Mascagni: L’amico Fritz
Opera Holland Park, 10th June 2011
“In the course of my life I’ve read very, very many bad librettos, but I’ve never read such an idiotic one as this.” That was Giuseppe Verdi responding to the libretto of L’amico Fritz. Mascagni is sometimes called a ‘one-hit wonder’, based on the universal success of Cavalleria rusticana and nothing much else. L’amico Fritz was the very next opera he composed and he was anxious to do something different, to show he had more strings to his bow, compositionally speaking. Verdi also criticized the score (“I soon got bored with all those dissonances, those false modulations”), while Mascagni himself claimed he was after “a simple libretto, one with almost no action”… which hardly raises the temperature, does it? Fritz is a very different piece to Cav; although we do get a brindisi, a jingling cart and a melodramatic intermezzo, there’s no-one wielding a knife here, no vendettas and no bitten ears – just cherries instead.
Eric Margiore (Fritz) and Anna Leese (Suzel)
© Fritz Curzon
It’s obviously Retro week in London. After the promising 1960s prologue of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Simon Boccanegra on Wednesday, which then fizzled out into corporate greyness; then there was Guildhall’s 60s café for Donizetti’s Rita; and now it’s Mascagni’s turn. Fritz is a major landowner and benefactor, beloved by his staff and bachelor chums, celebrated by local schoolchildren. Designer Nicky Shaw has a clever split stage for Fritz’s office in the outer acts – secretarial typing pool on the left, boss’ office on the right, Mondrian adorning the wall. Moving from one room to the other allows for various asides to be made and for us to see characters in isolation so that, while birthday celebrations for Fritz are going on next door, Suzel still is mooning over the bouquet she’s just presented him. I’ve rarely seen a set work so well at OHP. The transformation from 60s office to country cottage complete with white picket-post fencing (Fritz Kobus is clearly a property developer and this is his show-house) was done with speed and skill, earning a ripple of applause, piped birdsong whisking us to the country.
From a director’s point of view, there’s not a lot you can do with the piece other than play it straight, and that’s what Annilese Miskimmon does, allowing the naivety of the opera to charm the audience. The office setting doesn’t always sit comfortably with the rustic celebrations of the opening act, but that just increases the contrast to the sunny country scene in Act 2, even if the downpour of a traditional English summer was ill-timed to project spring in Alsace.
© Fritz Curzon
Everyone loves Suzel, the farmer’s daughter, which is just as it should be. Even Fritz, the confirmed bachelor (less of the old in this case) falls for her charms in the end, losing his bet with Rabbi David. The audience loves her too and I suspect that last night many of them fell at least a little bit in love with Anna Leese as well. She has a creamy soprano which is the perfect fit for this role – she never has to fight the orchestra and has just the right ‘smile’ in her voice, which brought to mind a young Mirella Freni – praise indeed, but justly deserved. The moment Suzel appears on stage, she has to launch straight into “Son pochi fiori” as she presents her birthday bouquet of violets to the rich landowner; Leese sang it with touching simplicity and sincerity, where larger voices have to put on a girlish flutter which misses the point. Her acting was totally convincing – a blushing girl at the start, moved to tears by Beppe’s violin-playing, teasing Fritz by throwing cherries at him during their duet (the score’s real plum); yet she also conveyed Suzel’s burgeoning womanhood, from awkward first crush to passionate love. Opera Holland Park clearly think they’re on to a winner here (she’s back as Tatyana next season) and were rewarded with an exceptionally charming, confident performance, a misfired note in the climactic duet a momentary blip. I know who I’m rooting for in the upcoming Cardiff Singer of the World competition…
Anna Leese (Suzel)
© Fritz Curzon
Our Fritz, Eric Margiore, is young and dashing – you can see how the girls in the typing pool adore him and bring him gifts on his birthday. Vocally, he has an attractive tenor and phrases intelligently, especially in “O amore, o bella luce del core” as he finally realises the power of love in Act 3. Once or twice his voice got drowned in the orchestral wash, but that’s a familiar hazard here and doubtless will improve through the run as conductor and orchestra learn to rein in the sound when required in their new performing space.
David Stephenson makes much of the role of David; his brief arioso “Per voi, ghiottoni inutili” was passionately delivered and demonstrated a man of conviction, sermonising on the importance of love over a life of gluttony. He makes his points forcefully, for a man of the cloth, and his lecture to Suzel on marriage borders on the cruel. He nearly succumbs to fisticuffs with Fritz too. It’s all for a good cause, however, and he even awards his prize for winning the wager – Fritz’s vineyard – to Suzel as a wedding gift.
Patricia Orr sang the trouser role of Beppe, local gypsy-musician and would-be lothario (given half a chance) with pleasing tone, especially in his birthday ode to Fritz. She has a confident stage manner and an attractive light mezzo. The small roles of Federico and Hanezò, Fritz’s friends, were fleshed out by Robert Burt and Simon Wilding respectively.
© Fritz Curzon
Stuart Stratford led the City of London Sinfonia in a sympathetic account of Mascagni’s score. The new, wider pit allows for a more traditional orchestral layout than previously, which certainly aided ensemble and balance issues. There was drama in the intermezzo, shot through with Sicilian passion (which seems right out of place in this pastoral idyll of a piece) and the string sound was sweet without being as lavish as a larger band in an opera house.
Despite the limitations of the libretto – Verdi knew what he was talking about – Opera Holland Park serves up a real winner here; a charming score, sensitively sung by a fine young cast, plus a sympathetic production – a perfect recipe for a summer opera festival. Now all we need is the sunshine…
Review originally published on Opera Britannia