(Milan) The audience at La Scala in Milan gave a triumphant welcome on Thursday to a masterful performance of Don Carloan opera by Giuseppe Verdi mixing struggles for power and dramas of jealousy, which opened the new season.
A highlight of Italian cultural life, the “Prima” (Premiere) of La Scala thus closes its trilogy dedicated to the torments of the quest for power initiated in 2021 with “Macbeth” by Verdi and continued with “Boris Godunov” by Mussorgsky in 2022 .
The artists, first and foremost the Russian diva Anna Netrebko, were greeted with loud applause for 13 minutes, many “well done!” » bursting forth in the legendary room.
At the helm, Riccardo Chailly masterfully directed an opera which, according to him, is “good for the soul”, to, for the duration of a performance, “put aside one’s anxieties”.
Timely, UNESCO on Wednesday included Italian lyrical singing in its intangible heritage, a decision hailed by Rome as recognition of a mark of “global excellence”.
“ Don Carlo is one of the great works of the world lyrical repertoire and at the same time a parable on authoritarian power which describes a lawless and shameless dictator,” Dominique Meyer, director of La Scala, commented to AFP.
This opera, inspired by the eponymous tragedy by Friedrich von Schiller, transports the audience to 16th century Spain, in the midst of the Inquisition established by the Catholic Church to hunt down “heretics”.
The work takes up Verdi’s favorite themes such as the conflict between religious and royal powers, the relationship between father and son and the oppression of peoples.
“From euphoria to despair”
Bass Michele Pertusi played Philip II, king of Spain and father of Don Carlo, who rules an immense empire with an iron fist, but appears fragile in his love life.
Weakened by a health problem announced at the start of the third act, the artist insisted on singing until the end, attracting applause from the audience.
The king’s relations with Don Carlo deteriorate after his decision to break off his son’s engagement to the French princess Elisabeth de Valois in order to marry her himself.
The emotion is palpable in the room when the monarch intones “Ella giammai m’amò” (She never loved me).
In the title role, Francesco Meli, considered one of the most eminent tenors in the Verdian repertoire, convinced.
Don Carlo “is not a hero, he is a man of great sensitivity who reacts excessively to everything, going from euphoria to despair,” he notes.
Soprano Anna Netrebko, a regular at “Prima” who took on the role of Elisabeth de Valois, stepmother of Don Carlo, captivated the audience with her captivating voice.
Elisabeth’s voice is “low, serious, light and luminous at the same time”, expressing “her solitude, her sadness and her big heart”, explains the singer.
Among the key scenes, the moving farewell duet of Don Carlo and Elisabeth who renounce their love with a promise: “but up there, we will meet again in a better world”.
Also highly applauded were the Latvian mezzosoprano Elina Garanca who excelled in the role of the Princess of Eboli, and the baritone Luca Salsi who played Rodrigo, Don Carlo’s friend, with verve.
Omnipotence of the Church
The scene is dominated by a translucent alabaster tower connected to fences, a symbol of the omnipotence of the Church. The costumes are mostly black, a sign of wealth at the time.
Alabaster, often used to dress the windows of old religious buildings, “always has a smell of incense, of church,” explains the director, Spaniard Lluis Pasqual.
“Verdi’s message, to which I feel very close, is very anticlerical: religions are one of the worst things that human beings have invented,” he assures. And “in the end, it’s always the Grand Inquisitor who wins.”
He does not hesitate to draw a parallel with the war in the Middle East: “every day on television, we see fundamentalists of all religions violently defending their beliefs”.
In an oppressive atmosphere, the opera takes place during the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648), a period of revolt by Dutch Protestants fighting for their independence against the Spanish Catholic occupiers.