Rigoletto - Placido Domingo live from Mantua

It is a trait in opera lovers to be overly critical and to say when a performance is lauded 'oh, yes but you should have seen Callas/Sutherland/Tebaldi they were the best' as if the only good opera singer is a dead one.  I am guilty on occasion of doing this myself though I try very hard not to and I had to strain every sinew last weekend to not fall into this trap when watching the live broadcast from Mantua of Rigoletto with  Placido Domingo in the title role.

Rigoletto is one of Verdi's greatest operas, in my opinion, and one of my favourites.  I learned to love this opera from a very old recording with Tito Gobbi as Rigoletto, Giuseppe di Stefano as the Duke and Maria Callas as Gilda.  I played it so often as a teenager I wore it out. Now of course I have it on CD and still listen to it and, even though I have heard many other recordings and seen other performances, this is still my first choice.   Tito Gobbi is one of my all time favourite opera singers and I have posted about him here back in 2007, so will not repeat myself and, for me, his performance of Rigoletto is THE one and nobody else, no matter how hard I try, can replace him for me.

This does not mean that I do not enjoy seeing and listening to other interpreters of the role and I was looking forward to seeing what Domingo made of it.  Rigoletto is stuffed full of the most glorious music. I know that can be said about most Verdi operas but this opera was written when Verdi was at the height of his powers and is a stream of fantastic arias, duets and choruses without let up - totally sublime.

I watched the live broadcast of Tosca some years ago from Rome, also with Domingo and remembered just how thrilling it was so my expectations were high. Perhaps too high, as I found the use of the location in Mantua somewhat disappointing.  OK we saw some beautiful interiors and some good long shots of galleries and rooms, but on the whole the camera work was limited and it seemed to me that the producer was using a stage eye rather than a filmic one.  Far too many close ups - most opera lovers are used to viewing from a distance and it can be preferable as we don't really want to see the sweat dripping off Domingo's nose or the spittle flying out of the tenor's mouth, both of which are the inevitable consequences of the heat and the effort.

So from that point of view I did find it a little lacking.  How about the performances?  Gilda was sung beautifully, she is a Verdi heroine for whom I have little sympathy and most of the time want to shake her and Caro Nome, beautiful though it is, goes on far too long.   The Duke's role is a killer. Every single time he is on stage he has a huge sing; Questa Quella in Act I followed by El Sol del anima and a duet with Gilda followed by an imnpassioned farewell Adio, adio when he leaves; Parmi verde la Lagrime in Act II followed by a cabaletta and a chorus and then in Act III, La donna e mobile. Jose Carreras once said in an interview that when he sang this role, he would take a few days of afterwards as he was exhausted. The tenor who sang the Duke was pretty damn good and he looked pretty damn good as well. I would think that even if you were the best tenor in the world, but were bald or plump, there would be no point in auditioning for this particular performance, you had to look good also for the millions of viewers.

And so we come to Domingo.  I love Domingo and think he is a wonderful artiste.  The state of his voice is quite amazing, not sure how the sound balance may have helped but I am pretty sure that the strength and beauty of his sound did not need much   I last saw Domingo sing live about three years ago in Die Walkure at Covent Garden and I was pole axed when he opened his mouth and sang Siegmund's opening phrases.  It was like listening to a golden trumpet and every hair on my neck stood on end.  He was quite simply magnificent and the baritonal quality of his boice was perfectly suited for this part.    Therefore, his taking on Rigoletto and, before this, Simon Boccanegra, is perfectly understandable and they are two great roles and a challenge to any singer.

Domingo was totally committed to the part, that comes as no surprise, his acting and complete involvement is always there and the role is well within his range and grasp.  I thought he did really well and his raging at the courtiers in Act II followed by his plea to them to return his daughter is one of the highlights of the opera for me, and he brought a lump to my throat which is always a good sign.   The final duet with Gilda in Act III is one of the most moving Verdi ever wrote. HIs plea of Do not die, I will be all alone and begging her to stay with him always reduces me to tears and this time was no exception.

All in all a marvellous evening and experience, but and yes there is a but, where does Domingo go from here?  He has essayed two of the great Verdi baritone roles so what will be next?  While enjoying this late flowering of his singing career I am beginning to wonder if he is, perhaps, doing too much and what it is that drives him on.   I am not complaining, believe me, the longer he is with us and performing the better as far as I am concerned and I would happily pay good money to see him do this in the theatre but I felt at times, particularly in Act I that he looked a trifle uncomfortable and his gasping in distress was not just acting.  No doubt in his heavy costume it was incredibly hot and tiring but I did feel a little bit worried.

