OPERA: Peter Klatzow
VERDI’S Nabucco (Cape Opera Festival) may not be one of his most popular masterpieces, but it offers plenty of evidence of the mastery which was to follow in Rigoletto and La Traviata. Already present is his astonishing ability to weave disparate characters and melodic lines together into a cohesive ensemble.
As is usual in early Verdi, the drama is composed primarily into the vocal parts with the orchestra confined to occasional picture painting and banjo-like strumming even for the most hectic moments. Later Verdi would hear Wagner, and without loosing his Italianate sense of line, would learn how to reach the psychology and drama through all the musical strata, from the voice to the very bowels of the pit.
This production has been criticised for a lack of dramatic projection on the part of the singers. In truth the stage is so sharply raked that they spend most of their time defying gravity lest they roll into the pit. Nevertheless the production is full of motion, and the characters and their emotions well projected by wealth of vocal colour which goes beyond the confines of bel canto(underlined). Real anger, real pathos and real terror are all there, but to be heard rather then seen.
Christine Crouse’s production is solid, backed by good set designs but hodge-podge costumes. The Assyrian helmets look for all the world like shiny black condoms. High marks to Tenat Palumbo for drawing crisp playing and exciting tempi from the orchestra, and more accolades to Vetta Wise whose training of the chorus has achieved spectacular results.
Rouel Beukes stepped in for Don Garrard on the second night to give a fine account of the battered and intimidated but nevertheless confident Zaccaria. Isabelle van Zyl’s rich mezzo serves well in the role of the gentle and winning Fenena. Her foil, Kathleen McCalla as Abigaille, is appropriately shrill and intimidating, conveying the powerful picture of a woman reaching for power and thwarted in love.
More Israelites, this time of a different hue, and more references to the rivers of Babylon in Roelof Temmingh’s opera Enoch, Prophet of God, premiered last Tuesday. The plot deals with the notorious massacre of a religious group which flourished in the Queenstown area under the charismatic leadership of Enoch Mgijima.
To flesh out the incident the opera incorporates a romantic element in the persona of Zandile, a young girl who marries Moses and deserts her own community to join the Israelites. This is an altogether acceptable device and has a clear precedent in the role of Fenena in Nabucco.
One of the great strengths of this important new work is that it was conceptualised, written and produced by Michael Williams, who already has a string of highly successful operatic creations to his credit. Williams is a master of stagecraft. The many visual and dramatic elements which contribute to the success of the production all take place on a revolving stage with an arena-like structure, symbolising, perhaps subconsciously, a vortex into which the characters of the drama are inevitably drawn.
To all of this Temmingh has brought a score of astonishing power. He has given repeated demonstration of his ability to write superbly for instruments, but this opera adds an important new dimension to his creative skills. Most impressive is his ability to conceptualise and execute long musical paragraphs, often tonally defined, and to use this material to convey the underlying unease of the pending confrontation. He writes well for voices, relaxing appropriately for the romantic scenes between Moses and Zandile and Enoch’s description of his vision.
The cast, mostly young and black, are lead by the awesomely talented Abel Motsoadi as Enoch. His stage presence lends credibility to his role as a leader who is followed unconditionally. The other voices are a little underpowered for the operatic stage but enormously promising. Special mention must be made of Fikile Mvinjelwa (Charles), Sibongile Mngoma (Zandile) and Marcus Desando (Moses). A cameo role as praise singer by Lungile Jacob (who also wrote some of the music) was a clever addition.
Enoch is not a pretty opera, and you may miss Puccini- like tunes if that’s what you want, but it is powerful stuff and is an important starting point for this artform in South Africa. Lick the hand that offers you tickets.