Roberto Devereux by Donizetti at the Palau de Les Arts: soprano against mezzo-soprano

The Palau de les Arts in Valencia concludes its exciting season with Donizetti's Roberto Deveraux, a prestigious work by the composer, which is not widely featured in the repertoire for two probable reasons: the need for an outstanding cast and the story's somewhat weak dramatic style . Kobbé recounts that the 57th of the 70 operas composed by Gaetano Donizetti premiered just 19 years after the first, to great acclaim despite very adverse circumstances: the year before, both of the composer's parents died, his wife died that year, 1847, and a cholera epidemic broke out in Naples, infecting the baritone and soprano.

Of the operas about English queens, the one dedicated to the Earl of Essex and his relationship with Elizabeth I is the one with the least historical substance: it ends up being limited to a struggle between Queen Elizabeth (Eleonora Buratto), soprano, and Duchess Sara (Silvia Tro Santafé), mezzo-soprano, for the favor of the tenor Roberto (Ismael Jordi), to the rage and astonishment of the Duke , the baritone Ludovico Filippo Modestov. The vocal and musical interest of the female roles, superior to the others, was matched in this case by the interpretation: the soprano and mezzo were superb, the tenor was strenuous and competent, and the baritone was somewhat diffuse, becoming more intoned in his fury after the intermission.

The production, a co-production of the Palau with two other theatres, directed by Jetske Miljnnsen, makes the action's atmosphere bourgeois , thereby eliminating any possible epic flavour (the queen invites us to tea), cheapening the dignity of the characters (the count is a gentleman who never knows whether to take off or put on his trench coat), forcing incongruous behaviour (the queen is overcome by a childish tantrum, throwing her shoes in the air and jumping on the bed), or obligatory references to the present-day imaginary (the husband is the inevitable abuser). After the break, the stylisation of the scene somewhat alleviated the bourgeois oppression that overwhelmed the beginning.

A long performance, with a musical performance by conductor Francesco Lanzillota in perfect style, featuring two sublime women in conflict, marked the end of a season that the audience received with the generous gratitude it always demonstrates. The next season is promising , in its variety and foreseeable artistic merit. Of course, with the presence—admittedly inevitable—of some of the stage directors, stars in their field, dedicated to destroying everything they touch; in this case, opera in its theatrical embodiment. We shall see.