Watch this, it gets good at 1:45
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDriBd2dCbo&feature=related
In 2005 the Salzburg Festival put on a production of Verdi’s La Traviata that was unlike any before it. Directed by Willy Decker, it took an opera famous for its lavish decadence and stripped it down to the necessities.
I’ve seen La Traviata three times in my life, once at the San Francisco Opera, once at the Metropolitan Opera, and once at Arizona Opera. Three different regions, astoundingly similar productions. All of them were done as period pieces and all three of them had a monstrous chandelier looming above the singers heads as well as sets and costumes so extravagant that the eye was saturated before the ear.
Willie Decker’s production is fearless. It hides behind nothing. It lays bare the music, the story, and the acting for the audience to feast upon. In order to achieve this, he made some immensely unpopular decisions. He cut all the aria climax high notes. His singers are talented, and could easily go the octave up, as has been the custom for decades. They decided though, that it didn’t serve the story they were telling to stop the momentum for the customary diva moment. He also cast up and coming singers in roles that are usually reserved for older, more established singers. Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon worked on the opera using the techniques of Stanislavsky and Gritovwky. They created an incredibly physically active and emotionally energetic piece with Decker. If you listen to the recording (operatic recordings are usually edited to perfection) you can hear them gasping for breath and turning notes into screams or growls.
This infuriated some critics and audiences, but mostly it was received with explosive enthusiasm. This production was sold out before it opened and over the course of the run the waiting list became long enough to sell it out five times over. I think the opera community was starving for this
I love opera. I listen to it all the time. But I rarely go see it because I dread the boredom and the frustration I experience. I always find myself asking, “why does it have to be like that?” I don’t understand why opera has to be stagnate. This production was the answer to my prayers. It is fluid and energetic. It is revolutionary yet classic.
They are reviving it this year at the Metropolitan Opera in NY. The singers are different, but it’s the same production concept. Lets hope it’s as fresh as it was in 2005 when it changed Opera forever.
