Mascagni : L'amico Fritz
Chorus of L'amico Fritz
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Stuart Stratford
It is certainly true that Mascagni's career was dogged by the enormous success of his very first opera, Cavalleria Rusticana. Not only did he spend the rest of his life trying to emulate that success, he also spent it trying to do so without creating another work in exactly the same vein, that would only risk being compared (unfavourably) to its predecessor. This led him to some unexpected sources, and possibly none more so than his very next work, L'amico Fritz. A contrast to Cav it certainly is, at least in terms of its plot and general atmosphere. The original book is a gentle, pastoral, May/September romance, set in Alsace before the Franco-Prussian war and the enormous tensions that generated.
As a book, it's a picture of the society and the world of that period that is its principle interest, notably this cozy little world in which Catholics, Jews and various denominations of Protestants all co-exist peaceably. Yet in Nicola Daspuro's libretto, all that makes the specificity of the tale is airbrushed out, and you are left with the central romance, yet without really making any issue of the age difference, which is of some preoccupation to the titular Fritz. In truth, in Italian, Fritz comes across as a bit of a jerk at times, grumpy, to say the least, and obstinate. At that, he's still the only real character, because Suzel is just a shy girl, with some lovely tunes, but nothing very definite in the way of personality.
David, the matchmaking rabbi, is the smug elder statesman, while the travesty role of Beppe is a bit curious - the choice of a mezzo voice suggests the character is an adolescent, but his words and behaviour suggest maturity (which is indeed the case in the book). All in all, nothing much happens, but Mascagni pours a wealth of impassioned melody over this pretty, pastel and static situation, and although, certainly, there are some lovely passages, it's all a bit over-heated given the context. The music is too dramatic for the situations depicted. No wonder it's never performed any more.
If it is to be performed, it's best done so whole-heartedly, and on that point, today's concert performance could not be faulted. Peter Auty's tenor was not perhaps the most golden of sounds, but rang out clearly when required. Natalya Romaniw has a quirk of sometimes starting her phrases a little tremulously - it usually happens when she has not been singing for a while, and only on the first few notes, and then she settles down with a warm, glowing timbre, and a particularly seductive lower register. Of all the soloists, she looked most comfortable in this context, without any staging to distract for sometimes quite extended periods of orchestral interludes. Stephen Gadd was the genially meddling David, a sound performance in a role that doesn't offer much in the way of opportunities to shine. All the secondary roles were also given confident readings.
However, the real stars of the show were Stratford and the orchestra. I will say that somebody needs to have another listen at the overall acoustics of the auditorium when the stage is set for a concert performance like this. I've seen several of these singers in performance here, they're all quite capable of making themselves heard, yet today, standing well before the proscenium arch, and with the orchestra on the same level behind them, when the orchestra went at it full tilt, they were drowned. Fortunately, Mascagni clearly gave proper consideration to the balance between singers and orchestra, and kept such moments to a minimum. I don't want to suggest that Stratford should have throttled the orchestral sound, because that would have been a crime, to be honest. They were revelling in it, in the cheerful, folksy passages as much as in the extravagantly emotional ones, and it was a pleasure to hear. If only it had been in the service of a better libretto!
[Next : 27th October]
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