The difficulty now is finding other great baritone roles which he might want to sing.  Apart from the two he has already sung, most of the other Verdi baritones are supporting, rather than starring, roles and I cannot imagine Domingo doing these.  I almost feel that if he did it would be unfair on the rest of the cast as no matter how good they would be, the attention would be on Placido though I daresay the honour of singing with him would make up for that.  I am not sure that he really should go down this route and my worry is that he will try to sing the last great Verdi baritone part, Falstaff.   Yes, he could do it, no problem but not sure that it would really be suitable for him.  We shall see.........

Comments

[Kozmos]

I am surprised that nobody found anything wrong with Domingo's low range! Many of Rigoletto's dramatic moments are written in this register which is clearly without depth and sonority in this great tenor's voice which needs to resonate above the orchestra. Also Raimondo's bass doesn't crackle and menace for those beautifully written evil low notes. The 3 young leads sing and act beautifully and I agree that so much sweat & spit detracts from the drama which is generally of a high standard.

[ridinghood]

oh, and one more thing... the callas gobbi stefano is a Rigoletto for ever... nobody can top that.

[ridinghood]

oh I found it... top of the line... nice... but Elaine, did you really only go for the locale? had you seen domingo do rigoletto before? there was something bittersweet about seeing him on film with Raimondi, who was Domingo's Escamillo in the filmed Carmen so many years ago, when only Raimondi had some white hair.... but so nice to see he still sings, we dont get him any more on this side of the atlantic...

[ridinghood]

what happened to my posting an hour ago?

[Elaine Simpson-Long]

Ridinghood - I really do feel the location could have been used more in this performance. One of the reasons I was looking forward to seeing this was to see more 'outside' and I felt rather cheated at the end.

And yes the sweat pouring off PD was a tad off putting....

[ridinghood]

ten more cent's worth....just got back from a cinema presentation of the Rigoletto, and I had to confess that as much as I loved it, I found myself distracted in the most dramatic moments watching the sweat drip off Placido's nose onto poor Gilda's face, and wondering how wet is she going to be by the end of the scene. Since this was not filmed in one long shot, I am not sure why the duke and rigoletto had to be bathed in sweat in every scene, while gilda seemed cool and dry, except for what she was bathed in by her men.... Anyway, also agree that they wasted the locales with every scene in close up, was dying to see what was beyond the window they stood singing in, what did the rest of the alley look like, but then again, the one place we did see in more detail, the amazing courtyard of Rigoletto's house, he could have never afforded on a jester's salary.... and this has always been my pet pieve - did he really hide his daughter across the street from the biggest of Mantua's courtiers, Ceprano? was Rigoletto THAT stupid? though anyone who asks his daughter "chi t'a colpita?" having just paid for her assassin, has to be pretty dumb... and so on, and so forth.
But I was thrilled to see/hear Domingo in yet another conquest, and you all have forgotten Macbeth!!!! Let's hope he does remember it...
And Grigolo is a wonderful new addition to the star tenor roster...

[Mick]

Yes... Nabucco would be a goer, as would Iago I think, although he may be a little old now for it. There are several other Verdi roles in the lesser known operas, think I Due Foscari or Giovanna D'Arco. He is apparently doing Athaneal in Thais soon... and there are several good high baritone roles he could essay in that rep. The one thing I hope he NEVER does is Don Giovanni. There has been lots of talk about it over several decades, and a little recently... so fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

[Elaine Simpson-Long]

AJ - thank you so much for your most interesting and detailed comment and thank you for taking the trouble and time to write. My sister has just visited me today and she and I both have a great love for this opera as she too learned Rigoletto from the Gobbi recording. While we both enjoyed it, she felt the same as I that there were too many close ups and it felt very closed in. The Tosca in Rome some ten years or more ago now, was also done the same way and was much more open with much more usage of the locations and I think this is why I found this somewhat lacking.

I have no beef with PD extending his career and singing as long as he is able to and I certainly have no complaint about the sound of his voice, but it sounded too effortful at times and I really felt he was in distress at one point, physical distress that is. So it will be interesting to see what he does next. I gather an opera of Il Postino has been written for him (not sure if I have this correct just something I heard)which should be interesting.

