The Met dusts off a forgotten production of a forgotten opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
No doubt about it: this is the most surprising revival of the 2012-2013 season. This production of Riccardo Zandonai's Francesca di Rimini, one of the few important Italian operas of the 20th century not written by Giacomo Puccini. This production, was originally mounted in 1984 for Placido Domingo and Renata Scotto. The opera's lone 1986 revival featured Nicole Lorange and Ermanno Mauro. (Yes, I had to look them up.) It received just four performances and has never played since. This revival will play six times and include a Met Live in HD broadcast.
Zandonai's opera retells the doomed Renaissance romance of Francesca (Eva-Maria Westbroek) and Paolo (Marcello Giordani) against the backdrop of a power struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Francesca is introduced to Paolo, who is substituting for his deformed brother Gianciotto, her actual future groom. Everything goes south when Paolo and Francesca fall passionately in love.
This is a rarely performed, and neglected work. From what I've read, Francesca is sort of Tristan und Isolde (love) crossed with Simon Boccanegra (politics) written in a (post-romantic) musical idiom that has been compared to Richard Strauss. The wordless love duet at the end of Act I is the best known part of the score.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
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| Eva-Marie Westbroek (l.) courts Marcello Giordani in Francesca da Rimini. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2013 The Metropolitan Opera. |
Zandonai's opera retells the doomed Renaissance romance of Francesca (Eva-Maria Westbroek) and Paolo (Marcello Giordani) against the backdrop of a power struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Francesca is introduced to Paolo, who is substituting for his deformed brother Gianciotto, her actual future groom. Everything goes south when Paolo and Francesca fall passionately in love.
This is a rarely performed, and neglected work. From what I've read, Francesca is sort of Tristan und Isolde (love) crossed with Simon Boccanegra (politics) written in a (post-romantic) musical idiom that has been compared to Richard Strauss. The wordless love duet at the end of Act I is the best known part of the score.
