Carmen at the Royal Opera House London January 3rd 2014

On Friday January 3^rd I made my way to the Royal Opera House in London for the first time to mark the start of my 75^th birthday year. I had only discovered late that there were performances over Christmas and the New Year of Carmen using the 2012 production which I had seen live in 3D and then purchased the DVD but although familiar with the set as well as the Opera which commenced in my childhood it was too good an opportunity miss if tickets were available, There were and for once paying a £150 plus for a ticket did not appear an extravagance.

I had witnessed the virtual rebuilding of the Opera House complex on visits to the former flower, fruit and vegetable market which had now become a tourist Mecca for shops and restaurants and free live entertainment a short walk from Trafalgar and Leicester Squares.

Arriving early only the bookshop and ticket office was open and purchasing a programme excellent value at £5 or less the shelves of DVDs and books were resisted. There was a goon queue of people waiting for the Paul Hamlyn Hall to open. “This is a large iron and glass structure adjacent to, and with direct access to, the main opera house building. Historically, it formed part of the old Covent Garden flower market, and is still commonly known as the 'floral hall', but it was absorbed into the Royal Opera House complex during the 90s redevelopment. The hall now acts as the atrium and main public area of the opera house, with a champagne bar, restaurant and other hospitality services, and also providing access to the main auditorium at all levels The redevelopment of the Floral Hall was originally made possible with a pledge of £10m from the philanthropist Alberto Vilar and for a number of years, it was known as the Vilar Floral Hall; however Vilar failed to make good his pledge. As a result, the name was changed in September 2005 to the Paul Hamlyn Hall, after the opera house received a donation of £10m from the estate of Paul Hamlyn, towards its education and development programmes. As well as acting as a main public area for performances in the main auditorium, the Paul Hamlyn Hall is also used for hosting a number of events, including private functions, dances, exhibitions, concerts, and workshops “

This formal Wikipedia description fails to convey the extraordinary nature of this building which reminds of a department store tea room in Paris, name forgotten. The open structure is half a dozen floors in height with at the top along side the main open area there is separate restaurant and bar area where on sofas we had drinks and watch the diners arrive until it was time to make our way downstairs again and into the Opera House proper which also the facade and main auditorium are substantial the same as before.

Again the formal note reads “Several renovations had taken place to parts of the house in the 1960s, including improvements to the amphitheatre but the theatre clearly needed a major overhaul. In 1975 the Labour government gave land adjacent to the Royal Opera House for a long-overdue modernisation, refurbishment, and extension. In the early 1980s the first part of a major renovation included an extension to the rear of the theatre on the James Street corner. The development added two new ballet studios, offices, a Chorus Rehearsal Room and the Opera Rehearsal room. Dressing rooms were also added.

By 1995, sufficient funds from the Arts Lottery through Arts Council England and private fundraising had been raised to enable the company to embark upon a major £213 million reconstruction of the building by Carillion, which took place between 1997 and 1999, under the chairmanship of Sir Angus Stirling. This involved the demolition of almost the whole site including several adjacent buildings to make room for a major increase in the size of the complex. The auditorium itself remained, but well over half of the complex is new. The design team was led by Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones of Dixon Jones BDP as architects. The acoustic designers were Rob Harris and Jeremy Newton of Arup Acoustics. The building engineer was Arup with Stanhope as developer.

The new building has the same traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium as before, but with greatly improved technical, rehearsal, office, and educational facilities, a new studio theatre called the Linbury Theatre, and much more public space. The venue is now claimed by the ROH to be the most modern theatre facility in Europe.

Subtitles, projected onto a screen above the proscenium, have been used for all opera performances since they were introduced in 1984. Since the reopening of the theatre in 1999 an electronic libretto system provides translations onto small video screens for some seats, and additional monitors and screens are to be introduced to other parts of the house.”

The overall outcome is a contrasting combination of contemporary luxury of the former floral hall to the glorious luxury of the traditional Opera auditorium unlike some of he almost start structure of other houses which have been seen via relays and TV and which include the Met in New York. Despite having over 2000 seats there is a feeling of intimacy especially in the stalls where we had seats to one side against the wall although thus prove excellent views where the facial expressions of the singers could be experienced although it was something of a neck crick to look up past the singers to sub titles high above. Knowing the story well I did not need these and sat back to enjoy the music and the voice.

Act 1 A square, in Seville. On the right, a door to the tobacco factory. At the back, a bridge. On the left, a guardhouse. A group of soldiers relaxes in the square, waiting for the changing of the guard and commenting on the passers-by ("Sur la place, chacun passe"). Micaëla appears, seeking José. Moralès tells her that "José is not yet on duty" and invites her to wait with them. She declines, saying she will return later. José arrives with the new guard, which is greeted and imitated by a crowd of urchins ("Avec la garde montante").

