Partenope

SF Opera's Partenope

Partenope-sfoperaact3-2024* Notes *
A revival of Händel's Partenope returned to San Francisco Opera last night. The sleek staging (Act III pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) is still very funny and the cast is fantastic.

Even though Händel wrote 42 operas, we usually only hear Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. Partenope (1730) had its first performances in the United States in 1988 and at the War Memorial in 2014,  so it is great to have the chance to hear this opera again. 

The 2008 production from Christopher Alden is set in a 1920s Parisian salon and references Man Ray, Surrealism, and Dadaism. There are many sight gags, leaning into the silliness of the plot. Crude drawings are scrawled on the walls; bananas are eaten, thrown, and worn; lewd gestures made; and jokes in and around a water closet figure prominently in Act II. The amount of toilet paper employed has, perhaps, a different valence than it did pre-pandemic.

The music is lovely, and conductor Christopher Moulds certainly keeps everyone moving. The rapid tempi at times felt rushed, but it was always lively and never dully square. The continuo was played prettily by cellist Evan Kahn, theorbist Richard Savino, and Maestro Moulds and Peter Walsh on harpsichord.

Partenope-sfopera-act1-2024Best of all was the singing, especially from the title character. Soprano Julie Fuchs (pictured in Act I, photograph by Cory Weaver), making her American debut, is truly a winsome Partenope. Her resonant voice is bell-like and clean, well-suited for the role. She went from strength to strength, her sound opening up as the night progressed. Her Act II aria "Qual farfalletta" was particularly beautiful and she interpolated some La Traviata into the end of Act III to hilarious effect.

Also making very fine company debuts were countertenors Carlo Vistoli (Arsace) and Nicholas Tamagna (Armindo). Vistoli has an almost girlish sweetness to his voice, very much at odds with his physical presentation, which was fun. His coloratura is impressive, but his introspective arias were also strong, as in Act III with "Ch'io parta." Tamagna sounded clear and open as Arsace's rival Armindo.

The cast was rounded out by three former Adler Fellows, all of whom can both sing and act. Baritone Hadleigh Adams is charming as Ormonte, he has a lot of charisma and a pleasant tone to boot. He looked and moved fabulously in his pink petticoated dress with Pickelhaube and bananas on his head. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack is suitably tormented and vacillating as Rosmira who is disguised as a man named Eurimene. Her voice is light and pretty, but she can sound downright mannish. Her real-life husband tenor Alek Shrader is Emilio, a military general also besotted by Partenope, but presented here as a stand-in for Man Ray. Shrader's antics are amusing, he is creepy and weird, constantly photographing the others. His voice has a richer tone than I remember in previous years.

* Tattling *
The couple behind us in Orchestra Row R Seats 2 and 4 were having the best time. They arrived precisely at 7:28pm and were exhilarated to be there just before the curtain rose. They did talk to each other the whole opera, but were so engaged that it was hard to be annoyed with them. They laughed uproariously at every single joke presented.

Otherwise, the rest of the audience also seemed to enjoy the opera, I heard lots of giggles and clapping for the various arias but very little in the way of electronic noise or lozenge wrappers.

In fact, the most ill-behaved person I observed was likely myself. I tried to dress as a flapper per the Roaring Twenties theme of this production and my boa, shed pink feathers all over the place.


SF Opera's Partenope

 Sfopera-partenope-acti-2014* Notes * 
Christopher Alden's delightfully humorous production of Partenope opened at San Francisco Opera last night. The stylish set (Act I pictured left, photograph by Cory Weaver), designed by Andrew Lieberman, was enhanced by Adam Silverman's lighting. Costume designer Jon Morrell did a wonderful job evoking 1920s Paris and Man Ray. The staging matches the absurdity of the plot rather well, embracing silliness with use of bananas, dancing, and hand shadow puppetry. It was refreshing to see something a little less sedate than the other offerings of the 2014-2015 season so far.

The reduced orchestra of only 39 musicians sounded fresh and vital under Maestro Julian Wachner. The horns had a rough start but in the end managed to sound sublime. The continuo was played beautifully by the conductor and Peter Grunberg on harpsichord, cellist David Kadarauch, and theorbist Michael Leopold.

