Carnival in Venice in Music and Vision 12 February

Carnival in Venice

GIUSEPPE PENNISI reviews Hervé's
'Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde'

A not very joyful happy-go-lucky Carnival, this year in Venice. With Easter Sunday on 27 March, it took place earlier than usual: at the beginning of a rather rainy and foggy February. Then, the long recession is taking a toll on what people intend to spend for entertainment, parties and masked balls. On Mardi Gras 9 February, only a few were wearing masks on the streets and squares; by 9.30pm most of the restaurants seemed either closed or waiting for few and far between clients. Nonetheless, there was a lot of fun and many laughs at the Teatro Malibran, the smaller art deco theatre of the two opera houses of the La Fenice Foundation.

The Carnival show was an import from France: Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde by Hervé (the nickname of Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger), considered the 'father' of French opera buffa, which has distinct differences from Italian comic opera or Austrian operetta. First of all, it includes a strong element of political satire. (Les Chevaliers had its debut in 1866 at Les Bouffes Parisiennes; thus the satire was addressed to the Second Empire.) Hervé had to cross the Channel also for political reasons and work in London for a few years. Les Bouffes Parisiennes became Offenbach's kingdom. The satire was extended to the opera style then fashionable in the 1866, the target of Hervé's humor was Verdi's melodrama and, consequently, there are arias and even a concertato in Verdi's style, as seen through a deforming mirror. Many Verdi fans can take a fun ride.

Damien Bigourdan as Duke Rodomonte in Hervé's 'Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde' at Teatro Malibran in Venice. Click on the image for higher resolution

Nonetheless, Les Chevaliers is a very interesting rediscovery on its own account: spoken parts are intercalated with musical numbers and real acrobatic numbers. The music has excellent moments. In Venice the original three acts are compacted into a single two-hour act to quicken the action. The stage director, set designer and costume designer is Pierre-André Weitz: its style reminds of Charlie Chaplin and The Marx Brothers' slapstick. There are thirteen soloists, although some sing very little as they are actors, dancers and acrobats. In the pit, Christophe Grapperon conducts an ensemble of twelve soloists. They are all quite young. There are at least two remarkable voices: Ingrid Perruche and Chantal Santon-Jeffery.

Ingrid Perruche as the Duchesse Totoche, wife of Rodomonte, in Hervé's 'Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde' at Teatro Malibran in Venice. Click on the image for higher resolution

The very intricate plot is drawn from Breton sagas and from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Too long to summarize, it is also a pretext for swift action, gags, slapsticks, satire and musical numbers. The audience enjoyed it; some critics ranked it as one of the best offers to subscribers of La Fenice's opera and ballet season.

The company 'Les Brigands' in Hervé's 'Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde' at Teatro Malibran in Venice. Click on the image for higher resolution

Quite often, these revivals have a few performances and then disappear again. This does seem to be the case of Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde.

Ingrid Perruche as the Duchesse Totoche, wife of Rodomonte, in Hervé's 'Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde' at Teatro Malibran in Venice. Click on the image for higher resolution

The production is organized by the Centre de Musique Romantique Française, a private Swiss foundation with its headquarters in Venice (see 'A Real Joy', 16 February 2015 and 'A Wealthy Maverick', 21 April 2015), in collaboration with some fifteen French, Belgian, Italian and Dutch theatres. Some seventy performances are already scheduled over two opera seasons. It may also reach the UK and the USA. A CD of the ten most elaborate musical numbers is available, and the stage action lends itself quite well to DVD and television.

Copyright © 12 February 2016 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy