Music, drama and emotion will be the absolute protagonists of the stage of the Royal Theater with the arrival of Rule, opera Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835), of which will be offered 12 functions between 3 and the 19 March in a new production conceived by the stage director Justin Way, with musical direction Marco Armiliato.
Considered one of the top works of the belcanto, its extraordinary melodic beauty masks enormous vocal difficulty, especially in the title role, and with it Bellini manipulates the most fiery emotions of melodrama like no one else. Rule has, Besides, an extraordinary dramaturgy that exposes the characters on different levels and bravely shows feelings and attitudes almost hidden until then in women. Is, maybe, that strong and modern perception of the feminine world that makes this opera one of the most desired titles of the season.
Justin Way set the action inside an old Italian theater with the whole company rehearsing Norma. Abroad, XIX century, which has begun marked by the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon, keeps northern Italy under Austrian rule, whose reactionary government provokes the birth of the first nationalist movements. Between both worlds, the two main performers of the show have a secret relationship subjected to personal and social tensions, immersed in a conflict that they do not know how to manage.
The proposal raises a parallel between the plot of the opera and the historical reality of the moment of its premiere in Milan in 1831, offering the viewer the prima donna / Norma duality, Austrians / Romans, Italian choir / patriots ... in a narrative of which he is doubly observant.
The scenery Charles Edwards reproduces the structure of a theater in decline, with old painted backdrops similar to those used by the great romantic ballets, and costumes Sue Willmington draw imaginative clothing for druids and romans, very to the taste of the time, alternating with 19th century figurines for "real" life. Nicolas Fischtel, responsible for lighting, evokes the footlights of the stages of other times, whose warm light contributes to the dreamlike game in which both realities coexist.
Teacher Marco Armiliato, whose sensitivity we could enjoy in Tosca (2004) Y Madama Butterfly (2017) returns to the moat of the Teatro Real to take charge of the Chorus and Orchestra Headlines, along with a double cast led by the Spanish soprano Yolanda Auyanet - who we listen to at Real as Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito (2016); Mimi in Bohemian (2017) and Liu in Turandot (2018)- and Russian fiber Gerzmava, interpreter of Leonora in The Troubadour del Real in 2019.
The leading trio is completed by the tenors Michael Spyres Y John Osborn, embodying the roman Pollione and the mezzo-sopranos Clementine Margaine Y Annalisa Stroppa, giving life to the virginal Adalgisa. The role of Oroveso will be in the hands of the low Roberto Tagliavini Y Fernando Rado.
Around this title, the Royal Theater will offer a new session of approaches in which the main artists of the production will participate and where the aria by Oroveso composed in 1837 by Richard Wagner "in the manner of Bellini", in complicity with the composer of Siegfried, whose performances will alternate during this month with Rule. The appointment will be next Wednesday, 24 February, to 20.15 hours in the Sala Gayarre (which can be attended with limited capacity) Y on line through Youtube channel of the Theater. And the day 14 of March, with the cheerful and carefree tone of family workshops Everyone to the Gayarre!, between potions and spells, they will discover the other side of Norma.
Due to the curfew in force in the Community of Madrid, related to Covid-19 protocols, all functions of Norma will start the 19.00 hours, except for Sunday 7 of March, what will be at 18.00 hours.
PARALLEL ACTIVITIES · NORM
National Archaeological Museum
24 of March, to 17.30 hours. Guided tour: Rule. Come, see, jokes. Conquering rome
Come, see, jokes. This is how Julius Caesar pointed out the speed with which a success is achieved. In this itinerary we move to Roman times to learn how what would end up being one of the greatest empires was forged. A very well structured army, a common language, Roman law and other aspects will be key to the Romanization of Hispania.
National Museum of Romanticism
March. a work, an opera.
Free activity
For a work, an opera, the Museum of Romanticism has selected a set of polychrome figures from its collection, dated to 1840, reminiscent of a scene from the opera in which Norma, knife in hand, enter the room where the children sleep. Polio, meanwhile, with his right hand on his heart, he seems moved in the final scene of the play, at the moment in which Norma expresses before the people her love for Pollio and acknowledges having violated her sacred vows.
Photograph: Javier del Real