Berlin, Staatsoper, Season 2024/25
“NORMA”
Tragedy in two acts, text from Felice Romani
Music Vincenzo Bellini
Norma IRINA LUNGU
Pollione STEFAN POP
Adalgisa ELMINA HASAN
Oroveso RICCARDO FASSI
Clotilde MARIA KOKAREVA
Flavio JUNHO HWANG
Staastopernchor
Staatskapelle Berlin
Musical Dicetor Francesco Lanzillotta
Chorus Master Dani Juris
Director Vasily Barkhatov
Set Zinovy Margolin
Costumes Olga Shaishmelashvil
Light Alexander Sivaev
Fight choreography Ran Arthur Braun
Dramaturgy Kai Weßler, Christoph Lang
Berlin, 26 april 2025
In a co-production with Vienna’s Theater an der Wien the Berliner Staatsoper has given us what amounts to an old fashioned “modern” German opera production, where concept dominates the original material. This can lead to new insights that come from the opera but are entirely independent of the original setting, or distract from dramatic conflicts of the original. A great opera like Norma can survive almost anything because it’s power lies in the confluence of music with the personal emotions arising out of cultural and individual conflicts. Vasily Barkhatov recognizes this but his concept serves more as a distraction which fails to heighten or clarify these feelings. It takes first rate stagecraft to connect stage actions with outside ideas and concepts must be carefully played out onstage. This where Barkhatov’s concept fails. The seemingly aimless wanderings of the women’s chorus among the religious statuary is unfocused and unrevealing and only serves to confuse the audience. Likewise Adalgisa, Pollione and Norma seem prone in their duets to very standard stage crossing and counter crossing for purely visual reasons, not to help the audience understand what is happening between the characters. Perhaps Barkhatov’s most blatant application of a modern concept comes at the end of the opera, when modern sensibilities about Norma’s impending suicide suddenly assert themselves and Pollione drags her from the fire. Her nobility, however misguided, is trivialized and the primal power of self sacrifice is transmuted into a crazy female being saved by a strong, rational man. Bellini’s music constantly belies these concepts and while it is possible to play against the outward actions of an opera it takes far more than Barkhatov has managed. This music is magical, but this was not an evening where music triumphed. Norma, as the excellent notes of the Staatsoper’s program by Kai Weßler and Christoph Lang make clear, has deep roots in the historic conflicts of Bellini’s era which strongly resonate in both Vienna and Berlin, but this opera lives and dies by the beauty and expressiveness of the music. Bellini’s melodies insinuate themselves into any audience’s consciousness, but to truly communicate through these sublimely simple melodies was given to only two of the singers, and rarely to the conductor. The Italian bass Riccardo Fassi effortlessly carried over the thick late romantic sound of the Staatsoper orchestra. His is a true chiaroscuro voice, both dark and imposing and at the same time having the high overtones which provide clarity and carrying power. He employed this instrument effectively and impressively with line and musical direction. The Adalgisa of Elmina Hasan, on the other hand drew listeners in with superb piano singing and a fine sense of line. Her voice was equal in power to both Norma’s and Pollione’s, but the atmosphere was transformed when she sang. She and the Oroveso had magic in their voices, sang the words on wonderful techniques, and showed the musical direction which Bellini so diligently created. Stefan Pop, who jumped in for Pollione – no small feat in itself – was very good. His is the right voice for the role and he effectively employed a lovely messa di voce. His high C in the aria was on the short side and a bit unsteady, and too many stock verismo Italian cliches detracted from his performance but this may have been the result of the last minute jump in.
Irina Lungu has a strong voice with decent but not breathtaking agility, and a remarkable high extension, but her Norma lacked the magic, vocal display and emotional power that are the hallmarks of a role which sets the standard for any soprano who wishes to sing this repertoire. She began her Casta Diva with attractive piano phrases but gave way to the strong but monochromatic tone which defines her voice and singing. The conductor Francesco Lanzillotta led an overly romantic and muddy rendition of Bellini’s masterpiece. From the loud and pompous opening chords to a pedestrian introduction to Casta Diva he did not provide the sure hand to guide his players to the style and sound appropriate to Bellini. His ritardandi were mechanical and not elegant. Lanzillotta was at his best when he followed sensitive singing and placed chords in recitative passages. It may be a joy to conduct an orchestra capable of such sound and power but it did not serve the music at hand. The set by Zinovy Margolin was clever and attractive, allowing for seamless scene changes which did not interrupt the drama in spite of their frequency. The noise of stagehands doing their job was a small distraction, but quite acceptable and there wasn’t a video in site: theater as we once knew it!
The costumes by Olga Shaishmelashvili, like the lighting from Alexander Sivaev were nondescript and generalized, presumably to emphasize the collective and universal nature of the concept, which is at odds with the opera’s stunning concentration on the individual. An intellectual approach to an opera which relies on the magic of inspiration and sublime music is a daunting task. We can be grateful that the Staatsoper has tried, but regret that Bellini’s genius only occasionally emerged. Even through a glass darkly, Norma is worth hearing. Photo Bernd Uhlig