Variazioni su un tema di Vanarelli

Speranza

http://www.clarin.com/espectaculos/musica/Cuidar-dice_0_575942407.html

"Cuidar lo que se dice"

--- "cuidar" may be a verb that requires some 'performative' analysis. Who 'cares'?

"Crítica. “Fedra”, de Mario Perusso. Se estrenó mundialmente en el Colón esta ópera notable, pero con falencias a nivel textual."

"notable, pero" -- It would be good to review other operas which were similarly dubbed "notable" but with 'falencias' in the libretto.

"19.10.2011 | Por Federico Monjeau"

"“Fedra” Mario Perusso"

"El Teatro Colón acaba de presentar la ópera comisionada al argentino Mario Perusso como compositor en residencia."

Perusso has expressed an interest in this post: Gandini preceded him.

"Fedra, que subió con su dirección y régie de su hijo Marcelo Perusso, responsable además del libreto. Se trata de la quinta ópera compuesta por Perusso desde La voz del silencio, de 1969."

P. Urtubey was making a reference to the locus classicus on this, "Argentine opera", by Valenti Ferro. It is interesting to note that the Colon Theatre actually first suggested that Perusso may provide a revival for "El angel de la muerte". He chose to compose a whole new thing altogether.

"Fedra retoma la tragedia de Eurípides en términos clásicos. No hay una auténtica reelaboración, más allá de la ambientación atemporal que declaran los autores, pero que de todas formas nos remite a un tiempo antiguo, con esa mezcla de templo en ruinas y el paisaje pétreo que uno podría encontrar en una árida quebrada del noroeste argentino."

This above is a good passage, that may require expansion! "retoma la tragedia" "en términos clasicos" -- as C. Singer has it in his notes in the hand programme, the sources of the myth are many and various! -- with Euripides, admittedly, as the apex. "No hay una autentica reelaboracion" -- and one may point, however, to the instances where Marcello Perusso choses to diverge from the sources: have Fedra strangle her rival Aricia, and so on. It should be remembered that in the Euripides, Fedra dies BEFORE Ippolito does, so this is another divergence. The Aricia role, in fact, is of later vintage. I enjoyed FM's reference to the 'arida quebrada del noroeste argentino'. Travelogues take note!

"En ese escenario despojado y oscuro, nocturno del principio al fin, no hay tronos ni coronas, pero las jerarquías permanecen intactas."

This is a good point, in that I find that it is the "MASCULINITY" hierarchy, represented by Teseo (father) and his 'patriarch' attitude towards Ippolito that constitues the axis for the tragedy. It all resolves around Teseo and his display of powerful alpha-masculinity, as it were! Ippolito just a victim, alas.

The point about the light is interesting in that the "Moon" features largely in presence and allusions throughout -- Selene and Ecate. "No hay tronos ni coronas": indeed Teseo is _king_ and in some of the early versions indeed Fedra tries to seduce Ippolito not so much to be her lover, but the next king of Athens (by killing Teseo). It should be remembered that Fedra was a princess, and daughter of yet another King -- Minos. As such, she makes the point that Teseo never actually loved her, but acquired her as he acquires any piece of property.

"No hay reelaboración, pero lo que decepciona más en esta ópera es la falta de sensibilidad literaria. Puede entenderse: tal vez algunos compositores viven tan enfrascados en el maravilloso mundo de las notas que se les escapa un poco ese otro estrato del arte. En ese caso deberían pedirle el libreto a un buen escritor."

Marcello P. should reply to thyis!

"En su realización operística de Fedra , que se llamó Hippolyte et Aricie y que justamente acaba de presentarse por primera vez en la Argentina por la Compañía de las Luces, Jean-Philippe Rameau confió el libreto a Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, con excelente resultado."

It is debatable whether Pellegrin was a "man of letters". Apparenly, he was just a priest! Oddly, his translator in Italy was ANOTHER priest: Genoa-born Frugoni, who possibly improved on Pellegrin, and in any case brought the thing to the language where it belongs! (apres Vanarelli).