As the factory bell rings, the cigarette girls emerge and exchange banter with young men in the crowd ("La cloche a sonné"). Carmen enters and sings her provocative habanera on the untameable nature of love ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"). The men plead with her to choose a lover, and after some teasing she throws a flower to Don José, who thus far has been ignoring her but is now annoyed by her insolence.

As the women go back to the factory, Micaëla returns and gives José a letter and a kiss from his mother ("Parle-moi de ma mère!"). He reads that his mother wants him to return home and marry Micaëla, who retreats in shy embarrassment on learning this. Just as José declares that he is ready to heed his mother's wishes, the women stream from the factory in great agitation. Zuniga, the officer of the guard, learns that Carmen has attacked a woman with a knife. When challenged, Carmen answers with mocking defiance ("Tra la la... Coupe-moi, brûle-moi"); Zuniga orders José to tie her hands while he prepares the prison warrant. Left alone with José, Carmen beguiles him with a seguidilla, in which she sings of a night of dancing and passion with her lover—whoever that may be—in Lillas Pastia's tavern. Confused yet mesmerised, José agrees to free her hands; as she is led away she pushes her escort to the ground and runs off laughing. José is arrested for dereliction of duty.

Act 2

Lillas Pastia's Inn

A month has passed. Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès are entertaining Zuniga and other officers ("Les tringles des sistres tintaient") in Pastia's inn. Carmen is delighted to learn of José's release from a month's detention. Outside, a chorus and procession announces the arrival of the toreador Escamillo ("Vivat, vivat le Toréro"). Invited inside, he introduces himself with his "Toreador Song" ("Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre") and sets his sights on Carmen, who brushes him aside. Lillas Pastia hustles the crowds and the soldiers away.

When only Carmen, Frasquita and Mercédès remain, the smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado arrive and reveal their plans to dispose of some recently acquired contraband ("Nous avons en tête une affaire"). Frasquita and Mercédès are keen to help them, but Carmen refuses, since she wishes to wait for José. After the smugglers leave, José arrives. Carmen treats him to a private exotic dance ("Je vais danser en votre honneur ... La la la"), but her song is joined by a distant bugle call from the barracks. When José says he must return to duty, she mocks him, and he answers by showing her the flower that she threw to him in the square ("La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"). Unconvinced, Carmen demands he shows his love by leaving with her. José refuses to desert, but as he prepares to depart, Zuniga enters looking for Carmen. He and José fight, and are separated by the returning smugglers, who restrain Zuniga. Having attacked a superior officer, José now has no choice but to join Carmen and the smugglers ("Suis-nous à travers la campagne").

Act 3

A wild spot close to the border with Gibraltar. Carmen and José enter with the smugglers and their booty ("Écoute, écoute, compagnons"); Carmen has now become bored with José and tells him scornfully that he should go back to his mother. Frasquita and Mercédès amuse themselves by reading their fortunes from the cards; Carmen joins them and finds that the cards are foretelling her death, and José's. The women depart to suborn the customs officers who are watching the locality. José is placed on guard duty.

Micaëla enters with a guide, seeking José and determined to rescue him from Carmen ("Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante"). On hearing a gunshot she hides in fear; it is José, who has fired at an intruder who proves to be Escamillo. José's pleasure at meeting the bullfighter turns to anger when Escamillo declares his infatuation with Carmen. The pair fight ("Je suis Escamillo, toréro de Grenade"), but are interrupted by the returning smugglers and girls ("Holà, holà José"). As Escamillo leaves he invites everyone to his next bullfight in Seville. Micaëla is discovered; at first, José will not leave with her despite Carmen's mockery, but he agrees to go when told that his mother is dying. As he departs, vowing he will return, Escamillo is heard in the distance, singing the toreador's song

.

Act 4

A square in Seville. At the back, the walls of an ancient amphitheatre Zuniga, Frasquita and Mercédès are among the crowd awaiting the arrival of the bullfighters ("Les voici ! Voici la quadrille!"). Escamillo enters with Carmen, and they express their mutual love ("Si tu m'aimes, Carmen"). As Escamillo goes into the arena, Frasquita warns Carmen that José is nearby, but Carmen is unafraid and willing to speak to him. Alone, she is confronted by the desperate José ("C'est toi ! C'est moi !"). While he pleads vainly for her to return to him, cheers are heard from the arena. As José makes his last entreaty, Carmen contemptuously throws down the ring he gave her and attempts to enter the arena. He then stabs her, and as Escamillo is acclaimed by the crowds, Carmen dies. José kneels and sings "Ah! Carmen! ma Carmen adorée!"; as the crowd exits the arena, José confesses to killing the woman he loved.

