Enrico Iviglia / Reviews

"The Barber of Seville" was one of the greatest worldwide successes in opera history. Not at all since the premiere in the Teatro Argentina in Rome, where the commissioned work, composed in probably less than two weeks by the still twenty-three-year-old, was published on February 20, 1816. The premiere was a fiasco. But since the second, celebrated production on August 10, 1816 in Bologna, the work began its triumphal march through the world. However, the work was frequently edited and downright distorted.Only with the critical edition of Alberto Zedda, the doyen of Rossini researchers and conductors, which appeared in the Universal Edition in 1969 and is now also played in Dessau, was the work with its sources, musical structures and versions placed on a reliable basis. Of course, Zedda included everything that Rossini composed for this opera in his edition, for the respective self-service and individual compilation of the theaters performing the work. In Dessau, too, one hears many a new, unusual, astonishing thing. No autograph manuscript of the overture used at the premiere has survived. It is possible that Rossini composed an overture of his own, but most editions use one that had previously been used in two of Rossini's other operas, Aureliano in Palmira and Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra. This was also heard in Dessau. In general, Rossini quoted or reused some music numbers from the 17 other operas he had already composed and from other works. Nevertheless, the "Barber" is one of the most original, fastest comic operas of all time, a masterpiece and firework of melodies and rhythms, sparkling ensembles and brilliant arias, but also situational comedy and absurdly comical numbers, not to mention the pull of Rossini's orchestral crescendos . The staging of the host Johannes Weigand confidently tackles the situation comedy, Rossini and the Comedia dell' Arte-like plot. The plot itself is very simple: an old man falls in love with his ward. But a count forestalls him with the help of a shrewd barber and wins over the pretty and clever girl. But how Rossini's librettist Cesare Sterbini prepared the comedic plot (which had previously been "operated" many times) with disguises, improbabilities and a turbulent game of appearance and reality can only be called brilliant. Weigand picks up the ball and shows an arsenal of funny characters, a turbulent game about twisted truths, a solid situation comedy, masters the rushing events, hair-raising disguises and confusion that bend the beams. Far from all outrages and cheap slapstick. He can comedy! He employs the simplest means. It is anything but historicizing or opulent theater that one attends. His stage designer Moritz Nitsche actually only placed a white wall that could be folded up and down in many ways in front of a cyclorama. It is a play curtain, brecht curtain and scenic hinge, enabling interior and exterior spaces, passages and perspectives. A magnificent and simple production that dares to ramp up and allude to the audience, convincingly full of verve and poetry. Miriam Damm conjured up magical lighting moods with the lighting. The costumes by Judith Fischer ensure overwhelming opulence of the 18th century. The sensation, however, is the cast of singers. Anyone who thinks that good Rossini voices can only be heard in Pesaro (the Mecca of all Rossinians) will be proved wrong in Dessau. An ensemble has been summoned that could do credit to any opera house in the capital. The Italian tenor Enrico Iviglia, a tenore di grazia with high confidence and coratura, with a very virile, resounding, flexible, very cultivated voice sings Count Almaviva. A stroke of luck from Rossini singers. The Sofia-born bass-baritone Kostadin Argirov sings Doctor Bartolo, a bruised old man. Fabulous how he renders the technically demanding aria "A un dottor de la mia sorte" as a brilliant character piece, the fastest buffo babble ever written. The internationally acclaimed soprano Ania Vegry, born in London, sings Rosina with a bewitching voice, brilliant height and admirable fluency in coloratura. Not only their cavatina "Una voce poco fa" is frenetically cheered by the audience. One of the outstanding Baltic singers of his generation is the Lithuanian baritone Modestas Sedlevičius. He sings the devious barber Figaro as Dr. Nosferatu-like striking appearance with an impressive voice and sovereign playfulness beyond all conventions. His entrance aria "Largo al factotum" - one of Rossini's most famous catchy tunes - is a masterpiece of characterization of what the Rossini specialist Richard Osborne calls a "manifestation of the age-old driving force" and "embodiment of the libidinal élan vital". A stunner as Basilio is South Korean bassist Don Lee. His irresistible aria of slander 'La calunnia è un venticello', which is extremely popular with the audience, actually hits like the audible cannonball. But the rest of the ensemble of singers is also excellent, the choir rehearsed by Sebastian Kennerknecht is reliable and the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau plays flawlessly, albeit somewhat slowed down in the first part of the evening and - for Rossini - far too deep in the great ditch of the Dessau theater . Had it been placed at stage level, it would have sounded more brilliant and transparent, participating better in the 'playing' and singing. The Greek conductor Elisa Gogou, since the 2016/17 season first Kapellmeister and deputy general music director of the Anhalt Philharmonic Dessau, has admirably done everything "right" with this Rossini, has speed and speed, strength and chutzpah to bring this music to life. However, she lacks the "light touch", Italian elegance and cheekiness. It is a somewhat ponderous, at times deliberate conducting. Nonetheless, an unexpectedly great evening!