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The Banished Knight Frankfurt
Opernhaus
06/07/2026 - & June 11, 17, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 2026
Gioacchino Rossini : Tancredi
Cláudia Ribas (Tancredi), Bianca Tognocchi (Amenaide), Theo Lebow (Argirio), Kihwan Sim (Orbazzano), Ruby Dibble (Isaura), Hyoyoung Kim (Roggiero), Clara Kim (Loredana)
Chor der Oper Frankfurt, Manuel Pujol (chorus master), Felice Venanzoni (harpsichord), Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Giuliano Carella (conductor)
Manuel Schmitt (stage director), Bernhard Siegl (sets), Raphaela Rose (costumes), Joachim Klein (lighting), Konrad Kuhn (dramaturgy)
C. Ribas (© Monika Rittershaus)
Composed by the twenty-year-old Rossini, Tancredi (1813) was his first opera seria. It was also a clear shift from the late baroque operatic style that survived, despite Gluck’s reforms and Mozart’s innovations. It’s based on Voltaire’s Tancrède (1760), after an adaptation by Gaetano Rossi (1774‑1855) who wrote the libretti for several works by the likes of Niccolò Zingarelli, Simon Mayr, Giuseppe Farinelli and Nicola Vaccai. Rossi also wrote libretti for three Rossini operas: La cambiale di matrimonio (1810), Rossini’s second opera but first staged work; the present opera Tancredi; and Rossini’s last Italian opera, Semiramide (1823).
Tancredi is a remarkable work that can be seen as a turning point in opera. Despite librettist Rossi being entrenched in pre‑bel canto with his operas written for Italian late baroque and traditionalist composers, this collaboration with Rossini is truly innovative. Indeed, a love story is at the centre of the opera, but the three supporting characters are substantial, a novelty for the time. Tancredi is a mezzo trousers role, Amenaide is a soprano, her father Argirio a tenor, the rival Orbazzano is a bass, and Amenaide’s confidant Isaura a contralto. It is the precursor to Meyerbeer’s grand opéra, with five or six star roles for different voice types, and possibly what inspired him for his winning formula.
Musicologist Richard Osborne calls Semiramide, which, according to many, is Rossini’s greatest Italian opera, as “Tancredi revisited,” thanks to the various common elements it shares with Rossini’s first opera seria: the same Gaetano Rossi as librettist; major works by playwright Voltaire as source material; virtuoso ornamental ensembles in near baroque style; and ensemble passages featuring soloists, chorus and robust orchestration. Of Semiramide, or “Tancredi revisited”, musicologist Rodolfo Celletti (1917‑2004) wrote that it was the last opera in the great Baroque tradition! In short, Tancredi is the first bel canto opera, one of the last baroque operas and the model for Meyerbeer’s grand opéra; few works are this pivotal.
German director Manuel Schmitt’s take on the opera is unusual; the stunningly beautiful city of Syracuse in twelfth century Sicily was changed to present‑day smalltown Germany. In the original story, two feuding clans reconcile with the leader of one clan, Argirio, accepting his daughter Amenaide to wed the leader of the opposing clan, Orbazzano. Amenaide is in love with Tancredi, who has been exiled and his property confiscated.
A letter Amenaide had written to Tancredi, though his name is not cited, has been intercepted by Orbazzano, who assumes it is addressed to the Moorish (Saracen) general Solamir besieging the city. Orbazzano publicly decries Amenaide, cancels the wedding and demands she be put to death. At the moment of her execution, an unknown knight (Tancredi) comes to champion Amenaide. Though he too thinks the letter was destined to Solamir, the honourable Tancredi fights Orbazzano and kills him. He then goes to battle and kills Solamir. Mortally wounded, he cries for Amenaide and he learns the truth about the letter. He dies in the arms of his beloved.