In terms of performances the star of the evening was Veronica Cangemi, the most convincing Michaela I have experienced and who generated the great applause appreciation from the audience at the end. I cannot find an English biog but she appears to have concentrated on Vivaldi, Mozart Handel and others rather than grand Opera.

“Verónica Cangemi (*10 de octubre 1964) es una soprano argentina nacida en Mendoza de amplia trayectoria en Europa especialmente en el área de la música barroca y de práctica informada. Se inició como cellista, posteriormente como cantante ganó el Concurso Francisco Viñas en Barcelona, perfeccionándose con la soprano británica Heather Harper.En 1993 debutó en el Teatro Colón como Zerlina en Don Giovanni y actuó como Pamina en La flauta mágica en 1996.Actúa regularmente en París, Florencia, Múnich , Berlín , Madrid Glyndebourne, Salzburg, Graz, Innsbruck, Montreaux, Würzburg, Ludwigsburg, Ámsterdam, Montpelier, San Francisco y Lisboa.”En 2009 obtuvo el Diploma al Mérito de los Premio Konex como una de las 5 mejores cantantes de música clásica de la década 1999-2008 en la Argentina.

I am also fan of Roberto AlgnaRoberto Alagna (Clichy-sous-Bois, 7 de junio de 1963) es un cantante de ópera francés, con registro de tenor. Proviene de una familia de emigrantes sicilianos. Comenzó a cantar muy joven en cabarets parisinos. Influido por las películas de Mario Lanza y las grabaciones de tenores históricos, cambió a la ópera. Es un cantante básicamente autodidacta, aprendió la mayor parte de su repertorio del contrabajista cubano y aficionado a la ópera, Rafael Ruiz.

Después de ganar el Concurso Vocal Luciano Pavarotti, Alagna debutó profesionalmente en 1988 como Alfredo Germont en La Traviata con la compañía del Festival de Glyndebourne. Esto llevó a muchos compromisos en ciudades pequeñas de Francia e Italia, principalmente como Alfredo, un rol que ha cantado más de 150 veces.

Creció su reputación y pronto fue invitado a cantar en los grandes teatros como La Scala (de nuevo como Alfredo, bajo la batuta de Riccardo Muti) en 1990, Covent Garden en 1992 y en la Metropolitan Opera como Rodolfo en La Bohème.

Sus interpretaciones de Romeo en Romeo y Julieta de Charles Gounod en Covent Garden en 1994 lo catapultaron al estrellato internacional.

Alagna ha desarrollado una particular afinidad por la ópera francesa y los papeles italianos más líricos, aunque algunos observadores muestran preocupación para asumir un repertorio italiano progresivamente más dramáticos, como el rol titular de Otello.

Su primera esposa, Florence Lancien, murió de tumor cerebral en 1994; tenían una hija, Ornella, nacida en 1992.

En 1996 se casó con la soprano Angela Gheorghiu. La pareja ha cantado junta en muchas ocasiones en el escenario y en grabaciones juntos de duetos, arias y óperas completas. Los dos cantantes protagonizaron también la versión fílmica de la ópera de Puccini Tosca dirigida por el francés Benoît Jacquot. Se separaron en 2009.

Alagna abrió la temporada 2006-07 en La Scala el 7 de diciembre de 2006 con la nueva producción de Aida de Franco Zeffirelli. Al comienzo de la segunda representación (10 de diciembre de 2006) fue abucheado y silbado por el público sentado en el loggione (aficionados a la ópera que se sientan en los lugares más baratos de la Scala). El tenor abandonó el escenario. El papel de Radamés fue asumido inmediatamente por Antonello Palombi, que entró en el escenario vestido de calle, con vaqueros y camisa. Más tarde, Alagna se disculpó aduciendo que quiso volver a entrar, aunque Palombi no le dejó.

Luego de fallidos intentos en los años 90, en 2012 finalmente debutó en el Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires en un recital junto a Angela Gheorghiu.

También ha grabado un disco dedicado al legendario cantante español Luis Mariano.

Fue condecorado con la orden de la Legión de honor

Anna Caterina Antonacci was excellent as Carmen but no one can compare with the performance of Christine Rice who I would travel far and wide to see live.

I first saw Carmen as an adolescent live locally when I then lived but cannot remember if I have seen live before the ROH visit. I have view and recorded three shortened version of around 90 mins several decades ago as well as the productions at the Met. There is of course also Carmen Jones the Film where I still have the original gramophone record.

