62o Wexford Festival Opera: Act 3

62o Wexford Festival Opera:xa0Act 3 byxa0George Fleetonxa0© 2013. Cristina, Regina di Svezia [caption id="attachment_32481" align="alignleft" width="150"] George Fleeton[/caption] Wexford’s third and final main stage productionxa0Christina, Queen of Sweden(Stockholm, 1849) was, by several lengths, the dark, long-odds favourite at this year’s Festival (as indeed were Smetana’sxa0Hubiĉka, Statkowski’sxa0Máriaxa0and Cilea’sxa0L’Arlesianaxa0in previous years). This is a workxa0composed by Jacopo Foroni who, although born in Verona, did a great deal of his composing, and conducting, in Sweden, following a pattern set by another Italian composer and conductor Francesco Uttini in the 18^thxa0century. Foroni died aged 34, so he belongs to that exclusive club of young lions, such as Purcell, Mozart, Bellini and Bizet, each cut off in his prime from surpassing an operatic eminence already achieved inxa0a short lifetime. And, like Rota’s opera,xa0discussed here earlierxa0¹xa0there is an interesting link to cinema. Greta Garbo (from Stockholm) – the Hollywood star who wanted to be alone, and whom we mortals could only gaze at as if from another planet – loomed large,xa0en travesti, in the heavilyxa0 gilded but wonderfully escapist 1933 filmQueen Christina, whose MGM trailer screamed at us: ‘A queen whose love affairs were as modern as tomorrow’s tabloids!’ – a great example of a Goldwynism. After seeing thisxa0quite impressive production (superb in parts) of a most genuinexa0opera rara, it is safe to shoutxa0Vive la Reine! The realxa0Kristina, of the House of Vasa, reigned for twenty-two years, in the 17^thxa0century, and her fascinating trials and tribulations are well documented elsewhere. As a convert to Catholicism,xa0for example, she later settled for a while in Rome’s Palazzo Farnese (where Puccini set Act 2 ofxa0Tosca),xa0and she seemingly earned the right to be buried in St Peter’s Basilica.

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Australian soprano Helenaxa0Dix fairly took this opera – which musically seemed to mexa0 to belong to the Verdian school of attacks on history – by the scruff of the neck and shook some real sense into it, in sets whichxa0 were as supersized as in the Rota and Massenet operas, reviewed here earlierxa0² Andxa0how nearly mezzo Lucia Cirillo (of whom more later) stole the show in one of those ‘can’t take your eyes off Wallis Simpson’ performances as Maria, Cristina’s cousin and secret lover of the Queen’s favourite Gabriele (so well sung by American tenor John Bellemer). Foroni’s opera makes a nice companion piece, thematically, with Verdi’sxa0Ballo in Mascheraxa0of ten years later. In scenes subtitled Love, Marriage, Conspiracy, Disillusion and Abdication the similarities with Verdi’s Swedish tragedy,xa0A Masked Ball, although superficial, are nevertheless fascinating. Had Verdi met Foroni? Or had he seen,or at least heard of,Cristina? Foroni conducted a performancexa0of his opera in Trieste in 1850, at exactly the time Verdi was there for thexa0primaxa0of his operaxa0Stiffelio. So we are left wondering, for both operas have pulses like cannon-fire; and both have clear, credible compelling narratives about duty conflicting with love. However, overplayedxa0video projections did not help the visual impact of the Wexford production one bit, the parachute jump-cut to a fall was corny, but the conspirators’ arrival on the island by boat worked perfectly. And while Chamberlain’s return from Munich in 1938 with Hitler’s signature on the ‘peace for our time’ letter was appropriately referenced in Act 1, in Cristina’s radio abdication speech, at the start of Act 3, noticeable by its absence was any reference to Edward VIII’s speech from 1936. As Cristina walks off stage at the end, with her incongruous little Ryanair-size suitcase, the director of this production felt he should leave his mark on it, like a child’s footprint in wet cement, and so inserts his corkscrew twist into the staging (I won’t spoil the ending) a split second before fade to black. Hopefully most of the audience missed the con and went home with Foroni’s original, relatively happy ending. So, altogether now:xa0Vive la Reine! * Some further reflections onxa0Wexford 2013xa0will follow here shortly, on Down News. Meanwhile some earlier thoughts on this year’s Festival may be found at ¹xa0www.downnews.co.uk/62o-wexford-festival-opera and at ²xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0www.downnews.co.uk/62o-wexford-festival-opera-act-2]]>