In 1792 King Gustaf III of Sweden was shot at a masked ball, and this was the starting point for Verdi's
Director: Tiziano Mancini
Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti
Stars: Francesco Meli, Vladimir Stoyanov, Kristen Lewis, Elisabetta Fiorillo, Serena Gamberoni.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2812768/
21st Verdi opera.
Premiere 1859, Teatro Apollo, Rome
Place: Stockholm, Sweden or Boston, Massachusetts
Time: March 1792 in Sweden or the end of the 17th century in Boston (British colony)
Filmed at Teatro Regio di Parma
I own a 1991 Met production with L.Pavarotti as the King and L.Nucci as his killer. I didn't like it much: Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (1991), 7, and the notes help me remember more than I wrote.
This production I like a lot. This is the Boston version, so there's not so much opulent excess (although the wigs of those bringing the governor requests are really enormous. But the costumes are more Three Musketeers than at court with Louis XIV.)
As evident in the poster, the sets and costumes have a lot of substance. Hard to believe this is still Parma.
The players all sing/act really well. Only the male leads and the witch have multiple IMDb credits. Amelia and Oscar (trouser role; formally "en travesti" in Italian) have only this one. I could become a fan of all 5, but looks like I won't have much chance with some of them.
It helps that I understand the story now; the Met show above was my first, and I watched two online at Met on Demand; didn't like either of those. But today, after all the meh Verdi operas I've seen recently, this looks excellent. The plot is simple, no one is a long-lost child, although Renato's loyalty shifts quite a bit, and he puts his child in harm's way. The smaller production makes it more accessible.
I love the way the patrons keep applauding as the bows go on forever. I didn't feel they gave enough noise for the principals, though. But the bows were poorly organized, and really took too long to get to the principals. Stoyanov (baritone) in particular got a big hand for his 3rd act soliloquy, but I didn't really recognize him during the bows; wonder if the crowd had the same difficulty, and that's why he didn't get more.
There's a sameness to the diegetic party music in Verdi operas. I really think the music used at Rigoletto's party might be the same as that at the ball here. Ir doesn't sound like it comes from the orchestra pit, more backstage, and seems like the same tune both times. I think there's at least 1 more opera with the same/similar music. Ah, the lone violinist was onstage for part of this; kept playing when the king was stabbed? But she's not playing the music that sounds like Rigoletto's party.
The Great Course discusses the censorship/contractual issues in this opera's creation, and finally discusses the last act, where 3 men draw lots for the privilege of killing the king/governor. The 2 chapters with this opera's title are really about Verdi's personal life and Italy's unrest.
Per the 2012 featurette, without naming the source of world-wide most-performed rankings, this is 7th among Verdi's operas, 26th among all operas. (another source-less list of the top 100; Operabase Statistics).
This has insufficient ratings to show an average, so I'll push it up today. I really do like it a lot better than the 3 Met perfs I've seen. It's also my favorite of the Tutto Verdi so far, although 9 may be a bit high.
Unitel, cond. Gelmetti; 9-
