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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL OPERA REVIEW
Verdi , Giovanna D’Arco
Soloists, orchestra and chorus of Sarasota Opera, Victor De Renzi (conductor) : Sarasota, Florida, 7.3.2010 (LS)
Production:
Director: Victor DeRenzi Stage Director: Martha Collins Scenic Designer: Jeffrey W. Dean Costume Designer: Howard Tsvi Kaplan Lighting Designer: Ken Yunker Make-Up Designer: Georgianna Eberhard Chorus Master Roger Bingaman Assistant Conductors Macello Cormio, Gary Casity Surtitle Supplier Words for Music Surtitle Translator Victor DeRenzi Cast: Carlo VII King of France Rafael Dávila Giovanna Cristina Castaldi Giacomo Marco Nisticò Delil Heath Huberg Talbot Benjamin Gelfand French Officials Mathew Edwardsen, John Tsotsoros, Jonathan Moots
Giovanna D’Arco , Verdi’s seventh opera, is a fascinating mixture of his own I Lombardi and Von Weber’s Der Freischütz. It features a king who starts out weak and ends up strong, a father who is furious with his daughter but at the end of the opera changes his mind, and last but not least, a warrior-heroine who sees visions and hears choruses of angels and devils in a spooky forest clearing.
Temistocle Solera’s libretto bears no resemblance to the tragedy of Saint Joan. Giovanna dies not on a funeral pyre, but in battle . There are only four characters—Giovanna, her father Giacomo, King Carlo, and a very minor role for the English commander Talbot.
The plot is quite simple. Carlo has given up hope in his battle against the English. In a vision the Virgin Mary commands him to give up his crown at her statue in the forest, and he agrees. When he arrives at the statue he finds Giovanna asking the Virgin for a sword and helmet . A chorus of demons (accompanied by a harmonium) tells Giovanna to enjoy life, but a chorus of angels warns her to beware of worldly love. Carlo thanks God for sending Giovanna to save France and the two prepare for battle. Unfortunately Giacomo has witnessed everything and concludes that Giovanna is in love with the King and under the spell of the Devil.
Giovanna leads the French to a victory and Talbot is astonished. Suddenly Giacomo appears in the English camp and promises Talbot that he will deliver the accursed Giovanna to the English.
Meanwhile Carlo tells Giovanna of his love for her and asks her to marry him. Once again Giovanna hears the demons telling her to marry and enjoy life, and the angelic chorus warning about human love. Only she can hear the voices, and concludes that the Devil has her in his power. Carlo commands her to crown him King and the demons claim victory.
At the coronation Giacomo accuses Giovanna of making a pact with the Devil to gain King Carlos’ love and triumph on the battlefield. When Carlos asks her to defend herself she remains mute. The people are convinced she is a witch. Giacomo tells his daughter that her disgrace and ordeal will be her redemption.
The scene suddenly switches to an English prison where Giovanna languishes. Giacomo witnesses his daughter acknowledging in prayer that she is abandoning earthly love and rededicating her soul to the sacred mission of saving France. Giacomo proclaims his daughter’s purity, frees her (where are the English guards?) and asks her forgiveness. She roars off to battle the English again.
The French triumph, but Giovanna is mortally wounded. She is brought on stage apparently dead, but suddenly revives for one last prayer. Carlo begs her not to die, and Giacomo again seeks forgiveness . Giovanna asks for her battle standard to present to the Virgin. The angelic chorus welcomes her, and the demons are in despair.
Sarasota Opera’s Giovanna D’Arco reminded me of its enjoyable production of Attila three years ago. In both instances the supporting roles, choruses, costumes, sets, and lighting were superb. But the title roles were somewhat disappointing.
The role of Giovanna requires not only fine singing but great acting , inasmuch as the heroine must battle both external earthly and internal spiritual forces. Cristina Castaldi looked like Joan of Arc and exhibited a light , sometimes beautiful, soprano voice. Although her singing improved as the opera progressed, she did not have the vocal power or acting ability to dominate the opera. Indeed it was difficult at times to hear her against the choruses. The fact that Dávila’s Carlo perhaps erred on the side of too much power exacerbated the problem particularly in the beautiful love duet near the end of Sarasota’s Act II. (For some reason Sarasota chose not to use the Prologue, Act I, Act II, Act III designations as did Solera and Verdi but instead presented the opera in four acts).
Rafael Dávila gave a a fine, spirited, kingly performance of Carlo in much the same way he portrayed Foresto in Attila. I wished that his voice might have been a bit sweeter at times, but the audience didn’t seem to care. He received a great round of applause. He is a favorite at Sarasota having performed in Tosca, Rigoletto, Attila, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci and Werther in recent years.
Marco Nistricò was an excellent Giacomo with a consistently beautiful baritone. His poignant solo Speme al vecchio ora una figlia was one of the highlights of the evening as it summarized his dilemma: “Once I had a daughter, the hope of my declining years; one who would have closed my eyes in death; and now I must be her accuser. Yet all will have been for the best if I can save her soul from everlasting fire”. Nistricò, too, is making his mark at Sarasota having sung in La Traviata, Don Carlos, I due Foscari, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia in the last two years.
Benjamin Gelfand, one of the Sarasota Studio Artists, exhibited a beautiful bass voice in his brief appearance as Talbot rallying his troops.
One of the delights of Giovanna D’Arco are the many choruses –the angels, the devils, the French officials, the townspeople, the French soldiers and the English soldiers. Often the choruses play dramatic roles as they interact with individual soloists or ensembles. In other instances they have the stage to themselves. Roger Bingaman deserves much praise for the high standard exhibited by the choruses.
Giovanna D’Arco is a relatively short two hour opera —almost a series of tableaux. Its effectiveness depends heavily on the skills of the scenic, lighting, and costume designers. I’m happy to report that even in this era of opera budget cutting Sarasota’s designers were more than up to the task. I particularly liked the Reims Cathedral processional scene.
As usual Victor DeRenzi maintained fine control over his orchestra. The music varied substantially. There were plenty of Verdi oom pa pas together with beautiful parts for cello, cor anglais, flutes, trumpets, and trombones. However, at times Verdi seemed to play tricks with scene ending final notes and once that led to coordination problems with the curtain drop.
All in all it was a wonderful night for Verdi fans. Giovanna D’Arco is the 26th opera in Sarasota’s Verdi cycle. Next year they will produce one of my favorites, I Lombardi, and I hope I’m in the audience.
Lew Schneider