La Muette de Portici, Emma Dante, and the ghosts of the past

La Muette de Portici, Opéra Comique in Paris, April 5 2012 

Conductor ..... Patrick Davin 

Director  .....  Emma Dante

 Fenella ..... Elena Borgogni 

Alphonse ..... Maxim Mironov

Elvire ..... Église Gutiérrez 

Masaniello ..... Michael Spyres 

Pietro ..... Laurent Alvaro 

Borella ..... Tomislav Lavoie 

Selva ..... Jean Teitgen 

Lorenzo ..... Martial Defontaine 

Chorus and Orchestra of Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie 

La Muette de Portici is one of the most known operas by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber. Created in Paris in 1828 it was a huge success and for various reasons disappeared from the repertoire after hundreds of shows presented worldwide. Today it is interesting for at least three reasons: (i) it was a preview of the French grand opera style [5 acts with ballets and with grandiose stagings], (ii) it was dramatically a huge heap towards modernity and it is not surprising to learn that Richard Wagner particularly appreciated this opera, (iii) historical importance of this opera lies in the fact that it triggered a rebellion in Brussels in 1830. Considering the current political situation in Belgium, La Monnaie/De Munt (a co-producer of this show) decided to postpone presenting this production in Brussels until 2014-2015. After seeing the show, and if we put it in historical context of Belgium 1830, one can understand how and why it could inflame the revolutionary feelings. Today, however, expecting that something similar might happen is borderline preposterous because the controversial verses lost their 1830 meaning. I could go even farther and claim that today it could incite the nationalist and xenophobic feelings -- which is enough to make this opera controversial circa 2012 too.

Masaniello (Sergio Assisi) -- from the film "Amore e Libertà" by Angelo Antonucci, 2006

In short, the story happens in 1647 in the Kingdom of Naples that at that time was under the Spanish rule. The story revolves around the fishermen revolts, lead by Tomaso Aniello (a.k.a. Masaniello) in the village of Portici, that resulted in a major riot in which the rebels took the Castel Nuovo and forced the Spanish rulers to flee. You can find the synopsis here.

The libretto by Eugène Scribe is surprisingly good: it finds its support in an important historical event; it is filled with metaphors; it is not one-dimensional, and the flow of dramatic action is excellent.

La Muette (mute girl) is a symbol of the oppressed people of Naples. Duke Alphonse (exponent of the Spanish aristocracy) embodies the oppressor, but his character is not one-dimensional either. La Muette is also Masaniello's sister and the injustice made to her is a drop of too much that made him and his friend Pietro initiate the rebellion. What Emma Dante does wonderfully here is that she brings her team of dancers/actors, in addition to  a phenomenal Elena Borgogni who by gestures and dance expressed sometimes more than the singers could convey by their voices. Never a marriage between dance and opera didn't look so obvious, almost 'urgent'.  Dante portrays Alphonse and Elvira as aristocracy but not as oppressors. She avoids to tune in the black and white picture. She shows a good hearted Elvira as a prototype of a woman of that era: a cute doll whose only role is to encourage men to search beneath a large frame of her dress. This part Emma staged through a series of dances in which women and actual dolls are mixed up, to end with men amused dancing with dolls as if they were real human being.

Libretto itself is difficult to convert to the stage action because of its grandeur. The action takes place in the castle, in the port of Portici, on the main city square in Naples, on the battlefield... To make it flow unimpeded  Emma choses dozens of meters of fabrics [either to make a red carpet for the wedding or for the revolutionary banner, for the braid's veil, or for the long fishing nets...], and a set of doors that always work well in theater [to discerns the inside from the outside of whatever the space one would like to define stagewise], except that here it is choreographed to make it fitting superbly with music.

What Emma wanted to emphasize --and she most definitely succeeded in it-- was the mental moment in which power makes the oppressed become an oppressor. Getting to power took the whole revolution (marvelously done scenically -- showing the victims and killings that terrified the perpetrators and made them pray!), but once Masaniello moved into the Catel Nuovo he sinks into a warm chair, puts on the golden shoes and fancy garments, and all the perks and flattery start intoxicating his head (excellent Michael Spyres!)

She however managed to preserve the ambiguity of the libretto related to the moment when Masaniello helps Alphonse and Elvira to escape. Was his help a gesture of humanity [because he realized there were far too many victims so far] or he saw in their faith his future? In fine, was he right in helping them? [He was poisoned and died. Alphonse and Elvira came back to power and perpetrated more killings.] Was his helping the fleeing Spanish aristocrats diminishing his role in overthrowing the Spanish rule? All that Emma Dante leaves cleverly open to each one of us to play with after the show...

I should stress it once again, this was the best of theater that was seen in recent years in Paris Opera houses as far as the new productions are concerned. There is no a single stall moment, or suspended action because the director ran out of gas, or purposelessly hand-wave acting. The action was flowing impeccably, with a bunch of metaphors that are brilliantly acted and danced. La Muette comes with her long red scarf (here red is easily identified as revolutionary), that after the revolution a banner, and after the outbreak of revolution and atrocities made in the name of revolution that banner becomes too big for her: in a passionate dance she gets completely trapped in that banner and collapses.

The final scene is the suicide of La Muette. While in the libretto she throws herself in Vesuvio, Emma Dante decided to make her simply kill herself behind a large red curtain (again red!), and when the curtain dropped the people could see her as a symbol of that tumultuous year that changed their history forever.


