Above: Lisette Oropesa as Violetta in LA TRAVIATA, photo by Richard Termine. Click on the image to enlarge.
~ Author: Oberon
Monday March 9th, 2020 – Cuban-American soprano Lisette Oropesa has been enjoying a great success as Violetta in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of LA TRAVIATA; Wei and I attended tonight, and it’s clear that this role suits her to perfection: both vocally and dramatically, she is outstanding.
TRAVIATA is the opera I’ve seen more than any other. My Violettas have included everyone from Albanese to Zylis-Gara; the last time I counted (a few seasons back) I had seen some sixty different sopranos in this opera, not to mention those experienced on recordings and videos. I know most of the words and all of the notes, and I have very definite ideas about what I want to hear in a performance of this demanding role. To date, Patricia Brooks, Anna Moffo, and Diana Soviero have been the most memorable of my many dames aux camellias, and now Lisette Oropesa enters this elite echelon.
The Met’s production would be much more attractive if the Dinseyeqsue techni-colour schemes were toned down. A large bed smack in the middle of the stage means everything must be played around this piece of furniture. The set is otherwise sparsely furnished – desk, piano, a couple of chairs – and these remain onstage throughout. Thus at Flora’s party, the men play cards on top of Violetta’s pianoforte which in previous scenes had been in the courtesan’s Paris townhouse and her country retreat.
The bed is also the site of part of Violetta’s interview with Germont père, providing that gentleman an opportunity to make a pass at his son’s girlfriend. Frank Corsaro’s 1970 production at NYCO also featured such an incomplete pass. But probably the biggest defect in the current Met production is the introduction of Germont’s daughter as a silent presence. It doesn’t make sense for the upright Germont to bring his virginal teenaged daughter into the presence of a whore: the girl might get ideas. Later, Mlle. Germont witnesses Violetta’s death; I kept hoping Alfredo would smack her.
Of course, both preludes are ‘staged’, but in a way this was not really off-putting. One aspect of the production I really liked was the ‘change of seasons” subtly depicted as the story evolved. The ballet, on the other hand, suffered from hideous costumes and awful choreography; still, it was nice to see Barton Cowperthwaite on the Met stage, as a shirtless matador.
The conducting of Bertrand de Billy was dutiful but not inspired, and there were minor failures of communication between him and his singers; usually, I felt, those onstage wanted faster tempi than the maestro was serving up.
For all these misgivings, the overall effect of the evening was of being much more than the sum of its parts: the opera stood emphatically on the power of Ms. Oropesa’s interpretation of the title-role. She was extremely moving.
As Lisette began to sing, my mind wandered back to the night I first heard her, in a tiny role in Mozart’s IDOMENEO, in 2006. At that time, it was just the intriguing sound of her voice that captivated me; I could not have predicted then all that would transpire for her…all I knew was: this was a voice to love.
Lisette’s voice fills the cavernous Met with clarity of tone and a remarkable range of vocal hues; her way with the words captivated me all evening, and she brings numerous individual touches to the music that make it very much her own. In this role, she darkened the tone in certain lower passages – understandably – for dramatic effect, though she really didn’t need to as her voice speaks so perfectly in the House without over-emphasis. It almost goes without saying that the coloratura of Act I was delivered with brilliance and a feeling of desperate gaiety as she tries to block out the offstage voice of Alfredo reminding her that “…love is the heartbeat of the universe”.
How I missed, at this point, the emblematic solo bow that all the great Met Violettas of the past have always taken after “Sempre libera“…the bow lights coming up, the gold curtain parting, the soprano – usually both exhausted and elated – stepping out…roses being flung…the roar of the crowd. Sometimes, an especially beloved Violetta would be called out three or four times. But those days will never return; nowadays, audience members rush up the aisle immediately at the curtain’s fall, checking their cellphones.
I’m sure everyone expected the Act I scena to be a tour de force for Ms. Oropesa, but it was in the remaining scenes of the opera, as Violetta’s world collapses and her doom is is sealed, that the soprano revealed depths of feeling and emotion that moved me to the core. At “Dite alla giovine…”, the phrase with which Violetta capitulates to Germont’s demand that she give up his son, Lisette sustained the long note that leads into the phrase, as if knowing that by speaking these words, her fate would be determined. Throughout the duets with Luca Salsi, the evening’s very impressive Germont, Lisette made every word and note count. Later, bidding what she believes is her final farewell to Alfredo with “Amami Alfredo…”, Lisette poured out the iconic melody with great lyrical intensity.
In the Gambling Scene, where – unfortunately – Alfredo ‘showered’ Violetta with franc notes rather than hurling them scornfully at her, Lisette’s reply to her errant lover’s tirade was so simply and directly sung, so full of pain yet also of understanding: Alfredo simply doesn’t know what he has done.
In the entire final scene of the opera, Lisette’s interpretation of every phrase and gesture ranked with those of the most compelling singing actresses I have watched move though this character’s resignation, momentary elation, hope, terror, and despair. Ever the scrupulous musician, Lisette perfectly etched in the written trills at “Ora, son forte…vedi?…sorrido.” which are so often glossed over.
Now we come down to the ultimate heartbreak that opera can inflict on us: Violetta gives Alfredo her miniature portrait and bids him find a new love, marry her, and that she – Violetta – will watch over them in heaven. I was actually trembling in my seat. But then, Lisette sent me over the edge with the most poignant speaking of Violetta’s final words I ever heard: “È strano! Cessarono…gli spasimi… del dolore…In me…rinasce…m’agita.. insolito vigor! Ah! ma io ritorno a viver! Oh, gioia!!”
The ensuing ovation was huge, as ovations go these days. I had a momentary vision of Lisette, in her white nightgown, kneeling before a gold curtain in a shower of white roses. That’s what she deserved.
Piero Pretti as Alfredo and Luca Salsi as Germont are beloved colleagues of the soprano, so this was in a way a family affair. Both gentlemen were well-cast – with the tenor displaying lovely nuances in the tender passages, fierce (yet musical) fury in his denunciation of Violetta, and a long and ringing top-C to cap “O mio rimorso“, whilst the baritone made a perfect duet-partner for Lisette, and brought interesting dynamic shifts and powerful feeling to his expressive “Di provenza“. Being from Sardinia and Parma respectively, Pretti and Salsi sounded beautiful in their native language.
Among the rest of the cast, Maria Zifchak and Kevin Short as Annina and Dr. Grenvil stood out. Both are longtime associates of The Met (though Mr. Short was absent for over a decade, returning in 2018 in ELEKTRA) and both were touching and vocally “on” tonight. Baritone Dwayne Croft continues to make his mark at The Met in smallish but important parts; tonight he was the patient but ultimately fed-up Baron Douphol.
Metropolitan Opera House
March 9th, 2020
LA TRAVIATA
Giuseppe Verdi
Violetta.....................Lisette Oropesa
Alfredo......................Piero Pretti
Germont......................Luca Salsi
Flora........................Sarah Larsen
Gastone......................Brian Michael Moore
Baron Douphol................Dwayne Croft
Marquis D'Obigny.............Jeongcheol Cha
Dr. Grenvil..................Kevin Short
Annina.......................Maria Zifchak
Giuseppe.....................Patrick Miller
Messenger....................Ross Benoliel
Germont's Daughter...........Kendall Cafaro
Dancer.......................Barton Cowperthwaite
Conductor....................Bertrand de Billy
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 