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EARLY MUSIC REVIEW
Lively and Captivating Baroque Intermezzo
May 18, 2001
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By Kaneez Munjee
The Baroque theater group Teatro Bacchino gave a lively and captivating performance on Friday at First Lutheran Church in Palo Alto of Giuseppe Maria Orlandini's Serpilla and Bacocco, "the most frequently performed piece of musical drama in the entire 18th century." This comic intermezzo introduces the two characters well after they have fallen in love and married — at the point where love's glow dims and they begin to see each other's faults. David Newman, bass, immediately established himself as an adroit character actor in the role of Bacocco, who, having gambled the night away, now seeks to avoid being found out by his wife, Serpilla (who clearly gains the upper hand), sung with equal vim and vigor by soprano Melissa Fogarty.
Newman and Fogarty, well paired, made full use of the dramatic underpinnings of the piece, singing with expression and just enough affectation to be thoroughly convincing in their roles. Newman was especially remarkable when he disguised his voice as well as his clothes to fool Serpilla in the second scene, singing with a tight, almost nasal quality so far from that of his natural voice. The two were well matched vocally and well balanced with the three instruments: Rachel Durling, violin; David Morris, cello; and Jennifer Griesbach, harpsichord; particularly effective in the intimate acoustics of the church.
With apparent ease throughout, all five performers created an excellent rhythmic ensemble. Teatro Bacchino introduced each scene of the intermezzo with a short instrumental piece, an Overture by Baldassare Galuppi and a Sinfonia by Leonardo Leo. Galuppi's lively Overture established the mood perfectly, despite moments of questionable intonation between the strings. The group's sound was better in Leo's Sinfonia, which is quite a lovely piece.
Orlandini, whose music is definitely characteristic of its time, was well known in his day for both serious operas and comic intermezzi. Serpilla and Bacocco presents the typical musical conventions of the intermezzo, with its da capo arias and dramatic recitatives and with the instrumental parts imitating the affects of the characters. This last ranges from frenetic string playing as Bacocco tries to escape Serpilla's notice, to the sliding lines in the violin to accompany his claims of fainting and falling, to the short and bouncy punctuations of the "pitter-patters" of their hearts in the final moments. Griesbach's translation of the original Italian libretto is true to the style of the period, but also includes certain modern phrases that brought the characters closer to today's audience. Consistent with that, the staging (by Griesbach) brought out the Baroque idiom while allowing the players' expressions to be accessible to a modern audience. Particularly memorable was Serpilla's final entrance, as she plodded through the audience singing "Charity!" and begging for coins — which all but one audience member willingly dropped in her cup. The combination of Newman's and Fogarty's acting, Griesbach's staging, and the period costumes and gestures made for an enjoyable theatrical experience. (Kaneez Munjee is a doctoral candidate in musicology at Stanford University, a singer, and editor of the newsletter of the California Bach Society.) ©2001 Kaneez Munjee, all rights reserved |
