The matinee yesterday of La Forza del Destino was magnificent. I saw it in a movie house that carries The Met in HD series. I wanted to see it because this is an opera I love, for the music and singing. It is as good in those respects as any Verdi opera, beginning with the overture which is probably the best of any of Verdi's and is often played on its own by orchestras. The outstanding conductor was the Met's current Music Director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who also conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra and produced an immaculate musical rendition.
This performance was a chance to see the Met's new production, the first in 30 years and apparently the first series of performances in 20 years. It's hard to believe that it's been that long. The Met used to put this opera on frequently. Some of the Met worthies interviewed during the intervals claimed that it was the need for several great singers that caused the lengthy hiatus.
If so, Lise Davidsen, our Leonora, is the answer to the prayers of lovers of La Forza. The Norwegian soprano has conquered many of the world's greatest opera stages in the past couple of years, and now she has added something, something wonderful, from the Italian repertory to her triumphs with Wagner and Richard Strauss. She has a lovely clear tone and can ascend to any note without any straining. In the opening scene, her formal dress was not as flattering as the trench coat and hermit's robe she wore in subsequent scenes. I'd have been satisfied whatever she wore, but she is a handsome woman who looked good in the coat and robe.
Her Pace, pace mia Dio near the end of the opera conjured up memories of hearing Leontyne Price, who loved this opera, sing the great concluding aria. She has already sung the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and next season will perform the title role in Tosca.
I was not familiar with the rest of the cast, but that just is evidence of the few operas I've seen or hard in the past years of the pandemic. Tenor Brian Jagde as Don Alvaro started out a bit cold in the opening scene--he's only on stage then for 10 minutes--and would not appear for another hour after both the Inn and Convent scenes. He shone in his duets with Igor Golovatenko, the baritone who was a superb Don Carlo, one of the most revenge-fueled characters in all of opera. He reminded me of the wonderful Siberian baritone of only a few years ago, Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
Patrick Carfizzi was an effective grouchy Melitone, if not particularly oriented toward the basso buffo comedic side of the role. With his gray brush cut, though, he was a perfect figure of a priest. Judit Kutasi was an entertaining Preziosilla (mezzo), although her Rataplan somehow didn't pack the punch this lighter interlude usually provides in the middle of the opera. It may have been the paucity of her camp followers in the scene when she sings that catchy number that limited the impact of the scene.
Soloman Howard, a young and very formidable bass, was cast both as Padre Guardiano and Leonora's father, the Marquis of Calatrava. I especially enjoyed his deep tones as the Padre and felt that having him return in the closing scene as the father was totally wrong-headed. The new production is set in today's world, which is not an easy thing to do with a plot and libretto that are extremely unbelievable even for opera. Mostly, it worked as most productions of truly great operas usually do. The crazy libretto, however, may have kept the Met from reviving La Forza for so many years. It was fun to see everyone in the cast included in the closing (and only) curtain call.
I think the relatively short run at the Met, which began in late February and now is either finished or nearly so, reflected a fear that so many opera people are unfamiliar with this fine middle-period Verdi stalwart. They shouldn't have worried, at least about attendance at the opera house, because Ms. Davidsen undoubtedly is already a huge draw. I was disappointed that the theater where I saw the opera, in Ballston in Arlington, Va., was not at all packed. Previously, meaning four or five years ago, this theater was full for the Met offerings. Probably the lingering fears, especially of older patrons, diminished the size of th audience.
I had contemplated going to New York but will admit that ticket prices, along with travel costs, militated against the trip. The production by itself would win no plaudits, but just seeing and hearing the opera is worth any price of admission. This opera was often onstage during the golden Met years in the 20s and 30s with Rosa Ponselle and many other storied sopranos taking the leading role, along of course with th great Leontyne Price.
