It would be unfair to reduce it Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea to a simple tear-jerking realism. Whoever delves into this score, presented for the first time in November 1902, with an exceptional cast led by Angelica Pandolfini and Enrico Caruso, discovers a composer deeply fascinated by timbric refinement. An orchestra more attentive to atmosphere and psychology than to immediate effect. And voices that exhibit an inexhaustible range of colors and nuances, far from the stentorian high pitch.
Cilea leads his protagonist, the famous eighteenth-century actress of the Comédie-Française, by the hand and writes an inexhaustible range of inflections on her musical notes to accentuate the sweetness or vehemence of her singing: maliciously, in a shrill voice, with sweet sadness… This last indication introduces the final duet with Maurizio, No, my frontwhich constituted the culminating musical moment last Saturday, November 22, in the return of this title 11 years later at the ABAO Opera in Bilbao.
Adriana clings to the love of her lover, who has just asked her to marry him, even though the poison sucked from a bunch of violets and which will kill her already flows through her veins. However, the composer avoids falling into easy pathos and covers the music with a post-romantic refinement. He traces a deep melody in F major with a delicate embroidery on which he writes the indication inducinginviting singers to savor it. This is what the soprano Maria Agresta and the tenor Jorge de León did exquisitely morbiditybefore crowning together the B flat, the highest note written for both by Cilea, who adds the indication stunted to underline its expressive intensity.
To conclude the duet, the melody passes to the first violins muted very pianissimosurrounded by the harp. Marco Armiliato, who returned to the Euskalduna pit 15 years later, transformed it into an ethereal trait, an openly symbolist gesture that connects to the ending of the work and the death of the protagonist, where nothing refers to a dramatic and deafening climax, but to an almost unreal sweetness. The efficient and solid Genoese conductor, a regular on large stages such as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala or the Salzburg Festival, was the true architect of the show’s success.
Armiliato paved the way for the vocals to fully explore Cilea’s signature subtle inflections. His direction managed to overcome a somewhat monotonous first act, elevating the fourth act to a truly memorable experience. He achieved this by improving the singing through careful attention to orchestral texture and tempo flexibility. To do this he relied on the brilliant Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa (BOS), whose remarkable evolution in recent years has been linked by the Italian director himself, in the local press, to the spectacular urban transformation of the capital of Biscay.
Maria Agresta was, without a doubt, the big winner of the cast, playing Adriana in constant musical growth. The soprano from Salerno failed to grasp the vocal subtleties in her first appearance with the cavatina I am the humble handmaidwhich lacked that delicate thread of voice that Cilea requests at the beginning of the final couplet: a breath is my voice / which will die on the new day (“a breath is my voice / which will die at dawn”). A nuance that Francesco Cesari takes as the title of his excellent essay inserted in the hand-written program. After the interval, Agresta impressed with the delivery of the melodramatic monologue of Phaedra at the end of the third act, and shone in the final act with Poor flowersinterpreted with infinite sadness and subtle inflections in pianissimo.
The rest of the cast was all Spanish, with three very solid protagonists. Canarian tenor Jorge de León showed his vocal power as Maurizio, although he initially failed to grasp the subtleties of the character, tackling his cavatina at full voice. The sweetest effigydespite it being indicated in pianissimo AND in a low voice with transport. He shined in the second act with My soul is tired and offered decisive highs in the martial The Russian Mencikoffbut it is in the fourth act that he fully integrates Cilea’s precise expressive inflections.
THE mezzo-soprano The Valencian Silvia Tro Santafé did not reach the authority required in the haughty imprecations of Bitter desireat the beginning of the second act. However, her incarnation of the evil princess of Bouillon, Adriana’s rival for Maurice’s love and responsible for his poisoning, offered powerful highs and sensational lows. In any case it seems more linked to the bel canto repertoire, judging by the excellent performance Favorite by Donizetti who performed on this same stage last season.
The Malaga baritone Carlos Álvarez granted nobility to the friendly Michonnet, advisor in secret love and protector of Adriana. His voice was a bit monotonous in the famous Act I aria. The monologue echoesalthough his performance went from less to more, reaching an exceptional level in the final act. The six supporting roles were a step below. Bass Luis López embodied a Prince of Bouillon devoid of cynicism and authority, while tenor Jorge Rodríguez-Norton lacked more precise diction and more refined comedy like the Abbé de Chazeuil. Even the four actors of the Comédie-Française failed to define their characters. The six, however, brought freshness to the funny sextet of the first act. And the Bilbao Opera Choir deserves a mention, as it delivered its few interventions solidly.
Marco Pontiggia’s theatrical production, presented for the first time at the beginning of last season at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, is based on a brilliant metatheatrical concept. It transfers the action from the 18th century to the dawn of the 20th century to pay homage to Sarah Bernhardt, the famous French actress who triumphed in 1907 playing Adriana Lecouvreurby Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé, in his theater and who, in 1913, filmed a silent version of the opera. However, the implementation of this proposal is rather poor. Antonella Conte conceives a traditional scenography, composed of a modernist frame and backdrops, even if Marco Nateri’s costumes present some modernist nods, such as the clothes of Adriana and the choir members in the third act. The lighting manages to harmonize with the atmosphere of the plot, fully comprehensible despite the discreet direction of the actors. And the third act ballet constitutes a modest eighteenth-century pastiche without great aspirations.
Adriana Lecouvreur. Music by Francesco Cilea. Libretto by Arturo Colautti, taken from Adriana Lecouvreur (1849) by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. Cast: Maria Agresta, soprano (Adriana Lecouvreur); Jorge de León, tenor (Maurizio), Carlos Álvarez, baritone (Michonnet), Silvia Tro Santafé, mezzo-soprano (The Princess of Bouillon), Luis López, baritone (Principe de Bouillon), Jorge Rodríguez-Norton, tenor (Abbot of Chazeuil), José Manuel Díaz, baritone (Quinault), Josu Cabrero, tenor (Poisson), Olga Revuelta, soprano (Mademoiselle Jouvenot), Anna Gomà, mezzo-soprano (Mademoiselle Dangeville). Bilbao Opera Choir. Choir director: Esteban Urzelai. Orkestra Sinfonikoa of Bilbao. Musical direction: Marco Armiliato. Stage direction: Marco Pontiggia. ABAO Bilbao Opera. Euskalduna Palace, 22 November. Until December 1st.
