Opera Warhorses

Robert, who has had the San Francisco Opera subscription seats across the aisle from me for decades, related a funny incident to me. According to him, a young woman, attending her first opera at a Los Angeles Opera performance of  Puccini’s “Tosca”, came out at the intermission after the second act and remarked about Tosca murdering the Baron Scarpia “Boy, I didn’t see that coming.”

Regular opera goers will understand the humor that Robert sees in the story. Most long-term opera subscribers have seen “Tosca” many times and know both the score and the libretto very well. But if one reflects on the idea of a core repertory of operas that audiences go to again and again, one might regard it as a quite special idea. Two centuries ago, there was not a “core repertory” of operas. New operas were constantly expected and revivals of old operas were rather rare.

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[Below: Siegmund (Brandon Jovanovich, left) and Sieglinde (Anja Kampe, right) name each other, secure the sword Nothung, and run away together; edited image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]

[For my performance review, see: Power Singing, Powerful Imagery in Zambello’s “Walkuere” – San Francisco Opera, June 15, 2011.]

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But the “standard repertory” of opera persists, not necessarily because opera companies prefer to perform the best-known operas, but because audiences – particularly in countries that have no tradition of large scale public subsidies of opera companies – vote for them with their ticket purchases. San Francisco Opera’s David Gockley has gone to great lengths, through a quite revealing commentary in his company’s recent opera programs, to quantify this phenomenon.

Because there are a specific number of subscription series, an opera will normally be performed for a minimum of six performances in a San Francisco season, but some operas sell so many tickets that they can be scheduled for up to twelve performances. This latter group Gockley names the “AA” operas. He wants good singers for all performances, but the “AA” operas don’t require ”big name” stars. The “Double As” that he names are Bizet’s “Carmen”, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, “Nozze di Figaro” and “Magic Flute”, Puccini’s “La Boheme”, “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot”, Rossini’s “Barber of Seville” and Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata”.

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[Below: Mimi (Ana Maria Martinez, left) finds herself attracted to Rodolfo (David Lomeli, right); edited image, based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]

[For my performance review, see David Lomeli, Ana Maria Martinez Shine in Deeply Cast “La Boheme” – Santa Fe Opera, July 2, 2011.]

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 Gockley announced a policy that San Francisco Opera will not repeat an “AA” opera more than once in five years. (Since “Butterfly” has been performed in 2006, 2007 and 2010, and “Nozze di Figaro” was performed in both 2006 and 2010, presumably these two operas will be out of the repertory for a while). The five year bracket is in evidence for “Carmen” (2006 and 2011) and “Magic Flute” (2007 and 2012).

He uses “such as” for his list, but it’s not clear what other operas than those he names would make the “AA” list. (He does not list Puccini’s “Tosca” or Verdi’s “Aida”, which perhaps are candidates.)

The “A” operas are those that Gockey is confident of scheduling for up to nine performances. He provides five examples in this list: Bellini’s “Norma”, Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”, Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci” and Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”. In this list of five, the Donizetti, Gershwin and Verdi works cited have been performed during the Gockley era, and the other two a season or two before, so one guesses the assignment to categories is based on fairly recent experience with audience demand for tickets.

He stated that the “B” and “C” operas can sell up to six performances. The “B” examples consist of ones done during his tenure: Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” (performed in the 1869 version without the Polish acts); the three one-act operas of Puccini’s “Il Trittico”; Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Salome”; and three operas expected in the future – Berlioz’ “Les Troyens”, Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffman” and Verdi’s “Falstaff” (all three of which perhaps generated intense internal discussion as to how many performances to schedule). World premieres, of which Gockley has shepherded three, are expected to attract enough attention to rate a “B”.

The “C” operas include “baroque works” and those of several composers – Berg, Britten, Janacek, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. (The last named’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk” will be on the schedule, according to an absolutely solid source, with Brandon Jovanovich as the Sergei.) He lists Bellini’s “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” (which has been expected to return to the San Francisco stage) and Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” and “Die Frau ohne Schatten” in the “C” category as well.

