Hard-core opera fans have a tendency to see the current state of the art as a lamentable fall-off from the greatness of the past. It's tempting, given all the treasures we have on record, to think the current state of the art is not up to the exalted standards of yesteryear. But there are also plenty of reasons to be thankful for being opera-goers in this century.
Take two recent rediscoveries of neglected corners of the operatic repertoire. Over the span of three weeks this summer, opera-goers in New York State could take in semi-staged performances of two neglected works by nineteenth-century women composers, Carolina Uccelli's Anna di Resburgo by Teatro Nuovo in New York City, and Pauline Viardot-Garcia's Le Dernier Sorcier at Bard College.
Anna di Resburgo exists thanks to a single copy of the score that survives in an archive in Italy. Will Crutchfield, director of Teatro Nuovo, discovered it, arranged for it to be copied and corrected, and set about producing it, assembling a first-rate cast. We don't know a great deal about Uccelli, but we do know that she wrote one full opera (now lost) before Anna di Resburgo, and that several composers, including Rossini and Johann Mayr, wrote letters on her behalf testifying to her talent. Unfortunately for her, the opera, which is set in Scotland and has a final confrontation scene in graveyard, premiered in the same city just three weeks after Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and never recovered from such bad timing.
Uccelli wrote no more operas, in spite of her terrific talent. With his huge investment in reviving the opera, Crutchfield might be expected to be enthusiastic. His commitment isn't misplaced; the succession of show-stoppers in the second act in particular (including a terrific canonic duet for soprano and baritone and an overwhelming funeral march in the final scene) makes one both grateful for the survival of this opera and sad that Uccelli never continued her career. He is planning to publish the score -- is it too much to hope for a recording soon, too?
Le Dernier Scorcier, a "salon opera" for piano and singers, is a fairy tale in which an old magician whose powers have nearly expired comes to recognize that his magic isn't as important as his daughter's desire to choose a partner whom she loves. He gives up his castle, built with his spells, and allows it to collapse, bringing back the natural world his daughter adores but he has striven so hard to exclude from his realm.
While Viardot was much better known than Uccelli in her own time (she was really something close to a Taylor Swift of her age), her opera isn't performed often. Bard enlisted the middle-school participants of the Bronx-based organization Sing for Hope to create the props and sets, work on the production, and narrate the whole piece. Here was a work with captivating music brought to life by professional singers and kids working together, reinvigorating the canon and growing the audience for future performances at the same time.
It was exciting and hopeful to see these two very different but equally enthralling performances this summer. Such rediscoveries are evidence that even looking back can give hope for bold new directions ahead.
