(A Review of Bath Opera’s “Jewels of the Madonna” (I gioielli della Madonna) by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari sung in English at the Wroughton Theatre, Bath on 19 February 2009)
As it said on the Bath Opera website “This production of Wolf-Ferrari’s The Jewels of the Madonna is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this amazing but rarely performed opera” and one can instantly see why the subject matter (violence, incest, rape, sacrilege and suicide) may have prevented the opera becoming more popular when it was premiered in 1911. “Jewels” is an opera in the verismo style, dealing with the unsavoury aspects of Neapolitan life, and one that takes a critical look at hypocrisy and morals.
The production opened with some old black and white looped film footage of Italian urban life to help set the context. As the screen rolled up to reveal a lively festival scene, Wolf-Ferrari’s intricate music immediately transported us into the bustle and excitement of the occasion. From the outset the 18-strong orchestra was never less than wonderful, playing with great precision and passion under the leadership of Lorna Osbon and the baton of Peter Blackwood to bring Wolf-Ferrari’s complex scoring to life.
The basic plot is not overly complex: Gennaro and his foster-sister Maliella live with their domineering Italian mama, Carmela, in the claustrophobic slum quarter of Naples. He is a mummy’s boy and a bit of a simpleton who secretly harbours a troubling desire for his foster-sister who dreams of escaping her dreary existence. Local thug and Camorra chief, Rafaele, also has designs on Maliella, and while they observe the bejewelled Madonna being paraded as part of the festival, he promises he will steal the jewels for her. This is overheard by Gennaro, who despite his religious convictions, decides to steal the jewels and present them to Maliella himself as a token of his love for her. Despite rejecting Gennaro initially, Maliella succumbs when he presents her with the stolen jewels and she surrenders to him, but later runs to Rafaele and confesses what has happened. Rafaele has Gennaro brought to his seedy headquarters and, apparently out of moral indignation as much as for his own pride, he forces both Maliella and Gennaro to commit suicide.
Hannah Lockwood as Maliella, was in fine form, hitting the top notes with dazzling confidence and real operatic verve - this was a big role which she carried off very well. Rupert Drury as the hapless Gennaro was also outstanding. He acted the role of simpleton with an awkward physicality and spent much of the time avoiding eye contact with the other characters – here was a clear case of ‘diminished responsibility’! Drury’s crisp lyric tenor was also a joy to hear and even though he often had to sing whilst sitting, kneeling, lying on his back, lying on his foster-sister or crawling across the stage, he sang wonderfully.
Neil Kirkman (baritone) as Rafaele had many of the opera’s finest and most complex tunes, but at times his vocal line was lost in the rich and powerful orchestral accompaniment. Judy Davis (as Carmela) had no such problems and her experience shone through, yet in character terms, she never quite seemed to be the stifling presence one expected. There was also a good number of well-played supporting roles: the old drunk, Biaso, played by Peter Redfern, and the younger drunk, Totonno, played by a worryingly convincing Tom Magnone whose rich tones were sadly under-utilised on this occasion. Edward Harper made a convincing priest and then there was the Camorra girls played by Louise Merrifield, Fiona Thompson and Leonie Martin, all with fine singing voices and acting skills to match. It must be most reassuring for Bath Opera to have such strength-in-depth. The principal Camorra men (Anthony Sanchez and Carl Speck) were equally well-sung and watchable. The chorus work was also of a very high standard and the men’s chorus, so often an Achilles’ heel in community opera, deserve special mention for their enthusiastically robust performance.
There were, however, a few areas that didn’t quite deliver to expectation. The first was the dynamic balance between orchestra and singers. Whether through first night exuberance or an unfortunate accident of acoustic architecture, the orchestra frequently drowned-out the principals. To make matters worse, diction was not all it might have been and within my small party we reckoned we understood less than fifteen percent of the sung words. Thank heavens for pre-reading and a good synopsis in the programme!
Director Ian Burton is more often to be found working at La Scala or Glyndebourne so with his returning to his roots to direct this once-in-a-lifetime production, something rather special was expected - and for the most he delivered it. Simple but effective set design, multi-layered movement and well thought-out positioning made best use of the comparatively small stage. At one point the Camorra delivered a very jolly serenade whilst peeping around the wings and seemed almost playful – a wonderfully light moment in such a dark opera. But given the obvious talent of the principals, Burton may have missed a trick by not developing the characterizations further. By the end of the opera I had expected to feel some sympathy for Maliella and Gennaro who were both, in different ways, victims, but even their suicides failed to move me - I had not been coaxed into caring about them. There was also a rather clumsy-looking scene transition in the first act after Gennaro has been comforted by his mother. As the orchestra played out the instrumental conclusion with great sensitivity, the Camorra thugs came centre-stage and violently attacked the old drunk, Basio. The image and music were gratingly mismatched at this point and if this was deliberate, it is hard to see what point it made.
In so many ways, this incredibly ambitious production by Bath Opera was a sparkling success but it is easy to see why Jewels of the Madonna is so rarely staged. Apart from the ‘difficult’ material it covers (arguably not so challenging for today’s audiences) the opera suffers from a slow-moving and rather one dimensional plot leaving an impression of a 2 hour opera crammed into nearly 3 hours! Despite some excellent performances, some fabulous music, and the production team’s best efforts, I was nevertheless left wishing for a fast-forward button at times, but that shouldn’t diminish Bath Opera’s pride in a job very well done.
What a delightful plot. Do you think our celebrated Madonna would wish to participate (by donating her jewels, I mean, not by singing! That'd be a real drawback).