REVIEW
Dom Sebastien Roi de Portugal, Bologna, December 1998
From around the world: Bologna.
Stephen Hastings, Opera News, March 1999
Donizetti's final work, Dom Sebastien Roi de Portugal (1843), is also his finest grand opera. Scribe's libretto is singularly tragic. Unlike the historical Sebastian of Braganza (1554-78), the opera's title character survives his foolhardy Moroccan crusade but loses his kingdom and is imprisoned by the Inquisition and finally shot dead while attempting to escape with his beloved Zayda (who saved his life in Act II, just as he saved hers in Act I). Yet the score is not as gloomy as the plot might suggest, being lightened often by an elegance of line and rhythm that shows how perfectly the composer had assimilated French musical manners. The opera's weakness, if it has one, is to be found in its emotional one-sidedness.
Donizetti's sympathies lie too exclusively with the lovers to allow any psychological or moral insight into the political maneuvering of the Inquisitor Juam de Sylva. And however much the very public ensembles that dose Acts III and IV may impress the ear and eye, it is the emotional solitude expressed in the solo arias -- Zayda's "Sol adore de la patrie," Camoens' "O Lisbonne" and Sebastien's "Seul sur la terre" -- that lingers in the memory.
The last of these arias was the high point of a much-applauded performance at the Teatro Comunale on December 9. Giuseppe Sabbatini sang with breathtaking dynamic control (including a pianissimo top D-fiat) and depth of feeling, transforming Sebastien's most despairing moment into one of intense pleasure for the audience. As Zayda, Sonia Ganassi offered sweeping vocal assurance and considerable emotional involvement, while bass Giorgio Surjan proved a formidable antagonist as Juam de Sylva. Baritone Roberto Servile (Camoens, the soldier-poet allied to Sebastien) contributed warmth of expression and musical phrasing, but his voice lacks the solid core his arias call for.
Secondary roles were strongly cast, chorus and orchestra were in top form, and Daniele Gatti conducted Mary Ann Smart's critical edition of the score (based on the Paris version rather than the Vienna revival) with ideal emotional commitment, though he occasionally overweighted orchestral sonorities. The Act II ballet was performed gracefully by Carla Fracci, Roberto Bolle and Georg Iancu (who doubled as choreographer).
Pier Luigi Pizzi's production was predictably beautiful to look at -- the Act I vision of Lisbon harbor was stunning -- and (perhaps less predictably) spontaneous and convincing in movement and gesture.
This page was last updated on: November 9, 2003
