Metropolitan
Opera at Lincoln Center. Balcony (Seat C109, $110.50).
Story. This is a retelling of the well-known William
Tell story with a romantic twist thrown in.
The Swiss are rebelling against their Austrian occupiers (Habsburgs). Leuthold, a Swiss, kills one of the Austrians
and is pursued by Gesler’s troops. William
Tell hides him by taking him across Lake Lucerne. When Metcthal refuses to give up their
whereabouts, Rodolphe has him arrested and orders the men to raze the
village. In the town of Altdorf, Gesler
forces the Swiss to commemorate the 100-year occupation by paying homage to his
hat raised on a pole and dancing till they collapse. When Tell refuses to do so, Gesler threatens
to kill both him and his son Jemmy unless Tell shoots an apple off Jemmy’s
head, despite Tell kneeling down before him.
Tell successfully does that, and when asked why there is a second arrow,
he says it is meant for Gesler if he misses the apple. Gesler has him arrested. Jemmy is provided
safe haven by Gesler’s sister Mathilde and subsequently reunited with his
mother Hedwige. A storm hits as Tell is
being transported across Lake Lucerne, so his shackles are removed for him to
steer the ship. As the boat nears shore,
he leaps off and is met by the rebels who are now properly armed. Jemmy hands Tell his crossbow which he then
uses to kill Gesler. The Austrians are
defeated and Altdorf is liberated.
The romantic
twist involves Metcthal’s son Arnold and Gesler’s sister Mathilde. Arnold first joins the Austrian, but decides
to switch sides after he finds out about Metcthal’s death. Mathilde decides to join the Austrians
because of her brother’s cruelty towards the Swiss. The two thus find themselves on the same side
at the end of the opera.
Conductor –
Fabio Luisi. Guillaume Tell – Gerald
Finley; Hedwige, his wife – Maria Zifchak; Jemmy, their son – Janai Brugger;
Melcthal – Kwanghul Youn; Arnold – John Osborn; Amthilde – Marina Rebeka;
Gesler – John Relyea.
This was part of
the series we bought for this season, and I didn’t pay much attention to the
opera until the day before. All I knew were
the famous overture (including the part used to introduce the Lone Ranger
series) and the “fact” that William Tell shot the apple off his son’s
head. Turns out this was the last of
Rossini’s operas, written when he was 37, and at over 4 ½ hours (with two intermissions)
is his longest. The opera was premiered
in Paris, in French, which was also used in today’s performance. It has not been very popular with the Met,
tonight’s performance being the 36th, and the last series was in
1931.
This is a new
production. The scenery was
disappointingly simple. There were a few
rocks, some large, some small, that were moved on and off stage at different
times. There is a walkway that we could
see only the bottom of from our balcony seats, I wasn’t sure what it was until
it was lowered in the last Act (it was a ship).
To represent the town square there were a few skeletal buildings that
Anne said represented chalets. There was
a lot of mention of a lake, represented by a blue background with wavy strokes
painted on it. Also, there were a few
lighted columns that I don’t get. And
the famous scene where Tell shots the apple?
The best I can tell is in a flash the apple disappears from Jemmy’s head. A production worthy of the New York City
Opera, and NYCO may rightfully consider this an insult. I usually don’t care much about scenery, but
this was a bit too amateurish.
I have no idea
how the Swiss dressed around the 14th Century, but doubt very much
everyone wore long skirts made of white linen (men and women). And the Austrians all wore black. Reminds me of a Star Wars episode where it
was easy to tell the good guys from the bad.
True to the concept, Mathilde started with a dark dress but ended the
opera in a white one. Also, there was no
effort in trying to make Jemmy look like a boy, although it became less of an
issue as the opera progressed – William Tell could well be shooting an apple
off her daughter’s head.
The Program
Notes contains phrases like “visual spectacle,” “grandeur of its sets,”
“historical accuracy,” “mountain scenery of Switzerland,” and “illusory effects
which astonished all who saw them.” If I
had read this before the opera, my disappointment would have been
profound. As it is, I wonder if the writer
ever saw this production, or if he was being sarcastic.
Operas composed
during that period all have ballet scenes, both expected as part of the opera
form and so the singers have a chance to rest their voices. The one in Act III where the Swiss were
forced to pay homage to Gesler stood out, for its grotesqueness. That may be the actual intent, but 15 minutes
(estimate) of it is too much. The ballet
dancers all danced well, and I am sure the choreographer could have designed a
pleasant experience for the audience while getting the point across. As it was, I am sure many in the audience
were relieved when it was over.
The story was
unnecessarily complicated by the many different characters. Ruodi, Rodolphe, Walter Furst, and others all
have substantial singing roles, but their presence – especially since they are
dressed similarly – just made a plot that should be straightforward
complex. I did doze off a bit during the
first Act.
The music did a
lot to make this opera a worthwhile experience.
It started with the overture.
Yes, it is a familiar one that lends itself readily to foot-stomping;
but few could do it as well as tonight’s orchestra. As with familiar pieces, I had a
preconception how it should be performed, and appreciated how Luisi did
it. The orchestra had “solo” passages
every now and then, and each time reinforced how excellent it was.
The singing was
uniformly great, and that would include the “secondary” characters I mentioned
above. Particularly noteworthy was that
of Rebeka, as Mathilde she was splendid, making the whole thing seem
effortless. Youn as Metcthal also did
well, but the character was killed early on so he only had limited lines. Relyea as Gesler was solid. The chorus got a great workout in this opera,
and they came through splendidly – despite my missing this 12-part chorus.
I do question if
the opera needs to be this long. Certainly
many sections can be tightened – the ballet, the three cantons showing up, for
example. On the cantons, it was supposed
to be a masterful passage, each canton would have four parts, resulting in a
twelve-part chorus at the end. (Can’t
all be different notes, or we have every note in the chromatic scale.) I didn’t catch that, not having read the
Program beforehand.
Curtain Call.
The
New YorkTimes review also praised the music, the singers, and the chorus, but wasn’t so
keen on the sets or the costumes. If one
wants to learn all the terms used in vocal music, there is a ton in the review. The review also contains a video clip of Pierre Audi, in charge of production. He gave some insight into the production design; for instance, the vertical columns depicted trees in a forest.
We were seated
in the balcony, and it and family circle were reasonably full, which was a good
thing.
The opera
started at 6:30 pm, so we left a little after 4 pm. On the way back there were some slight
traffic jams, even though it was around midnight.
