Rigoletto -- Metropolitan Opera, 4/1/09
Frontali, Damrau, Calleja, Aceto, Mumford / Frizza
I went this time for the tenor, but the emotional effect of Verdi's Rigoletto most depends on its soprano. And while Diana Damrau's performance as Gilda was in some ways outstanding, it fell short in this respect. Gilda's role in the scheme of the show is clear, and mentioned in seemingly every program note iteration. As the author of the original play (Victor Hugo, in fact) put it, "[Rigoletto] has two pupils -- the [duke] and his daughter: the [duke], whom he has trained to vice; his daughter, whom he has reared for virtue. One destroys the other." As simple and elegant as that -- something even the least inquisitive soprano can convey.
But Damrau introduces a novel element: her Gilda is from the start nervous and agitated, preoccupied even as she greets her loving father. It is clear that this is a girl deceiving her father, and it shows some acuity on Damrau's part to pick up on this relatively neglected thread. For Gilda is concealing something from Rigoletto -- her developing romance with the (incognito) Duke -- and for her to show worry about it during her reunion is a neat piece of psychology. And yet it's quite wrongheaded: worry or no, one hears in Verdi's score Gilda caught up in her father's love as she is later in the Duke's, responding to the former in a heart-racing, liberating reunion duet that purges for a time the fetid atmosphere of court and curse. Here Damrau is (as ever) correct and precise, but neither warm nor responsive -- and worse, she continues to fidget with spunky sitcom-heroine anxiety, trying to arrange the situation to some clever and happy end -- Gilda as Norina or Rosina.
Child of virtue this isn't. In fact it makes nonsense of the rest of the story. For Gilda's innocence isn't just romantic or sexual but moral: not having been taught about the corrupt and tragic world, it's probably never even occurred to her that there could be any more-than-temporary incompatibility between her own happiness, her father's, and her beloved suitor's. (And here, the Disney princess portrayal of Damrau's immediate predecessor Aleksandra Kurzak was exactly right.) Her sacrifice at the end is powerful because it is her first moral act, made with the understanding she did not have beforehand. (Kurzak did less well here.) But from the start, unfortunately, Damrau knows more about Gilda's position than she does. So Damrau's version never has any innocence to lose -- and therefore even the Duke's attraction begins to lose its sense. What particularly draws him if not the pre-lapsarian self-satisfied wholeness of Gilda's love and bearing? (Yes, as we later see, he chases anything that moves, but his declaration in "Ella mi fu rapita! ... Parmi veder" is quite clear.)
* * *Bizarrely, the cast member who could best project Gilda's fundamental wholesomeness is probably the mezzo playing Maddalena, seductive accomplice and sister to the assassin Sparafucile. It's been oddly entertaining over recent years to see Tamara Mumford go through character parts for which her looks and remarkable voice, at least, seem a natural fit: adulterous femme fatale Lola (Cav), gypsy moll Matryosha (War & Peace), and now Maddalena. (The encore at her recent recital -- the Seguidilla -- seems to indicate that Carmen may at some point -- perhaps she's covering it next season? -- be the climax of the series.) There
is a certain sensual element in her portrayals (not least through the actual rich sound), and the characters' emotions are directly and pointedly expressed, but there is a distinct lack of the lascivious, giving these not-quite-respectable characters an unexpectedly dignified integrity. In any case, Maddalena's main job -- providing rich, rhythmically precise accompaniment before and during the last-act quartet -- Mumford handles with aplomb.
Raymond Aceto does less well as the assassin brother, not objectionable but in no way as interesting a Sparafucile as his predecessor Mikhail Petrenko. Roberto Frontali remains
from January's cast, and is actually somewhat better in the lead part this time: a bit more dynamic variation at climaxes, and a bit less flailing at the top notes. He doesn't have the full Verdi instrument of a Zeljko Lucic, but he makes the most of it. (Unfortunately, his nervous wreck of a Rigoletto -- interesting before -- combines poorly with Damrau's nervous wreck of a Gilda.)
As the more or less one-dimensional Duke, Joseph Calleja (of whom I've
raved enough of late) sang each act with ever-increasing authority and focus, finishing with a show-making display in the quartet and the bedtime "La donna e mobile" fragments afterwards. As last time -- and despite a new round of new cast coordination issues -- Riccardo Frizza conducted with
almost as much fire and spirit as the much-missed
Asher Fisch in 2005. It's too bad that he (and I'm fairly sure by now that it was his decision, given Damrau's stratospheric skill) again kept out the soprano's big quartet-capping high note...
UPDATE (4/5): For some reason, Mumford has been replaced
for the remaining performances by the original Maddalena this season, Viktoria Vizin. Strange -- did something happen last night?
UPDATE 2 (4/5): Never mind? A commenter states that Vizin was originally scheduled for subsequent performances anyway. This may well be correct, though I do seem to remember seeing otherwise. Ah, memory.
