Ernani at the Lyric Opera, Chicago

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I saw this a few weeks ago and just now catching up on writing about it.

 

The story is beyond ridiculous, the music is less complex than full throttle Verdi, but the cast performed this early Verdi opera magnificently. 

All four major roles were sung beautifully. The role of Ernani sung by Salvatore Licitra was sung with power and accuracy. I did check the all mighty media critics and there was some carping about his upper range, but that was not at all apparent in the performance I saw. Elvira, his love interest sung by Sondra Radvanovsky had a very bel canto feel to her voice; I don’t know if that’s true to Verdi’s intent but her voice was lovely to listen to.

The two supporting roles were also very well done. Boaz Daniel sang the role of Don Carlo, Ernani’s rival for the affections of Elvira. I can see how this role could turn into a blustering over-the-top performance, but Mr. Daniel was able to bring some sympathy and pathos to a rather villainous character. Finally, Giacomo Prestia singing the role of Silva, Elvira’s unwanted fiancée also had a role that could be overdone as it revolves around revenge and anger. He skillfully took this very two dimensional character and made him believable.

This can’t be an easy opera to perform.  And it’s not the easiest opera to enjoy. You can hear the foreshadowing of the complexity of Verdi’s later works, but here there are far fewer layers of music to work together.  It’s like listening to a recording limited to four tracks of music when you’re used to sixteen track music. Yet the purity of each individual voice and the careful blending together of voices during the limited non-solo moments worked surprisingly well.

I had never seen this Opera performed before (it was 25+ years since it was last sung at Lyric) and I can see why it’s not a favorite. Still, for an understanding of where Verdi started, as well as a greater appreciation of the complexity of his later works, Ernani is a good place to start.