Don Giovanni relayed live from ROH

recorded. I cannot recall knowing much about the Mozart Opera Don Giovanni which I experienced for the first time on relay from the Royal Opera House on Wednesday evening , a cold and windy evening where I arrived in something of rush only to learn that the winds was affecting the world wide relay and that interruptions could be anticipation. During there first half of the opera there were three breaks, fortunately of no longer than 3mins and a lost of the subtitles in two instances. The management rallied providing little cups of chocolate during the intervals was not hot and I did not enjoy but then issues a free pass in compensation for another event of similar cost which was splendid..

The opera is extraordinary with eight principal roles and in true Mozart style there are several instance where almost everyone is involved in groups, in couples in quick succession so while there are no great aria compared to Puccini, Verdi one sits marvelling at times overwhelmed. For once at least six of the singers had the physique and were of an age to reflect the roles they were playing and the other two were passable, The set was also one of the most extraordinary if not the lost extraordinary and created experienced. A mansion on several floors which revolves close to tee front of the stage and upon which thee are constant projections throughout successfully reflecting the mind of Don Giovanna based on the legend of Don Juan supposed taking to his bed, so to speak over 2000 women of all ages and descriptions during his short life before he is left in the hell of isolation. The first act lasts 95 mins and the second 85 with only 35 mins in between with a good introduction before and during the interval by the Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel

“Mozart’s Don Giovanni – first staged in 1787 – offers boundless scope for directors. Kasper Holten offers a new interpretation that foregrounds the theme of imagination. Don Giovanni is cast as an artist who seduces an endless stream of women through his ability to create wonderful illusions. His catalogue of sexual conquests is a vain attempt to escape his own mortality and comes at a high price.

Holten presents an exciting visual universe that ranges from colourful comedy to exhilarating drama. Set designs by Es Devlin – who was most recently at Covent Garden with Les Troyens – and costume designs by Anja Vang Kragh (Stella McCartney, John Galliano, Christian Dior) complete an impressive creative team. The production highlights the beauty and invention of Mozart’s dazzling score, which ranges from gorgeous arias and dramatic duets to the brilliant layering of dance melodies that bring Act I to a virtuoso close! From the ROH site

And from Wikipedia, Leporello, Don Giovanni's servant, complains of his lot ("Notte e giorno faticar" – "Night and day I slave away"). He is keeping watch while Don Giovanni rapes or seduces the Commendatore's daughter, Donna Anna. When the two appear, Giovanni is masked and Donna Anna is holding onto his arm. Something has happened and she insists on knowing his true identity (Trio: "Non sperar, se non m'uccidi, Ch'io ti lasci fuggir mai!" – "Do not hope, unless you kill me, that I shall ever let you run away!"); before he can break free from her grasp she cries for help. The Commendatore appears and forces Giovanni to fight a duel. Donna Anna flees into the house. Giovanni kills the Commendatore with his sword and escapes with Leporello. Anna, returning with her fiancé, Don Ottavio, is horrified to see her father lying dead in a pool of his own blood. She makes Ottavio swear vengeance against the unknown murderer. (Duet: "Ah, vendicar, se il puoi, giura quel sangue ognor!" – "Ah, swear to avenge that blood if you can!").

Scene 2 – A public square outside Don Giovanni's palace

Giovanni and Leporello arrive and hear a woman (Donna Elvira) singing of having been abandoned by her lover, on whom she is seeking to wreak her revenge ("Ah, chi mi dice mai" – "Ah, who could ever tell me"). Giovanni starts to flirt with her, but he is the wretch she is seeking. He shoves Leporello forward, ordering him to tell Elvira the truth, and then hurries away.

Leporello tells Elvira that Don Giovanni is not worth it. His conquests include 640 in Italy, 231 in Germany, 100 in France, 91 in Turkey, but in Spain, 1,003 ("Madamina, il catalogo è questo" – "My dear lady, this is the catalogue"). In a frequently cut recitative, Elvira vows vengeance.

They leave, and a marriage procession with Masetto and Zerlina enters. Don Giovanni and Leporello arrive soon after. Giovanni is immediately attracted to Zerlina, and he attempts to remove the jealous Masetto by offering to host a wedding celebration at his castle. On realizing that Giovanni means to remain behind with Zerlina, Masetto becomes angry ("Ho capito! Signor, sì" – "I understand! Yes, my lord!"). Don Giovanni and Zerlina are soon alone and he immediately begins his seductive arts (Duet: "Là ci darem la mano" – "There we will entwine our hands").

