** This recording of Fedora by Umberto Giordano is mainly an incentive for opera lovers who want to seize the opportunity to see this lesser-known opera. It is especially a showcase piece for the soprano and although Daniela Dessì does it quite well, she cannot control the overall production enough to make it a resounding success.
After seeing Sardou's play in Naples in 1885 as an 18-year-old student with none other than Sarah Bernhardt, Giordano conceives the plan for an opera based on this subject. He composes it following the success of Andrea Chénier. The premiere takes place in November 1898 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan with the composer as conductor. That Gemma Bellincioni sang Fedora doesn't mean much to us now, but that Enrico Caruso sang the male lead role of Loris speaks more to the imagination.
The story tells the difficult and tragic love story between Fedora and Loris Ipanov, the man initially suspected of having shot her fiancé, Count Vladimir Andreyevich. Fedora is a Russian aristocrat with a passionate temperament, a character type in the style of verismo, and she swears to find the guilty party. That would be Loris, but a romance has developed between Fedora and Loris, which Fedora initially resists. In the most famous aria of the opera, Amor ti vieta, Loris admits that he has succumbed to her charms and realizes that the attraction is mutual. During a party that Fedora has organized (with a musician who claims to be as good as Chopin), news arrives that the Nihilists have launched an attack on the tsar. Loris can convince Fedora that he has nothing to do with the attack and moreover he can reveal to her the contents of a letter from the count, which he has intercepted and which explains why he shot the count. The letter is addressed to a poor girl with whom the count had a relationship and in which he claims that despite his marriage to Fedora, he would not end their affair. Fedora is shocked by the count's betrayal, who apparently would marry her only for her wealth. She spends some time happily together with Loris at her villa in Switzerland. But their relationship comes to an abrupt end when Fedora reveals the complicity of Loris's brother in the murder of the tsar. This news causes the death of the two brothers' mother. Fedora hopes for mercy and forgiveness from Loris, but he curses her. She commits suicide with poison (which she always carries in a Byzantine cross) and dies in the arms of Loris, who finally forgives the dying woman.
Accurate atmosphere, muted involvement
The direction by Rosetta Cucchi (she also directed La Favorite at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, November 2017) divides the stage into two parts. In the foreground we see – usually in a sober but effective presentation – the event being discussed at that moment (the count's palace, the party in Paris), and behind a translucent curtain reference is made to the context in which that scene takes place (the snowstorm, the terror in Russia, the attack). The atmosphere is accurate, but the involvement of the characters is often muted and fails to engage the audience. That actually applies to everyone except the two female characters, Fedora herself and Olga, her niece, whom we meet at the party in the second act. Vocally, they are also the best cast roles. Daniela Dessì gets off to a somewhat difficult start, but in the scene where she makes the decision and gives in to her love for Loris (second act), she sings convincingly with a strong, clear soprano. She is certainly worth seeing the production for. Olga is a vivacious character and Daria Kovalenko sings her with much panache and lyrical playfulness. The role of Loris is doubled on stage, with an old Loris who silently and mysteriously "observes" everything in a corner of the foreground throughout the opera. A bizarre directorial intervention. The "real" Loris is portrayed by a very disappointing Fabio Armiliato, who can charm neither with his playing nor with his acting. The choir and orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice also perform without much commitment under the direction of a rather unenthusiastic conductor, Valerio Galli.
A recording that therefore has its main value as an introduction to the certainly engaging and versatile opera by Umberto Giordano, from which certainly more could be made.
- WHAT: Umberto Giordano (1867-1948) | Fedora
- DIRECTION: Rosetta Cucchi
- SINGERS: Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato, Daria Kovalenko, Alfonso Antoniozzi, Margherita Rotondi and others
- ORCHESTRA: Choir and orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova conducted by Valerio Galli
- RELEASE: Dynamic 57772 (recording March 2015)
- PHOTO CREDIT: © Marcello Orselli