The most of the singers employed much physicality in their performances. Philippe Sly danced foppishly and sang with warm effortlessness. His outrageous costume in Act III involved a puffy pink flowered gown, red evening gloves, and a Pickelhaube festooned with bananas. Anthony Roth Costanzo was an endearing Armindo who managed to sing his first aria ("Voglio dire al mio tesoro") while falling down or hanging on to stairs. He also tap danced during "Ma quai note di mesti lamenti" in Act III. The clarity of his voice came through despite all these antics.  Alek Shrader's tenor sounded robust, and as Emilio he put on a hand puppet show that was amusing and engaging.

* Tattling * 
Our neighbors in Box I introduced themselves and shared a chocolate strawberry with us. There was a confrontation between a man at the back of Box H with a woman who showed up in the middle of Act II. He suggested that she did not have a ticket for Seat 4 and mentioned she had not been there for the first third of the performance.


Partenope at Det Kongelige Teater

Here is the promised review from the Opernphrenologe. I must say that I'm quite jealous that she got to attend a performance of this production. However, I hear there is to be a DVD release, so at least there is that to look forward to.

   * Notes *
The recent production of Händel's Partenope at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre was wonderful! No, really! It was really that good! I traveled all the way to Copenhagen for this one measly opera, and it was worth it.

Andreas Scholl as Arsace was so exceedingly funny! He had these marvelous comic facial expressions as he vacillated between two women. At one point, he crawls after the queen on his knees, then on his stomach, then he lifts his leg as if urinating. It was so silly! He made grunting sounds when the women abused him, and they were so utterly absurd that I kept on laughing aloud.

Then there was the Barbie doll of the queen. Armindo first fondles the Barbie doll as he sings about his true love for the queen. Later, Arsace got into what appeared to be a fist fight with the queen Barbie, and it seemed as if the Barbie was winning.

During the "fight scene", the two sides first played musical chairs, then rock-paper-scissors. Fight scenes are usually dumb in the opera, and I enjoyed how this one poked fun at itself!

As for the singing, Andreas Scholl (Arsace) was a bit weak at first but then sang beautifully. Inger Dam-Jensen (Partenope) and Christophe Dumaux (Armindo) were spectacularly good. Only Tuva Semmingsen (Rosmira) was not too good, but considering that she was too sick to sing and that some mysterious woman in black was singing for her in the orchestra pit, it is not that surprising. On the other hand, her acting was good.

Indeed, the opera cast has been plagued with the cold since opening night. When I saw it, Andreas Scholl had recovered but poor Tuva Semmingsen was in no shape to sing. According to some others, the opera director Francisco Negrin was the origin of the cold (according to himself in an interview). Very naughty, Mr. Negrin!

The stage was a simple rotating stage with what appeared to be tilework. I found it quite dull, until it rotated and exposed an octopus and seven fish, all done up in fake tilework. It was lovely! But that was it, it became boring after that.

During a discussion with some people with a Scholl Problem (tm), it was noted that Negrin made some hefty changes to Acts 2 and 3. The Arsace-Rosmira duet "E vuoi con dure tempre" from the 4th scene in Act 2 is missing, perhaps because Rosmira couldn't sing. Ormonte sings "La gloria in nobil alma" at the beginning of Act 3, which was originally sung by Emilio earlier in Act 2. When Arsace dreams, he is not awakened by Rosmira (this has been cut) but instead sings the terzetto in his sleep. It may be possible that Arsace's aria "Fatto è Amor un dio d'inferno" in Act 3 was also cut.

* Tattling * 
The audience was reasonably well-behaved. In fact, they would probably tattle on me, since I kept on cackling with laughter (though I tried to be quiet, but is quiet shaking from laughter much better?). I suspect that there were a lot of nutty opera people there. The woman on my left talked about how she was going to travel to London to see Partenope performed there (with mezzo-sopranos, though, she discovered that I was a Scholl fan and looked down upon me I think). The woman on my right kept on clicking her eyeglasses and sighing. Perhaps she was bored. She also dropped things twice, with a loud clang.