IDOMENEO, RE DI CRETA

The experimentalism of Mozart and the white metaphysical from the stage setting by Pier Luigi Pizzi

(libretto)

“My advice when you work is not to think only of the audiences that have a thorough grasp of music, but also of those spectators who don’t: you know, for every ten experts, there are a hundred who don’t understand anything at all. So please remember the so-called popular element, that stimulates even the hardest of ears”. This is what the eminent Leopold Mozart wrote to his son Wolfgang Amadeus in 1871 on the subject of his Idomeneo, re di Creta scheduled to inaugurate the first opera season at the newly refurbished Le Muse theatre on 6th November. It is a heterogeneous, experimental opera, that marks a decisive passage in view of the dramaturgic maturity of Mozart, where parts of the old yet still vital Metastasian tradition, elements deriving from the Gluckian reform and borrowings from the French tradition all merge and converge (the Marche Philharmonic Orchestra will be conducted by maestro Gerard Korsten, the Bellini opera choir by maestro Carlo Morganti). Idomeneo represents a solitary and singular vertex in the panorama of 18th Century opera seria, since the dramaturgic conception of Mozart would have found its natural terrain for expansion in the comic genre. “A unique score, the richest, the most encyclopaedic, one could say, not only among Mozart’s work but in the whole of musical history” (according to Saint-Fox) seldom present in opera season programs (remember Placido Domingo at the Met in ’96, and the same year a direction by Miller at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florentine Musical May) and one by Halmer in 2000 at the Regio theatre in Parma).

“I didn’t choose it myself, but I find it sublime”, states maestro Pier Luigi Pizzi, who is behind the production in Ancona. In fact, the taut drama and the bewitching sonority of the opera feature an emotional intensity and an unexpected impetus. A sensor capable of fitting in with the slightest nuances of the images expressed by the lyrics, of communicating to the spectator the repercussions produced in the intimate state of mind of the characters, where the interaction between lyrics and music, asymmetrical in shape, delineates the drama. The arias and the single pieces in Idomeneo have not so much an active character but rather a contemplative one. They translate lyrical moments where there is no communication between the characters in the play and the music accompanies a series of interior monologues from the leading actors who look within themselves to relate with the audience. There is an absolute prevalence of solo performances over group performances, “the desperate effort by each character to find a cure for their own restlessness”, underlines Pizzi.

The plot tells of king Idomeneus who, on his return to his island after the war of Troy along with his fleet, avoids a terrible shipwreck by promising Neptune that he will sacrifice the life of the first person he meets on berthing. Tragedy strikes when the king raises his eyes to the sight of the Cretan beach, and catches sight of his son Idamantes. Ilia, daughter of King Priam of Troy and a prisoner of Idomeneus, is in love with Idamantes, who in turn loves her: the king’s sacrifice would therefore cause three victims. But that’s not all. Elettra, daughter of King Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, is also in love with Idamantes and is jealous of Ilia. In the meantime, a horrible monster emerges from the merciless sea and only the courage of Idamantes will defy it. When, at last, Idomeneus is forced to announce to his people the name of the victim to be sacrificed to Neptune, the oracle decrees the new wills of the god: “Idomeneus shall abdicate his throne, Idamantes shall reign, and Ilia shall be his bride”. Peace returns to the island, and only Elettra is wounded by the divine verdict.

The opera begins in Ilia’s apartments, and continues on the beach, at the port of Sidon, in the palace gardens, in the great square embellished by statues in front of the royal palace, in the large atrium of the temple of Neptune. All these settings will take shape and substance on the stage at Le Muse, used for the first time since its inauguration on 13th October, to the fullness of its technical resources. “The white, metaphysical, scenic device - discloses Pier Luigi Pizzi, stage designer, - features the sea as a constant presence, the instrument of divine vengeance, but also the hope to escape from claustrophobic captivity. The machine of Le Muse ensures visible transformations, thereby supporting the fluidity of the narration with images. The stage technology helped me significantly in achieving the mutations that I was aiming for. I am still exploring this stage space in order to exploit it as much as possible” (the stage settings were created at the Rossini Opera Festival laboratory in Pesaro).

The leading roles in this production are played by Charles Workman (Idomeneus), Eva Mei (Ilia), Mariella Devia (Elettra), Jorge Schneider (Arbaces), Cristiano Olivieri (High Priest), Riccardo Zanellato (The voice of the Oracle). “Almost all the singers in the cast of Idomeneo – recalls Pizzi, - have participated on several occasions in performances I have staged. On this occasion also, I tried to set up a mutual feeling of trust and complicity”. Maestro Pizzi is not only director and stage designer, but also, as everyone knows, a costume designer. “In costumes - he adds, - I seek first and foremost functionality, as well as the costume’s value in contributing to the definition of a character, its contribution in terms of aesthetic and chromatic appeal in harmony with the stage setting context”.

Always “in search of the convincing key to interpretation”, Pier Luigi Pizzi has staged over 500 performances in half a century of activity in the world of international opera where “the confusion of values now rules, where there are no landmarks, where the few reliable activities are constantly compromised by the instability of the artistic direction”. And nonetheless, during the same month as the debut of Idomeneo at Le Muse in November, the maestro will open the Fenice season at the Malibran theatre in Venice with “Thais” by Massenet. In December, he is scheduled to stage “Il Trovatore” at the Massimo theatre in Palermo and Strass’s “Der Rosenkavalier” at La Scala in January 2003.

                                                                                                                            Maria Manganaro

(Read a previous interview with Pier Luigi Pizzi on “Idomeneo” in Ancona)