setter as the king of Spain in Verdi's Don Carlo as well as in this opera. He bites into his words and colors them while maintaining beauty of tone.
Rounding out the quartet was Marcello Giordani in the title role, with ringing tones and subtle musicianship. Giordani's phrasing, especially in the closing trio and duet, was better than his predecessors in the role— which is saying a lot, since I've heard Mario Del Monaco, Franco Corelli and Carlo Bergonzi play the part.
I suspect Giordani would agree that he lacks Del Monaco's trumpet voice, or Bergonzi or Corelli's sensuous velvet. That's the only caveat that keeps me from claiming that a new golden age of Verdi is entirely here.
The large and lavish sets recalled the Met's old tradition. Conductor Marco Armiliato kept things moving in the pit. I only regret that James Levine, still recuperating from surgery, isn't around to participate in this revival.♦
To read a response, click here.
Ernani is Verdi's fifth opera, written in 1844 when he was 31, and the first to provide end-to-end melodies for a quartet of singers, alone and in combinations with each other. Unlike many of Verdi's early operas (Attila, Macbeth, The Battle of Legnano, I Lombardi), this one omits battle scenes and concentrates instead on romance and revenge. (It's based on a story by Victor Hugo.)
Ernani's formula is traditional, with solo arias followed by fast, flashy cabalettas. What's not traditional is the intense emotionality in the writing, which demands gutsy singing in the mid and low registers. Unlike his predecessors Rossini and Donizetti, Verdi spends less time on high coloratura passages, but Ernani contains more of those than Verdi's late operas, so the singers need excellence from top to bottom.
Most attention on this telecast/broadcast centered on Angela Meade as the heroine, Elvira, the sole woman among three men competing for her love. The program's host, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, noted that Meade has been compared to the immortal Joan Sutherland. Because Elvira requires firmly supported middle and low notes, I think that Sutherland would have been problematic in that role, whereas Meade is superb.
The role calls for a "dramatic coloratura," a daunting label. I'm sure Verdi wanted the emphasis to be on the dramatic.
Beyond Sutherland's ken
I've heard Meade sing Sutherland-associated roles like Norma, Lucia and Ann Boleyn, so I understand the comparison. But in the mature Verdi oeuvre, Meade can be exceptional in roles that were beyond Sutherland's ken. Meade compares favorably with Rosa Ponselle, Zinka Milanov and Leontyne Price, all of whom who sang in Ernani in the past.
Ponselle may have been the best Elvira ever. But her recording of the big "Ernani, involami" aria— made when she was past her prime— is frustratingly abbreviated. Milanov was a Verdi specialist whom I adored, and her floating soft notes in Ernani were gorgeous; but she sounded pressed during the aria in her 1956 broadcast.
Price combined effortless high notes with tawny tones and good Verdian style. Her voice thinned out, however, when she sang words like "m'insegue" (roughly, "with passion"), hitting a B-flat below middle C at the start of her aria, and in a phrase where she cadenzas from a high A all the way down to a middle D on the words "d'amor concesso." There was no diminution of power at any point in Meade's performance. Grace notes and trills also were fine and her voice had warm color.
Because all earlier productions made cuts in Elvira's cabaletta, this uncut Meade rendition will become a touchstone that future generations will consult. On the screen, Meade showed a beautiful face and dazzling smile.
As one sign of the international attention she's attracting, the telecast's first intermission showed Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts (where Meade trained from 2005 to 2009) and a coaching session between Meade and her AVA voice teacher, Bill Schuman.
Glorious old baritones
The baritone in this Ernani was Dmitri Hvorostovsky, whose long silver hair framed a ruggedly handsome face. He's a superstar with charisma as well as mellow legato. He made the aria "O sommo Carlo" breathtaking.
When the Met performed Ernani in 2008, the role was sung by Thomas Hampson, who was Hvorostovsky's equal in the part. This comparison brings to mind those glorious old days when the Met could offer a baritonal alternation of Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill and Tito Gobbi in Verdi roles.
Elvira's older suitor was played by bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, in his vocal prime at age 62. He's superb at conveying world-weariness and introspection, a standard-setter as the king of Spain in Verdi's Don Carlo as well as in this opera. He bites into his words and colors them while maintaining beauty of tone.
Rounding out the quartet was Marcello Giordani in the title role, with ringing tones and subtle musicianship. Giordani's phrasing, especially in the closing trio and duet, was better than his predecessors in the role— which is saying a lot, since I've heard Mario Del Monaco, Franco Corelli and Carlo Bergonzi play the part.
I suspect Giordani would agree that he lacks Del Monaco's trumpet voice, or Bergonzi or Corelli's sensuous velvet. That's the only caveat that keeps me from claiming that a new golden age of Verdi is entirely here.
The large and lavish sets recalled the Met's old tradition. Conductor Marco Armiliato kept things moving in the pit. I only regret that James Levine, still recuperating from surgery, isn't around to participate in this revival.♦
To read a response, click here.
What, When, Where
Ernani. Opera by Giuseppe Verdi; Marco Armiliato conducted; Barbara Willis Sweete directed for TV. Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, 65th St. and Broadway, New York. Cinema encore, March 14, 2012. PBS telecast, June 17, 2012. www.metoperafamily.org or www.fathomevents.com.
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