A LEGEND RETURNS AFTER 145 YEARS
MICHAEL MOFFATT SHOW OF THE WEEK
O‘It’s a mountainous climb, exhilarating, dizzying, almost overwhelming’
NE 19th century singer described it as an opera ‘that has exterminated three generations of tenors’. He was commenting on Rossini’s four-hour marathon, William Tell, that runs at the Gaiety for five performances in November, in a joint Irish National Opera/ Swiss Nouv el Opera Fribourg production.
The opera places enormous demands on the technique of the singers involved, particularly, tenors who have to negotiate a prodigious number of intimidating notes at the top of the scale.
No wonder that 11 roles will be shared between 14 singers over the five performances, which also features three male and two female choruses.
This will be its first Irish performance since 1877.
The opera’s best-known musical item is probably the four-part overture that includes the gallop used, among other things, as the signature tune for The Lone Ranger on film and TV.
And of course, the well-known story involving the legendary Swiss hero William Tell, forced to shoot an apple placed on his son’s head is central to the plot.
The story has echoes in today’s headlines: a Swiss community is facing a threat to its existence while enduring an onslaught from an Austrian invading army.
A local character adds to the problem by falling in love with an Austrian princess, houses are set ablaze and even the weather gets a major role when a storm helps William Tell to triumph over the villainous Austrian governor.
(Actual politics erupted at a performance of the opera in Spain in 1893, when an anarchist killed 20 people with a bomb).
Fergus Shiel, conductor and artistic director of Irish National Opera, commenting on the magnitude of the challenge involved, remarks that ‘appropriately for a work set in Switzerland, it’s a mountainous climb, exhilarating, dizzying, almost overwhelming.
‘Rossini was using every trick in his arsenal and every possible technique to deliver this most glorious, funny and dramatic opera.’
For director Julian Chavez, it’s a universal mythological story in which meteorological events mirror the tensions of the people involved. There are typical Rossini-style duets, trios, ensembles and passionate dramatic climaxes on the grand scale.
Principals from Canada, Mexico, Poland, South Korea and Britain will join nine Irish singers including Owen Gilhooly-Miles, Patrick Hyland, Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Imelda Drumm and Máire Flavin in major roles.
William Tell runs in November on Tuesday 8, Wednesday 9, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 (all at 7pm) and Sunday 13 (4pm). Sung in French with English subtitles.