[Below: the Governess (Patricia Racette, seated) is now certain that the ghost of Peter Quint (William Burden, at window) is real; edited image, based on a copyrighted Robert Millard photograph, courtesy of the Los Angeles Opera.]

[For my performance review, see: Countdown to Britten Centennial: Conlon, Racette and Burden Impress in Enigmatic “Turn of the Screw” – March 12, 2011.]

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According to Gockley, there are certain opera stars with sufficient box office appeal to make a “C” opera into a “B” or a “B” in to an “A”. (His examples are Placido Domingo in Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Angela Gheorghiu in Puccini’s “La Rondine”), although, he concedes, it is not so likely that a superstar box office draw could be persuaded to commit to a dozen performances, with the result that an “A” opera could be turned into a “AA”.

Gockley then reveals that each season is deliberately balanced to include – as an example of how a now typical nine-opera season is constructed – three AAs, two As, two Bs and two Cs. And, as a final consideration, over a five year period, the “Big Five” composers – Mozart, Puccini, Richard Strauss, Verdi and Wagner – all must be well-represented, although they need not be present every year.

I find his formulas for constructing an opera season to be fascinating and revelatory. One expects that the impresarios in other cities would shift some operas  from one category to another based on their own company’s experience. Some might take issue with the details (even with a personal great reverence for Berlioz I wonder whether the demand for “Les Troyens” in San Francisco will really prove to be in the same category as “Rosenkavalier” and only a category below “Lucia” and “Trovatore”.) But the Gockley formulas display an intense interest in what the audience will actually buy tickets to see and it suggests a healthy balance between the immensely popular, the new, and the little known. It’s nice to have three  Mozart operas in Gockley’s ten opera list of what he categorizes as AAs.

The core repertory – and what operas can be depended upon to generate box office appeal – will continue to be a subject of discussion on this website. David Gockley’s expressed thoughts on how a person running a company decides which operas to schedule, is an illuminating contribution to our understanding of how the opera impresarios make decisions.

For those who wish to comment on this post, or any other item on this website, please contact me at operawarhorses@yahoo.com. 

An ongoing feature of this website is the “Best Bet Revivals” series. When one opera company mounts a physical production of an opera that has been favorably praised by this website, and offers it with a cast of singers who are comparable (at least) to those seen previously, then we alert potential opera goers to the upcoming performances and to our previous relevant reviews.

The examples of “Best Bet Revivals” discussed here are the first two offerings of 2012 of both the Los Angeles Opera and the San Diego Opera. (Each of the four productions featured below, from the standpoint of that audience, is a production new to the company.)

Salome (Richard Strauss), San Diego Opera, January 28, 31, February 3 and 5(m), 2012.

Dancer Sean Curran, who has extended his artistic career by assuming the roles of operatic stage director, chose an opera in which a dance (indeed, a wilden Tanz) by the title character becomes a central plot point. Curran revives his production, seen in San Francisco a little over a year ago, in San Diego, with the San Francisco Opera Jokanaan (Greer Grimsley) and Herodias (Irene Mishura) joining him.

The title role in the opera, which opens San Diego Opera’s 2011 season, is to be sung by Lise Lindstrom, who was spectacular in the title role of Puccini’s “Turandot” that opened San Diego’s 2010 season.

[Below: Jokanaan (Greer Grimlsey) is the object of the sexual desire of Salome (here Nadja Michael); resized image, based on a Cory Weaver photograph, courtesy of the San Francisco Opera.]

The surreality of Bruno Schwengl’s set design (in this co-production of the opera companies of Saint Louis, San Francisco and Montreal) fits the surreality of the opera, in which some of most exotically lyrical melodies in the German repertoire are counterpoised with the depravity of the court of the Tetrarch Herod (Allan Glassman). Sean Panikkar is the Narraboth. Steuart Bedford conducts.

For my performance review of the production as seen in San Francisco, see: Nadja Michael a Sensation in Luisotti’s Soaring San Francisco “Salome” – October 18, 2009.

