![]() ![]() Military campaign in Ireland, forcing the monarch to choose, eventually, between love and national interest. Making things worse, he is charged with treason for flubbing a To her credit, Barton also dazzled as Adalgisa in “Norma”Īnd this past summer as Fricka, among other roles, in company’s absolutely first-rate “Ring” cycle directed by Francesca Zambello.īut expectations exceeded the final “Devereux” product, even though the their vocal lines were technically agile and sharp throughout this loose-with-history story set in Westminster in 1598, in Elizabethan England, with the queen harboring a secret passion for - and fidelity suspicions about - the much-younger Devereux, the Earl of Essex. The advance word for “Devereux” - the composer’s 1832 composition and one of Donizetti’s so-called “Tudor trilogy” operas - were the artistic pedigrees of soprano and female lead Sondra Radvanovsky, so vocally bracing in the company’s 2014 production of Bellini’s “Norma,” and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Sara, the true love interest of Devereux. ![]() However, production designer Jose Cura’s “Cav” and “Pag,” generally regarded as the prime examples of late-19th-century Italian verismo (realistic) opera, came off as winners worthy of plenty of post-show commentary among patrons. In the end, as the curtains came down on each of the three operas, director Stephen Lawless’ “Devereux,” unfolding on a partial replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, left a distinctly unsatisfying impression - with one exception. Of course, the music itself figures into the critical equation as well. Of “Devereux” and “Cav” and “Pag,” respectively, the critical differences in their appeal and ultimate success were the hard-to-define qualities of just what makes one cast’s artistry, or vocal magic, if you will, more appealing than another’s. The start of the 2018-19 season at San Francisco Opera, Matthew Shilvock’s first as general director, began on mixed notes earlier this month with Donizetti’s rarely performed “Roberto Devereux” (there might be a good reason why) and the usual pairing of Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” well-known, powerful one-acts that delivered the vocal and emotional goods for which traditional opera is famous.
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