VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert offered a two-performance run of Puccini’s La rondine last week in their new venue at Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre. La rondine is one of Puccini’s less well-known operas. Operabase statistics suggest that this season it ranks 48th in the list of most performed operas worldwide, compared to La bohème in second and Tosca at sixth.
It is a bit of a curious hybrid. Maybe one could describe it as a sunnier La traviata (no TB), with a bit of La bohème thrown in. Basically, Magda is a Parisian courtesan in an arrangement with Rambaldo, but along comes Ruggero, a naive young man from the provinces. After a romantic night at Bulliers (Café Momus??), Magda falls in love with Ruggero and moves to the country with him. As the money runs out, Ruggero writes to his mother asking for permission to marry Magda. Although the answer is “Yes,” Magda realizes that an aging tart is probably not Ruggero’s mama’s ideal of a daughter-in-law, so she breaks things off and returns to Rambaldo.
The comic interest comes from the pompous poet Prunier and his squeeze Lisette, who is also Magda’s maid (shades of Marcello and Musetta). After a failed attempt to put Lisette on the stage, they too revert to the status quo ante. So, everyone lives happily ever after, even Ruggero who may be sadder but is surely wiser.
Musically, it’s also pretty standard Puccini with a lot of through-sung scenes sprinkled wth a handful of set-piece arias, the odd duet and quartet, and some party-style choral numbers. Both principals get a couple of rather good arias. Magda has “Ore dolci e divine,” where she reminisces about her younger life, for example, and Ruggero gets his best music in Act Three, when he’s imploring Magda not to leave him in “Ma come puoi lasciarmi.” There’s an excellent toast to love sung by both couples in the second act, “Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso.” There’s also lots of semi-recitative teasing when the other girls are teasing Prunier or when he and Lisette are metaphorically scratching each others’ eyes out.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of artist and Fleming Headshots
Belle Cao (Lisette) and Marcus Tranquilli (Prunier)
It got the standard VOICEBOX treatment: concert dress and no scenery, with minimal blocking but no music stands. It was a performance of the piano score, with the piano at the centre of the small stage. Some of the chorus numbers were sung from the gallery. Success turned on the quality of the singing, and it was generally pretty good. At the core is the classic Puccini soprano/tenor combination. Cassandra Amorim as Magda showed sufficient power and really quite an attractive tone throughout. Jeremy Scinocca, as Ruggero, has the proper high notes and enough heft for this setting, though he doesn’t have the most beautiful of voices. Both of them sang their big numbers really rather well, and they sounded good in the Act Two duet. So that worked.
The other couple was sung by Marcus Tranquilli and Belle Cao, and they were very effective too. These roles are perhaps more about sharp acting than impressive singing, and they really did strike sparks off each other. They sounded fine musically too, especially in the second act quartet. The plethora of minor roles were done perfectly adequately with those soloists filling out the small chorus. Narmina Afandiyeva did Trojan service at the keyboard.
I don’t think La rondine is going to replace the big-ticket Puccini operas in the rep anytime soon, but it’s enjoyable in a gentle sort of way and the VOICEBOX offering was a welcome opportunity to see it live.
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Formerly a management consultant and ehealth guru, John’s interests in the classical arts range from recitals to straight theatre via opera and other classical vocal genres. He is particularly interested in the intersection of Indigenous issues and the arts.
