Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 6 Il Travatore

32 | December 1, 2018 - January 20, 2019 O P E R A N O T E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O however, is the tenderness of the love music, which also takes wing in magnificently soaring climactic phrases. ose scenes, in which the two singers truly can connect vocally, musically, and emotionally, also offer moments of melancholy that truly touch the heart. Perrault calls Cendrillon “the best creature in the world.” at’s also the impression she gives onstage; this is one of the most unselfish, most loving of all operatic heroines, whose loneliness, rejec- tion, and sadness all come through vividly in her music. But it’s clear how much hope she has, and how much she believes in love and goodness. We see her capacity for love not just in her scenes with the prince, but in her scenes with her father – their relationship is perhaps the single most endearing element of the opera. Massenet dedicated Cendril- lon to the singer who created the title role, Julie Guiraudon, by all accounts an adorable art- ist. She clearly enraptured both Massenet, who called her Cen- drillon “exquisite,” and Cain, who later married her. Guiraudon was actually a soprano; today the role is more frequently sung by a mezzo, but it’s absolutely true that a lyric soprano who comple- ments a gleaming top with a strong lower octave can easily master Cendrillon’s challenges. Prince Charming is much more interesting – more com- plex emotionally – than in Rossini’s opera or, for that matter, in Perrault’s tale. He’s given a real emotional journey, basically moving from inexpe- rienced and petulant boy to loving man. His music is as passionately soulful as the Fairy Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical of the story, written for television, has been seen onscreen in productions with, top, Julie Andrews (premiere, 1957), above left, Lesley Ann Warren (1966), and, above right, Brandy (1997). performance – following successes in Brussels, Geneva, and the Hague – audiences in New Orleans applauded the American premiere. Looking at Cendrillon ’s Italian counter- part, La Cenerentola , reveals some differences in the story, although one attribute the Italian and the French heroines share is that each of them has a nickname: Cenerentola and Cendrillon both can be translated as “little girl of the cin- ders.” (Each also has a real name – Rossini’s character is Angelina, while Massenet’s is Lucette). In both, the girl’s father is an impor- tant character; Pandolfe is sweet and gentle, very unlike Cenerentola’s father. Perhaps Pandolfe is too meek for his own good. Certainly he seriously regrets his marriage to Cendrillon’s stepmother, a character who doesn’t appear in Rossini at all: Mme. de la Haltière, quite incorrigibly bossy and outrageously self-important. In the hands of another composer she might seem excessively nasty, but Massenet and Cain draw a good deal of humor from the character. Her daughters, Cendrillon’s stepsisters Noémie and Dorothée, eclipse their counterparts in Rossini as simply the silliest, giddiest young ladies in opera. Act Two, at the ball, shows us Cinderella sporting glass slippers, as in Perrault (Rossini’s heroine leaves behind a bracelet). At home in Act ree, we have a major departure from both Perrault and Rossini: Devastated to have left the prince, Cendrillon decides to hide her misery from her father by running away. But she falls asleep, and her dream appears before us: she’s in the Fairy Godmother’s enchanted forest, and she’s with the prince, although initially they can’t see each other. In Laurent Pelly’s production at Lyric, rather than a forest, set designer Barbara de Limburg places the scene in a very different but similarly mysteri- ous realm – the dark rooftops of Paris. e score’s wonderful combination of styles gives us grandly romantic episodes, but also an intimacy that seems sweet, never cloying. anks to the indomitable Mme. de la Haltière, there’s also a pomposity worthy of Perrault, who described the stepmother as “the proudest and most haughty woman who ever was seen.” As envisioned by Massenet and his librettist, this character’s scenes wouldn’t be out of place in comic operettas by Offenbach. At one point in Act ree, after coming home from the ball, she pooh-poohs the qualities of the unknown princess and sings a hilarious aria, giving all the details of her own magnificent family pedigree. e ballet music recalls Baroque minuets; and in contrast, Massenet gives us the vigorous march of the princesses when they’re presented to the prince at the ball. Most captivating of all, BILL COOPER/ROYAL OPERA HOUSE COVENT GARDEN