Stream: La Fanciulla del West
It’s been ages since I was last able to review a live opera, and we’ll have to wait a bit longer yet. Neither I or any of my colleagues have been able to appear in theatres or concert halls for months, and while I have been busy writing ‘A Singer’s Life’ on this very website and working hard to produce a new CD Songs of Stevenson, featuring song cycles by Ronald Stevenson and Ralph Vaughan Williams, with poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson and Hugh MacDiarmid, released in August (watch this space), many of my friends are suffering severely both financially and artistically. This pandemic has been brutal in its effect on so many careers and businesses, and the fact that most singers are self employed freelancers has made a bad situation worse.
So, when a friend of mine on Facebook advertised that he would be part of the streamed performance of Puccini’s ‘La Fanciulla del West’ (The Girl of the Golden West) from the New York Metropolitan Opera, I was intrigued and suggested to Hugh Kerr that I might review it. Now, there is little obvious connection between a Puccini opera about the Wild West in the Californian Gold Rush and Edinburgh (we are after all the Edinburgh Music Review), but I got to thinking that, actually, many of the gold diggers in 1849 had started out as victims of the Highland Clearances, so why not?
Anyway, the performance streamed today (27th July) was recorded in 2018, and starred the great German tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Dick Johnson, the disguised bandit Ramerrez, who wins the heart of the virginal but gun-toting Minnie, the owner of the Polka Bar near a gold mining camp in California at the height of the gold rush. The opera was based on a play by David Belasco, a producer, director and playwright who adapted Madam Butterfly into a play and was responsible for two operas by Puccini. It was turned into an Italian libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini, and received its first performance at the old New York Met in 1910 with Emmy Destin and Enrico Caruso as the stars and Toscanini conducting. It has never been as successful as the main four Puccini operas, as it has a big cast of small roles and few big tunes, but it is an interesting piece and one that, unbelievably, I had never seen or heard. As with most operas by Puccini, there are three main roles for Soprano, Tenor and Baritone, with much smaller parts for a mixture of the other voice types, and several rather surreal episodes with music which hints at an acquaintance with Debussy.
This performance was a restaging by Gregory Keller of an original production from some years ago by Giancarlo del Monaco, the son of the famous Italian tenor Mario del Monaco, and was conducted by Marco Armiliato. It struck me as a fairly typical Met show with realistic sets and costumes and with some rather clunky direction of the chorus and small parts. The trouble with close up camera work of operas is that it quickly finds out the decent actors from the poor ones, or should I say, the less experienced ones. There was an awful lot of close watching of the conductor, as eyes were fixed on him at times, to the detriment of the acting. If you have been following ‘A Singer’s Life’ on the EMR Blog, you may remember in my chapter about conductors that they fall into two basic categories – the leaders and the followers. It appeared that Maestro Armiliato was a leader, which was a shame, as I have always found that the best Puccini conductors (in my experience Sir Alexander Gibson and Armin Jordan) follow the singers.
The action opens in a largely empty bar, as Nick the bartender (my friend from various operas at Covent Garden, the excellent Carlo Bosi) prepares the Polka Saloon for the arrival of the miners after work. We meet the lugubrious sheriff Jack Rance, here played by the Serbian baritone Željko Lučič, who has a dominating presence and a grand dramatic baritone voice, and who looks every inch the Bad Guy Baritone that we see so often in opera. This character is very similar to Baron Scarpia in “Tosca”, in that he is in love/lust with the heroine and believes that his power in the community gives him the right to treat women as tools and playthings (“Me Too” a hundred years early), and I must say that Mr Lučič played him very well and credibly. I’m sure he’s a charming fellow, but I wouldn’t like to meet him on a dark night!
The chorus arrives (the miners looking for a good time after a hard day’s work), and the lack of women makes them over-boisterous and unruly. There’s a lot of card playing, cheating, fighting, shouting until a strolling minstrel is heard outside, before coming into the bar and finishing his song. This is one of the surreal moments in the opera, when you think you have drifted off and woken up in another piece. It’s all very dreamy and the American bass, Oren Gradus, sings pleasingly. Soon we are back at the gambling and one character is exposed as a cheat - the miners are all for a quick lynching but the sheriff pins a card on the culprit’s lapel showing to everyone that he is a cheat, and honour, of a sort, is restored. The only problem for me here was that the cheating miner was the only Asian in the chorus/cast; probably coincidental, but these days one has to think of these things.
Another arrival now is the Wells Fargo agent Ashby (played by my English bass friend Matthew Rose) who reveals that he is hunting for a notorious bandit, Ramerrez, and his Mexican gang (remember it is 1849 and the opera was written in 1910!) and that he is hot on the trail of the gang. Sonora, a miner, declares his love for Minnie, the owner of the saloon, but Rance the sheriff claims precedence and a comically bad fight ensues which is interrupted by a rifle shot and we see the famous Minnie for the first time.