For my performance review of the production as seen in San Diego, see: 

Lindstrom, Grimsley, Glassman Gleam in Sensuous, Searing San Diego Opera “Salome” – January 28, 2012

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Simon Boccanegra (Verdi), Los Angeles Opera, February 11, 15, 19, 21, 26, March 1 and 4, 2012.

Elijah Moshinsky’s version of “Simon Boccanegra”, first produced for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with sets by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Peter J. Hall, is arguably the most elegant amd venerable production of “Boccanegra” in current use. Moshinsky himself will be the stage director for the vehicle for Placido Domingo’s first major baritone role.

[Below: Placido Domingo (center) as Doge Simon Boccanegra; resized image, based on a photograph, courtesy of the Los Angeles Opera.]

For the Los Angeles performances, Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez will be the Maria Amelia and Paolo Gavanelli, an eminent Boccanegra himself, will be Paolo. Vitalij Kowaljow, whose Fiesco Grimaldi has been seen by San Francisco audiences, will bring this role to the Southland. Stefano Secco is the Gabriele Adorno. Los Angeles Opera’s Music Director James Conlon will conduct.

For my performance reviews of this production in San Francisco and Houston, see: Verdian Back to Basics: San Francisco’s Satisfying “Simon Boccanegra” – September 21, 2008 and Hvorostovsky, Guryakova, Berti Excel in Houston “Simon Boccanegra” – November 4, 2006.

Moby Dick (Heggie), San Diego Opera, February 18, 21, 24 and 26(m), 2012.

Jack Heggie’s richly lyrical score and Gene Scheer’s intelligent adaptation of Melville’s iconic novel as a libretto for the operatic stage are essential elements of what is arguably the most successful 21st century opera to date.

San Diego Opera, as one of the original four opera companies who commissioned this work, describes it as a “world premiere co-production”.

[Below: Captain Ahab (Ben Heppner left) appears on the deck of the Pequod with his cabin boy, Pip (Talise Trevigne, front row, second from left) and his mate Stubb (here, Robert Orth,  front, far right); edited image, based on a Karen Almond photograph, courtesy of the Dallas Opera.]

Four of the major roles from its first performance ever in April 201o are reassembled for the San Diego Opera, the second stop on the opera’s three-country, five opera company tour: Ben Heppner (Captain Ahab), Morgan Smith (Starbuck), Talise Trevigne (Pip) and Jonathan Lemalu (Queequeg) and stage director Leonard Foglia. Joining them will be Jonathan Boyd (Ishmael). Karen Keltner will conduct.

[For my review of the world premiere in Dallas, see: World Premiere: Heggie’s Theatrically Brilliant, Melodic “Moby Dick” at Dallas Opera – April 30, 2010.]

Albert Herring (Britten) Los Angeles Opera, February 25, 28, March 3, 8, 11(m), 14 and 17(m), 2012.

We use the adjective “superlative” sparingly on this website, and when we do it is because either me or my colleague Tom regard a production as worth special commendation. Tom has awarded it to the Santa Fe Opera’s Summer 2010 production of  Benjamin Britten’s hilarious comedy about a May Queen contest in which the eligible contestants are the virgin girls of Loxford, England.

But what if there is not a single girl who fits the ideas of the guardian of the community’s morals, Lady Billows, as to what constitutes a proper May Queen? What if the only virgin is a male, in this case Albert Herring, the grocery clerk tied closely to his mother’s apron strings?  Then revise the contest to name a May King! But, as the opera will show, this will not assure an outcome that meets Lady Billows’ expectations.

[Below: Nancy (here, Kate Lindsey, left) has her own thoughts about how Albert Herring (Alek Shrader, right) should live his life; edited image, based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera.]

Director Paul Curran, who created the staging for the successful Santa Fe Festival production mounts the opera, again with Kevin Knight’s sets and costumes, for Los Angeles. Alek Shrader, who performed the title role in Santa Fe, is again the lead in Los Angeles. His Santa Fe Lady Billows, Christine Brewer, performs the last two performances in Los Angeles.

