Vasco da Gama - Roberto Alagna
Selica - Sophie Koch
Ines - Nino Machaidze
Nelusco - Markus Brück
Don Pedro - Seth Carico
Chor & Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Conductor - Enrique Mazzola
Director - Vera Nemirova
This stylish new production of Vasco da Gama from Deutsche Oper had done justice to this underrated grand opera by Meyerbeer from his late years with many beautiful musical moments.
Nemirova's staging showcased the machinery and exotic elements of an operatic spectacle, which captivated the audience in 19th century, and examined the aspects of religious conservatism and cultural conflicts. On stage a large erectable platform in half moon shape surrounded by wooden structures alike a boat skeleton in the rear and small white ship sculptures at the front. The upright platform turned into a stylish atlas alike a starry night to echo the set period of the age of discovery, while Ines in an sailor outfit singing passionately her affection and longing the return of da Gama. Though we know from the costume of soldiers and council members that the Nemirova had forwarded the time into the later half of 20th century than 16th century. Da Gama was wearing a T-shirt and camping trousers alike a modern explorer than the painted figure with square beard and an overgown. At the royal council meeting we saw the grand inquisitor representing the conservative church figure with ultimate power. He rejected the suggestions of further exploration from Don Pedro and da Gama as heretic moves against the will of god, and exercised his authority to make the council condemned the returned explorer into jail with his slaves, the disguised Indian princess Selica and her servant Nelusco. The jail scene was where the usual complicated relationships evolved in many opera stories: da Gama missed Ines but she married Don Pedro to secure his release, whereas Selica was secretly in love with da Gama though not knowing her servant Nelusco was also in love with her. Towards the end we saw a group of foreign dressed people took the ship sculptures away and signifying the new exploration team to India under Don Pedro was underway.
My only reservation on Nemirova's execution of the first half was that many background details in the sung text could only express through singing but no demonstration theatrically. The tale of Da Gama past with Ines before leaving her for exploration to India, followed by being the only survivor of a shipwreck incident and returned to Portugal with Selica and Nelusco had a lot to tell. Olivier Py's production of Il Trovatore for Munich few years ago provided a fine example of how the present and past could be shown simultaneously with a grand stage set. I believe the change would make the theatrical presentation more interesting visually and a better understanding of the plot.
The staging and directorial approach eventually found its ground in act three and four, which were also the high points of this opera. The aspect of religious imperialism was dealt with in the choral scene of act three, where the chorus saw Selica was dressed/ made into a nun while singing their prayers to St Dominic. Some reviews were bewildered by the approach as the prayer asking for safe journey, but the saint himself had been debated whether being the first inquisitor of medieval time. Nemirova probably making an implicit reference that the exploration marked the European colonial conquest, particularly the difficult history of missionaries forcing the locals to abandon their beliefs and converted. The shipwreck scene and attacks by locals was another problematic corner in the original tale that such short changes could only happen in opera performances. I was in favour of the solution used in this production that the locals turned into terrorists with machine guns, a reference to the modern Somali pirates, and killed their captives to mark a stirring end of act three. The opening of act four was a spectacular display of tribal weapon dance with festive colourful floral garlands, a contrast to the solemn and gloomy court meeting early on in act one and two. Not much elaborate staging could be done in the last act as the three lead singers sang their long farewell arias, except the beautiful floral centrepiece and Selica in traditional dress marked herself out as the 'heroine' of the story to save the life of Da Gama and forgiving Ines, which spared them from the revenge of Nelusco. There was no definite stop in the ending as we saw the foreign dressed people brought Selica away and Da Gama walked across the stage looked as he continued his explorations.
The style of Meyerbeer's composition in this opera assigned many long beautiful arias for the protagonists but the heroic and dramatic moments left to the chorus. Roberto Alagna had fully recovered from the cold he suffered at the premiere and at the age of 52 his vocal quality had not diminished. I thought he sang rather well and suitable for this opera in French. His timbre also had grown with more warmth and darker compare to the silvery and bright tone during youthful years as Don Carlo I remember from a video recording. Sophie Koch was as good as she sang the role of komponist in Ariadne auf naxos I remembered last year in Vienna. Her projection and intonation was the best of all with the right timbre and tessitura for the role. Nino Macchaidze might not have a beautiful tone as Koch but she sang with smoothness without signs of strains. Although she was not always secured with intonation, the warmed up voice displayed the best side of her singing in act five. Their acting skills were fine and not static, which emphasised a lot of on the facial expression by showing the change of the emotion in the sung text. Seth Carico had a lovely baritone voice that being smooth and the richness in vocal colour, but made a lesser impression on acting even though probably not much he could do in the role of Don Pedro. Enrique Mazzola maintained a good musical direction in tempo and phrasing. Polished orchestral playing with good balance between parts. The tempo was more on a broad sense but not dragged. I would be happy to watch this opera again if changes will make to the production in future.
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