She is played here by the very tall Dutch singer Eva Maria Westbroek and soon we gather that she is a no-nonsense gal who is very moral and teaches the miners how to read by reference to the bible. I have worked with Eva-Maria at Covent Garden when she sang Dido in Berlioz’ “Trojans” and I saw her at the Met in 2011, I think, as Sieglinde in ‘Die Walkűre’ and was impressed with her performances. She is an excellent actress and manages to use her height to advantage but I do hear her voice as a mezzo-soprano. Here she is cast as a full soprano, in repertoire which I feel doesn’t really suit her. Every time she sings really high, I’m afraid it sounds rather rough and even out of control. It is a problem for many mezzos that they want the big kudos (and the big bucks!) by singing soprano, when really they shouldn’t. It’s a great pity here, because she is such a good actress and really tugs at our heart strings, but she does not have, in my opinion, the right voice. Partnered with the ultra suave and refined singing of Jonas Kaufmann, she doesn’t seem, to me at any rate, fully up to scratch. When I heard her as Dido and, particularly, as Sieglinde (also with Kaufmann) she was world class. However, as with all reviews, others may disagree. It’s all subjective.
The pony express rider arrives with a telegram from a certain Nina Micheltorena, telling them that she can reveal Ramerrez’ hideout, and emboldened, Sheriff Rance declares his love for Minnie. She rebuffs him, saying she is waiting for the right man, and dead on cue, enter a stranger from Sacramento, Dick Johnson. This is of course, Mr Kaufmann, in black gear and looking hunky and mysterious. The others, having rushed off to look for him, return with one of the Mexican Baddies (a certain Castro, another Asian singer – bit of a pattern here?). He recognises Ramerrez and leads the posse off on a wild goose chase for him, on the assumption that his boss will steal the miners’ stash of gold, inexplicably stored under the bar. Johnson and Minnie realise they have met before, and, surprise surprise, mutual attraction is revealed. A tender scene ensues well played by the two stars, although Ms Westbroek is no more convincing at the top of her range. It soon becomes clear that Johnson/Ramerrez is not such a bad fellow, as he decides not to rob the miners.
The second act is more convincing dramatically, as the action moves to Minnie’s cabin up the mountain in the forest. It is winter and snow is swirling around, and Minnie prepares for the visit of Johnson. Her Native American servants (?) fuss about her and soon she receives her guest, and another tender love scene is played out. This is the famous moment when, astonishingly, Puccini foresees the main melody of the “Phantom of the Opera”, and inserts it into ‘Fanciulla’. It’s a remarkable coincidence! This scene brings out the best in Ms Westbroek, and she acts it very well. The two singers obviously have a good rapport (they were terrific a few years before as Siegmund and Sieglinde at the Met) and after a long episode when they prepare to sleep in the same room but chastely apart, the whole situation changes as another posse comes along, hunting for Ramerrez. In the confusion, Minnie discovers that Dick is Ramerrez and a ‘baddie’, he gets shot, crawls back in and is hidden in an attic. The others leave, allowing Rance to chance his luck with Minnie (more Scarpia similarities) but just before he can have his evil way with her, blood drips on to his hand, signifying the bandit’s presence upstairs. He is brought down and before Rance can kill him, Minnie offers to play a game of poker for his life. If Rance wins, Dick’s fate is forfeit and the sheriff can claim Minnie’s virtue. If Minnie wins, Rance leaves and Ramerrez goes free. It’s a great scene, very well played and directed and Mr Lučič is splendid. It’s a proper operatic baritone voice, and he uses it excellently. Minnie cheats (Shock!Horror!) and Ramerrez is saved, for the moment.
The final Act is quite short and extremely effective. A lynch mob is after Ramerrez again, now in the area round the gold mine, and Rance is whipping the miners up into a frenzy to get rid of his nemesis. The bandit is brought in and is given the chance to say his final words. This is the only really famous aria from ‘Fanciulla’ as he asks that Minnie never be told of his demise but that he has escaped to safety (Ch’ella mi creda). Kaufmann sings it marvellously. He really is the genuine article these days, a great voice, a good looking man, and a decent actor. I still feel that he is more at home in the German repertoire, as it suits his darker baritonal timbre, but he can let loose at the top in full Italian style very easily and excitingly. Minnie suddenly arrives toting her gun in proper tradition, and pleads with the men to spare Ramerrez. Rance continues to push for a quick hanging but Minnie wins over the miners by going round each man, showing how much they owe her for her kindness and help in trying circumstances. Good sense prevails and the men allow Minnie and ‘Dick’ to leave and start a new life together.
It is one of the few happy endings in Puccini’s oeuvre, and brings an uneven evening to a satisfactory conclusion. I can see how this might not be a very popular piece, and it may be that, especially in the USA, the Wild West story sung in Italian may be a step too far for many audiences, but, as usual at the Met, the grandiose, old fashioned production combined with some starry singing provides fine entertainment, and certainly whets our appetite here for a return to live opera, hopefully soon?
Available to rent on the Met Opera on Demand service.
