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La locandina

 

Hoffmann	Jesús León
Olympia, Antonia, Giulietta, Stella	Letitia Vitelaru
Lindorf, Coppelius, Dr. Miracle, Dappertutto	Philip Horst
Nicklausse, La Musa	Cassandra Zoé Velasco
Andrés, Cochenille, Frantz, Pittichinaccio	Enrique Guzmán
Crespel, Luther	Rosendo Flores
La mère d'Antonia	Violeta Dávalos
Spalanzani, Schlemil	Víctor Hernández
Hermann, Capitain	Rodrigo Urrutia
Nathanael	Álvaro Anzaldo
Wolfram	Juan Carlos López
Wilhelm	Carlos Santos
Conductor	Jonas Alber
Stage director	Benjamin Cann
Settings	Jorge Ballina
Lights	Victor Zapatero
Costumes	Mario Marin del Rio
Make-up	Carla Tinoco
Coreography	Ruby Tagle
Orquesta y Coro del Teatro de Bellas Artes

 

Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann came back to the Mexican stage after an absence of more than thirty years. Four performances were given at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes with a very strong cast in a rather controversial new production, using the Michael Kaye and Jean Christophe Keck edition. We attended the first performance of the run and lots of things have to be said about the staging by Benjamin Cann, the edition used in the performances and the quality of the singing and musical interpretation.

Les contes d’Hoffmann has been performed with several versions during the last 60 years. Three editions are known, till this day: the Choudens edition, the Oeser and the Kaye one. Part of the music included in some of the editions is not entirely by Offenbach and the dramaturgy of the plot might change from one edition to the other, most commonly in the order of the acts of Antonia and Giulietta. In the case of the Kaye edition and the Choudens/Oeser one, we get a second scene in the Giulietta act, making it longer and not always ending in a very climatic way. Some phrases and choruses appear and disappear, depending on the edition of Hoffmann they perform but, for this review, we will concentrate ourselves in talking about the Kaye-Keck edition.

It was performed for the first time in Mexico, doing the Giulietta act last, without a slight pause between it and the epilogue. A ‘new’ aria for Nicklausse called “J’aime Hoffmann” was sung in the prologue, in the middle of the well known “La vérité, dit-on…” and “Elle est sur la scène…”; this short aria has similar music to that of the Muse’s epilogue phrases “Des cendres de ton coeur” (Choudens/Oeser edition). A couple of phrases here and there in the prologue during Hoffmann’s confrontation with Lindorf are cut and Lindorf’s dialogue with Andrés is longer. The Antonia act is almost the same as known and, in the Giulietta act, we have two scenes (which were not very clearly divided in Cann’s staging). The septet “Hélas! mon coeur s’égare encore!”, which was known to almost close the Giulietta act, was sung in the middle of it and is called “Hélas! Je vais encore la suivre”. We also had Giulietta’s aria “L’amour lui dit: la belle…”, full of coloraturas, which then becomes a small duettino with Hoffmann. A very important aspect of the Kaye-Keck edition used in Mexico was the fact that Giulietta was sung by a soprano, in this case, the same soprano sang the four heroines. The strange thing of this edition is that Dapertutto does sing “Scintille, diamant” instead of “Tourne, tourne, miroir” (which appears both in the Choudens/Oeser edition and in the Kaye edition). Stella, usually a silent role or performed by an actress saying one or two lines, in this edition, sings in a concertante “Adieu! Je t’abandonne à ces amours nouvelles…”. in the epilogue.

Having explained the ‘changes’ or ‘new things’ that were performed in the Mexican performances, I will continue with the review of the first performance on December 8^th.

Musically speaking, the cast, orchestra and chorus were on fire. Mexican tenor Jesús León was making his Bellas Artes and role debut as Hoffmann so the stakes were high. After a very solid career in Europe, León proved to be ready to perform the challenging role of Hoffmann. His voice is very lyrical, Italianate in color and projection, with squillo in his secure, blazing high notes. He was very convincing vocally in the lyrical parts of the score, such as the "Ballad of Kleinzach", his declaration of love for Olympia or the difficult “O Dieu de quelle ivresse” in Giulietta’s act. He is one of the few tenors that this critic has heard live that is heard with clarity during the trio of Dr. Miracle, Crespel and Hoffmann, giving a radiant high C at the end of it with no problem. His voice blended very well with his leading ladies (Vitelaru and Velasco) and made a credible portrayal of the tormented poet. A true triumph for León.

Romanian soprano Letitia Vitelaru had the enormous challenge of singing the four female roles of Hoffmann’s loves. The four are written in different musical styles so Vitelaru had to mold her instrument to give it a lighter color in the Olympia act, and was much more comfortable with Antonia, Giulietta and Stella. Her “Les oiseaux dans la charmille” was well sung but she was at her best in Antonia’s aria “Elle a fui, la tourterelle” and in Giulietta’s “L’amour lui dit: la belle…”. Stella’s small musical appearance was also very well sung by Vitelaru. One of the highlights of her performance was during the trio “Tu n’est chanteras plus?”, singing Antonia with passion and a full, rich tone. She also has a beautiful stage presence which helped her portray the idealized image of Stella.