Not sure that there is any particular time when it is right and correct go stop singing and retire from the opera stage and certainly it is down to the artist to decide this and not the public. Wonder if he will do thisrole on the stage, if so I shall certainly go and see it and I simply LOVE Rigoletto.

As for Grigolo's vibrato, I did not find it too obtrusive and he certainly gave it some welly which, let's face it, this role does!

Once again thank you for your comments and I hope you drop by again when I write something else on Random Music.

[AJ]

Hello Elaine,
I have to disagree a bit with the issue of 'realism' cause when I heard that being brought up as one of the points of contention around the web, it seemed to me that people had run out of reasons to complain. I don't know why this Rigoletto is suddenly judged against stage productions, and why opera fans' sensibilities are offended by messy close-ups. Yes, operas in the theater are a different animal, but not many people have bought a pricy ticket to the theater without seeing at least some opera on TV. As for fans, who hasn't seen all the live Met high-def broadcasts, or all the DVDs of stage productions? We should be used to the spit and sweat, sports fans certainly allow it from the athletes, this is similar. Domingo, for his part, has always been a notorious drooler, just gobs of it falling down, but while it just made him "earnest" in the 1970s now that he's old it's unsightly or sickly or something. As a matter of fact, he is also a cougher, and it seems that he forgot that he wasn't unmiked on stage for this Rigoletto.

My main beef with this production is that it is too bloated. This results in tentative performances, and sometimes a deer in the headlights look, and Domingo in particular seems to have abandoned entire facets of Rigoletto's personality for the sake of not screwing up. When I see something like that, I just wonder why sign up for it, or why make your first foray into a role on such a 'grand' scale? He would have come off better in something that wasn't filmed like this.

But as far as him coming off better in general, it is clear now that to many, many people he has outstayed his welcome. This is expected, but to me a shame: one, the older performer has something to offer that the younger didn't have, and two, it shows that no matter how intelligently (though sometimes compulsively) you manage your career, it always turns sour near the end. People say a lot of inanities, you read some of them, and they are clearly reviewing under the influence of all the CANCER SURGERY!!!! headlines earlier this year.. The rest I won't even bother to mention.

Rigoletto was one of my first introductions into opera at a young age, and with Trovatore it is at the very top of my favorite Verdi (who is in turn my favorite to begin with). I LOVE Domingo's Verdi line, and I love his mature voice, therefore I can't blame him for wanting to do Verdi baritone roles, rather than something fluffier. It of course is not the sound of someone who trained as a baritone and sang as one for decades, but he pays attention to color, and-- for example-- was a lot darker and gruffer sounding here than from what I've heard of the BBC Proms Boccanegra, which was one of the few recordings of that run that I didn't like at all. Furthermore, there are complaints that he should retire because his voice has now lost its 'beauty', but if he sang Rigoletto 'beautifully' you can imagine what the complaints would be.

When I first heard about him doing Rigoletto I laughed. It's Domingo being Domingo, one can say, and upon seeing it, it made me laugh further that he didn't even bother to limp or slouch. It was a relief too, considering I was really hoping it wouldn't get hammy. But it was tentative and hesitant, and as I said-- with whole facets missing-- which is why it seemed only half-done. I have to give props to Novikova and Surguladze, I thought they were good considering the circumstances. I had never heard Grigolo before in my life, and his vibrato in some parts seriously had to be heard to be believed.
So, yes, far from ideal, which is why I don't like this type of venture in the first place.

[bruessel]

"The tenor who sang the Duke was pretty damn good and he looked pretty damn good as well."
I completely agree, his name is Vittorio Grigolo, I think this is a name to remember.
On Belgian TV, Placido Domingo gave a brief introductory talk and said it was not his idea to sing the part of Rigoletto, but the producer's, Andrea Andermann (who was also responsible for the live broadcast of Tosca), and when Domingo objected that he could surely find a good baritone, Anderman said he wanted to do it with Domingo or not at all.

[Elaine Simpson-Long]

Ah I had forgotten about him!! We shall see if he turns his attention to it. Have been trying to think of other baritone roles by other composers he could also do but have drawn a blank at the moment. Perhaps Moses by Rossini? Posa in Don Carlos? but think he is a bit too old for that (sorry Placido...)

[Natarinka]

Another great leading 'father' role could perhaps be Nabucco?