Elvira arrives and thwarts the seduction ("Ah, fuggi il traditor" – "Flee from the traitor!"). She leaves with Zerlina. Ottavio and Anna enter, plotting vengeance on the still unknown murderer of Anna's father. Anna, unaware that she is speaking to the attacker, pleads for Giovanni's help. Giovanni, relieved that he is unrecognised, readily promises it, and asks who has disturbed her peace. Before she can answer, Elvira returns and tells Anna and Ottavio that Giovanni is a false-hearted seducer. Giovanni tries to convince Ottavio and Anna that Elvira is insane (Quartet: "Non ti fidar, o misera" – "Don't trust him, oh sad one"). As Giovanni leaves, Anna suddenly recognizes him as her father's murderer (Anna aria: "Or sai chi l'onore Rapire a me volse" – "Now you know who wanted to rob me of my honour"). Ottavio, not convinced, resolves to keep an eye on his friend ("Dalla sua pace la mia dipende" – "On her peace my peace depends").

Leporello informs Giovanni that all the guests of the peasant wedding are in Giovanni's house and that he distracted Masetto from his jealousy, but that Zerlina, returning with Elvira, made a scene and spoiled everything. However, Don Giovanni remains cheerful and tells Leporello to organize a party and invite every girl he can find. (Giovanni's "Champagne Aria": "Fin ch'han dal vino calda la testa" – "Till they are tipsy"). They hasten to his palace.

Zerlina follows the jealous Masetto and tries to pacify him ("Batti, batti o bel Masetto" – "Beat, O beat me, handsome Masetto"), but just as she manages to persuade him of her innocence, Don Giovanni's voice from offstage startles and frightens her. Masetto hides, resolving to see for himself what Zerlina will do when Giovanni arrives. Zerlina tries to hide from Don Giovanni, but he finds her and attempts to continue the seduction, until he stumbles upon Masetto's hiding place. Confused but quickly recovering, Giovanni reproaches Masetto for leaving Zerlina alone, and returns her temporarily to him. Giovanni then leads both to his ballroom, which has been lavishly decorated. Leporello invites three masked guests to the party: the disguised Ottavio, Anna, and Elvira. Ottavio and Anna pray for protection, Elvira for vengeance (Trio: "Protegga il giusto cielo" – "May the just heavens protect us").

Scene 3 – Finale: Ballroom As the merriment, featuring two separate chamber orchestras on stage, proceeds, Leporello distracts Masetto by dancing with him, while Don Giovanni leads Zerlina offstage to a private room. When Zerlina screams for help, Don Giovanni tries to fool the onlookers by dragging Leporello into the room and threatening to kill him for assaulting Zerlina. But Ottavio produces a pistol, and the three guests unmask and declare that they know all. But despite being denounced on all sides, Don Giovanni escapes – for the moment.

Act 2

Scene 1 – Outside Elvira's house

Leporello threatens to leave Giovanni, but his master calms him with a peace offering of money (Duet: "Eh via buffone" – "Go on, fool"). Wanting to seduce Elvira's maid, Giovanni persuades Leporello to exchange cloak and hat with him. Elvira comes to her window (Trio: "Ah taci, ingiusto core" – "Ah, be quiet unjust heart"). Seeing an opportunity for a game, Giovanni hides and sends Leporello out in the open dressed as Giovanni. From his hiding place Giovanni sings a promise of repentance, expressing a desire to return to her, while Leporello poses as Giovanni and tries to keep from laughing. Elvira is convinced and descends to the street. Leporello, continuing to pose as Giovanni, leads her away to keep her occupied while Giovanni serenades her maid with his mandolin. ("Deh vieni alla finestra" – "Ah, come to the window").

Before Giovanni can complete his seduction of the maid, Masetto and his friends arrive, searching for Giovanni with the intent of killing him. Giovanni (dressed as Leporello) convinces the posse that he also hates Giovanni, and joins the hunt. After cunningly dispersing Masetto's friends (Giovanni aria: "Metà di voi qua vadano" – "Half of you go this way"), Giovanni takes Masetto's weapons away, beats him up, and runs off, laughing. Zerlina arrives and consoles the bruised and battered Masetto ("Vedrai carino" – "You'll see, dear one").

Scene 2 – A dark courtyard

Leporello abandons Elvira. (Sextet: "Sola, sola in buio loco" – "All alone in this dark place"). As he tries to escape, Ottavio arrives with Anna, consoling her in her grief. Just as Leporello is about to slip through the door, which he has difficulty finding, Zerlina and Masetto open it and, seeing him dressed as Giovanni, catch him before he can escape. When Anna and Ottavio notice what is going on, all move to surround Leporello, threatening him with death. Elvira tries to protect the man who she thinks is Giovanni, claiming that he is her husband and begging for pity. The other four are resolved to punish the traitor, but Leporello removes his cloak to reveal his true identity. He begs everyone's forgiveness and, seeing an opportunity, runs off (Leporello aria: "Ah pietà signori miei" – "Ah, have mercy, my lords"). Given the circumstances, Ottavio is convinced that Giovanni was the murderer of Donna Anna's father (the deceased Commendatore) and swears vengeance ("Il mio tesoro" – "My treasure" – though in the Vienna version this was cut).[16] Elvira is still furious at Giovanni for betraying her, but she also feels sorry for him. ("Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata" – "That ungrateful wretch betrayed me").

