Opera Review: This Swiss Doesn't Miss

The Metropolitan Opera (finally) brings back Guillaume Tell.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Lone warrior: Gerald Finley as William Tell in the Met's Guillaume Tell.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

It can be argued that Giacchino Rossini's Guillaume Tell is his finest score. It is a sprawling four-act portrait of the Swiss people rising up in rebellion and throwing off the yokes of their Austrian masters, full of musical invention and emotional moments that move the soul. Rigorous vocal demands and the problems of staging an opera set mostly in the Swiss Alps and featuring two boat trips and two huge storm scenes, have combined to keep Tell from the stage of the Met. The company last produced this show in 1931.

That all changed on Tuesday night.

Opera Review: Taking the Apple

Opera company bows at Carnegie Hall with Gugliemo Tell
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Revolutionary conductor Gianandrea Noseda brought William Tell
to Carnegie Hall on Dec. 7.

Presenting William Tell, the four-act grand opera that prematurely ended the compositional career of Gioachino Rossini in 1829 is no easy task. The opera is huge, with four epic acts that try an audience's patience even when conductors make judicious (and sometimes deep) cuts. The opera marks an important transition between Italian bel canto and the grand opera of the French stage. Its libretto recounts the feats of the title character and his role as a farmer turned crossbow-wielding revolutionary and Swiss folk hero. For an opera company making both its Carnegie Hall and New York debuts, Tell is an unlikely choice.

DVD Review: The Swiss Miss

Guglielmo Tell filmed at La Scala.

by Paul Pelkonen

Is this the DisneyWorld ride "Soarin'"? No, it's Gugliemo Tell from La Scala

As of this writing, this is the only DVD performance available of Rossini's final opera.  Tell is better known for its overture than the work itself, which was one of the most important grand operas of the 19th century and the final stage work by Giacchino Rossini. This is a magnificent score, with Rossini at the height of his powers, presented here by an excellent conductor with absolute respect for the composer's written notes. The results are entirely mixed.

To start with, it's in Italian. Rossini intended for his opera to be sung in French, and while the transliteration from Guillaume to Guglielmo is an acceptable one, the opera works better in its original language. (Compare it to this superb French recording conducted by Lamberto Gardelli and then let me know what you think.) The three leads are acceptable, but not great. (For "great", pick up the Chailly recording with Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballé in the lead roles.)

Chris Merritt's high-range tenor passes the vocal torture test that is the part of Arnold. He has a slight metallic bite to his voice, but he shines in the big Act II duet. Cheryl Studer, then in her brief prime, sings well as Mathilde but lacks emotional warmth. Giorgio Zancanarai is a solid Tell, tender and militant at the same time. In the treacherous "Resta immobile" Zancanari slips easily into the high tessitura and does not miss a single note.

The team of director Luca Ronconi and designer Gianni Quaranta opted to place the action in front of huge projection-screen televisions, that are used to place the actors against lakes, rivers, forests and even a huge medieval church. However, this method serves to neutralize the acting space. Singers are confined to wooden pews in the opening scene. An enormous tree rises out of the stage in Act II, unfolding like Fafner the dragon. The church scene looks like Cheryl Studer and Chris Merritt are warbling in a movie theater. The finale jumps the shark completely, when the Swiss scenery is replaced by shots of conductor Riccardo Muti toiling in the orchestra pit. We waited four hours, just to look at the conductor?

With its killer tenor role, long part for soprano and heroic baritone lead, the story of the legendary Swiss revolutionary leader is almost impossible to put on the stage today. And as this DVD shows, it was damn near impossible twenty years ago. Singers who can handle Arnold's Act IV cabaletta are few and far between. Mathilde isn't an easy sing either. It's a miracle that we have any performances of this opera at all, so this La Scala production (filmed in 1988) despite its flaws, will have to do.

Don't believe me? Watch the finale here.