Philip Horst sang the Four Villains with a powerful, dark voice. There was not a lot of nuances in his singing and neither in his acting; he did sing with panache but Cann’s stage directions left him with not a lot of options to make a big difference between each of these four incarnations of evil. The only difference between the four villains was the coats they wore. His arias “Dans les rôles d’amoureux…” and “Scintille, diamant” were well sung and he does have an imposing stage presence.

Mezzosoprano Cassandra Zoé Velasco scored a huge success in the role of Nicklausse/The Muse. Her voice has darkened since the last time we heard her live. She sang with elegant phrasing, lovely velvety tone and pure French style. Velasco and Vitelaru’s voices blended beautifully during the famous Barcarolle and the young Mexican mezzosoprano sang with intensity the beautiful aria “Vois sous l’archet frémissant”.

Tenor Enrique Guzmán was in charge of singing the four comic tenor roles. His voice is very nice, soft and it travels quite well through the auditorium. He sang Frantz’s aria “Jour et nuit je mets en quatre”, not only with a pristine tone but also acting it with charm and good comedic timing. Kudos go also to another Mexican tenor, Victor Hernández, who sang both Spalanzani and Schlemil with the clearest French diction of all the cast. Bass Rosendo Flores was a funny Luther and a very tender Crespel. Soprano Violeta Dávalos sang the role of Antonia’s Mother, usually sung by a mezzosoprano or contralto, and was heard only in some parts of the trio.

Special mention has to go to the four singers who portrayed the students: Rodrigo Urrutia (Hermann), Álvaro Anzaldo (Nathanael), Juan Carlos López (Wolfram) and Carlos Santos (Wilhelm), who sang their roles with distinctive voices and making the most of them.

Jonas Alber conducted the score with fluency, in general, and bringing out the bubbly moments of the music but also making his musicians play with elegance and French style during the more romantic and lyrical parts of the score. Both the Orquesta y Coro del Teatro de Bellas Artes played and sang with vibrant sound.

Benjamin Cann’s staging was controversial but not in a good way. Reading the program notes that he wrote for this opera, one of his ideas for this staging was to give voice to all the women of the XIX century who had been voiceless during the times of Hoffmann and Offenbach and to make all those women have justice in this opera. Which has obviously nothing to do with the plot of Les contes d’Hoffmann. Cann took away all the magic, all the supernatural elements, the romanticism, the idealization of women and the idea of the sublimation of love through art that is the subject of Offenbach’s opera. The whole essence of the piece was lost on stage and was only felt through the music.

He did have a couple of good ideas that never got to a full circle. One was starting the opera with the overture of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, hinting at the idea that it is the title that Stella is performing in Les contes… But not many people got the joke and it ended up being thought as a true mistake from the orchestra.

The only clever idea that was kept throughout the staging was showing some elements (a wig, the key and the necklace) that were seen in the prologue in Stella’s dressing room, as part of each of the three ladies of the tales. That way he did illustrate that Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta were indeed all incarnations of Stella. Apart from that, the rest of his ideas were completely debatable, vulgar and not very close to what the libretto intends. There was a lot of sexual images: during the prologue, a couple had sex under a table of Luther’s tavern for a long time, with Hoffmann looking at them before he ‘entered’ the scene. The Olympia act was ironically more charged of sexual connotations than the Giulietta one. Cann copied (voluntarily or not) many ideas from the Richard Jones production in Munich (like having Hoffmann and Nicklausse dressed the same way) and also from the Robert Carsen production (like having the chorus partly dressed in Don Giovanni’s costumes). Unfortunately, not all of the ideas were well developed and he sexualized Olympia too much, making her look like a sex doll and during the Doll Song, Spalanzani wound her up by putting a key through her butt or two magnets in her nipples. Not a very classy thing to do. As in Carsen’s production, Olympia ends up having sex with Hoffmann by sitting down in his lap. The only thing is that in Carsen’s production it is done in a more ‘elegant’ way. There was no dancing and she ends up trying to strangle him. The idea of innocent love for the ‘jeune fille’ in the Olympia act was reduced to the sexual awakening of the doll and of Hoffmann. The Antonia act lacked all the supernatural elements and the final trio lost its tragic and climatic energy. Antonia was put inside a room and no one had access to her (which can be a good idea) but this took away the closeness with other characters, especially, with Hoffmann during their duet. The use of extras throughout the opera was also done in a clumsy way. They distracted a lot form the action and even performed some absurd movements that took away all the seriousness of certain key moments. At the end of the opera, Cann decided to put three different Hoffmanns: one, committing suicide, one looking at his writings anxiously and the third one standing on top of a table, looking at a light bulb. We never got that ending full of hope when the Muse asks Hoffmann to be reborn again as a poet. He then ran and embraced a lady who appeared at the end of each act every time the curtain went down. As it happens with certain ‘stage adaptations’, the text that was sung had nothing to do with what you saw on stage. Jorge Ballina’s scenery was monotonous and didn’t help to create a magical atmosphere. Offenbach deserved much more than this burlesque vision.

The cast, orchestra, chorus and the audience also deserved a much better production of this masterpiece. Thank God for Offenbach’s music!

The review is about the production of 2019, December 8th.

Ingrid Haas