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Liesl Graz. Geneva
"La Capricciosa corretta" -- or the resurrection of a lost opera
| After 200 years of dormancy, the opera "La Capricciosa Coretta" by Vicente Martin y Solar, has come back to life. The libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart's favourite Italian librettist, who also provided texts for Mozart's greatest operas, including Cosi fan Tutte and Don Giovanni. The first time round, La Capricciosa Coretta was created at the King's Theatre in London in 1795, where the impresario tried to capitalise on the ambiguity of the name, with its resonances of "The Taming of the Shrew". In fact, the two stories have very little in common, except for the presence of a heroine with a sharp tongue who is forced to repent in the end.. Eitheenth-century audiences were enthusiastic and the opera went on to successful performances in Paris, Vienna and Naples. | Then came two centuries of oblivion, until Christophe Rousset, director of the ancient music ensemble "les Talens Lyriques," accidentally came across a score in Siena. Rousset convinced the directors of the Opera of Bordeaux and Lausanne and of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid to attempt a co-production. This week saw the first performance of the reconstructed opera. From Lausanne it will go on to Bordeaux and Madrid. After that -- who knows ? |
| Martin y Solar was born in Valencia
in 1754, but there is little of the "Spanish" in his
work. His European odyssey began in Naples -- then linked to
the Spanish crown -- and continued in Vienna, and at the court
of Catherine II in St Petersburg . Da Ponte enticed him to London,
but he soon returned to Russia, where he stayed until his death
in 1806. The interesting question, for me, is: why was this rather charming opera totally forgotten? In fact, why was Martin y Solar forgotten? In his time, Vincente Martin y Solar was considered almost the equal of his contemporary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Now, so far as I know, the only other piece of his that is remembered is another opera, "Una Cosa rara", which was revived by Jordi Savall in concert ten years ago (and musically quoted by Mozart himself in "Don Giovanni"). The libretto of "La Capricciosa" is considerably less ridiculous than the same Da Ponte's for "Cosi fan tutte", and the music is at least in the same league as some of the more minor Mozart operas . Opera directors keep trying to revive "Fidelio" which was pretty boring when it was written and remains boring today. But the faithful still go because it was written by Beethoven, a wonderful composer in almost any musical form he put his hands to, but not particularly for operas. We know that there remains a great deal of forgotten music from before 1800 hidden away in libraries all over Europe and beyond. Probably much of it deserves to be forgotten. But if something is rediscovered that turns out to be considerably above the common lot, like "La Capricciosa", is there room for it to be played again, even if the composer is hardly a household name? Or does he need to become the hero of a film biography? I can see it now: an historical epic, sweeping from Madrid to Naples -- where "La Capricciosa" purportedly takes place -- and on to St Petersburg. Ah, those dashes across the endless snow-scape in a sleigh, fur robes, beautiful soprano, troika, tinkling harness-bells and all. -- Liesl Graz |
