Metropolitan Opera – Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. November 2, 2016.

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 36^th, 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 14^th 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.