The Lady’s Not For Burning: Opera Carolina’s 'Il Trovatore'

by Phillip Larrimore

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Picture by jonsilla.com

October 18, 2011

Opera Carolina's 'Il Trovatore' is showing at Belk Theater, at the Blumenthal Center, Oct. 15, 20 and 23. Click for details.

Verdi's Il Trovatore is nearly as famous for its plot incongruities as it is for its headlong, fiery score. The problem centers on Azucena, craziest gypsy in all of opera – Carmen not withstanding – who in a trance of visionary inadvertence plunges her own infant into the bonfire, rather than the infant son of the Count di Luna, which had been her intent. As a plot device, it is a premise based on profound and improbable confusion.

Furthermore, the blood-relationship of the new Count di Luna to Manrico, the infant raised by Azucena to be di Luna's nemesis, is apparent to the audience but no one at all in Trovatore-land – except Azucena – until the very end of the opera. It's obvious from his correspondence that Verdi knew he was shredding the fabric of plausibility, and equally obvious that he knew he could put it over due to the power of his music. It is this quality that puts Il Trovatore into the auditory equivalent of date rape, like Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata. Being a musical Elemental, he can get away with it. 

Opera Carolina's new production of Il Trovatore might be described as a feast on paper plates - the production values are paltry, but the music making is of a high order, and one would be a fool to turn up one's nose at such cuisine just because it is served as a picnic. 

Of the principals, only Denyce Graves as Azucena can really act (though in the secondary role of Don Ferrando, Kristopher Irmiter also shone). Graves, who underwent a vocal crisis several years ago, is one of the more glamorous figures in opera today, and her beauty - which she couldn't entirely conceal beneath her frightwig and bedizened finery - cast a curious light on the part of Azucena; it rounded her out as a character and made her convincing. Graves is obviously testing the waters again vocally, and while the top notes are not quite as secure as they were, the darker notes have a bardic, sepulchral quality - a tinge of Mahler to them - which further illuminates Azucena's character. Quite the best Azucena that I've ever seen.

Leonora, played by Lisa Daltrius, has a voice like a rose in bloom, with all the vocal agility required of this difficult part. Antonello Palumbo’s Manrico also was a pleasure to hear - a "shining" tenor with the right "ring" for Manrico, who spat out his “Di quella Pira” with venom and aplomb. Both were better to listen to than to watch, though Daltrius was graceful, whereas Palumbo was rather wooden, apart from the marvelous voice. Someone should coach him on how to treat a sword as more than a piece of lumber.

Michael Corvino's Count di Luna was not very effectual, though he improved throughout the night. The chorus was en pointe and sang with accuracy as well as gusto. James Meena, the conductor, always compels admiration for his excellent pacing, his ability to breathe with the singer, and his awareness of the subtleties of Verdi's orchestration. Though I did think the anvils of the Anvil chorus were over-mic’ed - the sound not just visceral but cranial. 

Both the sets and the staging were just adequate, not-such-bad-ideas on which not enough time had been spent; I suspect it is a matter of available funds rather than skill.

Musically speaking, Verdi was well-served, and this is no mean feat.