Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn
Director: Jeremy Gray
Conductor: Mark Austin
The Northern Aldborough Festival kicked off its first night with Bampton Classical Opera at 6.30pm, but after the curtain raiser and a long picnic interval it was some two hours later that we got down to the real business of the evening. No matter! It was worth waiting for.
We seldom think of Haydn as an operatic composer, but he wrote some 20 operas. Nowadays works such as Il Mondo della Luna are performed with some frequency, but most of Haydn’s operas never see the light of day. Why? Probably writing to order for the Esterhazy family tended to produce operas that were entertaining and short-lived – and The Diva (La Canterina) supports that supposition.
First performed at Eisenstadt in 1766 and running to 40 minutes as an intermezzo, it’s a jolly little piece about a vain singer, Gasparina, who is pursued by two men until she catches them. Iuno Connolly never really suggests the self-regard of the singer and tends to harshness of tone in her singing, but she succeeds in a fine display of singing out of tune – no easy feat! Henry Ross as Don Pelagio, the music teacher, is fine in his new aria (in the style of Papa Haydn), Madeline Robinson is a fine upstanding Don Ettore (the first of two trouser roles for her) and Guy Beynon is suitably seedy as Appollonius Gasparina’s chaperone, though there’s little evidence of chaperoning. The two quartets suggest Haydn at his best, it’s a nice warmer-upper, but no more.
The Apothecary (Lo Speziale) is a quite different matter. First performed at the opening of the new Esterhazy Opera House, it runs to three short acts (80 minutes in all) and anticipates Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte in its disguises (Turks), plus a double anticipation of Despina, the notary. The overture, with its subtle variations, reminds us that Haydn was a very great symphonist.
The characters are in many ways similar to The Diva, with the difference that, despite the delightfully silly ending, the events matter to the characters and arias have conviction and emotional power: witness Grilletta and Mengone’s duet of reconciliation.
Beynon is again buried behind a newspaper, but now he believes all the far-fetched stories as Sempronio, the apothecary who plans to wed his ward Grilletta. He sings with surprising grace for such a lowering figure.
For he has much to lower about. Grilletta has two more admirers, Volpino (another trouser part) and Mengone, the over-worked apprentice. Connolly is much more at home as Grilletta, ripping off high notes by the yard. and Ross, from grumbling apprentice to passionate lover, matches her perfectly. It’s Robinson who steals the show, however, with a rare gift for comedy alongside her glorious voice. Incidentally the “Turks” (Robinson bringing the house down with her dance) come about because Sempronio is conned into believing the Sultan requires medicines to cope with the great plague.
Jeremy Gray’s direction is economical, but keeps entertainment levels high, and Mark Austin holds the whole thing together, the nine-piece Mowbray Ensemble always spry and alert.
Reviewed on 15th June 2023.
