Champagne not Orange
Juice
Prokofiev's 'The Love of Three Oranges',
reviewed by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
In the
new Maggio Musicale Fiorentino production which opened on 1 June 2014 (with this review based on that performance), Sergei Prokofiev's second completed opera (juvenilia apart), L'amour des trois oranges,
is not a fresh glass of orange juice (as the title might imply), but
a bubbling flute of top quality champagne. The audience laughed at several moments, and at the end
erupted in a ten minute standing ovation. The opera lasts about two hours
and is made up of a prologue and four acts. It was an excellent idea to
divide it into two parts of nearly an hour each.
Jean Teitgen as the King in Prokofiev's 'The Love of Three Oranges' at
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Photo © 2014 Michele Borzoni. Click on the
image for higher resolution
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Based
on a Carlo Gozzi's play, and especially on Vsevolod Meyerhold's
anti-realistic concept of dramaturgy, L'amour des trois oranges is rarely
performed because of the taxing demands on all those involved in the
production. The stage direction — in Florence the South African, of Italian origin, Maestro Alessandro Talevi — the stage sets (Justin Arienti) and the costumes (Manuel Pedretti) have to fit eleven different scenes where nearly thirty soloists not only sing but act, dance and engage in slap-stick and acrobatic
exercises. In addition, the action is swift; Prokofiev intended to compete with Charlie Chaplin and
the Marx Brothers' silent movies in gags and speed — as well as in
absurdity — because, in the nineteen twenties, the fledging seventh art
was taking audience away from opera theaters and playhouses. The
'fairytale' plot seems to be just nonsense but conceals two
different main themes: the growing up of a spoilt royal brat to full
maturity, marriage (and, in prospect, a family setting), and an ironical but severe critique of both
the ruling class (the Russian aristocracy as well as the new revolutionary
'bosses') and operatic (as well as dramatic) conventions. Finally, the unusual score: a large symphonic tapestry intertwined with jazz, afro-cuban music and, of course, Russian traditional melodies. It's a rather impervious task for the conductor, and in Florence this was Juraj Valčuha, chief
conductor of the Turin based and Italian State owned radio orchestra (Orchestra Nazionale Rai).
The
opera was premiered in Chicago in 1921, after a long and complicated preparation. Its original text was in French. In the twenties and thirties, the opera was
very successful in the United States and in Western Europe; Prokofiev provided a Russian translation in 1926; the enthusiasm of the Moscow audience was one of the main determinants of
his decision to return to his homeland after several years abroad.
However, after a few years the opera was forgotten, especially in Russia due
to the advance of the music of 'realistic socialism'. In Western Europe,
its revival dates
back to 1956 where a Ljubljana production travelled to the Holland Festival and
was recorded
there.
Although
in Italy, L'amour
des trois oranges has been on stage only a very few times (and even
more rarely in its original French version),
every season for
the last fifteen years, Berlin's
Komische Oper has staged nearly ten performances of
the work in a delightful Andreas Homoki production (in German); it
shows how this complex opera
can be successful even with limited means. Also a 2000 Aix-en-Provence/Teatro Real Madrid
production toured many European theatres for
several years. Thus, the Florence production may be seen as both a new
revival of an important score and a significant example of anti-realistic, Dadaist and
futuristic theatre.
From left to right: Anoinette Donnefeld as Linette, Jonathan Boyd as
the Prince and Martina Belli as Nicolette in Prokofiev's 'The Love of
Three Oranges' at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Photo © 2014 Michele
Borzoni. Click on the image for higher resolution
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The
production reaches all its goals. The sets are well conceived for rapid
action full of nonsense but with lots of underlying meaning. The
costumes and lighting are a joy to the eyes. The cast is made up mostly of young athletic singers with some glorious names such as Julia Gersteva (Clarice) and Anna
Shafajinskaia (Fata Morgana) in cameo roles. Lois Félix as Truffaldino
and Jonathan Boyd as the Prince stand out from the vast number of soloists.
From left to right: Anoinette Donnefeld as Linette, Lois Félix as
Truffaldino and Martina Belli as Nicolette in Prokofiev's 'The Love of
Three Oranges' at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Photo © 2014 Michele
Borzoni. Click on the image for higher resolution
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Two
small points. The cast is international; one
of the implications is that the French diction
leaves something to be desired. The stage of the Teatro Comunale is huge
— maybe too large for L'amour des trois oranges. This would be the
last production shown in the Teatro Comunale, due to be converted into a
hotel or deluxe apartments. I hope to see the opera again in the new
up-to-date Opera Firenze which was inaugurated with a gala on 10 May and
which will be operational in July with Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
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