Scene 3 – A graveyard with the statue of the Commendatore. Leporello tells Don Giovanni of his brush with danger, and Giovanni taunts him, saying that he took advantage of his disguise as Leporello by trying to seduce one of Leporello's girlfriends. But the servant is not amused, suggesting it could have been his wife, and Don Giovanni laughs aloud at his servant's protests. The voice of the statue warns Giovanni that his laughter will not last beyond sunrise. At the command of his master, Leporello reads the inscription upon the statue's base: "Here am I waiting for revenge against the sacrilegious one who gave me death" (Dell'empio che mi trasse al passo estremo qui attendo la vendetta). The servant trembles, but the unabashed Giovanni orders him to invite the statue to dinner, threatening to kill him if he does not. Leporello makes several attempts to invite the statue to dinner but for fear cannot complete the task (Duet: "O, statua gentilissima" – "Oh most kind statue"). It falls upon Don Giovanni himself to complete the invitation, thereby sealing his own doom. Much to his surprise, the statue nods its head and responds affirmatively.

Scene 4 – Donna Anna's room.

Ottavio pressures Anna to marry him, but she thinks it inappropriate so soon after her father's death. He accuses her of being cruel, and she assures him that she loves him, and is faithful ("Non mi dir" – "Tell me not").

Scene 5 – Don Giovanni's chambers

Giovanni revels in the luxury of a great meal, served by Leporello, and musical entertainment during which the orchestra plays then-contemporary late-18th-century operatic music: "O quanto in sì bel giubilo" from Vicente Martín y Soler's Una cosa rara (1786), "Come un agnello" from Giuseppe Sarti's Fra i due litiganti il terzo gode (1782) and finally, "Non più andrai" from Mozart's own The Marriage of Figaro (1786).[17] (Finale "Già la mensa preparata" – "Already the table is prepared"). Elvira appears, saying that she no longer feels resentment for Giovanni, only pity. ("L'ultima prova dell'amor mio" – "The final proof of my love"). Surprised by her lack of hatred, Giovanni asks what it is that she wants, and she begs him to change his life. Giovanni taunts her and then turns away, praising wine and women as the "support and glory of humankind" (sostegno e gloria d'umanità). Hurt and angered, Elvira gives up and leaves. A moment later, her scream is heard from outside the walls of the palace, and she returns only to flee through another door. Giovanni orders Leporello to see what has upset her; upon peering outside, the servant also cries out, and runs back into the room, stammering that the statue has appeared as promised. An ominous knocking sounds at the door. Leporello, paralyzed by fear, cannot answer it, so Giovanni opens it himself, revealing the statue of the Commendatore. With the D minor music from the overture now accompanying the bass voice ("Don Giovanni! A cenar teco m'invitasti" – "Don Giovanni! You invited me to dine with you"), the Commendatore offers a last chance to repent, but Giovanni adamantly refuses. The statue sinks into the earth and drags Giovanni down with him. Hellfire, and a chorus of demons, surround Don Giovanni as he is carried below.

Donna Anna, Don Ottavio, Donna Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto arrive, searching for the villain. They find instead Leporello hiding under the table, shaken by the supernatural horror he has witnessed. Giovanni is dead. Anna and Ottavio will marry when Anna's year of mourning is over; Elvira will spend the rest of her life in a convent; Zerlina and Masetto will finally go home for dinner; and Leporello will go to the tavern to find a better master.

The concluding ensemble delivers the moral of the opera – "Such is the end of the evildoer: the death of a sinner always reflects his life" ("Questo è il fin di chi fa mal, e de' perfidi la morte alla vita è sempre ugual"). In the past, the final ensemble was sometimes omitted by conductors (such as Gustav Mahler) who claimed that the opera should end when the title character dies. However, this approach has not survived, and today's conductors almost always include the finale in its entirety. The return to D major and the innocent simplicity of the last few bars conclude the opera. “

Tosca from the Met at Bolden Cineworld

The Metropolitan Opera relay as I have reported on all my visits provides an all round better experience than elsewhere because oft the ability to watch scenery being dismantled and moved around as well as the excellent live interviews with performers and technicians. On this occasion there was a bonus watching the former great conductor James Levine who had been with the Met for decades in rehearsal for Falstaff after his absence for over two years. He had retired after 50 years as a professional musician because of intense back pain. He was operated successfully to stop the pain but fortunately eh then ha d a much more damaging fall which rendered him into a wheelchair with almost no lower limb control however we physic therapy, hard work and a lot of support from family, friends and members of the public he is able to conduct again and watching the rehearsal we witnessed his intense professionalism and control. I had not planned to watch Falstaff because a comic opera is not my cup of tea despite is great ensemble singing. However I may go because just out of appreciate for his courage and determination and which I am sure will proving a great emotional experience for the audience as well as for him.