Musically it is a different story. One should know that this score comes in between the famous operas by Rossini and before the famous operas by Donizetti. Dramatic character of this opera is so much better than anything in the class of Rossini serio, and infinitely better than Donizetti and Bellini. In terms of melodies Aubert is often close to the Rossini-style but also tries to find his own way that unintentionally brings him closer to Donizetti. In other words La Muette de Portici is an opera that sits comfortably in the bel-canto style with a crucial difference that it actually has a good libretto and a structure of the Grand French Opera. There is quite a lot of coloratura and the vocal acrobatics actually works here because the dramatic action is never depleted by letting a space for yet another aria. Each aria finds its natural place in this opera. With that being said and knowing that musically poor bel-canto is not my preferred style in opera, I only moderately enjoyed the evening as far as its musical content is concerned.

Michael Spyres is a superb English American tenor that we would love to see singing in a larger venue before actually jumping on the bandwagon. He sang his heart and soul out but never doing so to steal the show. His singing was the support of the drama and to the character of Masaniello that he incarnated with brio. Great ovations for him in the end of the premiere and a totally deserved triumph. Bravo! While the other singers benefited from the small size of the Opéra Comique auditorium, Laurent Alvaro didn't. Laurent has a huge baritone voice that for some reason he cannot tame to adapt it to Opéra Comique. He often sounded too overpowering, too brutal... which eventually is not really a problem since the character of Pietro is in fact brutal. Maxim Mironov audibly worked on his French pronunciation even if slightly underpowered his singing was perfectly comprehensible, beautiful and classy. Eglise Gutierrez looked unhappy at the curtain calls and I can understand why. At first she sounded as if her vocal cords were not warmed up enough and the result wasn't exactly pretty. Later on, however, she got better and sang very well one of the hardest arias one could find in opera.
I feel I'd be unfair if I didn't mention the excellent second roles:  Tomislav Lavoie (!), Jean Teitgen, and Martial Defontaine. The chorus was both vocally and scenically impeccable, and the orchestra --lead by Patrick Davin-- was well tempered, well adapted to the Opéra Comique auditorium, and showed a good attention to the singers.


A word about the boos to Emma Dante during the curtain calls: One should put them into perspective and understand that (1) a naked human body --even when dimly lit-- is a reason for outrage with the ultra-conservative crowd that fills up the large parts of the Opéra Comique's parterre; (2) a Parisian crowd has been exposed to the trivialities and a certain standard of new productions by Del Monaco, Joël, Martinoty, Serreau, Ronconi, Serban, Savary, Lazar, Pasqual...,  reconstructions of the 40 years old productions by Strehler and Ponnelle, which might be a reason why they recently heartily applauded Bozonnet for his miserable staging of Amadis de Gaule; (3) Marthaler, Warlikowski, and even Carsen and Pelly were constantly booed in Paris. So, by a simple comparison the boos can be viewed as a compliment to a stage director today, but iff combined with bravos. Emma Dante received a huge amount of "Brava!" too, which indicates that the show did not leave anyone indifferent.

After several setbacks it is good to see Opéra Comique proposing a good show and break the curse of bad new opera productions in Paris.

See also NPW whose reviews are often a complementary look at the productions we both saw -- the two being rarely orthogonal (Les Huguenots, is a notable exception).

Production Photos [©Elisabeth Carecchio, see large photo album]

My cc pics:

Patrick Davin between Elena Borgogni and Michael Spyres

Tomislav Lavoie and Maxim Mironov

Laurent Alvaro and Jean Tietgen

Eglise Gutierrez

Superb Michael Spyres

Fantastic Actors/Dancers of the Emma Dante team!

Emma Dante and  the production team

Trailer (kind of):




and cca 3min of excerpts:







Before I close, I should quote the controversial verses which might make one feel uncomfortable during the show...

MASANIELLO et PIETRO
Mieux vaut mourir que rester misérable!
Pour un esclave est-il quelque danger?
Tombe le joug qui nous accable.
Et sous nos coups périsse l'étranger!

Amour sacré de la patrie,
Rends-nous l'audace et la fierté;
A mon pays je dois la vie;
Il me devra sa liberté.

          MASANIELLO
          Me suivras-tu?

PIETRO
Je m'attache à tes pas,
Je veux te suivre à la mort ...


MASANIELLO
A la gloire!


PIETRO
Soyons unis par le même trépas.


MASANIELLO
Ou couronnés par la même victoire.


MASANIELLO et PIETRO.
Mieux vaut mourir que rester misérable!
Pour un esclave est-il quelque danger?
Tombe le joug qui nous accable,
Et sous nos coups périsse l'étranger!


MASANIELLO
Songe au pouvoir dont l'abus nous opprime,
Songe à ma sœur arrachée à mes bras!


PIETRO
D'un séducteur peut-être elle est victime?


MASANIELLO
Ah! quel qu'il soit, je jure son trépas!


MASANIELLO et PIETRO
Mieux vaut mourir que rester misérable!
Pour un esclave est-il quelque danger?
Tombe le joug qui nous accable,
Et sous nos coups périsse l'étranger!


Amour sacré de la patrie.
Rends-nous l'audace et la fierté;
A mon pays je dois la vie;
Il me devra sa liberté.