The rest of the cast is new to the production, with most of them new to Los Angeles Opera, including Daniela Mack as Nancy, Liam Bonner as Sid, Janis Kelly as Lady Billows (first five performances), Jane Bunnell as Mrs Herring and Robert McPherson as the Mayor. Stacey Tappan is Miss Wordsworth and Ronnita Nicole Miller is the Florence Pike. James Conlon will conduct.

[For Tom's review of the production in Santa Fe, see Superlative: Britten’s “Albert Herring” Brings Big Time Laugh-in to Santa Fe Opera – August 25, 2010.]

I suppose it is still taught in “opera appreciation” classes, that in the early 19th century Italy there were three composers (Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti), who constituted a bel canto “school” of opera. Later in the century, it is taught, Giuseppe Verdi and after him Giacomo Puccini replaced them in the Italian public’s and The World’s esteem.

I have a rather different perspective on how to categorize 19th century Italian opera. My position is to consider the work of one of the supposed “bel canto” composers, Gaetano Donizetti (especially those operas between 1830 and the end of this creative life in 1844) as notably different in the aggregate from the works of Rossini and Bellini, but much closer in style to those of Verdi written between 1839 (“Oberto”) and 1850 (“Stiffelio”). To describe this similarity in styles, I suggest the term “the Donizetti-Early Verdi continuum”.

One can make some generalizations about the Donizetti and Verdi operas written between 1830 and 1850. Most have soprano roles which require extraordinary vocal agility. Most have a Romantic tenor (whom we expect to be capable of singing a high C as a chest tone) who plays a character that is usually the love interest of the soprano’s, and a lyric baritone whose character more often than not is the rival of the tenor’s.

These operas form a cultural vanguard, in the sense that many of the latest contributions to Romantic era literature, drama and poetry provide the subject matter for the operas’ plots. But they also embrace tradition, in that the operas often observe such early 19th century Italian opera conventions as the cavatina-cabaletta combination, normally followed by a stretta and second cabaletta verse; the concertato, where the principals assemble for a concerted number (like the “Lucia” Sextet);  and rousing choruses that might follow or be accompanied by an onstage banda.

By my definition, such Donizetti works as “Anna Bolena”, “Maria Stuarda”, “Lucia di Lammermoor”,  Lucrezia Borgia”, “Roberto Devereux” and “La Favorite” would be considered as part of a category of works that includes also Verdi’s “Nabucco”, “Ernani”, “Attila” and “Luisa Miller”.

The description would account for these composers’ comic works as well, although Donizetti, with three megahit comedies, “L’Elisir d’Amore”, “La Fille du Regiment” and “Don Pasquale”,  would be the undisputed champion of this category. Verdi’s only effort during the two decades under consideration, “Un Giorno di Regno”, would not be considered as in the league of the Donizetti comedies, even those that are not as famous as the three works listed. (I will make further references to the Donizetti-Verdi relationship in an article to be published in San Diego Opera’s program notes for “Don Pasquale”.)

Three of these “Donizetti-Early Verdi” works will be performed in the American West during the first half of 2012:

Attila (Verdi), Seattle Opera, January 18, 21, 22 (m), 25 and 28, 2012.

Verdi’s ninth opera will be heard in two different productions (in Seattle in January and in San Francisco in June). Seattle will provide the opportunity for basso John Relyea to perform a role in a fully staged production in which he has appeared in concert form.

Although the historic Attila terrorized such fifth century French and German towns as Paris and those we now call Orleans, Strasbourg, Reims, Metz and Mainz, the legends about Attila have had as much impact on European culture as the facts. As an example, Attila is a character in the medieval Nibelungenlied, arguably as important as Siegfried and Bruennhilde. The many layers of fact and legend provide for ever shifting layers in what to think about this “scourge of God”.

Seattle will bring to American shores the Charles Edwards production, originally seen at the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, and later in Liege, Belgium and Tel Aviv, Israel, which relates the concept of “civilized” warriors fighting barbarians to the 21st century. Bernard Uzan is the stage director, Carlos Montanaro the conductor.

