Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Dress Circle (Seat G129, $97.50).
From the cover of the Program. (I actually took a screen shot of the online version.)
Story. Count Vladimiro Andrejevich is shot in St. Petersburg and dies. The Nihilists are suspected to be behind this assassination. Fedora, bride-to-be of Vladimiro, vows revenge. Several months later, Fedora and Ipanoff are at Olga's party. While Ipanoff is smitten by Fedora, Fedora wants to get Ipanoff to admit that he is the killer. She reports her suspicion to the Russian authorities and Ipanoff's brother is arrested. Fedora and Ipanoff eventually fall in love, and live together in Switzerland. While Ipanoff is out, Fedora receives the message that Ipanoff's brother drowned in jail due to flooding of the river Neva, and their mother died upon hearing the news. When Ipanoff finds out it is due to Fedora's action, he curses her. Fedora takes the poison in her necklace, and dies in Ipanoff's arms.
Conductor - Marco Armiliato. Countess Olga Sukarev - Rosa Feola, Princess Fedora Romazaoff - Sonya Yoncheva, Count Loris Ipanoff - Piotr Beczala, Giovanni De Siriex - Lucas Meachem.
The only Giordano opera I am familiar with is Andrea Chenier, and I have seen it on several occasions: at the Met, the Royal Opera House in London, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. The short aria "Amor ti vieta," from Fedora, is very popular, with multiple versions available on YouTube, including a 10-tenor compilation. As it was with Andre Chenier, I knew the tune, but had no idea what the opera was about.
The great experience I had with Andrea Chenier was not matched today. The disappointment is on many levels.
First, the story. I have remarked in the past that music makes or breaks an opera. Still mostly true, but this story is just lame, for the most part. Compared to Andre Chenier with an intersection between political rivalry and personal jealousy, Vladimiro's affair with Loris's wife was the driver behind the shooting: Ipanoff found out they were having an affair, and shot Vladimiro in the ensuing struggle. Perhaps told in the "right" way one would lament how unintended mistakes can lead to unintended consequences, I didn't get that here. The only scene that is close to evoking pity or horror is when Fedora asks for forgiveness as she dies.
It appears Yoncheva is the star soprano at the Met nowadays, and indeed deserves much of the praise she has received. Tonight her acting was simply flat, despite her putting a "sad face" on most of the time. Her voice was good, but lacked the emotion I expected of her. At the end of the day, she isn't quite ready to take Netrebko's place.
My first encounter with Beczala was him in role of Rodolfo in Luisa Miller at the Met in April, 2018, and role of Werther at the Zurich Opera a month later. He dispatched the main aria with ease, and got the only applause during the opera. Perhaps today I was a bad listener, out of the four performances I have seen him in, tonight's was the flattest. The Met put out him singing this aria on YouTube.
I wonder if the apparent lack of chemistry between the principals contributed to how the performance was perceived. (Conjecture on my part, of course.)
The bright spot tonight was the orchestra. Armiliato elicited a great sound from the orchestra, helped by lovely harp accompaniment and the solo violin. The music was generally quite lyrical, but didn't have too many memorable tunes. Amor ti vieta is only about 1 minute 15 seconds long.
Each of the scenes takes place in a different city: St. Petersburg, Paris, and somewhere in the Swiss Alps. The set designer went for realism, which is fine. One can also easily imagine surreal settings for the three different settings. The depth of the Met stage features prominently in the designs, especially when viewed from my seat.
The roster doesn't include the role of Vladimiro, perhaps he has no vocal (nor singing) role in the performance. He is ubiquitous though. First as someone doctors are trying to save, then as a wandering ghost in both later acts. At some point I thought the dead Fedora would follow him - didn't happen.
Chopin's supposed nephew (Boleslao Lazinski) played a couple of piano pieces during the Paris scene. Billed as virtuosic pieces, they didn't add much to the story. An audience has expectations of what they get from an opera performance (e.g., ballet scenes in Verdi), but tastes do change over time. I do wonder if it is appropriate to adapt the operas to the audience (heretical statement?).
Then there is this shepherd boy (more likely cowherd as we are in the Alps) singing and playing this accordion-like instrument. He did add a tinge of sadness to the overall atmosphere. And would better fit in a surreal set.
The opera is relatively short (less than 2 1/2 hours, with a 30-minute intermission). Attendance is so-so. The seat I bought was the last row in dress circle. The row in front was quite empty, and I took one of the seats (F123), which would have cost $30 additional.
From the web.
The curtain call was a long process: each of the dozen or so solo cast members took their time to come out. Yoncheva was last (time stamped at 9:26 pm). I made my way to the subway station, waited about 3 minutes for the next train, and then ran to catch the 9:38 pm train which was just pulling out as I got on the platform. The next train was at 10:20 pm. In hindsight I should have stayed a little longer.
I took the train, and missed the return train by less than a minute, so spent 40 minutes in Penn Station.
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