One week before Turandot raise the curtain at the Maestranza, two great names in international poetry, the American Sondra Radvanovsky and the Polish Piotr Beczalawill star in a stimulating gala that will honor its author, Giacomo Puccini, one hundred years after his disappearanceon November 29, 1924. It will be with a program that the duo, already accustomed to sharing the stage, will take through various Spanish lands, although it will be Sevilla your first stopjust one day after such an important anniversary.
Profile of an unrepeatable composer
Giacomo Puccini nation in Lucca (Italy) in 1858 within a very musical family. His father gave him organ lessons but died when he was barely five years old. He then studied at the local conservatory, He started singing in choirs and playing the organ. in various churches in his city, often improvising Verdi themes, until a performance of Aida He revealed his true calling. He entered in 1880 in the Milan Conservatorywhere he received classes from Amilcare Ponchielli, author of The Mona Lisawho convinced him to participate in a one act opera competitionfrom where it arose The Villibased on the same Nordic legend that inspired the famous ballet Giselle the Adolphe Adam.
Although it failed to win the award, its premiere aroused the attention of the famous and influential editor Giulio Ricordiwho commissioned his second opera, Edgarwhich premiered at La Scala without much success, which did not prevent Ricordi from continuing to trust it as a true heir to the Italian operatic tradition that had Verdi as its last standard.
Thus, in 1893 he composed Manon Lescautfirst of his titles to reach the international success and remain until today in the operatic repertoirewith arias like I never saw a womanfirst of Puccini’s great love songs. It was also the first of the four that had a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giudeppe Giacosa. In Turin itself, three years later, he premiered Bohemiathis time under the leadership of Arturo Toscanini. And in 1900 he once again conquered the public and critics with Toscaa thriller with political background set in Rome, with such emblematic arias as Hidden harmony, And the stars shone and, above all, Art livesin addition to the great God bless you which closes the first act.
In 1904 it premiered at La Scala Madame Butterflywhich unusually constituted a resounding failure, surely articulated by his numerous enemies. A year later in Brescia, and with just a few modifications, it became the success we know today. It took six years for will premiere for the first time outside of Italyat the Metropolitan in New York, The girl of the Westwith the help of Toscanini, with whom he would maintain a great friendship for life.
They are womanizing character It led to the suicide of Doria Manfredi, a domestic worker in his home, motivated by the slander in the form of a complaint made by the musician’s partner, Elvira Bonturi. This episode and Ricordi’s death motivated a parenthesis in the composer’s productionas well as speculation that the characters of Turandot They could be inspired by the cruelty of one and the innocence of the other, in reference to the evil princess and her unkind treatment towards her servant Liu.
During the World War I composed The Swallowa hybrid between opera and operetta that includes the beautiful Doretta’s dreamand the Triptychalso premiered in New York and formed by The cloak, Sister Angelica and his only comedy, Gianni Schicchiwhich includes the charismatic Oh my dear daddy. More ambitious and developed, Turandot remained incomplete upon the composer’s death, making his famous Nobody sleeps in hymn and testament. Toscanini was also in charge of releasing it at La Scala in Milan.
Puccini purely instrumental
At the gala on Wednesday the 30th, the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville will have a special participation under the baton of Keri Lynn-WilsonCanadian conductor who in April 2014 conducted the orchestra in Pedro Halffter’s choral symphonic reduction of Tannhäuser. It is perhaps, along with the Americans Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta, and the South Korean Shiyeon Sung, recently appointed guest director of the ROSS, one of the most important directors of classical music today.
In addition to accompanying the voices of Radvanovsky and Beczala, the ROSS will perform some interludes that corroborate Puccini’s enormous talent when it comes to orchestrating and manifesting his acute sense of instrumental colorfollowing a deeply romantic and preferably melancholic style that established, as much as Wagner, the path along which many of the soundtrack composers of films walked during the golden age of Hollywood symphony.
Something perceptible in his lyrical compositions, but especially in those that are independent, many of which were discovered or recovered in the mid-1970s from the last century by the Italian musicologist Pietro Spada, and recorded by Riccardo Muti together with the La Scala Orchestra in an anthological and essential album.
Among these evocative jewels are the Symphonic Preludehe Symphonic Capricehe Prelude and Tregenda o witches dance extracted from The Villiwhich captures all the legendary atmosphere of this work of youthhe Prelude to Act I of Edgarwhich added to the Madrid premiere of the opera, or the Interlude of Manon Lescaut of unbridled passion which combines a certain Wagnerian air with unmistakably Italian overtones.
