Rossini's 'Italian Girl in Algiers' deftly mixes the comic and the serious
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William Burden, left, is Lindoro, Vivica Genaux is Isabella, and Paolo Pecchioli is Mustafa in the Pittsburgh Opera production of "The Italian Girl in Algiers."
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A heavy-set lady may have a say in when an opera is over, but it was a rotund man who pushed the entire genre to new heights of popularity.
The operas of Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) were not just well known, they created a rage in the early 19th century. The operatic world had never seen a composer so fluent in comedic and serious styles and so able to imbue long stretches of music with insanely catchy tunes and rhythms. In his operas, such as "The Barber of Seville," "William Tell" and "Cinderella," acts progressed with such flow there was nary time for idle gossip in the boxes.
"Here was a new voice characterized by energy and wit, overflowing with melodic ideas and sensitive to the most delicate shades of orchestra color," writes the New Penguin Opera Guide.
Rossini was a master both of the lightning quick roulade and the virtuosic patter. But he also crafted a characteristic large-scale form so effective it came to be known as the "Rossini crescendo." These transition from a slow and quiet section with music that builds both gradually and inevitably until it reaches a sensational climax to end an act or an overture.
In 1830, at the height of his fame, Rossini stepped away from opera. Though he lived nearly 40 more years, he did not pen another. But back in 1813, Rossini was young and in love with, among other things, opera. At 21, he was on a roll nearly unheard of in the business, having already written 10 operas -- most of them successful in the crucial Italian theaters. But his next, the two-act comic opera, "L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers)" took him to the next level.
- Where: Benedum Center, Downtown
- When: 8 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Tuesday, 8 p.m. May 8 and 2 p.m. May 10
- Tickets: Start at $16
- More information: 412-456-6666
"The opera is Rossini's first buffo masterpiece," writes the Grove Book of Opera. "It quickly won widespread popular acclaim in Italy and it was the first Rossini opera to be produced in Germany and France."
That's surprising only because he had to compose it at the last minute, when another composer failed to produce a work for the Teatro S. Benedetto. Rossini wrote "Italian Girl" in an astonishing 27 days, with only a little help from a collaborator and with no borrowed material from his earlier works, as was sometimes his practice.
Perhaps this madcap schedule pushed Rossini to finally write the way his inner ear told him, to buck the polite pretension of the operatic world and push on to pure entertainment. But in "Italian Girl" he took the farce to a realm of distilled fun. The two-act opera is remarkable for its mixing of comic and serious styles. The buffoonery is laugh-out-loud funny, and the battle of the sexes makes your eyes water. Yet, the arias and ensemble pieces are gorgeous, and the opera is not without poignancy, such as when the two lovers Isabella and Lindoro meet or when Isabella exhorts her fellow Italians to take pride in their county in "Pensa alla Patria."
The plot of "Italian Girl" involves Mustafa, the Turkish Bey of Algiers, who has tired of his wife, Elvira. He orders his captain, Haly, to find him one of those Italian girls he has heard about. This turns out to be a monumental mistake, for when Haly captures a ship whose passengers include the fiery Isabella, the tables are swiftly turned. Isabella had been searching for her lover Lindoro, who had been captured by Mustafa earlier, and when she finds him, she uses all of her wit and feminine guile to foil Mustafa, help Elvira regain his love, and sail off with her Lindoro. Among the lunacy are several famous arias: Haly's "Le femmine d'Italia," Mustafa's "Gia d'insolito ardore," Lindoro's "Languir per una bella" and Isabella's "Cruda sorte!"
Isabella is not just the central character in the opera, but a central character in Vivica Genaux's career. The Fairbanks, Alaska, mezzo-soprano, who lived in Pittsburgh for a spell as a student of Claudia Pinza, made her professional debut as Isabella at Florentine Opera in October 1994 and has made it one of her signature roles. She's been called "remarkably suave, agile and sexy in the title role" (Opera Magazine) and praised for how she "negotiates all the technical fireworks without strain, and moves throughout the rangy role in utter command" (Los Angeles Times).
"To this day [Isabella] remains one of my favorite roles," says Genaux. "She is humorous, feisty and determined, three characteristics which have helped me enormously in my career."
While this marks the first time the Pittsburgh Opera will stage "Italian Girl," the company is stepping out with an imaginative production set in the 1930s with Isabella reincarnated as an Amelia Earhart-style aviatrix who crashes in Morocco. It's a Sante Fe Opera production with which Genaux already has experience (at Minnesota Opera). Rounding out the cast are tenor William Burden as Lindoro, Earle Patriarco as Taddeo, baritone Jonathan Beyer as Haly, and Italian bass Paolo Pecchioli debuting as Mustafa.
Also: Vivica Genaux gives a benefit concert Wednesday at the Pittsburgh Opera building in the Strip District at 6 p.m., with dinner following. $100; 412-281-0912, ext. 204.
First Published April 30, 2009 12:00 am
