Rare Glimps of Traetta's 'Antigona'
by George Loomis, The New YorK Time
BERLIN — The Baroque specialist René Jacobs has led 20 operas in nearly as many years for the Berlin Staatsoper, though not all of them, strictly speaking, have come from the Baroque period. His latest effort is “Antigona” by Tommaso Traetta (1727-79), a musical Classicist from the generation before Mozart. Trained in Naples like many musicians of the day, Traetta was drawn into the “reform” currents associated with Gluck, which sought to deepen the content of Italian serious opera.
He enjoyed an international career that took him as far afield as Catherine the Great’s court in St. Petersburg, a flourishing opera center where “Antigona” was produced in 1772. That same year the 16-year-old Mozart wrote the opera seria “Lucio Silla” for Milan. As Mr. Jacobs observes in a program note, “Antigona” has been called the greatest opera written by an Italian composer in the latter half of the 18th century — a formulation that neatly excludes Mozart and Gluck. I’ve been an admirer myself, having written a doctoral dissertation on several of his earlier operas.
Traetta’s reform operas are less radical than Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” since they make more room for arias and traditional vocal display. This makes for an appealing mix, and with their mighty choruses and serious tone, they can make a strong dramatic impact, as “Antigona,” based on Sophocles’ drama “Antigone,” demonstrates. In Marco Coltellini’s taut libretto, Thebes still reels from Oedipus’s incestuous acts. As the opera begins, his two sons, in a struggle for the throne, engage in single combat and both are killed. Creon, their uncle, becomes king instead, forbidding a proper burial for Polynices because he incited civil war. Polynices’ sister Antigone defies the ban, thereby imperiling her life.
“Antigona” was slow to take hold at the premiere Sunday. Mr. Jacobs’s continuo group within the otherwise excellent Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin was overly amplified; Vera Nemirova’s staging, set entirely on a beach (sets by Werner Hutterli), went in and out of focus; choruses seemed overly somber, perhaps because less than optimal acoustics in the Schiller Theater — the Staatsoper’s temporary home — prevented them from resounding properly.
But the opera’s tragic force eventually exerted itself, especially in a remarkable series of numbers in Act 3, culminating in a ravishing duet for Antigone and Creon’s son, Emone, who (like Radames in “Aida”) chooses to die with his lover in a sealed tomb. Apparently squeamish about the opera’s happy ending, Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Nemirova, in an unfortunate decision, tone it down with the murder/suicide of the lovers, who then somehow come back to life. They needn’t have worried. Like Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” “Antigona” brings the catharsis of tragedy, even if the final blow is averted.
Some of the bloom is gone from Veronica Cangemi’s voice, but her expressive singing conveys the essence of Antigone’s plight. She is partnered by the brilliant countertenor Bejun Mehta, who gives a riveting performance of Emone’s aria condemning his father’s intransigence. The fine tenor Kurt Streit, as Creon, is called upon to be a rather silly ruler, who sits atop a lifeguard’s tall chair in lieu of a throne. But his ultimate change of heart is powerfully realized. Jennifer Rivera, as Antigone’s sister Ismene, and Kenneth Tarver, as the Theban citizen Adrasto, also give strong performances.
He enjoyed an international career that took him as far afield as Catherine the Great’s court in St. Petersburg, a flourishing opera center where “Antigona” was produced in 1772. That same year the 16-year-old Mozart wrote the opera seria “Lucio Silla” for Milan. As Mr. Jacobs observes in a program note, “Antigona” has been called the greatest opera written by an Italian composer in the latter half of the 18th century — a formulation that neatly excludes Mozart and Gluck. I’ve been an admirer myself, having written a doctoral dissertation on several of his earlier operas.
Traetta’s reform operas are less radical than Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” since they make more room for arias and traditional vocal display. This makes for an appealing mix, and with their mighty choruses and serious tone, they can make a strong dramatic impact, as “Antigona,” based on Sophocles’ drama “Antigone,” demonstrates. In Marco Coltellini’s taut libretto, Thebes still reels from Oedipus’s incestuous acts. As the opera begins, his two sons, in a struggle for the throne, engage in single combat and both are killed. Creon, their uncle, becomes king instead, forbidding a proper burial for Polynices because he incited civil war. Polynices’ sister Antigone defies the ban, thereby imperiling her life.
“Antigona” was slow to take hold at the premiere Sunday. Mr. Jacobs’s continuo group within the otherwise excellent Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin was overly amplified; Vera Nemirova’s staging, set entirely on a beach (sets by Werner Hutterli), went in and out of focus; choruses seemed overly somber, perhaps because less than optimal acoustics in the Schiller Theater — the Staatsoper’s temporary home — prevented them from resounding properly.
But the opera’s tragic force eventually exerted itself, especially in a remarkable series of numbers in Act 3, culminating in a ravishing duet for Antigone and Creon’s son, Emone, who (like Radames in “Aida”) chooses to die with his lover in a sealed tomb. Apparently squeamish about the opera’s happy ending, Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Nemirova, in an unfortunate decision, tone it down with the murder/suicide of the lovers, who then somehow come back to life. They needn’t have worried. Like Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” “Antigona” brings the catharsis of tragedy, even if the final blow is averted.
Some of the bloom is gone from Veronica Cangemi’s voice, but her expressive singing conveys the essence of Antigone’s plight. She is partnered by the brilliant countertenor Bejun Mehta, who gives a riveting performance of Emone’s aria condemning his father’s intransigence. The fine tenor Kurt Streit, as Creon, is called upon to be a rather silly ruler, who sits atop a lifeguard’s tall chair in lieu of a throne. But his ultimate change of heart is powerfully realized. Jennifer Rivera, as Antigone’s sister Ismene, and Kenneth Tarver, as the Theban citizen Adrasto, also give strong performances.
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