The Opéra Royal de Wallonie presents an unusual and interesting double bill with the combination of Mese Mariano by Umberto Giordano and Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini. Mese Mariano is a rarely or never performed work by Giordano, who is mainly known for Andrea Chénier. Puccini's opera is usually performed as part of Il Trittico (thus together with Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi).
Presenting Suor Angelica and Mese Mariano in one performance is nonetheless far from far-fetched, as both operas share an equal restraint and sadness of subject matter. Both are about the intense despair of a mother who must suffer the terrible fate of losing a child. Moreover, in Giordano's 1911 opera there are a number of scenes that anticipate the atmosphere of the convent in Puccini's Suor Angelica (1918).
Umberto Giordano: Mese Mariano
The set design by Francesca Mercurio cleverly takes advantage of the opportunity to design a unified set that also offers the possibility of variation. The inner courtyard of the orphanage in Giordano's Mese Mariano is the courtyard of the convent in Suor Angelica. The colonnade is adapted, the background with a view of Naples makes way for the more central entrance of the church. While the slide with a view of Naples looks somewhat kitschy, the overall effect is a beautiful and functional set.
In both operas the leading role is performed by the same singer, Serena Farnocchia. In Mese Mariano she is the unfortunate mother Carmela, who comes to visit her little child in the orphanage. In her dialogue with Suor Pazienza, a childhood friend, we learn that as a young girl she was abandoned by the father of the child. The man she later married forced her to take the child to the orphanage. She goes to pray in the church, while the sisters fetch the child. The little boy died that night, but the Mother Superior decides not to tell Carmela. She is sent away with the lie that her child is singing in the choir as preparation for Mary's month ("Mese Mariano") and cannot be with her now. Carmela leaves the convent weeping. Giordano's music expresses the poignancy of the deceived mother's pain.
Serena Farnocchia portrays a fragile and moving maternal figure in a story in which Giordano blends his dramatic vision of events with lyrical-mystical sounds. It is a pity that her voice has a somewhat shrill timbre. The scene of the deceived and sad mother, situated in a simple context, fits entirely within the period of verismo. After a brief introduction there is a little scene with children playing games to lively rhythms. A cheerful passage that contrasts with the tragedy that follows. As the Countess arrives and then the director of the institute, sounds of unrest slowly seep through.
The dialogue with her friend is accompanied by music with agitated accents and broken rhythms that are deeply moving. They correspond with the events of Carmela's miserable life, especially in her melody "Tremante mi accostai".
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The delicate intermezzo builds on the sad wistfulness of the vocal lines and somewhat anticipates the fatal outcome. Aurore Bureau radiates aristocracy as the Countess and Viorica Urmana embodies a determined and cool Mother Superior.
This Mese Mariano introduces us to a short and delightful score, where we must certainly not overlook the role of young conductor Oksana Lyniv. She has conjured a small jewel from this composition, full of refinement and expressive power. With the alternation between simple passages of local colour and episodes of sentiment and sounds full of somber sadness, Giordano may not have composed a masterpiece, but certainly an opera in which the music underlines the text and feelings.
Giacomo Puccini: Suor Angelica
In Suor Angelica we encounter an equally poignant story, though listening to them directly one after the other, it is striking that Puccini excels through greater refinement and utmost nuance.
The opera from Puccini's triptych takes place in a castle convent at the end of the 17th century. After the birth of her child, Suor Angelica was forced to enter the convent to spare the family from dishonour. She has lived there for seven years and never receives visits, until one day Zia Principessa, a noble aunt, arrives. Suor Angelica must sign a document and hesitantly asks about her little son. Indifferently, the aunt tells her that the child has been dead for two years. Suor Angelica cannot bear this news and commits suicide, imploring the Virgin Mary to forgive her for this deed. She receives forgiveness in the miracle with which the opera ends as the Virgin appears with the child in a holy light.
In this opera too, mourning a child clashes with the harshness of the outside world, here with the aristocratic authority of the Zia Principessa. Serena Farnocchia delivers a credible Suor Angelica, who evolves from the somewhat mysterious and lonely sister who finds comfort and meaning in tending to the plants, to the frustrated mother who finds salvation from her suffering precisely in those plants. The delicate intermezzo reprises singing heard earlier and becomes in light of the events a perfect notturno, interspersed with the astonished exclamations of Suor Angelica.
The staging has Suor Angelica prepare her suicide like the ritual that Cio-Cio-San applies in Madama Butterfly, yet another tragic mother figure in Puccini's oeuvre. Fear of mortal sin grips her in the process. Then the miracle unfolds quickly, in contrast to the cruel reality of suicide. The ecstatic vision of the child as an angel received into heaven by the Virgin Mary is like a sublime apparition that in the serene music of Puccini elevates the opera above banal sentimentality. Heavenly voices sing clear motifs of understanding and humility.
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Serena Farnocchia sings "Senza mama", the serene lament to the imagined child with the sensitivity of a grief-stricken sister, but unfortunately she also sounds somewhat shrill here and her voice becomes sharp in the highest notes. Viorica Urmana commands the scene as a convincing and frightening Zia Principessa and she possesses mezzo tones that pierce heart and soul. Here too, all praise for the young conductor who conveys the nuances and refined colors from Puccini's score to the orchestra with precision. Convent life is gently introduced by the silvery rhythms of the bells, upon which the serene choir of the sisters enters and the sharpened, anguished notes of the piccolo repeat.
The numerous minor characters are beautifully cast in both one-act operas and form a perfect context in which the central action unfolds. Special mention should certainly go to the smooth and innocent-cheerful children's choir of the Maîtrise of the Opéra de Wallonie in Mese Mariano. This diptych by the Opéra Royal de Wallonie is in its entirety a beautiful and refined symphonic-vocal fresco.
WHAT: Umberto Giordano: Mese Mariano / Giacomo Puccini: Suor Angelica
WHO: Lara Sansone [stage direction], Oksana Lyniv [conductor], Serena Farnocchia, Viorica Urmana, Sarah Laulan, Patrick Delcour, Julie Bailly and others, Orchestra, Choir and Maîtrise Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège
WHERE: ORW, Liège
WHEN: 6 February 2022 (final performance)
Streaming on Francetvinfo.Fr/culture (from 14-2-2022)
S. FARNOCCHIA
Suor Angelica - Puccini
ORW Liège 2022
© J. Berger
Maîtrise
Mese Mariano - Giordano
ORW Liège 2022
© J. Berger
V. URMANA
Suor Angelica - Puccini
ORW Liège 2022
© J. Berger
S. FARNOCCHIA & S. LAULAN
Mese Mariano - Giordano
ORW Liège 2022
© J. Berger
