“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” said soprano Sondra Radvanovski after recently rehearsing Luigi Cherubini’s “Medea” at the Metropolitan Opera. “Everyone knows this opera, thanks to Maria Callas.”
Callas may be closing in on the legacy of this opera, her various recordings from the mid-20th century dominating the work’s discography.New work by David McVicar open company season on tuesday.
Like many people, McVicar was new to opera until he began studying it for this production. This is a rare of rare, the work of a composer who was famous and respected at the time, but today only knows a few of his works, even if they were. However, it is rarely played. Tourists who visit Père Lachaise, the Parisian cemetery where Cherubini is buried, are more likely to visit Chopin’s tomb next door.
A French assimilated Italian born in 1760, Cherubini, who straddled the Classical and Romantic eras of music, wrote Médée in 1797 from a French libretto inspired by both Euripides and Corneille’s tragedy. premiered. This is a version of the Greek myth that she takes revenge on him for helping Jason retrieve the Golden Fleece after he abandoned her.
“Every version of Medea has a slightly different story and a slightly different addition to the myth,” McVicar said. It introduces the subplots and twists of “Euripedes. It is a classical work, but it is also Gothic. It belongs to the period of Gothic Romanticism in art and literature.”
After its premiere, “Médée” was unpopular and not the most beloved Cherubini opera among fans like Beethoven. I couldn’t get it. Even if it is accurate, it is like Berlioz’s memoir including scenes with Cherubini, director of the Paris Conservatoire, decades after “Médée”. Noisy atrocious behavior.
However, his fortunes changed in the 20th century. In 1909, “Médée” arrived at La Scala in Milan, with an Italian translation called “Medea”, replacing the French dialogue with a new recitative. That version, described by McVicar as “bone and concise”, was revived in the 1950s by Callas, who subsequently performed it extensively, including at La Scala and London’s Royal Opera House.
As such, the work is best known as “Medea”. That’s what the Metropolitan Museum of Art says in its Italian translation. Leonie Rysanek, Gwyneth Jones, Montserrat Caballé, etc.
“We need someone who can sing it,” said conductor Carlo Rizzi, who heads up the Met production. “If you have it, do it. If you don’t, don’t do it. It’s as easy as that.”
Hikers might try Mont Blanc or Kilimanjaro, he added. But few people dare to climb Everest. McVicar called the opera his soprano version of “Hamlet”. This is because when Medea comes on, she never leaves the stage, more or less, in various states of distress and anger.
This was a tempting challenge for Radvanovsky. The idea for the Metropolitan Museum of Art production came in the wake of another season opener, Bellini’s “Norma”, featuring the same trio of Radvanovsky, McVicar and Rizzi. She said the Maison’s general manager, Peter Gelb, told her that she was happy with her performance and asked her what she wanted to do next: “‘Medea,'” she replied. rice field.
“Peter said, ‘Are you sure?'” recalls Radvanovsky. “Where should I go after ‘Noma’?”
I felt it was a logical fit for her voice, a way of combining bel canto works like Donizetti’s Tudor operas with verismo classics like Puccini’s Tosca. The question was in what language she would sing it. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the company’s music director, wanted to do a French original and was initially attached to the piece, but they decided to follow Callas’ tradition. Fits both Radvanovsky and Met.
“I think both are valid,” McVicar says of the two versions. “But you have to look after the house and the cast you have. The French can work too, but they need a smaller theater like the Opera Comique in Paris. Frankly, The dialogues are not very good, they are clunky and dated.
McVicar said he took part in the production not only because of Radvanovsky’s long and fruitful operatic relationship, but also because works like Medea are where he feels most at home. .
“I’m very much identified here with the big Italian warhorses because I can do them,” he added. I would have to say no. I would be more interested in something like this in the hinterland.” Also, I would like to work on Janacek’s opera.)
With the team assembled, the premiere was planned at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. This “Medea”, a collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company as well as Greek National Opera and Lyric Opera in Chicago, has been upended by the pandemic. Instead, the first run took place at Metropolitan University, and McVicar ended up designing it during the most restrictive lockdowns that prevented him from working directly with his regular collaborators. What started out as a practical move, he said, eventually became his way of staying sane and creative.
Returning to opera’s origins, McVicar pondered how its tension and turmoil—”the utter chaos that Medea can unleash”—fit into that era, born of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Directoire style.
It gave the production that look, “broadly speaking, with costumes from the Directoire era and a real sense of Gothic decay”. Thrust Corner has sliding doors that open to reveal both preliminary scenes and extravagant episodes. Behind it is a huge angled mirror that not only reflects the action from an aerial perspective, but also acts as a screen for special effects projected onto the floor. “Literally smoke and mirrors,” he says.
The score may also look simpler than it really is, said Rizzi. It was not written for a very large orchestra and does not contain solitary melodies that the audience would leave home humming. “That doesn’t mean it’s a bad opera,” he added. “It’s another opera.”
A conductor can interpret the music as classical, but Rizzi has worked with the Met Orchestra to bring out the mercurial tumult that flows through Cherubini’s instrumental lighting. In the opening symphonia alone, he said, “It’s not a stake, it’s a tsunami wave.”
Many of the opera’s shifting characters also rely on Radvanowski as Medea, who is portrayed in McVicar’s staging and expressive physicality. “She could be a serpentine figure, or what we call the Hulk, or a goddess,” said Radvanovsky. “I’m tired.”
Still, she added, this is a role that sopranos can’t approach with dread — neither its history nor its demands. Recently, she is the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother. “I couldn’t think of a better role to sing than Medea,” she said. “It’s the best treatment you can ask for.”
Outside of music, Radvanovski has worked with a personal trainer. “I wear a corset that’s perfect for singing on stage, but I combine that with Pilates moves,” she said. We talk about sprints and marathons. This opera is a marathon.”