Opera production by Teatro Regio di Parma on the occasion of Festival Verdi.
For the series of operas from ‘Festival Verdi’, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents NABUCCO , conducted by Michele Mariotti, staged by Daniele Abbado
Nabucco:
Verdi’s third opera, Nabucco, was not merely a success, it was an explosion. Its combination of almost ferocious vitality and lyrical beauty was not only entirely new to opera, but was also the herald of the rest of Verdi’s career. Verdi’s mastery of drama, melody, and psychological penetration is what sets him above every other composer of opera. The insight into the soul in Nabucco comes from the chorus, which as we’ll come to below, overshadows the protagonists; a unique occurrence in Verdi’s operas.
Nabucco was first performed at La Scala on March 9, 1842. It was a sensation. Only eight performances were given because the season was at its end. The new season started on August 13, 1842; fifty-seven performances were then given of the opera by
the end of the year. Nabucco still holds the record at La Scala for the most performances given in a single year.
The Met didn’t get around to Nabucco until 1960 when the opera opened the 1960-61 season. Cornell MacNeil and Leonie Rysanek sang the principal roles. Over that season Nabucco was performed 14 times. It then disappeared from the Met’s repertory until 2001. I attended one of these 14 performances and was surprised that the opera vanished from New York. Since its return 12 years ago it has received 43 performances. This resurgence is consistent with the statement made in the introductory material on the DVD that Nabucco ranks fourth in frequency of performance among Verdi’s operas and 18th among all operas. This comeback is likely due to at least two causes. With the exception of Abigaille the opera is relatively easy to cast. Of course, interest in Verdi continued to grow as the 200th anniversary of his birth (2013) neared hard on the heels of the 100th anniversary (2001) of his death.
The Teatro Regio’s production uses simple but effective sets. The costumes were a little unusual. The chorus wore garb typical of the 1930s complete with yarmulkes and prayer shawls for the chorus even when they weren’t playing the Hebrews of the Babylonian Captivity. The principals wore stock theatrical biblical clothes. The only exception was Nabucco after he lost his reason whereupon he lost his costume. From then on he was dressed like the chorus. None of this got in the way of a very effective staging that was well recorded by video director Tiziano Mancini.
Four lyric part drama, on a libretto by TEMISTOCLE SOLERA, from the drama Nabuchodonosor by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu and from the Nabuccodonosor dance by Antonio Cortesi
Music GIUSEPPE VERDI
Interpreter Characters
Nabucodonosor LEO NUCCI
Ismaele BRUNO RIBEIRO
Zaccaria RICCARDO ZANELLATO
Abigaille DIMITRA THEODOSSIOU
Fenena ANNA MARIA CHIURI
The High Priest of Belo ALESSANDRO SPINA
Abdallo MAURO BUFFOLI
Anna CRISTINA GIANNELLI
Babylonian soldiers, Jewish soldiers, Levites, Jewish virgins,Babylonian women, Magi, great of the kingdom of Babylon, people
Concert master and director MICHELE MARIOTTI
Staged by DANIELE ABBADO
taken from CAROLINE LANG
Scenes and costumes by LUIGI PEREGOVALERIO ALFIER
lightsMaestro of the choir MARTINO FAGGIANI
ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR OF THE TEATRO REGIO DI PARMA
Preparation of the Teatro Regio di Parma
Show with subtitles