La Sonnambula’ marked the debut at the Madrid Coliseum of director Bárbara Lluch
MADRID, 15 Dec. (PRESS EUROPE) –
The Teatro Real has dismissed with a standing ovation 2022 the icon of romantic bel canto, ‘La sonnambula’ by the composer Vincenzo Bellini, performed for the second time at the Madrid Colosseum, after its first staging on December 6, 1850. A work that Reflects the male chauvinist society of the 19th century.
The audience cheered and applauded the cast for more than five minutes at the end of the show, led by Nadine Serra (Amina), Xabier Anduaga (Elvino), Roberto Tagliavini (Conte Rodolfo), Monica Bacelli (Teresa), but they came even out to receive a standing ovation from the respected director, Bárbara Lluch, and head of production design, Christof Hetzer.
During the applause, the audience, moved by the vocal power of the protagonists, threw two bouquets of flowers for Nadine Sierra and Xabier Anduaga, even if they did not go on stage and switched to the part of the Orchestra.
The show begins in a village in the Swiss Alps and in the first act the peasants celebrate the love between Amina and Elvino, which has also infected the audience, who intervened on several occasions applauding the performance of both performers.
However, the celebration of love will be overshadowed by the arrival of Count Rodolfo, who seeks to conquer Amina. One night, the protagonist shows up at the count’s inn, doubting whether he will take advantage of the young woman. A situation that will condemn the Municipality: Amina has been unfaithful and is a traitor.
The second act revolves around the innocence of Amina, who finally manages to regain the respect of the rest of the villagers and manages to wake up in the arms of her beloved Elvino.
The performers’ performances confirmed what Joan Matabosch commented at the press conference, the enormous vocal demand for the score of ‘La Sonnambula’, which led to the fact that the work was performed when there were big giants to defend it.
The element that completes the work is the ballet, through which the ghost of sleepwalking is introduced. Nine dancers accompany Amina in these episodes, acting as her shadows, her fears, those who warn her of the reality she is experiencing.
SLEEPWALKING EPISODES
Bellini’s work is structured on the basis of two successive sleepwalking crises of the protagonist, Amina, the village girl victim of the disease who has to fight for her honour. In the first crisis, she jumps from the window and enters Count Rodolfo’s room, but he avoids taking advantage of the situation, puts her on the bed and discreetly leaves to protect her.
There is a second episode of sleepwalking during the show, although this time it will be public. Amine, who remains asleep, risks her life by venturing onto a walkway of rotten planks as she expresses her despair at having snatched the ring from her fiancé; and she hands her the bouquet of violets that she had offered her the day before, already wilted of her, like her own happiness.
The performance of ‘La Sonnambula’ marked the debut at the Madrid Colosseum of Bárbara Lluch, who shuns the bucolic and idealized vision of the rural environment, exposing a closed, superstitious and hostile community.
The scene, poetic and emotional, is presided over by a melody of ineffable purity and infinite sweetness which is one of Bellini’s most inspired. Similarly, as the artistic director of the Teatro Real, Joan Matabosch, explained in a press conference, behind the plot there is, “as often happens”, the nineteenth-century obsession with female sexuality.
During the presentation of the work, Matabosch lamented the work’s “unjustified bad reputation” and explained that it is a work “against ignorance and fanaticism”.
