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Bianca/Jessica the Sublime! Pesaro
Auditorio Scavolini
08/07/2024 - & August 11, 14*, 19, 2024
Gioachino Rossini: Bianca e Falliero
Nicolò Donini (Priuli), Dmitry Korchak (Cantareno), Giorgi Manoshvili (Capellio), Aya Wakizono (Falliero), Jessica Pratt (Bianca), Carmen Buendía (Costanza), Claudio Zazzaro (ufficisle/ Usciere), Dangelo Díaz (Cancelliero)
Coro del Teatro Ventidio Basso, Giovanni Farina (chorus master), Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Roberto Abbado (conductor)
Jean-Louis Grinda (stage director), Rudy Sabounghi (sets & costumes), Laurent Castaingt (lighting)
(© Amati Bacciardi)
This edition of the Pesaro ROF (Rossini Opera Festival) is an especially generous one: two rarely-performed opere serie, Bianca e Falliero (1819) and Ermione (1819); a scarce comedy, L’equivico stravagante (1811); Rossini’s most popular opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816); and the annually-performed 1825 opera Il viaggio a Reims (with student performers) as well as one performance with this year’s star singers.
Bianca takes place in seventeenth century Venice. Falliero is in love with Bianca, daughter of Contareno, a nobleman who disapproves of her suitor due to his lack of wealth. Capellio, a wealthy nobleman, whose family has been feuding with Cantareno’s for years over an inheritance, is a preferred match. Cantareno agrees to the proposal, as such an alliance would greatly enhance his fortunes and prestige, in addition to resolving the longstanding financial dispute.
But Bianca is crushed by her father’s decision. Falliero returns victorious from battle against the Spaniards, in time to interrupt the wedding, to the consternation of Capellio and Contareno. This scene most likely inspired Donizetti in writing the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). Falliero escapes from the Cantareno home by climbing over the wall of the Spanish Ambassador’s residence. He is captured and accused of treason. At his trial, Falliero believes Bianca to have capitulated to her father’s pressure and yielded into marrying Capellio, and hence opts for death rather than defending himself. At his trial, Bianca erupts as an incognito accomplice of Falliero’s. She reveals her identity and explains the circumstances of Falliero’s escape. The tribunal is determined to have the victorious warrior’s head. Capellio reveals his noble heart by refusing such a verdict and transfers the case to the Senate, which pardons Falliero. The opera ends with an unlikely paternal pardon, and the two lovers’ wedding.
As is usually the case, ROF has assembled an illustrious cast, starring Australian soprano Jessica Pratt as Bianca, Japanese mezzo Aya Wakizono as Falliero, Russian tenor Dmitry Korchak as Cantareno and Georgian bass Giorgi Manoshvili as Capellio.
The quartet of singers was exceptionally good. Jessica Pratt proved herself once again to be one of the best bel canto singers of our time, endowed with a beautiful voice, a masterful technique, excellent diction and huge charisma. In the final quartet, where she erupts into the tribunal to disculpate her beloved, she was passionate and truly moving. Both in this scene and in the final rondo, “Teco io resto, in te rispetto”, she brought the public to tears. The glorious final rondo is basically a reworking of the famous rondo “Tanti affetti” from La donna del lago (1819). However, this is a justified borrowing, as the circumstances of both scenes are quite similar.
Mezzo Aya Wakizono was a completely convincing Falliero. The Japanese singer managed to adopt a masculine deportment, and thanks to her warrior’s costume, looked the role. Vocally, her pleasant timbre is not ideal for this travesty role. Though endowed with a firm upper register, her lower one isn’t as impressive. Nonetheless, thanks to excellent acting skills and presence, she was a convincing Falliero. Her Act I duet with Pratt, “Sappi che un Dio crudele” was a moment of utter bliss, where the two voices blended perfectly.
Tenor Dmitry Korchak, a leading bel canto tenor, was a deluxe Cantareno. The father – rather than the lover – as a tenor formula is similar to Tancredi (1813) and Maometto II (1820). Cantareno is particularly villainous, happy to force his daughter into a loveless marriage merely to advance his social standing. Given Korchak’s excellent voice and technique, the character was less detestable than it would have been in another’s hands. His Act I aria, “Pensa che ormai resistere,” one of Rossini’s most demanding tenor arias, was brilliantly executed. Dramatically, his transformation at the very end of the opera is highly unlikely. Some see such a transformation as a fantasy in the imagination of a Bianca rendered delirious by her beloved’s exculpation and finally marrying him.
Bass Giorgi Manoshvili was a true luxury in the relatively secondary (in the vocal sense) role of Capellio. Nonetheless, he had such remarkable stage presence that he was far from secondary. The character’s nobility is astounding, and the Georgian bass did it justice. With such a magnificent voice and his attendant charisma, one wished Rossini had written more music for this role.
The vocal virtuosity was matched by conductor Roberto Abbado’s attentive reading of the score, one of Rossini’s most dense and complex works. His careful accompaniment of the singers, especially in their recitatives, made this unfamiliar opera come vigorously to life.
Jean-Louis Grinda’s staging was effective but unremarkable. The period was transposed to the 1930s, so both the sets and costumes were a mixture of both that period and the opera’s original setting, the early seventeenth century. The reason for this transposition was not clear, but it did not detract. However, the uncontextualized projection of wartime scenes (either the Spanish Civil War or some Latin American country) was gratuitous.
All the characters, save Falliero, his warrior companions and the Doge of Venice, wore 1930s garb. Again, the reason for being in period costumes was not clear. However, the sets for the tribunal and the striking red garb of the magistrates in Act II were visually appealing.
Intriguing was the invention of a character that does not exist in the libretto: a blind woman, most likely Bianca’s grandmother. She was present in several scenes, including those involving Bianca and her authoritarian father. Though blind, she seemed to see, insinuating a character who sees, disapproves, but is unable to act. Her falling to the ground simultaneously when Bianca fell in Act II may represent the helpless women in Bianca’s family bartered into lucrative matrimonial alliances. Bianca, motivated by love, breaks the cycle of oppression: she is no mere fragile bel canto heroine; she defies her oppressive father while championing her beloved before the tribunal, thereby saving his life.
Italian writer-director Alessandro Baricco (b.1958) identified Bianca e Falliero as the archetypal foundation of Rossini’s subsequent opere serie. Indeed, this rarely-performed gem is a monumental work. Musically, it’s a masterpiece, replete with beautiful arias and ensembles as well as strong dramatic scenes. While its duration is needlessly long considering the limited action it involves, it nonetheless deserves to be produced more often, especially if it features the calibre of singers heard in this performance.
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