WITTEN IN HASTE, ENJOYED FOR CENTURIES

 Barbee Monk, Valérie Filloux, Elizaveta Kozlova, Stephen Steffens, Sarah Nelson Craft, Jason Adamo

Mozart's opera seria La Clemenza di Tito was "dashed off" in 1791 within weeks of its commission, to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, as King of Bavaria. (This commission was first offered to the more senior composer Antonio Salieri.) The libretto by court poet Caterino Mazzolà was edited from an original version by Metastasio which had been set numerous times. At the time, Mozart was actually in the middle of composing Die Zauberflöte and careful listening to the score reveals a number of similarities.

As centerpiece of its 25th season, Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble chose this treasure to present in an original reduction of the score by Maestro Chris Fecteau. We lack the time and energy to fulfill every request for a review and we pick and choose on the basis of our interest in the work, an opportunity to hear a singer we like, a recommendation by a friend or colleague, or our particular affection for the producing company.  It is often the case that we find ourselves more impressed in the viewing/hearing by a feature we weren't expecting. 

Our long term affection for Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble seemed reason enough to attend a Mozart opera that is not among our top four. To our delight, we heard elements of the score that were illuminated by Mo. Fecteau's reduction, elements that delighted the ear and impressed us with their effectiveness. We love vocal duets but what astonished us last night was the idea of a duet between a singer and an instrument, in this case mostly the clarinet. It was as if there were an invisible singer offstage in dialogue with the actual singer, one repeating an idea of the other, or advancing a complementary melody. We might say that our ears received the gift of an education, or a revelation.

The reduction of the score involved piano, violin, cello, and four winds--the aforementioned clarinet (played by Katie Curran), flute, bassoon, and French horn. There was a remarkable clarity in the voicing and we heard the score with fresh ears.

Metastasio's story features the titular Tito, a loving and generous ruler who puts the well being of his subjects ahead of his own desires. If Mozart chose to flatter the anointed Leopold we wouldn't be a bit surprised. We couldn't help fantasizing that our contemporary self-appointed "King" might change his ways if he deigned to visit a performance at the Kennedy Center! We wish!

Tito (tenor Stephen Steffens) casts aside his intended Beatrice because she is a foreigner (ahem!) and chooses a local lady, sister of his friend Sesto (mezzo-soprano Sarah Nelson Craft in travesti)  Unfortunately Servillia (soprano Elizaveta Kozlova) is in love with Annio (Valerie Filloux also in travesti) another one of his friends. With generosity of spirit, the magnanimous Tito wishes her well and turns his marital ambitions toward Vitellia (soprano Barbee Monk) who, unfortunately, has persuaded her most ardent admirer Sesto to murder Tito to avenge her father whom Tito had deposed.

The unlucky Sesto is weak-willed and easily manipulated by the vengeful Vitellia (although the lucky singer who sings Sesto gets to sing the memorable "Parto, parto") and the suspense is whether the loyal Sesto will betray her to save his life or will this narcissistic woman realize the error of her ways and tell Tito that she was the one who set the assassination plot in motion. If you want to learn what happens you will have to attend one of the upcoming performances on June 20th and 22nd. The sixth member of the able cast is Publio, sung by Jason Adamo.

We recommend the performance but we don't recommend reading the Director's Notes as Benjamin Spierman tries to mansplain why the innocent toga-clad Servillia (the kindest character in the opera) is sporting a black leather motorcycle jacket. Fortunately Vitellia's Ancient Rome attire is a propos and we will just assume that Costume Designer Eric Lamp was just trying to fulfill a directorial concept. Please don't ask us why there was a videographer wandering around from time to time with the results projected onto the walls!

The black box playing space is comfortable with raked seating along two sides of the box and the chamber orchestra along the third side. Again, let us praise the clear titles that are adequate in size and projected where every audience member can read them.

© meche kroop

VOICE OF HER HEART

 Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with some compelling evenings this week and next. The season opener was a delightful evening celebrating women composers and songs about women, sung by an all-female cast. Among the singers we heard some fine young singers comprising those singing currently with Dell-Arte and some alumnae that we recall from years gone by.

We were enchanted by the first half of the program which represented various stages of a woman's life, apparently inspired by Adelbert von Chamisso's text which was set by Robert Schumann and Carl Loewe (Frauenliebe und Leben). We would never hold one above the other; each composer invested the text with different shades of emotion, within his compositional style. 

