Marlies’Artbeat: Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma” With Trills to Thrill at Live-at-the-Met-in-HD

By Marlies Wolf (Patch Contributor)

Music anthologies tell us that Wagner loved Norma, and that Berlioz hated it. Well, although I really prefer Wagner’s music to that of Berlioz, I side with the latter’s taste when it comes to this convoluted opera. (Undoubtedly you bel canto devotees will stop reading right now, unable to tolerate my “Philistine” outlook.)

Bel canto, a musical form popular in Italy during the late 18th and early 19thCenturies, fell fallow for many years, but was rejuvenated most particularly by the famously dramatic Maria Callas. This revived Norma, considered by many the very pinnacle of the elaborate form. A goodly number of great sopranos have tackled the overwhelmingly difficult part, of course. My first exposure to the opera was with Joan Sutherland as the Druid High Priestess Norma, and a young Marilyn Horne in the equally challenging role of the young Virgin Priestess Adalgisa. I remember being positively dazzled by the quality of the singing.

E’en then, however, I did not care for the way the serious ethical and human aspects of the opera, are diminished by the fussy, over-ornamented musical treatment. It is that very aspect that, (in my estimation) undermines bel canto. It works in comedy, as Rossini’s and Donizetti’s light operas prove. It surely works on the concert stage to parade a performer’s capabilities. It does not enhance the telling of a serious tale.

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) had already achieved memorable success when he composed Norma, his eighth opera, and undoubtedly his most admired. It premiered at LaScala, Milan Dec. 26th, 1831, with a libretto by the experienced house-librettist Giuseppe Felice Romani.

The opera is based on a play, with the same name, which premiered in Paris on April 16th, 1831. Since the opera premiered on December 26th, 1831, Bellini,

obviously, managed to finish the score in record time. Its fiasco opening night, (supposedly because of a rival hiring a cat-calling claque) was, however followed by a successful run of 27 performances in NORMA’s first season.

Bellini lived only three more years, after that, dying at the very young age of 33. His champions believe, had he lived longer, he might have enriched the bel canto repertory considerably. Who knows, with his talent, his work might have evolved into a very different direction. Just think of Verdi, who went from early Oom-pa-pahs to Otello!

As to the complex plot of the opera: Set in Gaul, circa 50 BC, during its exploitive Roman occupation, it deals with Norma, the powerful High Priestess, who is torn between her noble duties and her illicit love for Pollione, the Roman Pro-consul with whom she has had two sons. When he deserts her for a younger virgin priestess, she seeks vengeance. She almost slays her children, finds a soul-mate in her youthful rival; decides to sacrifice herself for breaking her sacred vows and heroically ends up on a funeral pyre. A repentant Pollione joins her in death.

(Boiling the plot down into one paragraph, like this, admittedly is unfair. The libretto has many a noble element in its development. Just an aside: In the play, Norma does slay one child and leaps off a cliff with the other.)

As to the “Love-Death” of Norma and Pollione: Henry W. Simon, in his 100 Great Operas And Their Stories informs us, that, “About 50 BC, a distinguished Roman politician and poet, still in his twenties, was appointed by Mark Antony as Proconsul for a portion of Gaul. The young man’s name was Gaius Asinius Pollio (“Pollione” in French); he survived his term of office among the Druids; he became a consul of Rome ten years later; and he died peacefully in his Italian villa at the age of eighty-one, full of honors, mostly literary.”

Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, during an interview with Susanna Phillips, started off the 12th season of Live-the-Met-in-HD, mentioning the fact that this opera demands singers of a special caliber. He certainly assembled them here for us.

Sondra Radvanovsky, the Norma, who hails from Illinois, has a record of over-the-top accomplishments. You may recall it was she who sang all three Donizetti Tudor Queens in a single Met season – all productions of Sir David McVicar -- and offered to us in HD. In her bubbly interview right after finishing the already super-taxing Act I, she explained that pacing herself -- so she can finish this so christened “Everest” of operas -- was terribly important. Possibly it was this, which seemed to have her entire approach less powerful than is usually expected from the role. Yes, every high note was beautifully reached, every trill perfectly on pitch. But the performance was subdued almost throughout. Possible aware of camera close-ups, she did not perform for the Family-Circle seats.

Our Adalgisa, the always delightful Joyce DiDonato, for some puzzling reason, was given an-absolutely-up-to-the-2017th-minute, blonde hairdo. She looked like a TV-commercial for Pert. But our Kansan diva delivered the part of the younger Druid priestess with her usual super-agility. This was especially evident in the numerous duets with Radvanovsky. Is it not wonderful that both world-renowned divas are Americans. Makes them wonderful ambassadors in our current toxic world.

Joseph Calleja made a vibrant Pollione, the betrayer who ultimately redeems himself. His voice has the silvery ingredient that is so admired in tenors. His delivery with the early High C, drew much applause from the generous Met audience and approbation from our almost full-house turnout. (Applause, including the now almost expected standing ovations at the end of an opera, proved the lusty praise of this particular one. Well, Berlioz would have stayed seated.)

The bass, Matthew Rose, as Norma’s father Oroveso, gave his part the maturity and competence he always displays.

The entire ensemble with the Met’s extraordinary orchestra, and a striking vocal and dramatic performance by the Met’s chorus, were under the lively baton of Carlo Rizzi.

Evidently, because cameras need adequate light to transmit an image, this HD performance did not elicit the criticism of audiences who said the lighting, by Paule Constable, was disturbingly subdued. We could see perfectly well, but I can imagine, the intent by Ms. Constable and Sir McVicar, is to underline the religious somberness and negative conflict with the heat of the redemptive pyre.

Special Note For Local Audiences: The Encores on the Wednesday following the Saturday performance, have always been scheduled in the evening. This season they are all scheduled as matinees, at 1:00 PM. You can see this Encore on October 11th, 2017 at the City Center Theater in White Plains.