"Los compositores actuales no deberían abandonar esa costumbre. Es cierto que hoy todo se ha prosificado: la ópera, la tragedia, la poesía misma, pero eso no vuelve las cosas más fáciles."

This is a point that needs some elaboration. There is indeed 'stream-of-consciousness', and 'poetic prose'. I was thinking: suppose an Italian theatre commisions someone to provide a 'metrical version' of Marcello Perusso's 'prose' from the target language into Italian. There were a few topics and illusions, not to mention figures of speech -- comparisons, and a few vivid descriptions -- in the libretto, that may survive a good translation!

"En este texto no hay una sola elipsis. Es un texto saturado, explícito en grado sumo, en especial el primer acto,"

'saturado' seems to be the key word here. Minimalist works are deemed 'bare'. Works which parody on old melodrammatic conventions are dubbed 'saturado' by contrast.

"prácticamente un farragoso e ininterrumpido discurso de Fedra en torno de su ilegítima pasión por el hijastro (Hipólito)."

It may do to revise the etymology of 'farragoso'! "Discurso" (arioso?) is perhaps the right word. The word 'illegitimate' requires some analysis in that Perusso's Fedra is closer to Seneca's than Euripides'. She does not necessarily "LIVE" the illegitimacy of her affair, although the point is controversia.

"La escena también por momentos luce un poco saturada, no tanto por los objetos como por la “expresividad” y el movimiento de los cuerpos, comenzando por ese primer cuadro de esclavos-perros contorsionistas que se preparan para la partida de caza. Las coreografías de esta ópera no agregan nada, excepto un toque kitsch."

"Kitch" and saturado go hand in hand. Some of the choreographic movements are reminiscent of, say, Isadora Duncan, who of course was trying to revive old Hellenic dances, so one has to be careful there.

"La música compensa. Sobre todo la parte orquestal, realizada con maestría, aunque tampoco carecen de interés las líneas vocales, que se mueven entre el recitativo y el arioso."

I totally agree. Perusso has expanded on what his intention was: he has recollected, in preview interviews on how he wanted to depart from the avant-garde manifestos of the Di Tella institute. With "Fedra" he felt he was coming back to old melodrama, hence the focus on 'vocal lines, between recitativo and arioso' -- a 'recitar parlando' almost. I expect there will be detailed commentary on the score in further publications.

"Las partes vocales ganan cuando la progresión del texto cede y la música respira, como en el dúo de Hipólito y Aricea en el comienzo del acto II"

Aricia is my pet. The fact that it is a toponym near Rome helps. I do find that while Vanarelli finds Aricia irrelevant, most Italian composers did not follow lead. Aricia allows for Ippolito to express his cliche genuine love (not in Henze for example), and in some versions even allows for a 'happy ending' which was de rigeur. Perusso, diverging from MOST traditions makes a criminal of Fedra, who does not hesitate to strangle her rival. The duet allows for the romantic line by Ippolito then, and the obvious harmonies between tenor-hero-role and soprano-tenor's love interest.

"o en la escena del arrepentimento de Fedra, con un fresco cambio de clima y un expresivo solo de violín." "Arrepentimiento" and remorse. By the time of Vanarelli, the "lamento" aria had become a cliche, and without this we don't have an operatic "Fedra". It is interesting that no such moment is allowed in the original source: Euripides, with Fedra committing suicide BEFORE Ippolito gets killed.

(And while we are at it, the resolution of the actual death of Ippolito) is yet another divergence from the canon, more so in view of all the iconological representations of the fallen one.

"Se cuenta con un sólido reparto, en el que brillan especialmente [la mezzosoprano -- good idea by Perusso] Alejandra Malvino como Fedra y la soprano Daniela Tabernig como Aricea, aunque también se luce la contraparte masculina, Leonardo Estévez como Teseo y Marcelo Puente como Hipólito. Completan las buenas actuaciones de Haydée Dabusti (la Nodriza), Florencia Machado (Selene), Alicia Alduncín (Hécate) y Gustavo Feulien (Terámenes)."

And it's always good to have a revival of what opera was always meant to be: myth of love and death!