Both sopranos served the music well, as did collaborative pianist Lara Saldanha. We have been hearing Elizaveta Kozlova quite a bit recently whereas Victoria Falcone has been off our radar screen since 2017 when we loved her performance in Janaçek's Cunning Little Vixen at Manhattan School of Music. It is always rewarding to hear singers remembered from their conservatory years. This part of Act I was called Enchanted and we were indeed enchanted, especially by the sopranos opening and closing the set with a Schumann duet.

Separating Enchanted from Betrothal  Ms. Saldanha delighted our ears with Clara Schumann's Fier Flüchtige Stücke, no. 3.

The Betrothal section also focused mainly on the Schumann and Loewe settings. The fine singers were soprano Jennifer Gliere, well remembered for a stunning Violetta about 8 years ago in Amore Opera's production of La Traviata, and mezzo-soprano Valerie Filloux who performed so well just last year with Dell'Arte.  We couldn't help noticing that the young narrator of the von Chamisso text was so much calmer in "Ich kann nicht fassen, nicht glauben" than the one portrayed by Schumann. We were also glad to hear  a lied by Clara Schumann, a setting of a Rückert text which was later set by Richard Strauss--"Liebst du um Schönheit". The fine accompaniment was performed by David Stech.

The third section, also accompanied by Mr. Stech,  was entitled Motherhood, and was performed by sopranos Nina Riley (new to us) and Jenny Ribeiro whom we reviewed at least a decade ago as a fine Susanna and an even finer Rosina, surprising us with her take on a role usually assigned to a mezzo-soprano. Augmenting the most welcome excerpts from the Schumann and Loewe cycles, were two duets, one by Mendelssohn ("Volkslied") and one by Richard Strauss ("Muttertanderlei") which never fails to amuse us with two mothers boasting about their respective offspring.

The final section of Act I was entitled Departed with Ms. Filloux returning, joined by soprano Barbee Monk accompanied by Ms .Saldanha. The two lovely ladies opened with a Brahms duet "Klänge 1" and closed in perfect harmony with Maestro Chris Fecteau's arrangement of the tragic "Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan", weaving together Schumann and Loewe, whose compositional voices joined as successfully as the voices of the two singers had.

It is always a pleasure to hear Maestro Fecteau at the piano but we cannot express the same enthusiasm for Act II as we did for Act I. Perhaps it is unfair to try to appreciate contemporary compositions when one has just swooned over the 19th century greats. Three female composers from New York City were given voice--Martha Sullivan, Valerie Saalbach, and Ellen Mandel.

Forgive us Dear Reader if we seem somewhat vague but try as we might, we could not keep our 19th century-tuned ears involved in the compositions, one of which was a setting of text by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. However, we did appreciate hearing some new voices. The soprano of Andrea Chinedu Nwoke is an astounding instrument, full of power but also luscious in its overtones We were not surprised to learn that she has a past in the mezzo-soprano fach. 

We were also happy to get another hearing of soprano Antonina Ermolenko, who we remember for having sung some delightful Ukrainian songs perhaps two years ago. We were also glad to get a further hearing of Clara Lisle. She was a bright light in a regrettable 2018 production of Eugene Onegin which we are glad she survived! She closed the program with Ellen Mandel's setting of a text by Seamus Heaney entitled "Sleep".  Our opera singer companion thought the program should have ended with a more rousing finale but we actually enjoyed the soothing quietude.

The second half of the program involved a dancer of the Modern Ballet persuasion which involves a lot of floor work and is not to our taste. We are great fans of virtuoso classical ballet which commands our full attention, especially when it brings Tchaikovsky's music to visual life. What we saw was  more a distraction in its abstractness and did not appear to add anything to the music. We are quite sure however that there were many in the audience who found pleasure in it. We are just rather particular in our taste.

We cannot close without praising the titles which were projected in full view of everyone in the audience, and sufficient in size and illumination. This seems rather basic but we recently had an experience where the text was tiny and obliterated by the set for most of the time, and washed out by the lighting.

Dell'Arte has two more events in store that we are looking forward to and you should too. The Italienische Liederbuch will be presented on 6/19 and 6/21. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito will be performed on 6/18, 20, and 22.

©meche kroop