Simon Boccanegra

by Giuseppe Verdi (libretto by Piave revised by Boito)

seen at Covent Garden on 10 December 2018

Henrik Nánási conducts Carlos Álvarez as Simon Boccanegra, Hrachuhi Bassenz as Amelia, Francesco Meli as Gabriele and Ferrucio Furlanetto as Fiesco in a revival of Elijah Moshinsky's 1991 production (sets by Michael Yeargan) of Simon Boccanegra, an opera loosely based on political machinations in 14th century Genoa.

The opera is full of intrigue and confusion, with a missing illegitimate daughter who turns out to have been adopted by a patrician family to keep their patrimony from being sequestered - a family to which another disgraced patrician has attached himself in disguise, unaware that the girl he dotes on as a father is actually his grand-daughter. Simon, propelled from the ranks to be the Doge of Vienna, only discovers that Amelia is his long-lot daughter at the pint when he is about to marry her off to an unscrupulous underling; naturally he stays his hand, but has doubts about whether he can countenance her true love Gabriele, who has been plotting against him.

Does one need to understand all these disguises and passions? They seem needlessly complex, considering that they distract from an already complex political situation. It has to be said that, even with the revisions Verdi undertook with Boito's help in 1881, there is a good deal of muddle, with all the personal convolutions sitting uneasily against hints of popular unrest and riot, while the idea of a slow-working poison dispels tension rather than increasing it. (First we watch the dastardly Paolo add poison to the drink. Then, minutes later, Simon drinks it for no especial reason except that it must be drunk. Then, in the following act, he is dying.)

Despite all the narrative clutter there are some powerful scenes - the recognition of father and daughter; the great council scene where Boccanegra exerts his will to defuse a potential revolt; the reconciliation scene at the end. This production has a stark grandeur in which the use of grand forced perspectives and monumental masonry allows one to concentrate on the human drama. The costumes are rich but mostly in subdued colours, which makes the visual splendour of the councillors all the more splendid when they convene to discuss the possible war with Venice.

The principal soloists sang very well, with unforced richness of tone; the parts also call for good acting skills to carry the story, and these were also in evidence. But the whole enterprise is something of a curiosity; somehow in the measured gravity of the presentation and the somewhat confused narrative, the absolute pitch of operatic excitement goes missing.