FO'S FUNNY, FABULOUS FINNISH VIAGGIO
Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Finland: February 13, 2003
Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims premiered at the Theatre-Italien in Paris in 1825 and launched the Parisian--and final--leg of the composer's career with great flair. It was actually a pièce d'occasion, composed as part of the festivities honoring the coronation of Charles X, who, it turns out, was a repressive enough monarch to cause the people to revolt in 1830. As the opera opens, we meet a group of pan-European nobles, military men and other fancy-folk (as well as the "help") who find themselves at a spa while waiting for the horses to arrive which will pull their carriages to Rheims for the coronation. Romances, jealousies, nationalism and lost luggage become the subject of the opera, and when it is discovered that no horses are, in fact, available, they all opt to go to Paris. Before they leave, however, they stage their own celebration, with dancers and acrobats, followed by the singing of patriotic (or typical) songs by each country’s representative. It's barely an opera; it's more of a pageant, requiring 10 virtuoso singers and eight other soloists.
Whatever it is, it was an enourmous success, but Rossini, feeling that due to its momentary subject matter it was unsuitable for the stage after the fact, withdrew it after four performances and, in 1828, cannibalized it and used several numbers in Le Comte Ory. The score to Il Viaggio disappeared and was not rediscovered until the 1980s, when it was successfully performed in Pesaro at the Rossini festival. It's chock full of late-Rossinian musical felicities and is occasionally revived when either a fine enough cast or a clever enough production can be found to do it justice.
The Italian Nobel Prize laureate Dario Fo, known for his leftist leanings, it turns out, is a great Rossini fan, and has directed Il barbiere di Siviglia in Amsterdam and Paris, and La gazzetta and L'Italiana in Algeri in Pesaro. In Italy, he has insulted church, government, and both the police and Communist party, while in Finland, many of his plays have been performed, and he has acted with his theatre company. He has entertained and outraged with his leftist political and societal satires. After Fo and Finnish National Opera director Erkki Korhonen saw a performance of the work in Pesaro, it somehow only made sense that Fo would be invited to direct (and design, it turns out) Viaggo at the FNO, and in January, his take on Viaggio was unveiled.
The result has been sheer delight and sold-out houses--and just a bit of controversy. With the permission of the Rossini Foundation, Fo has altered some of the libretto, most particularly in the songs of nationalism near the opera’s close. And so we get the French singing about how they throw endless parties to alleviate their boredom, the Englishman explaining that since George IV has lost America he is turning his attention to India and China, the Spaniard foretells the return of the Inquisition, and so forth. The commentary may not be biting, but the points are made.
Social and political commentary aside, the show is an absolute pip, and an amazing piece of eye candy.
Half nude acrobats jolly about in the spa’s waters (which are filled with aquatic creatures of all sorts), ballerinas come by to mimic a singer’s melodramatic feelings or merely to physically embellish a repeat in an ensemble, a flute solo brings forth flying doves. Greek columns flank the stage and the backdrop changes every few minutes, from an impressionistic drawing of an overturned carriage to an abstract to a crowd scene--all multi-colored and stunning. The characters act and interact as wittily as can be, with a seduction duet played on a revolving sofa, for instance. It is, simply, a production without a cliché to be found, and it makes up for the slim plot in visual excess and sheer entertainment.
The singing of Rossini’s florid music was a mixed bag. Best were the lower men’s voices: Petteri Salomaa shone as the Spaniard, Hannu Forsberg exhibited agility and aplomb as the Englishman, and Juha Kotilainen’s Russian was suitably rich-voiced and full of himself. Soprano Tove Aman, in the role created at the premiere by the legendary Giuditta Pasta, used her high, light voice with ease and grace, while Aki Alamikkotervo got through some of the most acrobatic of Rossini’s tenor writing unscathed, albeit without a particularly lovely tone. The rest of the principals ranged from good to just acceptable, but in the ensembles, the team singing was always superb. Conductor Pietro Rizzo led the orchestra and singers in an energetic performance, even managing to keep Rossini’s amazing 14-voice “concertato” together, articulate, and in tune. There are four more performances of Il Viaggo in March; it’s a unique experience and, somehow, this seems now to be a perfectly natural way to perform this odd, enchanting work.
Robert Levine
