Interview with FRANCESCO IZZO, director of the scientific committee for the Verdi Festival in Parma.
By William Fratti
Second opera by the Cigno di Busseto and second title on the 2018 Verdi Festival billboard, Un giorno di Regno is one of the composer's most unfortunate works and one of the least represented, but in Parma it is the third staging in less than two decades. What differences will be heard with the critical edition compared to the previous two executions?
“First of all there are some interventions by the Milanese censorship that the critical edition corrects for the first time – said Francesco Izzo, director of the scientific committee for the Verdi Festival. A notable example is in the Marchesa aria in the first act, where the authorities in 1840 suppressed an unflattering reference to "princes" and "throne". These are the things that even the ear less accustomed to picking up musical differences can notice and appreciate; a verbal text carefully cleaned from external interventions is almost always more effective from a dramatic point of view. Musically, the score then presents thousands of interventions that correct distortions by hurried or careless copyists, who in the 19th century, often working at dizzying rhythms, left out or misrepresented many details of Verdi's notation. Thus accents were mistaken for diminuendo signs; slurs were arbitrarily extended or truncated; dynamics marks altered or omitted, and so on. In this sense, the critical edition is a bit like the restoration of a pictorial work, in which the traces of time are removed, from the fumes of the oil lamps that darken the colors to the forms added for moral scruple or for changed aesthetic needs ”.
How much Rossini is in this work?
“Not much, all things considered. It is understood that the influence of Rossini's opera buffa is indirectly felt, for example in the duets for the two buffo basses. But the models Verdi refers to are above all those of post-Rossinian opera buffa, of which he had developed a profound knowledge during his years of study in Milan. So Donizetti, of course, but also Luigi Ricci and other composers forgotten today, whose works were performed at La Scala and in the other Milanese theaters”.
For years there has been speculation about the vocal qualities of the protagonists: are Belfiore and Edoardo already a Verdi baritone and tenor? Or are they more similar to Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti? Are the Marchesa and Giulietta sopranos or mezzo-sopranos? In this sense, how important are the variations in better adapting the part to the singers?
“Great question. Vocal types were not so defined at the time; composers, including Verdi, worked pragmatically with specific performers, writing their parts in a certain sense "tailored". Edoardo is a tenor perhaps more Donizettian than Verdian and Belfiore is not Macbeth, nor Ernani's Don Carlo. But we must avoid clichés and a priori categorizations. There are moments in which Verdi's "voice" emerges clearly. As for the two prima donnas, the part of Giulietta is more "low", but also more lyrical; in 1840 she was entrusted to a young interpreter. The part of the Marchioness, as befits the role of a noblewoman, is bolder and more ambitious and can be tackled by a soprano with an important low register, or by a mezzo-soprano with good treble. In all cases the variations are not only desirable, but necessary to bring this music to life and to ensure that the performers can give their best by mastering the music they sing”.
What is the real added value of critical editions? What do they involve and how is the work carried out?
“There are critical editions that follow a more capillary method, such as those of the works of Bellini, Rossini and Verdi; others more pragmatic, such as those of Donizetti and Puccini, whose critical apparatus is leaner. But the purpose is always to rectify obvious errors, often gross, caused by external interventions and not related to the will of the composer; and to make available any alternative lessons, substitute pieces and different versions. The preparation of a critical edition is always a team effort; each volume has its own editor, whose work is in any case supervised by the director in charge and by other editors and editors. In the case of A Kingdom Day, when I started working on the score, the director in charge was the late Philip Gossett; Roberta Montemorra Marvin joined him as “associate general editor” and both checked the first draft of the score and gave me a myriad of indications and suggestions. In case of doubts or problems there is a large scientific committee, made up of scholars who already have critical editions of works by one or more composers to their credit. Even now, that I am responsible director of the critical edition of Giuseppe Verdi's works, for my edition of Un giorno di Regno I still refer to Fabrizio Della Seta, who revised the entire score in view of its publication. And there is an excellent editor at the University of Chicago Press, Marta Tonegutti, who also reviews everything to ensure that the editorial rules are applied uniformly throughout the project. A critical edition is always a team effort - concludes Prof. Izzo - there are no solipsisms and each editor is always not only "controlled", but a participant in that work".
Where does the city that gave birth to the Swan fit into all this?
"In the structure of the Verdi Festival that we have imagined and which has been taking shape in recent years - said Anna Maria Meo, Director General of the Teatro Regio in Parma - if the Teatro Regio hosts the productions most closely linked to tradition and the Teatro Farnese is to experimentation, Busseto with its splendid theater is the place of young people and for young people. On the other hand, right within the walls of Casa Barezzi, a stone's throw from the theater that hosts the Festival's productions, a very young Verdi was taking the first steps of his glorious career. It therefore seemed natural to us to entrust the works on stage in his hometown to young artists and creative teams, offering them the precious opportunity to compete with a demanding and well-prepared audience from all over the world.
Equally natural, it seemed to us to establish a close relationship with the International Competition for Verdi Voices in the City of Busseto, of which the Teatro Regio has taken over the direction for the three-year period 2017-2019: since last year, in fact, some of the roles in the Busseto opera have entrusted to the participants in the Competition, thus giving greater weight to the competition which, in addition to awarding cash prizes, offers the concrete opportunity to get on a highly prestigious stage.
That linked to young people is an essential theme for an international festival and for an opera house in general, a theme in which the Regio invests a lot – also in terms of training, with the Verdi Academy – and which never fails to give great satisfaction : I am thinking of the candidacy of Isabella Lee, winner of the 2017 Verdi Voices and Violetta in Traviata competition, as best young singer at the International Opera Awards, and of the great success of the staging by Andrea Bernard, whose project was selected from over 70 all 'International Opera-directing Prize, organized by Camerata Nuova in collaboration with Opera Europa.
Investing in young people is therefore not only a duty - concludes Director Meo - but also a great opportunity and we like to consider Busseto a privileged place, a forge in which to train a new generation of Verdi interpreters who can start a career from here which we hope will be long and prestigious”.
William Fratti
PHOTOS Festival Verdi Parma