From this opera, I will not tell you the sinister story of love and jealousy, spiced with torture, betrayal and assassination.
You might go your way.
And that would be such a shame!
Set in the 15th century in Lombardy, this real drama which inspired Bellini for his penultimate opera, became a musical marvel under his pen.
Created in 1833 at the Fenice in Venice,
Beatrice di Tenda
is certainly not – without knowing why – one of the best known of the ten works of the Italian composer, far from
Norma
or the
Puritans
.
Is it because she made an oven for her creation that this piece remained unloved by producers?
The injustice is righted:
Beatrice di Tenda
finally makes her entry into the repertoire of the Paris Opera.
This new production is therefore an event in itself - even if we experienced a less conventional Peter Sellars and especially less first degree in the staging that he imagined, all in all very smooth.
And what a poster!
And what a distribution!
And what musical emotion, with a climax in the second act!
Bucolic maze
Bellini avoids the lyrical excesses specific to 19th century Italian opera, and imposes his genius in the succession of arias sung with infinite nuances, where the quality of the melody takes precedence.
Here we are in the quintessence of romantic music admirably served by the six protagonists like Tamara Wilson in the role of Beatrice, or Pene Pati in that of Orombello, to name but a few.
The setting is a sort of bucolic labyrinth as the king's courtiers once loved to, incognito, seduce or hatch plots.
With this surprising bias: the singers perform there in today's clothes.
But whatever !
The music wins all the votes: incredible, intoxicating, celestial and so well played by the orchestra, choirs and soloists.
Very great art!
Opéra Bastille until March 7