I have experienced a performance of Tosca from the Met before viewed on TV via their on line subscription player and was therefore aware of the story and that the opera contains a great Aria two by the male lead and one by Tosca in each of the three acts.

Tosca is played by Patricia Racette a mature substantial figure who although miss cast as the young innocent Madam Butterfly in Puccini’s Opera (which was one of my first experience of the Met relay back in 2009) has the emotional power and intensity in her singing which moved me to tears. As Tosca she had to give a sustained emotional force throughout, first a jealous woman threatened by what appears to be her lover’s attraction to another woman he had seen enter the church where he is suppose to be painting a Madonna and then fuelled by the evil commander of the French forces occupying Rome, who gives the impression that the woman has gone off with the lover to his secretary cottage in the grounds of the church.

There are strong chords between Tosca and the les Vepres Siciliennes, in that opera concerns an occupying power and a resistance movement in this instance led by Angelotti who we see escaping from prison, the Castel, del Angelo in Rome and which I have visited. He is hidden first in the church where he makes use of the meal left for the painter by the Sacriston. It emerges that woman who has come to pray had no interest in the painter but had come to leave clothing in the chapel, a dress and a fan so he could leave the city dressed as a woman with the fan hiding his features.

Unfortunately the alarm is sounded before the escape plan can be effected so the artist painter takes Angelloti to his cottage, mentioning that there is a well with half way down a passage to small cave. In the rush he leaves the fan which belonged to the sister and has the family crest. This is found by the ruthless governor Scarpia played by the Baritone George Gagnidre to brilliant effect. He persuades Tosca to go off in search of her alleged miscreant lover followed by one of his men who sees where the artist is located but when they arrive the escaped prisoner cannot be found so they arrest the painter played by the great tenor Roberto Alagna who I last saw in the Met Carmen and who is playing this role in the Christmas New Year production at the ROH which I will experiencing in person in the New Year and where the tickets arrived last week.

I felt his voice has become stronger and richer than previously although it may be more to do with the nature of the two roles and his two arias brought the house down as they say such was his emotional power. Scarpia then has Tosca also brought to the palace where he is seen being entertained by three women to commercial virtue and where he plots to use the situation of power to possess Tosca. He openly sings that his interest is only one of lust and that once achieved he likes to move on, rather like former President Kennedy who got a headache if he did not have sex with a new woman everyday. In this instance Scarpia preferred situation where he took women against their will and in Tosca is his best challenge to date because of her spiritual strength she sings in the Cathedral choir as well as commitment to one man and intolerance of unfaithfulness. He ensure she is a witness to the torturing of her lover and then offers them freedom if she accepts his lust. He explains to that the lover will be shot but this will be a fake as the guns will fire blanks and he tells his henchman to undertake a similar execution to a previous occasion. What Tosca does not know is that the previous execution was also a fatal one presented as a fake to get his way with someone else.

She yields up the hiding place to the despair of her lover. Angelotti is reported to have committed suicide rather than be captured.

After Scarpia signs the release warrant Tosca chances on a knife and stabs the lecher to death. She visits the jail as requested earlier and explains what is to happen to her lover and that he must pretend to be dead and not move until the soldiers leave. To her horror she finds that he has been killed and this coincides with the discovery of the body of Scarpia. Rather than face capture she throws herself off the battlements to her death. This proved to be one of the great operas an amazingly I then discovered there is to be a performance locally at the Sunderland Empire next April

Verdi Les Vepres Siciliannes

It is time to devote writing to recent cultural experiences of considerable merit and first a great discovery in Grand Opera, Les Vepres Sicilliennes by Verdi from the Royal Opera House London broadcast live at 17,45 on Monday November 4^th at the Cineworld Bolden at a cost of £10,89, In addition to the petrol travel cost, a coffee at McDonalds beforehand £1.19 and a cherry ice cream during one of the intervals £2.20, the overall expenditure if one includes meals cooked at home would at no more come to £25 whereas to have travelled to London with overnight accommodation and cost of a best seat in the house ticket, assuming gaining all the best deals by booking in advance the cost would have been no less than £250 and likely to have been significantly more. So while it would be great to hear my favourite works in all the great Opera Houses of the World once. This is the life as it is claimed.

The opera is rarely performed which I do not understand why given it overwhelming beauty and intensity written for the Paris Opera House with its first performance in 1855. Whereas I have always been disappointed that Carmen is sung in French and not Spanish the land where it is set. This opera is best sung in French instead of the Italian, or Sicilian which is the basis for the story based on a situation in the that country as it was then in 1282 and its capital Palermo.

