Madrid, December 17, 2023.
Christmas in Madrid, with all its whirlwind of lights, crowds and shopping, makes the city a spectacle itself. When exiting the Ópera metro station, one finds small Christmas market in the Plaza de Isabel II, and a dazzling Christmas tree. The Teatro Real is also part of this show, always scheduling an ABC repertoire opera for these dates, in order to make money and attract as much spectators as possible. This year, the Christmas opera is Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto. This opera hadn't been seen at the Teatro Real stage since another Christmas, the 2015 ones. At that time, the legendary Leo Nucci sang in the first cast, and, as was usual in his performances, encored the Sì Vendetta in the second act. A then emerging Lisette Oropesa was Gilda in the second cast.
Rigoletto is one of the most performed operas in the world, like Traviata and Trovatore, the famous "popular trilogy" that he composed in the early 1850s, based on a work by Victor Hugo, "Le Roi s'amuse", a romanticized story about two historical figures: Francis I of France, a libertine womanizer, and his jester Triboulet, who has a daughter in whom the king is interested. Since in Verdi's time a king could not be represented in such a way, the plot is transferred to the court of Mantua, the libertine gallant is now its Duke, and the jester is renamed Rigoletto. Libertines in the Modern Age were lords of practically unlimited political and economic power, present in both the nobility and the clergy. Therefore, they could have as many women as they wanted, without any responsibility or legal consequence, and they were helped by their courtisans, who even praised their "conquests" in all corners of the kingdom. This brutal world was portrayed in all its crudeness in the pornographic universe of the Marquis de Sade, among other authors. The Duke is one of these men, the deformed jester Rigoletto is one of those accomplices, and Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter, the innocent victim who falls into the clutches of the libertine, a complete seduction and abuse machine. The victims could not rebel, and if they did, like poor Monterone who curses Rigoletto for laughing at his daughter's misfortune, they were repressed. And the vile jester will find himself involved in a tragedy as a result, despite his efforts to escape from it. Verdi and his librettist Piave created a work in which the psychology of the characters and the music become one, transmitting true theatrical tension. The Duke's impulses, Rigoletto's concern and Gilda's pure and betrayed love envelop the spectator with its virtuous and exciting music, full of well-known arias and cabalettas, and its scenes with a musical effectiveness ahead of their time.
In a world where the powerful ones continue to abuse and triumph over whoever they want, in a time when sexual assaults are still a big social alarm, despite there is more awareness than ever on this subject, and in a country, Spain where they have had a social impact , like the case of "La Manada" (a gang who were judged by two cases of group rape, wide covered by the media), the Teatro Real has counted on the enfant terrible of Spanish theatrical scene, Miguel del Arco, who directs an opera for the first time, to stage it. The staging aims to reflect the horrendous world of sexual abuse by the powerful, the tragedy of rape. However, beyond some specific moments, the staging is less provocative and suffers from many meaningless moments, resulting more sordid than radical, more boring than controversial. Perhaps 15 or 20 years ago it would have sparked outrage in the audience, but not very much today, although it was booed at the premiere, which was attended by Madrid's jet-set. In the prelude, a young woman is cornered by men wearing rabbit masks, who end up abusing her. One of those rapists is Rigoletto, who here has no hump. The set by Sven and Ivana Jonke consists of several curtains, in the first act being red. The courtisans wear suits, while some dancers, choreographed by Luz Arcas, dressed in gold liven up the party in the first act. In the second scene, an igloo-shaped room appears, decorated inside with plants, like a garden, and Gilda is wearing a purple dress, an allusion to current feminism? Does that house allude to Gilda's innocence, about to be stolen?
