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| Maria Mel (Nadav Yaniv) |
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| Marc Shaimer, Noa Sion (Nadav Yaniv) |
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| Maestro Omer Arieli (Nadav Yaniv) |
Of
the more than two hundred operas telling the story of Armida and Rinaldo, as
found in Torquato Tasso's epic poem "Gerusalemme liberata" (Jerusalem
Delivered), Giuseppe Sarti's setting is one with which current audiences may be
less familiar. The Jerusalem Opera, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the
Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance joined forces to produce a sparkling
performance of "Armida e Rinaldo" in the Henry Crown Hall of the
Jerusalem Theatre on June 13th 2024. The stage director was Miriam Camerini.
Jerusalem Opera musical director Omer Arieli conducted the performance.
Born in
Faenza, Italy, Giuseppe Sarti (1729-1802) travelled to St. Petersburg in 1784
to replace
Paisiello as court bandmaster to Catherine II. There, Sarti's operas
immediately attracted the public's attention, one opera being "Armida and
Rinaldo" (libretto: Marco Coltellini), premiered at Catherine the Great's
Hermitage Theatre in 1786. It had been specially created for two famous singers
of the Italian court troupe L. R. Todi and L. Marchesi, who had arrived in St.
Petersburg. The setting for this dramma in musica is Jerusalem at the time
of the 1st Crusade. Sarti kept the number of soloists to a minimum, there being only
four - Armida (soprano), her confidante Ismene (soprano), Rinaldo
(mezzo-soprano) and Ubaldo (tenor). (Regarding the role of Rinaldo, "pants"-
or "trouser" roles designate female singers to depict male characters, these roles
often portraying young, romantic male figures, even strong, heroic men of high
status.)
The
sorceress Armida, Queen of Damascus (Maria Mel), wields her magical
powers to protect Jerusalem from the Crusader invasion. She bewitches Rinaldo
(Noa Sion), a brave Crusader knight, spiriting him onto her
enchanted island, where he falls in love with her. To her surprise, she has
also fallen in love with him and is now afraid to lose him. Ubaldo (Marc
Shaimer), Rinaldo's fellow soldier, finds Rinaldo, frees him from Armida's
spell and returns him to the French forces that are about to conquer
Jerusalem.
Act 1 opens
with a banquet scene in the pleasure gardens of Armida's island. All on stage
are dressed in white, including the revelling chorus members (nymphs) sporting
tall, imaginative head-dresses as would befit non-mortals. Only the dancers
(demons), twisting and writhing, wear black, portending the tragic outcome.
Ukraine-born lyric soprano Maria Mel carries the role of Armida admirably, her
strong, flexible operatic voice, exceptional vocal dexterity, musicality and dramatic
bearing taking the course of events from Armida's seductive scheming, through her
realization of Rinaldo's change of heart and then on to the frenzied anger and
despair in the final scene, as she, scorned and abandoned, laments her fate, orders the
destruction of the island and swears revenge. Noa Sion engaged her
gorgeous, ample mezzo-timbred voice and stable, competent vocal technique to
evoke the more naive, understated bearing of Rinaldo, first lured into- and
controlled by Armida's enticement, then to be brought back to the reality of
his duty as a Christian soldier (and controlled) by Ubaldo. In the role of
Ubaldo, Russian-born tenor gave an unambivalent portrayal of the "voice of
reason", the killjoy, the committed military man, warning Rinaldo to beware of
Armida's charms, then reversing her magic spell and bringing his fellow
Crusader back to take part in the siege of Jerusalem. In her debut with
the Jerusalem Opera, playing the smaller role of Ismene, Armida's confidante,
soprano Shlomit Lea Kovalsky displayed a good voice and natural stage presence.
Drawing on
her wide experience in stage production and opera, Israeli-Italian stage
director Miriam Camerini created interest and fantasy throughout, proving that
lavish stage sets and numerous props are not a basis for fine performance. Indeed, in a performance that never lagged, all eyes were on the singers and dancers themselves, as the plot emerged
crystal-clear through every stage of its development. Interesting use was made of
colour, with costumes (Polina Adamov) symbolically starting out as all white,
moving to the disquieting associations of red and finally to black. There was,
however, a minimal use of props, one, for example, beautifully showing the ship
all lit up that was to take Rinaldo away. Altogether there was much delightful
use of small lights…even on some of the costume head-dresses!
As in
several other past Jerusalem Opera productions, Omer Arieli draws all the
musical threads together masterfully. Despite orchestra and conductor being
relegated to the right rear area of the stage, seemingly at a disadvantage,
Maestro Arieli made this arrangement work. The JSO instrumentalists' playing
endorsed the proceedings on stage in precise and crisp sounds, chorus numbers
emerged coherent and well- blended and the soloists found fine timbral fusion
and balance of sonority in duets and trios.
Once again,
opera has taught us that true love can not endure. In Tasso's poem evoking a
world inhabited by humans,style nymphs, demons and other creatures, there can be
no lasting harmony between the protagonists. Armida and Rinaldo (of
different ethnic backgrounds) both struggle with their own contradictions: Rinaldo is torn
between his feelings and his allegiance, Armida between the world of darkness
and the light of noble, redemptive love. In order to keep Rinaldo at her side,
the sorceress holds him captive in a lifestyle of hedonism. Rinaldo indulges in this
sweet imprisonment until he is bound to turn his back on love and return to
duty. The Jerusalem Opera performance had the audience at the edge of their
seats, imbibing in Sarti's glittering music, feasting eyes on the characters, on the plot unfolding on stage and enjoying yet another splendid, high-quality
presentation.
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| The chorus (Nadav Yaniv) |
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