What the Director of the Royal Opera House performances has done is to set the Opera not in 1285 Palermo but 1855 Paris which makes more poignant the struggle of the Sicillennes against the brutal occupiers of their country who regarded any local woman, whether she was married or not as a prize to be used as they wanted, ironically in this instance the occupying power was France with the opera created within the Age of Revolutions.

　

The first two and final two acts are of 70 minutes with the third performed by a corps des ballet in Paris but in this production there are important ballet sequences throughout the five acts, notable with the overture and introduction in which the ruthless French commander of the Island rapes a young woman, in this instance a member of the ballet and where the ballet master feels driven from his homeland by his experience.

Jean Procida was a young doctor in the original performance and he is played by an outstanding young baritone Erwin Schrott from Uruguay who looks younger than his 41 years and is the life partner of the great Russian soprano Anna Netrebeko with whom they have a son. Procida was already a Patriot and it his leadership return which is eagerly awaited by those who still nurture their home of a Sicily freed from French rule.

One of these is Helene played by a the French Soprano Lianna Haroutoinian, a mature woman of ample size playing a young girl who is devastated by the death of her brother, another patriot at the hands of the Island ruler Guy de Montfort, and intent on revenge with her suitor the young Henry played the similarly mature and amble American tenor Bryn Hymel so this couple is well suited in terms of age and physique which is always desirable these days when portraying an attraction both loving and or sexual.

Unaware that Henry is his son or Monfont his father, the ruler is interested in Henry who is imprisoned for his anti French interests and ruler offers him a role in the country if eh keeps away from Helene In the second Act which follows on quickly from the first Procida return home determined to lea a revolution but finds he majority of people either too frightened or too complacent to support and he relies on a few patriots, including Henry and Helene who he meets upon landing.

The way the story is told is to combine aspect of the original location of Sicily with the Paris Opera House with the tiered side of the Opera house an integral part of the set and used for the chorus of occupying soldiers with the Siciliennes, peasants attired form the chorus on stage there are also reflecting mirrors when the dancers appear.

The trio plan to launch an uprising during a festival celebrating the marriage of young Siciliennes and Henry swears to kill Monfort to avenge the brother of Helene whose skull she holds and in return she gives the love from he seeks.

Just before the festivities and uprising the ruler‘s men arrive bringing an invitation for Henry to attend a ball and after he refuses he arrested and dragged off. Procida arrives too late to intervene and too late to stop some of the soldiers carrying of the Sicilliennes would be brides and some of the wives and mothers for their own pleasure. Procida and Helene determine to gate crash the ball in an effort to save Henry more than the Sicilian women and they berate the menfolk for allowing this to happen without resistance.

It was at this point that the first long interval occurred for 35 mins with after around 20 an interview with the Musical director from the bar restaurant where staff are clearing the tables from those who had booked to take one of their courses at this point.

It is in the act that the rule receives a letter written by the woman he abducted and raped when he first arrived on the island to say that her son Henry was his child. She had now died. Monfort is overjoyed at the news although sad that he had remained unaware of the existence of his son. During the ballet which takes place at the ball, Procida and Helene are horrified when they and their friends are exposed by Henry who is unwilling to be responsible for the death of his father however much he hates the man. His friends are horrified by this betrayal and scene wends in dramatic fashion as it appears the revels are all shot with the exception of Henry. Helene and Procida are in fact imprisoned before execution which is the scene at the commencement of fourth act after a further local interval, During the first I had enjoyed a scoop of cherry ice cream but stayed in place for the second apart from a comfort break. I think it was in the second break that a short film was shown on the creation of the ballet sequences.

Henry obtains a pass to try and explain to Helene the reason for his betrayal and to regain her love and to die with her. He is able to save her and Procida by accepting Monfort as his father who arranges their marriage which will mark a new relationship between the French and the Sicilliennes. Helene is then advised by Procida that he has arranged for an uprising and massacre of the French one she marries Henry and the bells ring out their joy. She rejects Henry at the last moment to avoid the bloodshed but Monfont seeing the unhappiness of the son and sensing that Helene also loves the young man orders the marriage to take place and for the bells to commence to ring. The Opera ends suddenly rather than dramatically without the massacre being shown.

The Sicilian Vespers (Italian: Vespri siciliani Sicilian: Vespiri siciliani) is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Capetian king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks, three thousand French men and women were slain by the rebels and the government of King Charles lost control of the island. It was the beginning of the War of the Sicilian Vespers. The rebellion commenced with the bells sounding for the vespers as the crown turned on the French after a man had been murdered for attempting to protect his wife from sexual advances.