Il Trittico

by Giacomo Puccini

seen at Holland Park on 13 June 2015

Three one act operas - 'Il Tabarro', set on a barge in Paris, 'Suor Angelica', set in an Italian convent, and 'Gianni Schicchi' , set in Florence, were composed by Puccini as a triptych in 1916-18. Amongst a large cast, Anna Sophie Duprels sang the parts of Giorgetta in 'Il Tabarro' and the eponymous Suor Angelica, Rosalind Plowright sang the part of Angelica's aunt, Stephen Gadd sang Michele, the bargeman in 'Il Tabarro', Jeff Gwaltney sang Luigi in 'Il Tabarro', Richard Burkhard sang the eponymous Gianni Schicchi, Anna Patalong sang his daughter Lauretta and William Robert Allenby sang her lover Simone.

Here they form part of Holland Park Opera's 2015 summer season - a large canopy is erected in the Park beside one of the buildings, to house the stage, orchestra pit and auditorium.  'Gianni Schicchi' is a revival of the 2012 production; the other two are new productions.

The three pieces are very different - the first a domestic melodrama in working-class Paris, the second a tragedy of family repression and loss in which an aristocratic girl has been sequestered in a convent for seven years after bearing an illegitimate son, and the third a light-hearted comedy about the re-writing of a will after the death of a wealthy man. At Holland Park, all three received excellent performances packing emotional weight in the first two, and relieving it with farcical insouciance in the third. 

The miserable marriage of the bargeman Michel and his wife Giorgetta is revealed by silent tensions as much as by the complaints each makes. Giorgetta's free spirit has been crushed by the death of their infant child and is only revealed when she and Luigi sing of the delights of growing up in Belleville - one of the slums of Paris, but here seen as the idyllic place of childhood in comparison with the cramped conditions on the barge. Michele is saddened by the change in Giorgetta's attitude, but also suspicious. Unfortunately, even as Giorgetta seems prepared to reconcile with Michele, he reveals that he has discovered Luigi as a rival and has killed him. End of opera. The claustrophobia of the marriage is matched by the setting on the barge which here took up the entire length of the stage, with hints of the below-decks area where goods are stored, and a small cabin at one end. As it is all 'slice-of-life' stuff, there are similarities to 'La Boheme', with even a musical phrase of Mimi's alluded to when a ballad singer starts a song about her.

We are far removed in the second act, in an enclosed convent where the daily life of the community is filled with domestic and medicinal tasks - but also by inveterate gossip and banked down emotions. Angelica displays acceptance of her lot until a visitor is announced and is revealed to be her aunt - her first contact with her family for seven years. But the visit brings no joy - the aunt is distant and apparently unsympathetic - whether through lack of feeling or through embarrassment and distress it is not clear - and eventually the only news she can give of Angelica's son is that he died two years previously. In despair Angelica takes poison, thinking to be met by her child in heaven and only belatedly realising that heaven is denied to suicides. It is not entirely clear whether the miracle of pity for which she prays as she lies dying is granted, though the music is uplifting. Her aria addressed to her child is extremely moving and was sung with great power by Anne Sophie Duprels, while Rosalind Plowright was excellent in the repressed role of the aunt.

Death is only the excuse for comic action in the third act, when the grasping family of Buoso Donati realise he has left his estate to a monastery - an outcome none of them wants. Nephew Simone suggests asking the help of the wily Gianni Schicchi, whose daughter he wishes to marry; his relatives overcome their snobbery towards a country parvenu and agree. But Schicchi himself is disdainful until his daughter Lauretta sings of her love for Simone in the famous aria 'O mio babbino caro', which melts his heart (as indeed everyone else's). He then proposes to impersonate the dead man and have a notary draw up a new will. Once he is in this position he can of course will various desirable properties to - himself! No-one can complain as they would all be indicted for the criminal offence of conniving at the falsification of a will. What else could he do? At least the lovers are happy.

All in all, a richly enjoyable evening's entertainment.