Metropolitan Opera – Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux. March 28, 2016.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat T33, $25.)

Story.  Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, comes back to England, having failed to win the war with the Irish.  He is accused of treason and is condemned to death, but Elizabeth, who is in love with him, wants to pardon him.  Robert loves Sarah, who was forced to marry the Duke of Nottingham, a good friend of Robert.  When the two meet, Sarah gives Robert a blue scarf.  When Robert is arrested, the scarf is discovered, which makes Elizabeth suspicious enough to sign the death warrant.  While waiting for his execution, Robert asks Sarah to give Elizabeth a ring which will earn him a pardon.  Sarah is unable to do so since she is confined by her husband.  When Sarah manages to get to Elizabeth with the ring and the Queen is about to relent, Robert is executed.  Nottingham admits he wanted revenge, and Elizabeth laments that she only wants to be freed of her role as queen.

Conductor – Maurizio Benini; Sarah Duchess of Nottingham – Elina Garanca, Queen Elizabeth – Sondra Radvanovsky, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex – Matthew Polenzani, Duke of Nottingham – Mariusz Kwiecien.

The synopsis I provided above is basically a further synopsis of the one found in the Playbill.  Chung Shu read up a bit on Elizabeth’s real story, and thought the romance angle was a bit dubious.  In any case, what I got from watching the performance was this is indeed a very simple story, which I can summarize as: Elizabeth loves Robert and wants to spare his life after he returns from Ireland.  However, when she finds Robert with a purple scarf she orders his execution.  She eventually relents, but it is too late.  All the other incidents probably happened on stage, but they didn’t leave a mark on me at all.

So this is one of those operas that need great music to save it.  While there is some drama in the third act, the first two acts are quite flat dramatically.  Perhaps that is why this is the first time this opera is staged at the Met (what I saw was the second performance.)  Luckily, the music is great, and the orchestra and the singers all put in a great performance.

The great music started with the excellent performance of the overture, under the direction of Benini.  A review of my blog indicates I have seen him several times before, conducting Donizetti operas – perhaps an expert on this particular composer?  The orchestra kept up the great sound throughout, sometimes in support of the singers, often times on their own.

We last saw Polenzani and Kwiecien together in the Pearl Fishers, and enjoyed their singing.  Today they did an equally admirable job, although I would say Polenzani was particularly good.  I had a similar reaction to their Pearl Fisher performance, calling Polenzani’s performance “great” and Kwiecien’s “dependable.”

Garanca’s voice was simply heavenly, penetrating and smooth.  Of all the principal roles, I enjoyed her singing the most.  Since I didn’t know how the story unfolded at the beginning, I actually thought wow, this Elizabeth is really quite something.

And this Elizabeth is really quite something.  She has the volume and the expressiveness that fit the role very well.  Her tone is a bit on the harsh side, so it didn’t work very well for the tender moments; but when there is anger, jealousy, or hatred, it footed the bill very well.  And there were a lot of those moments.  Scene 3 of Act 3 is basically a mad scene for Elizabeth, and I really wish the earlier parts had a similar level of drama.  At some point she shed her wig and acted credulously as an old woman.

The Met made a big deal out of Radvanosky’s singing the roles of all three of Donizetti’s Tudor queens this season.  For various reasons I didn’t get to see the other two.  I do wonder if the level of difficulty is comparable to being Brunnhilde in Wagner’s Ring.

Given that this is a Met first, the production is naturally new.  That makes the staging a bit puzzling, it is basically the three walls, with two rows of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.  By moving the center wall back and forth, the audience is supposed to surmise whether we are talking about the palace, the plaza, or, at the end of the opera, a grave.  The chandeliers also move up and down so as not to be caught by the moving wall.  On many occasions I couldn’t tell what the staging was supposed to represent.

And what is this peanut gallery on the second level?  Chung Shu told me it was to show royalty at that time didn’t have any privacy, their lives lived out for everyone to see.  Maybe, but it didn’t add to the story at all.  Similarly, the opera began with a display of Elizabeth’s tomb, which reappeared at the end of the opera.

The costumes were generally okay, with Elizabeth’s two “wings” a bit on the overdone side.  However, if you google Elizabeth’s images, many of them have these wings, so there is some historicity to the design.

Curtain Call.

I have seen the other two Donizetti Tudor queens: Netrebko as Anna Bolena, and DiDonato as Maria Stuarda.  I must say both were impressive performances, and both had more drama to them.

I resisted reading the New York Times review until just now.  As usual, I admire the wordsmithing of the reviewer, but take some issue with his observation that there may be some degree of homoerotic longing between Robert and the Duke.  Shades of Pearl Fisher?  I would say his “ranking” of the singers is the same as mine.  For instance, he described Radvanovsky’s voice as having a hard edge to it, and Garanca’s as sumptuous.  He is also scratching his head a bit about the staging, but correctly points out the hint of Tower of London in one of the scenes.

[Note added 4/8/2016.  Just wanted to note the overture had the British National Anthem "God save the Queen" woven into it.  A bit of anachronism, no doubt.]

I met up with CS to have a quick meal at Europan.  Since we had to take the 11:18 pm train, it was past midnight before I got home.