Andrea Chénier

Last night I gave you one of the most overrated operas in the repertory; tonight it's one of the most underrated.

Umberto Giordano's passionate and most successful opera is set immediately before and during the French Revolution. Andrea Chénier, an idealistic poet, falls in love with Maddalena di Coigny at a reception at her mother's sumptuous chateau. Gerard, formerly a servant in the Coigny household, and now a revolutionary, also loves Maddalena. Elevated to the revolutionary court, he seizes the opportunity to have his rival, Chénier, condemned to death. Ultimately moved by Maddalena's devotion and selflessness in trying to save Chénier, Gérard regrets his actions and tries to save Chénier, but it is too late. With Gérard's help, Maddalena takes the place of a condemned woman and joins Chénier in his cell. As the tumbril arrives, the lovers look forward to their death together.

It's loosely very loosely  based on a true story. The Met site has a fuller synopsis but fails entirely to capture the essence of the piece.

Details: Although from Covent Garden, this is a PAL-compatible NTSC DVD, a definite minus point. I prefer PAL discs for their better quality and for the fact that they often go 16:9; this is 4:3. Unfortunately it's market forces. Opera DVDs don�t shift the volume of Hollywood Blockbusters and it's often uneconomic to have two pressings, so we have to put up with the inferior NTSC, because they can't deal with PAL.

The packaging is only mediocre - it lists 31 chapters, which allows one to find individual arias, but doesn't say which character sings which aria. There is no cast list, so you have to rely on the blurb to find out the three main characters: Chénier - Plácido Domingo; Maddalena - Anna Tomowa-Sintow;  Gérard - Giorgio Zancanaro. The rest of the cast and characters are anyone's guess...

The weak point in the whole production is the lighting. In close-ups it often shines too brightly on the singers, especially as the camera pans in, making them appear pale and washed out at times. It also manages to make the Tricolour adorning the streets of Paris in Act 2 look like an Irish tricolour! I particularly don't like the attempt to emulate daylight in part of Act 2.

Grouses out of the way, it is splendid, and gets better with each watching! The sets are amongst the best I have seen, live or on video, and the costumes are great. I particularly like Andrea Ch�nier's, but you will have to watch it to understand what I mean.

Dramatically the main character is actually Gérard, whose character is the most complex,  and develops the most. This really is a fine performance from Giorgio Zancanaro, who I understand retired prematurely for health reasons. Anna Tomowa-Sintow is frustrating. At times she sounds sublime, at other times ordinary. Her acting is strange - it's sort of taught-learnt facial expressions, which, I suppose is better than the Sutherland-Pavarotti school of non-acting, but still not good enough. 

The star is, of course, Plácido Domingo, and I think that this is probably one of my favourite DVDs of him. He looks absolutely  gorgeous throughout - and totally stunning in the photo on the DVD case. The acting is convincing, he looks like he's feeling the part rather than just repeating rehearsed moves. And then there's the singing, which is him pretty much at his peak.

The First Act Party lays out the background to the French Revolution. The complacency, ignorance and sense of superiority of most of the aristocracy contrast with the revolutionary spirit of the two main men, and the naive compassion of Maddalena.  One look at Andrea Chénier sets my lust off, so I can quite identify with Maddalena, for whom it's clearly lust at first sight.

Musically, it's interesting. The orchestration is worth listening to eg the party music of Act 1, and Act 2's reign of terror wonderfully reflected in chaotic ominous music. None of the arias are 'whistle along in the shower' but the main role has a showstopper in each of four acts - marvellously delivered, it goes without saying...! Maddalena has a great show-stopper, La Mamma Morta in Act 3, which I have heard sung better than here, I have to say. And two duets stand out, near the end of Act 2, when they sing about the supreme hour of love, and the Act 4 Finale, Vicino a te, which is sung and acted so movingly, with gorgeous vocal lines and great orchestra.

I really like the libretto of this. It reads well in English, and, as far as I could tell,  this has a faithful translation from the Italian.

In no way is this a frivolous opera. It was filmed - and shown on TV - in May 1985 but I have no memory of seeing it. Perhaps, in an age before video-owning it was on a night I was out. Because I'm sure I would have watched it, and absolutely loved analysing the social and historical message. Maddalena tells how indebted she is to her servant Bersi who became a prostitute so that the two of them could survive. In my opinion, this was symptomatic of the malaise of the aristocracy - somehow there was more honour in allowing one's servant to be a prostitute on one's behalf than becoming one oneself. And the men are contemptuous of the courtesans, as if they are in that situation out of choice or enjoyment, failing to recognise their desperation.

A real tear-jerker is the scene where Madelon, an old woman who has already lost her son and a grandson in the war, offers her last grandson as a soldier. "The last child of my old blood. I shall die in a few days" The minimalist strings, enhance the portentious, doomed atmosphere.

In Act 3, G�rard is going to rape Maddalena. She decides to yield in order to save Ch�nier. Echoes of Tosca. G�rard changes his mind, because, unlike Scarpia, he is an honourable man. It must have been a terrible sacrifice for women back them, a guarantee of shame. I wouldn't hesitate now, if that was the price to save a life. And yet life was so cheap then. We are shocked at and mourn, every needless, violent, death. The mob were just baying for blood, watching the court sessions as a public spectacle, in between exchanging gossip and the price of food.

And, in the final act, the noble sacrifice, the act of love. Amazing, and not in vain, because in volunteering to die with Chénier, Maddalena saves the life of a young mother condemned to the guillotine.

It is an amazing piece of art, and I suppose the weakest part is the music, which is nice, but simply isn't memorable.