Opera Reviews
28 March 2024
Untitled Document
Mascagni's Amica returns with mixed results
by Silvia Luraghi
Mascagni: Amica
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
12 October 2008

In recent years, Rome's Teatro dell'Opera has done an interesting job in bringing back to the stage some forgotten operas by Italian composers of the verismo age. This year it was the turn of Pietro Mascagni's Amica, coproduced with the opera companies of Monte Carlo, Livorno, Lucca, Pisa and Rovigo, where the production will be shown in the next months.

Written in 1905 and based on a drama by Paul Bérel, Amica premiered in Monte Carlo with Geraldine Farrar in the title role and enjoyed great success until the 1930s, but after the second World War it virtually disappeared. The current production features the original French version.

The plot is not particularly intriguing: Amica works in a farm for her stepfather, master Camoine, who wants to get rid of her and marry Maddalena. He decides to let Amica marry Giorgio, but Amica is in love with Giorgio's brother Rinaldo. Amica and Rinaldo run away, but eventually Rinaldo decides to be loyal to his brother and brings back Amica. While the girls desperately try to reach Rinaldo, she falls and dies.

The score is more interesting: without closed numbers, the voices are closely connected with the orchestral score, following Wagner and the German and French composers contemporary to Mascagni, with whose works the Italian composer was perfectly acquainted. The orchestral intermezzo, typical of many of Mascagni's operas, sounded especially fascinating.

The Rome production was directed by Jean Louis Grinda, with set designer Rudy Sabounghi and costumes by Teresa Acone, who set the action at the time of the composer (as in the original libretto). Sets and costumes looked quite naïve, and, considering that stage directions were not especially accurate, one would have appreciated some more imagination.

The first cast featured Amarilli Nizza as Amica, Enrique Ferrer as Rinaldo, and Alberto Mastromarino as Giorgio, while in the second cast the title role was taken by Patrizia Orciani, who displayed a solid voice, while the two brothers were tenor Maurizio Comencini (Rinaldo) and baritone Angelo Veccia (Giorgio), neither of whom sounded or looked memorable. Both casts were completed by Marcello Lippi as Camoine and Lucia Mastromarino as Maddalena.

The orchestra was conducted by Antonino Fogliani, a conductor more at home with belcanto than verismo, who did little justice to the most interesting parts of the score.

At the last performance, the house was almost empty: there were virtually no people in the boxes, a few score in the orchestra seats, and some more in the gallery. Reportedly, the other performances did not fare much better from the point of view of attendance. This has been a frequent problem in recent years for the Teatro dell'Opera. Hopefully, the new season, programmed by newly appointed artistic director Nicola Sani, will attract a wider audience.

Text: © Silvia Luraghi
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