In Schmitt’s modern day German Syracuse, the feuding clans are a group of mechanics and agricultural workers, and one of paramilitary fighters. Likely, the former represent the Left and the latter the Right. The Saracens who are besieging Syracuse are only mentioned but hardly seen. Some see a parallel between the Saracens and the African and Asian (often Muslim) migrants in present‑day Europe. Schmitt sees both as “the Other”, feared yet mostly unfamiliar. The parallel is not coherent, as the Saracens are a foreign invading force, rightfully feared and unwelcome, whereas the migrant workers are already a part of society.
The gathering place is some kind of town hall in the Alpine style. The rest of the sets were truly hideous: agricultural machinery, wire fences evocative of concentration camps and a boxing rink. We are introduced to a boxing match during the overture. During the spirited second part of the overture, the boxing was choreographed to the music. The Saracens appeared occasionally as spying scouts, dressed up as straw men, more Celtic than Arabian. These extravagant costumes reflect the director’s notion that the people of Syracuse dread the potential invaders and see them as monsters. The Woke outlook that people ought not fear the “other” is commendable, but wishing for them to love their invaders is over‑the‑top. This also rendered Schmitt’s staging absurd. Nonetheless, this relatively ugly production was visually and dramatically tolerable and the performance as a whole was memorable thanks to its first-rate line up of singers.
For a great Tancredi, five superb ones are needed, and happily, the present production delivered this in spades. Portuguese mezzo Cláudia Ribas was an ideal Tancredi thanks to her attractive dark middle register, which lent the character a genuine nobility in this demanding trouser‑role. Her command of Rossini’s long cantabile lines and her agility with the role’s coloratura were impressive. Completely credible as an attractive young man, Ribas brought the house down in the opera’s only famous aria “Di tanti palpiti”, though the aria’s long introduction “O patria! Dolce e ingrata! Tu che accendi questo core” was equally magnificent, thanks to Ribas’s expressivity and heartfelt interpretation.
Italian coloratura Bianca Tognocchi provided an ideal counterpart to Ribas’s Tancredi. Endowed with an agile and bright voice with extreme ease in the higher register, Tognocchi’s voice also possesses warmth and great beauty. In the dramatic scenes – and they are plentiful – Tognocchi’s warmth gave a certain gravitas to the tragic role. Amenaide is no chirping nightingale but rather a tragic heroine who happens also to be a coloratura. Thanks to her expressiveness, her Act I aria “Come dolce all’alma mia” was truly moving, not merely an exercise in ornamentation.
Greatly admired as Rossini’s Otello in Frankfurt in 2024, American lyric tenor Theo Lebow was an impressive Rossini tenor with great agility and extreme facility in the upper register. Nonetheless, his bright voice is neither nasal nor strident. He aptly shaped Rossini’s elaborate vocal writing with stylistic assurance. His Act II aria “ Ah! Segnar invano io tento” was a paragon of balance between technical prowess and expressivity.
South Korean bass-baritone Kihwan Sim was an imposing Obrazzano, endowed with powerful lower notes. However, he overdid the evil stereotype, likely thanks to this staging, which renders him as a Fascist thug. Nonetheless, without being sympathetic, playing the role as somewhat human would have been more effective.
The great surprise and revelation was the young American mezzo Ruby Dibble, whose rich deep voice was phenomenal. It’s a real pleasure that the interpreter of Isaura, Amenaide’s friend and confidante, possesses a voice so distinct from the mezzo interpreting the title role.
At the helm, Giuliano Carella proved an experienced Rossinian. Throughout the night, his conducting prioritized the vocalists over the orchestra, granting the singers ample breathing room while keeping the performance’s rhythmic engine driving forward. The Frankfurter Opern und Museumsorchester responded with elegance and transparency, particularly in the woodwinds and the elegant strings, though the evening’s greatest achievements remain firmly vocal rather than orchestral. Frankfurt Oper never ceases to amaze me with its consecutive productions of operatic rarities, season after season. I look forward to its future offerings with great joy.
Ossama el Naggar
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