Verdi: La Battaglia Di Legnano

"Stage Director Saves Cultural Heritage of the Nation"
There is no way to understand what is going on in this production without having the regisseur Ruggero Cappuccio explain his konzept. However, no such explanation is provided either in the introduction to the opera or in the booklet that comes with the Tutto Verdi box. The explanation was provided on four pages of the program sold to the public who attended the performances in Trieste in 2012, and here is the gist of it: the action is set in a museum warehouse. Art is what builds the cultural identity of a nation. The warehouse is a symbol of the neglect of art. The hope to fight this neglect is symbolized by restorers who touch up large paintings and statues in this museum. The museum is a metaphor of the people and the need for a restoration of our minds. (The implication is that the museum staff who work on restoring the artwork in this regie represent the regisseur who defends the cultural heritage of the nation by reinterpreting old masterpieces like this opera with his ingenious...

Staging Diminishes Some Fine Singing
To understand this opera as Verdi wanted it to be staged, one must understand what Italy was going through in 1849 and why Verdi wrote a highly patriotic opera. This was the time of risorgimento, the unification of Italy. Verdi was a staunch patriot, and the opera was intended to be a "shamelessly patriotic opera" (Berger, "Verdi With A Vengeance"). With that in mind, gentle reader, one can see from the outset, that the stage director was totally disconnected from Verdi; he wanted to use Verdi's opera in some allegorical sense to support the defense of art, as reviewer Eitan notes in his insightful analysis.

Well it may be allegorical, but it ain't Verdi, so once again, we, the viewers and, especially, the fans of Verdi are left with less than we might have experienced had Mr. Cappuccio left Verdi's opera to speak for itself, even though the maestro was speaking to a time that is past. Be that as it may, there are some very positive things about the performance that make...

Seldom recorded patriotic Verdi gem as good as it can be!
Verdi wrote his most patriotic opera during the turbulent events of the 1848 revolutions, the first of the series of many uprisings of the Risorgimento. Unfortunately Verdi had more important things to do than taking part in the revolution as he busied himself in Paris and having a good time with Giuseppina Strepponi who soon became his mistress and much later, his second wife. The opera is quite good, chock full of rousing music aided with trumpets and horns, fine arias and even finer duets and terzettos not to mention the famous choruses and had an astounding success with Italian patriots going crazy as soon as they heard "Viva Italia!"
The production is handsomely staged with great canvases as backdrops, but I wouldn't waste my breath on any "concept" or trying to criticise it, because the main thing here is the singing and the conducting. As in all these issues in TUTTO VERDI series the singing is superlative: a great tenor who cuts a fine figure indeed as the hero and copes...

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