Luxuriant
Orchestration
Mozart's 'Idomeneo',
heard by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
heard by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
On 20 November 2015, La Fenice's 2015-16 opera season in Venice was inaugurated with Mozart's Idomeneo, Re di Creta. According to recent opinion polls, La Fenice is the most
efficient Italian opera house. It features twenty titles every
year and holds performances some five nights a week. The
inauguration of its opera season is almost as important as that of La Scala. I was in the audience. This year, the management opted
for a sober inauguration: no tuxedos, no evening dresses, non deluxe dinner in the
foyer, but a minute of silence for the victims of the Paris terrorist attack — one of them was a young Venetian researcher — and the Italian and French national anthems before the overture started.
Idomeneo, Re di Creta was intended to graduate the young
Mozart as a major European composer. It was commissioned by the Bavarian King's Munich Theatre: however, his 1781 version had only a few performances and
nothing is known about the planned 1786 Vienna staging. In the twentieth century, Richard Strauss showed what a complex and marvellous jewel Idomeneo,
Re di Creta is. It features some of the most brilliant orchestration in Mozart's operas. For several years, Strauss' re-elaboration was in the repertory of many opera houses. After World War II, the practice was to go back to the
original 1781 version; Strauss'
re-elaboration had a few performances not too many years ago in Martina Franca
(a Summer festival in Southern Italy). The 1786 version is rarely
performed, even though it was in New York City Opera's repertory for a few years.
In modern times, Idomeneo, Re di Creta
has very often been given a psychological reading: it is shown as a mirror of
the affection and tensions between Wolfgang Amadeus and his father Leopold. This main theme is
intertwined with a complicated sentimental plot: Idamante is in love with the Trojan slave Princess
Ilia, whilst Elettra (who just killed her mother and is wandering through Greece) has a rather carnal crush on him
and tries all she can to bring the young Prince under her bed sheets. In addition,
during his stormy travel home from Troy, King Idomeneo vowed to kill the first
person he would meet on the shore as a sacrifice to Neptune. This person
happens to be his own son, Idamante. Thus Idomeneo forgoes his promise and his
kingdom is terrorized by monsters. Eventually, there is a harmonious solution
for everyone, but Elettra. In short, Idomeneo, Re di Creta anticipates nineteenth century melodrama, especially in the astonishing
third act quartet.
 Brenden Gunnell in the title role of Mozart's 'Idomeneo' at La Fenice, with chorus in the final scene of Act I. Photo © 2015 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
The musical aspects of the performance were excellent. In the pit, British conductor Jeffrey Tate showed the marvels of
Mozart's orchestration. Tate and the orchestra provided a terse, dramatic interpretation of this brilliant score: from the first note, we sensed
that Idomeneo, Re di Creta is a new kind of opera seria in which not all the eighteenth century rules (eg da capo) are
followed, because it is in the hands of a genius (Mozart). The strings, clarinets and other woodwind were just magnificent, and their
deployment during the critical passages of recitative was remarkable. Instrumental inventiveness is matched by
harmonic daring. Rightly, Tate didn't separate or 'close' the different 'numbers' with a cadence. Several
'numbers' flow into the next recitative, as if to avoid leaving time for the applause.
 Michaela Kaune as Elettra and Brenden Gunnell in the title role of Mozart's 'Idomeneo', Act II, at La Fenice. Photo © 2015 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
Brenden Gunnell was a solid
Idomeneo, a bari-tenor with a very vast register. Monica
Bacelli as Idamante was outstanding, especially remarkable in rising from pianissimo and mezza voce to the
heights of acute. On the soprano side, Ekaterina Sadovnikova was an
Ilia to be remembered for her timbre, colours and ability to ascend
gently to a high register. Michaela Kaune was a hysterical and violent
Elettra.
 Ekaterina Sadovnikova as Ilia, Monica Bacelli as Idamante and Chorus in Act III of Mozart's 'Idomeneo' at La Fenice. Photo © 2015 Michele Crosera. Click on the image for higher resolution |
On other occasions I have praised
the stage direction of South African Alessandro Talevi (Champagne not Orange Juice, 8 June
2014 and A Philological Tosca, 8 March 2015) and prefer to forget this
pretentious reading of Idonomeneo, Re di Creta as a clash of
civilizations in some improbable part of the world.
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