Last year, the Salzburg Whitsun Festival was cancelled. Building on experience gained during the summer festival that took place in a reduced form in 2020, this year saw another Whitsun festival: four days of enjoying a well-filled, varied programme.
For the tenth festival under her artistic direction, Cecilia Bartoli chose "Roma Eterna" as the theme—a tribute to her birthplace. It was four full days with seven performances and concerts in various theaters of Mozart's city and the projection of some films illustrating Rome's diversity, such as "La dolce vita" (Fellini) and "Accarone" (Pasolini). However, the originally planned gala dinner, offered by a three-Michelin-star chef, fell victim to coronavirus.
"Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" (the triumph of time and disillusionment), a Handel oratorio in two parts from 1707, opened the festival. It is Handel's very first oratorio for which he chose a libretto by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj: a discussion among four allegorical figures. Piacere (pleasure) urges Bellezza (beauty) to lead a carefree and distracted life, while Tempo (time) and Disinganno (disillusionment) warn her. If Bellezza wants to escape the ravages of Time, she must secure a place in heaven where Time has no influence.
In his staging, Robert Carsen made this contrast between both worlds clear by transposing it to our time and society with the typical beauty pageants, disco, alcohol and drugs that gradually give way to that other world (sets and costumes by Gideon Davey). The final image of the performance shows us a "purified" Bellezza who walks across an empty stage in a simple white dress toward a white light in the distance, "carrying her new heart to God".
It is the young French soprano Mélissa Petit who performs this Bellezza and expresses her various emotions in the many arias allotted to her. She does so with a fresh and supple voice and admirable virtuosity. She will certainly gain authority in the five performances of "Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" this summer at the Salzburg Festival.
Authority is certainly not lacking in Cecilia Bartoli in the role of Piacere, the devilish spirit in a red pantsuit who manipulates Bellezza (her manager?) but who gives us, with her performance of "Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa," the vocal and interpretive highlight of the evening! Lawrence Zazzo (Disinganno) and Charles Workman (Tempo) received less prominent parts in Carsen's concept but also deliver beautiful vocal performances and integrate well into the ensemble.
In the orchestra pit sit "Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco," the Baroque orchestra founded in 2016 on the initiative of Cecilia Bartoli and which has in a sense become "her" orchestra, accompanying her almost always. Under the direction of Gianluca Capuano, they bring Handel's score to life, deliver fine detail work, pay attention to nuances, and keep the audience captivated.
Of course, the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco are also on duty – not in the orchestra pit but on stage for the concert performance of Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito." At the back of the stage of the "Haus für Mozart," the Bachchor awaits its turn, and Davide Pozzi (continuo harpsichord) and Robin Michael (continuo cello) carefully follow the dramatic development.
Apparently, it was the first time Cecilia Bartoli performed the role of Sesto in a somewhat staged version, and for soprano Anna Prohaska it was her debut as Vitellia. That may not be the most suitable role for her slender, clear soprano voice and for portraying the temperament and demands of the vengeful princess. Cecilia Bartoli, on the other hand, gave us a moving and convincing Sesto: wonderfully sung as we expect from her. Charles Workman's Tito had regal bearing, warm humanity, and virtuoso coloraturas. Mélissa Petit (Servilia) and Lea Desandre (Annio) formed a charming young couple, and Peter Kalman gave Publio his sonorous bass. Gianluca Capuano chose a fairly robust approach.
Brexit and Corona were the spoilers that caused the concert "Dixit Dominus" with compositions by Arcangelo Corelli, Georg Friedrich Händel, and Domenico Mazzocchi, to be performed by the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner, to be cancelled. No panic. Fortunately, Cecilia Bartoli had a programme in reserve. Under the title "What passion cannot music raise," she presented, with the help of her orchestra, fragments from cantatas, oratorios, and operas that provide evidence of the most varied emotions that music can evoke.
Much Händel but also pages by Porpora, Hasse, Telemann, and Vivaldi. Bartoli and the orchestra alternate, and whenever Cecilia takes the stage, she appears in an appropriate (historical) costume for the character she brings to life. The audience enjoys it (I do too!) and follows along with the changing moods. As the cherry on top, Bartoli and some orchestra members try to outdo each other in virtuosity. This to the great delight of the audience, who can't get enough. It's a feast!
Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco was not the only orchestra that performed in this edition of the Whitsun Festival. The ensemble Artaserse presented a performance of Scarlatti's oratorio "Cain, overo il primo omicidio" with Philippe Jaroussky. The Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentina, conducted by Zubin Mehta, took the stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus for "Poema Sinfonico," a concert with compositions by Respighi and Mendelssohn, and a concert performance of Puccini's "Tosca."
Corona also interfered with the planned programme here. Not in the "Poema Sinfonico" concert with the "Italian" symphony and Mendelssohn's violin concerto and Respighi's "Pini di Roma." It is with small, cautious steps that Zubin Mehta, who recently celebrated his 85th birthday, makes his way to the conductor's podium. But once seated, he is clearly the master. However, the public's ovations are especially for Maxim Vengerov and his captivating, virtuosic performance of the violin concerto.
For the concert performance of Puccini's "Tosca," an opera set in this "Roma eterna" that was the theme of this edition of the Whitsun Festival, Corona caused problems again, resulting in the replacement of two singers: not Anja Harteros but Anna Netrebko as Tosca, and not Bryn Terfel but Luca Salsi as Scarpia. A shame, a shame, but it could have been worse!
Unchanged: Cecilia Bartoli as the young shepherd boy heard at the beginning of the third act but who usually does not appear on stage. It was in this small role that the ten-year-old Cecilia Bartoli made her debut at the Rome Opera! Now she walked past the orchestra, dispersed across the wide stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus, with a projection of Castel Sant'Angelo in the background, the place where the final act takes place. There wasn't much room to move around, and the executed Cavaradossi even had to sit next to the conductor for a moment, waiting for the end of the opera.
The singers moved freely and maneuvered skillfully and managed to convince the audience through their commitment and captivating performances. Anna Netrebko performed Tosca with her spacious, expressive soprano, empathy, vulnerability, and dramatic commitment—and two magnificent dresses! Jonas Kaufmann gave Cavaradossi distinction and profile and brought Italian sunshine to his spacious tenor. Luca Salsi's Scarpia had authority and allure and a valuable expressive baritone. The various minor roles were solidly cast, and Zubin Mehta led his forces with a steady hand in a superb dramatic build-up. The audience held its breath and cheered.
The production of "Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno" is on the bill of the great Salzburg summer festival on August 4, 8, 12, and 14.
The theme of the 2022 Whitsun Festival will be announced in the summer.
- WHATWhitsun Festival Salzburg (Salzburger Pfingst-Festspiele)
- WHERE & WHENSalzburg, May 21–24, 2021
- PHOTOSCecilia Bartoli © Decca / Ferdinando Scianna; Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno © SF / Monika Rittershaus; Tosca, La clemenza di Tito, Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco & Poema sinfonico: © SF / Marco Borrelli
- WEBSITE: Wozzeck