His strictly instrumental repertoire also includes some youthful minuets and a beautiful theme with elegiac airs titled Chrysanthemumswhich he composed in homage to the Duke of Aosta and constitutes an example of the excellent expressiveness of its authorwhose catalog is completed with some songs and choral worksas well as a camera, and a Glory Mass of some repercussion.
Two voices on the front line
The American soprano of Russian origin, Sondra Radvanovskysurprised the Maestranza audience in December 2016 with its generous voice in power and broad projection. Combine your lyrical tessitura pushed with an overflowing dramatic sense and a powerful center of dark timbre. Their enviable natural resources They will undoubtedly captivate us again next Wednesday. This season sings Tosca y Turandot at the Metropolitan and the Berlin State Opera.
For its part, Piotr Bezcala landed in the Maestranza in October 2019, with an impressive torrent of voice wide and well placed, which emits with generosity and enormous power, also gathering a lot of feeling and good taste. Mythical continues to be the great ovation that aroused his And the stars shone of Vienna in 2018. It is striking that along with her soft voice and her romantic and evocative characteralso shows a certain lack of attention when remembering the lyrics of his arias.
After their Sevillian appointment, Radvanovsky and Beczala will take Puccini’s music to the Teatro Real, the Liceo and Les Arts also with Lynn-Wilson at the baton, and on November 7 to the Campoamor in Oviedo, with the particularity that here They will have the musical direction of the new signing of the ROSS, Lucas Macías.
Puccini at the Maestranza
Still There are four titles left to complete your catalog at the Teatro de la Maestranza, the incipient The Villi y Edgarthe underrepresented The Swallow y The triptychwhose component titles are usually performed separately, combined with short operas by other authors, as Les Arts de Valencia will do this season. But the truth is that the fundamental set of puccinian operas They have had a notable presence in the Sevillian coliseum since it was inaugurated thirty-three years ago.
The first was Tosca in November 1991, with María Ewing and Plácido Domingo as protagonists, which was followed four years later by the famous production of The Bohemian de Zeffirelli for La Scala, with Vjekoslav Sutej a la batutaand a year later a Madame Butterfly from Covent Garden with Barbara Daniels.
Turandot made his first appearance in May 1998 with Alain Lombard at the bat and Sonja Frisell in the artistic direction of a production by Maestranza himself. The couple Daniela Dessi and Fabio Armiliato made his first appearance at the Maestranza with the Manon Lescaut of the Teatro Massimo de Palermo in 2003.
Con six functions In 2005, a new Butterflythis time from the San Carlo in Naples, with Carlo Rizzi in the direction and Xiuwei Sun and Raffaella Angeletti alternating in the main role, in the same way as Maria Guleghina and Elisabete Matos they did it in the Tosca the following year, with the famous staging of Luca Ronconi.
The girl of the West It was the first of his operas that he directed Pedro Halffter determined to include a Puccini title in each season starting in 2009. Janice Baird, Desi and Armiliato were the protagonists of this dazzling production by Giancarlo del Monaco for the Rome Opera. A Turandot Maestranza himself took the stage the following year, while Bohemia by John Copley and Covent Garden, with Ainhoa Arteta as Mimireached eight performances the following season.
In June 2012, Halffter directed the feature film Butterfly of the Royal Theater and Mario Gaswith Amarilli Nizza and Svetla Vassileva alternating the eight functions. And in December 2013, Manon Lescaut of the Regio of Turin, again with Arteta as the protagonist, preceded a new Tosca in May 2015, co-production of the Liceo and the Maestranzawith six performances in which the works of Hui He, Jorge de León, Ambrogio Maestri and Juan Pons stood out.
Davide Livermorethen artistic director of Les Arts, presented his particular vision of Bohemia in 2017. It was the the last one Halffter directed. Four years later came a Butterfly of the Castell de Peralada Festival with Ermonela Jaho, and in June 2023 the controversial and brave bet by Sevillian Rafael Villalobos to Toscathe fourth in our coliseum, with six performances starring Yolanda Auyanet, Vincenzo Costanzo and Ángel Ódena.
Turandot will take to our stage for the third time on Thursday, November 7, with seven functions and two distributions, preceded by a preview for young people on the 5th, confirming that great artists live forever.
