Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera
Napoleon III on his way to the theatre in Paris (coincidentally to see an opera). A year previously, the King of Naples had narrowly escaped being assassinated. All this violence made the censors nervous and they came down firmly on Verdi, demanding major changes to his storyline which, after all, centred on the assassination of a king. They didn’t want the opera to inspire a copycat tragedy. Verdi was offered an almost unrecognizable version of his libretto with all the censors’ changes made. He wasn’t interested and, instead, offered his opera to Rome. A few changes were required there by the censors, but Verdi was willing to accept them. He changed the setting for the opera from 18th-century Sweden to 17th-century Boston with King Gustav of Sweden becoming Riccardo, Count of Warwick, Governor of Boston.
The Premiere Un ballo in maschera premiered in Rome on February 17, 1859 and it was soon being performed all over Europe and in North America. After all the trouble that Verdi had experienced with the censors, other opera companies took some startling liberties with the setting of the opera. Two years after its premiere, Ballo appeared in Paris with Florence as its setting and, later that same year, at Covent Garden, London, the setting was shifted to Naples. In 1935 the opera finally appeared in its original Swedish
Top: Catherine Naglestad as Amelia and Piotr Beczala as Riccardo in the Berlin Staatsoper production of Un ballo in maschera, 2008. Photo: Ruth Walz Below: A scene from the Berlin Staatsoper production of Un ballo in maschera, 2008. Photo: Ruth Walz
setting. Since then, Ballo has often been produced in its originally intended form, along with its Boston setting and many others that imaginative directors have created.
Join Us This Winter This winter, you’ll see how directorial duo Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito have placed their carefully considered production in an America of their own imaginings, with a strong nod to Kennedy-era tensions and power plays. The striking period sets and costumes (by designers Barbara Ehnes and Anja Rabes, respectively) bring to mind the television series Mad Men, full of the colour, optimism and vitality of the early 1960s, with the occasional more contemporary detail. Sometimes referred to as Verdi’s Tristan und Isolde, Un ballo in maschera requires similarly great artists to scale the heights of the lead roles, and we have them, in Canada’s great diva Adrianne Pieczonka (who starred in Tosca two seasons ago) and the exciting tenor Dimitri Pittas (the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto). Elena Manistina (a riveting Azucena in our Il Trovatore) returns as the mysterious fortune teller Ulrica. COC favourite Simone Osborne is the saucy page, Oscar. n Gianna Wichelow is Senior Communications Manager, Creative at the Canadian Opera Company.
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Canadian Opera Company 2013/2014 Season