[Below: John Relyea as Attila the Hun; edited image, based on a photograph, courtesy of the Seattle Opera.]

Venezuelan soprano Ana Lucrecia Garcia (who is scheduled to appear in both the Seattle and San Francisco “Attila” productions) is the Odabella. Spinto tenor Antonello Palombi is the Foresto. Marco Vratogna, the Italian baritone familiar to San Francisco Opera audiences, is the Ezio. Veteran basso Michael Devlin appears in the cameo role of Leone.

For my performance review, see: Reveling in Early Verdi: Relyea, Garcia, Vratogna, Palombi in Montanaro’s Uncut “Attila” – Seattle Opera, January 14, 2012.

Don Pasquale (Donizetti), San Diego Opera, March 10, 13, 16 and 18(m), 2012.

The San Diego Opera, the most Southwesterly of continental U. S. opera companies, mounts its  famous production of “Don Pasquale”, the most successful opera of the final few months of Donizetti’s creative life. The production, both created and directed by David Gately, is, in Gately’s concept, set in the Far West of old.

The opera has been described as the crowning achievement of the buffa style of comic opera, whose predecessors includes Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”.  But “Don Pasquale” has  layers of the kind of character development that is a characteristic of Donizetti’s major comedies.

[Below: a bath for Ernesto (here, Matthew Polenzani, in tub) is the subject of the promotional poster for "Don Pasquale", based on a Ken Howard photograph, courtesy of the San Diego Opera.]

The San Diego Opera has assembled a major league cast of singers for the production’s revival. The Don himself is played by John Del Carlo, and the conspirators against him are Charles Castronovo (Ernesto), Daniele De Niese (Norina) and Jeff Mattsey (Dr Malatesta). Marco Guidarini conducts.

Mary Stuart – Maria Stuarda (Donizetti), Houston Grand Opera, April 21, 27, 29(m), May 2 and 4, 2012.

The Houston Grand Opera had commissioned a new production of Donizetti’s “Mary Stuart” with a European design team, but “artistic differences” scuttled the project. Instead, noting that the Minnesota Opera has been mounting new productions of Donizetti works for several years, opted to use that company’s production which debuted at the beginning of 2011.

Stage Director Kevin Newbury and his creative team (set designer Neil Patel and costume designer Jessica Jahn) will bring the Minnesota concept to the Lone Star State.

[Below: Mary Stuart, the Queen of Scots (here Judith Howarth) under arrest; edited image of a photograph for the Minnesota Opera.]

The opera’s title role wil be filled by one of the most illustrious of the alumni of Houston Grand Opera Young Artist’s program, Joyce di Donato. She will be joined by the Elizabeth I of Katie van Kooten and the Leicester of Eric Cutler. Oren Gradus is the Cecil and Robert Gleadow the Talbot. Houston Grand Opera’s recently promoted Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will conduct.

Attila (Verdi) San Francisco Opera, June 12, 15, 20, 23, 28 and July 1(m), 2012

Nicola Luisotti conducted performances of “Attila” at Milan’s La Scala in a new co-production with the San Francisco Opera. The production team (also responsible for San Francisco Opera Fall 2011′s new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”)  was stage director Gabriele Lavia, set designer Alessandro Camera and costume designer Andrea Viotti. Luisotti will be in the pit in June 2012 to conduct the San Francisco performances of the co-production.

[Below: Ferruccio Furlanetto as Attila; edited image of a photograph, courtesy of San Francisco Opera.]

The title role in the opera will be sung by basso Ferruccio Furlanetto, appearing 32 years after his San Francisco Opera debut, but following an absence of a decade and a half from the War Memorial Opera House.  Ana Lucrecia Garcia, who was Odabella at La Scala, will perform the role yet again in San Francisco. Quinn Kelsey is the Ezio, with Fabio Sartori and Diego Torre sharing the role of Foresto.

The last person to have sung Attila on the San Francisco stage was Samuel Ramey in 1991. He will return to San Francisco to sing the character role of Leone.