As she sings her aria, a bunch of naked bodies appear around her. In the second act, the dancers now cover their faces and wear purple dresses, while performing twerking dances while the Duke sings "Possente Amor mi chiama". An overwhelming moment is when Rigoletto once sings his heartbreaking aria asking for his daughter to be freed, the courtiers and the dancers applaud the jester at the same time as the audience does, making them as participants and accomplices in the tragedy as the courtiers. At the end of Sì Vendetta, the courtiers appear in lingerie and rubbing each other in an orgy-like choreography, while the Duke watches ... like a voyeur? The third act represents the fall of the characters. Before it begins, some grunts and screams are heard, which seem to correspond to a rape scene. The dancers, now characterized as prostitutes, perform choreographies of fellatio and various sexual positions while the tenor sings La Donna é Mobile. In the end, a group of naked women carry Gilda's wrapped corpse to the stage, and when she dies she does so by joining the group, representing her as another victim of the Duke, and of the abuse of power.
Madrid's favorite Italian repertoire director, maestro Nicola Luisotti, conducts the Teatro Real Orchestra, to achieve a conducting that on this occasion is divided between moments of great and low-volumed tone to take care of the singers. The prelude was spectacular, as was the end of the second act and almost the entire third act. The strings sounded with agility, achieving their best moment in the duet of Rigoletto and Sparafucile, but somewhat weaker in the tenor's aria of the second act. On the other hand, the woodwind achieved beautiful moments, such as the flute in the Gualtier Maldè aria and the clarinet to reflect the darkness in the third act. The chorus was at its usual excellent level, especially at the end of the first act and throughout the second, as well as in creating the wind effect in the storm scene.
Javier Camarena, one of the favorite tenors of the Madrid audience, returns to the Teatro Real, playing the Duke of Mantua. Camarena is said to have suffered from a change in his voice since he sang Il Pirata four years ago in this same theater. Before the performance began, it was announced that he was suffering from a flu, but that he would sing, in deference to the audience. The tone remains just as beautiful and youthful, although it finds some trouble as higher as the voice goes. The high notes are generally shorter, and in general he gave good renditions of the Questa o quella and the Parmi veder le lagrime, although in the cabaletta he did not give the final high note. But it seems that, within his circumstances, he reserved his voice for La Donna è Mobile, a moment in which he sang at full voice as he could and giving a sharp prolonged ending that impressed some people in the audience, who could not suppress admiring comments.
Ludovic Tézier, one of the most important Verdi baritones of today, sings Rigoletto. Although during the first act he seemed more reserved, despite sounding good from the beginning, it was in the second where he won over the scene. His voice is still remarkable, he knows how to sing Verdi, and in the second act his voice sounds well projected, beautiful, dramatic and reaches the entire room, with a moving and well-sung version of the "Cortigiani". During the following scene with Gilda, as an actor, he managed to convey the fury, and frustration of the character, closing with an apotheotic version of the Vendetta, but no encore was given (Leo Nucci has spoiled the Spanish audiences with his expected and publicized encores everytime he sang Rigoletto or in concerts). In the third act he maintained his excellent level.
Adela Zaharia, a regular in this house, plays Gilda. Her performance convinced the audience, who were delighted in hier rendition of Gualtier Maldè in the first act, but it was from the second act, in the "Tutte le feste al tempio", when she confesses her love for the duke, her father, and all the scene, with her tone becoming more dramatic and her good high register. Moving in the "Lassú in ciel".
In the supporting cast, fine performances were given by Peixin Chen as Sparafucile, a bass with a deep, guttural bass that suits the character, and Marina Viotti as Maddalena with a beautiful contralto tone, a voice that is heard above everyone and was the predominant one. in the third act quartet. Jordan Shanahan, who sang Klingsor in the 2023 Bayreuth Parsifal, on the other hand was just correct as Monterone. The rest of the cast sang in a good level.
The hall was completely full, which shows how eager they were after eight years without seeing the jester on stage. And they rewarded Chen, Camarena, Zaharia and Tézier with ovations, although they were not too long or very thunderous either. They simply enjoyed a good afternoon of opera, although they found the production, judging by the comments, vulgar. Upon leaving, once again, the radiant tree of the Plaza de Oriente and the market awaited the spectator, to wish them a Merry Christmas with some of the best lyrical voices and one of the most beautiful operas. Isn't this musical enthusiasm also a part of the Christmas spirit?
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