When Massenet conquered Dorset
With the world premiere of Donizetti’s L’ange de
Nisida at Covent Garden, Mascagni’s rarity Isabeau at Holland Park and Verdi’s neglected Alzira redeemed by the Buxton Festival, this has proved a jamboree month for trainspotting opera buffs.
Fans of the French romantic repertory can now thrill to the novelty of the first ever British staging of Massenet’s Le Cid – presented by the wonderful Dorset Opera, a summer camp accommodated in the idyllic grounds of Bryanston School, with a reputation for distinguished work created by students collaborating (albeit in limited rehearsal time) with first-rate professional soloists.
Massenet’s nickname in his lifetime was “Mam’zelle Wagner”, but in this case, such a moniker gives a misleading impression. Le Cid is big and ambitious, but neither delicately feminine nor spiritually vaporous – it’s a late example of the tradition of Grand Opera, full of procession and acclamation, with choruses and extended ensembles that may hit some sort of record for overall decibel level. Jeremy Carnall conducts it with fierce, uninhibited energy, and the orchestra attacks it with relish.
Some might find it relentless and enervating; I love its robust, muscular intensity and thrill to the aching, palpitating melodies through which the central characters grandstand their emotions.
Loosely based on the high and mighty classical drama by Corneille, it tells the story of the medieval Spanish warrior who kills the father of his beloved Chimène in a duel of honour, but wins back her heart through his noble self-sacrifice and deeds of derring-do against the Moorish invader.
Christopher Cowell’s staging, nicely designed by Steve Howell, doesn’t fuss it up. Sensibly transplanting the action to the 19th-century, it will win no prizes for subtlety and features some perfectly ludicrous swordplay, but its total lack of pretension is rather refreshing.
What makes the evening worthwhile, however, is the terrific bravado of the young American tenor Leonardo Capalbo in the title role. Slight of build and inexplicably costumed as a hotel bellboy, he nevertheless sings with unstinting heroic grandeur and does full justice to the lovely aria “O souverain, o juge”: his clean, bright, firm timbre is very well suited to this school of music, and he should sing more of it.
Lee Bisset is Chimène: she flings herself into the girl’s passions with abandon, but more control and restraint might have steadied her wayward intonation. Paul Gay and Phillip Rhodes do sterling work as baritonal dignitaries, and the youthful chorus trained by Benjamin Goodson sing with roof-raising fervour. A hugely enjoyable occasion.
Until tomorrow. Tickets: 01258 840000; dorsetopera.com