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OPERA REVIEW
We Have a Winner!
September 8, 2001
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By Dan Leeson
Opera San Jose chose one of the great treasures of humankind, Verdi's comic masterpiece, Falstaff, to open its season on Saturday in the Montgomery Theater. Its 14 performances, following last season's production of Rigoletto, conclude the company's thoughtful tribute to Verdi on the centennial commemorating his death.
Falstaff is not an opera of arias. There are a few, of course — Nanetta's Queen of the Fairies aria, Ford's monologue about his wife's presumed infidelity, and Falstaff's big-as-a-minute solo that speaks of his being so thin that he could pass through the eye of a needle — but here, in Verdi's final opera, arias are the exception. Instead, Falstaff is an ensemble work, a display of brilliant vocal writing and spectacular orchestral commentary that is revelatory, even alongside his succession of achievements.
And after six scenes of an extraordinarily original conception — radically different from anything that this most Italian of composers ever wrote — Verdi ends the opera with the most German of all musical forms, a colossal fugue for the entire cast, as if to say to his Wagnerite critics, "See! I can do it too." On top of that, this unique, youthful-spirited Verdi composition had its premiere when he was 79!
The San Jose production is mature and sophisticated. Even before the opera begins (as the audience is being seated), Falstaff is onstage, writing love letters, in pantomime, to Alice and Meg while Bardolph and Pistol try to mooch a drink or take a snooze. The production design, simple but efficient, deals with the limitations of the Montgomery's tiny stage in an effective manner. The ensemble singing was sensational. There are moments when 10 characters are onstage, simultaneously singing independent vocal lines, sometimes even in multiple meters. The effect was professionally carried off. Diction was clear, Italian pronunciation generally excellent, and this high-speed train of a comedy sped along without a significant or noticeable hitch.
The title role, sung by Scott Bearden (the lead of last season's Rigoletto), was wonderfully done. Funny without overacting, light on his feet, pronouncing every word with crystal-clear Italian diction, and in good voice (except when pressing while singing too loudly), he successfully managed the difficult role of the fat, aging Sir John, who is still convinced that he's a lady-killer. Bearden provided the ideal characterization — except for one spot: Though Falstaff is a clown most of the time, he is not when ruminating, in the third act, about the indignity of being thrown into the Thames. There, he becomes a poignant, reflective, almost tragic character. Alice Ford was beautifully sung by Julie Makerov. She carries an exceptionally fine instrument and is a charming actor and comedian. However, her diction, the least clear of the cast, needs work. Dame Quickly is a role with which any mezzo can mop the stage floor. It's a fabulous burlesque, and Lucy Salome Sträuli took full advantage of it. I found her instrument exquisite, maybe the best voice in the cast, big, round, and well handled. Her excessive flattery — puffing up the gullible Falstaff with repeated "Reverenza" — got howls of delight from the audience. Sandra Rubalcava (last season's excellent Gilda in Rigoletto) sang Nannetta. She is charming, pretty, and effective, but still with a tendency to give a harsh edge to her sound when singing high and loud. Her stage sweetheart, Fenton, was sung by Jonathan Hodel, the Duke of last season's Rigoletto, who continues to be plagued with pitch problems in the upper register of his voice. It is a matter of vocal technique and breath control, and he is not master of the situation.
The ear-opener of the evening was the splendid singing of Constantinos Yiannoudes as Ford. His rendition of the second act monologue was very effective, though it needed more pathos. He is a fine baritone and a joy to hear. The smaller roles of Pistol (Kirk Eichelberger), Bardolph (J. Raymond Meyers), Dr. Caius (Joshua La Force), and Meg Page (Donna Olson) were effective and well sung. The orchestra, under the direction of David Rohrbaugh, played quite well, with the disappointing exception of the lengthy horn solo that opens the final scene. Orchestrally, Falstaff is the most difficult of all the Verdi operas, and the players carried the burden effectively. But the compromises that had to be made to reduce the size of the orchestra because of pit capacity were painful. Passages requiring three solo flutes in harmony cannot be effectively accomplished with two. The consequences of trying to do so were instantly abrasive. Circumstances like these make me long for the new house scheduled for September 2003. Rohrbaugh's tempi were generally on the mark, allowing maximum opportunity for clear, unhurried diction.
Michael McConnell's supertitle English-language translations continually missed the subtlety of Arrigo Boïto's Italian text. Either McConnell has no sense of humor or he is overly sensitive, because many of the most wonderfully comic lines were mistranslated. Ford's delicious "I would trust my beer to a German, my purse to a Dutchman, and my bottle of aquavit to a Turk, but not my wife to herself!" was mangled (for political correctness?), completely failing to catch Boïto's brilliant Italian emulation of Shakespearean English. And when the enormously fat Falstaff muses, after having been thrown into the Thames, "A brutal death. Water swells me!" ("Brutta morte. L'acqua mi gonfia"), the supertitle — "A brutal death. I am waterlogged!" — totally missed the absurdity of Falstaff's fatness increasing. With the exception of such disappointing supertitles and the unavoidably reduced orchestra, Opera San Jose's Falstaff is a surefire winner that can hold its own with productions by major companies. (Dan Leeson, a musicologist and author, is a former member of the San Jose Symphony Orchestra, a retired businessman, and an editor of the 220-volume Complete Mozart edition published by Bärenreiter.) ©2001 Dan Leeson, all rights reserved |
Scott Bearden (Falstaff)
