For centuries, opera librettists snubbed The duch*ess of Malfi. The cutwas unkind, since her tragic tale is the very stuff of grand opera.John Webster’s play, published in 1623, is admirably lurid andcomplicated. There is the duch*ess’s secret and forbidden marriage toher steward Antonio. There are her two evil brothers: Ferdinand, who isdriven mad by incestuous passion for her; and the Cardinal, who schemesto be Pope. After her marriage is discovered, the duch*ess is imprisonedand tormented by madmen. At the end, everyone dies violently.
Now, opera has embraced Webster’s gory drama in a big way, with not justone duch*ess of Malfi but two. The Santa Fe Opera company, which haspresented 20 American and world premieres in its 22 seasons, has justproduced the American premiere of The duch*ess of Malfi by BritishComposer and Librettist Stephen Oliver, 28. A second duch*ess hassimultaneously been staged at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the PerformingArts, outside of Washington, D.C., this one a world premiere byAmerican Composer Stephen Douglas Burton, 35, and Librettist-ConductorChristopher Keene, 31. Strikingly different—one discordant, the otherwarm-bloodedly romantic—the two duch*esses show a growing divergence inmodern music: between contemporary dissonances and a return to theromantic melodies of the Puccini era.
Santa Fe’s production, performed in the company’s handsome redwood andadobe outdoor theater, is squarely in the 20th century tradition.Oliver’s opera is a chilling psychodrama, a story of madness andperversion. Instead of a palace, the set is a surreal structure, anexternal symbol of the brothers’ twisted passions. Against thisfantastical backdrop, shapes and shadows mingle grotesquely. Soldiersresemble insects in their shiny black armor and luminous round helmets.Members of the court, dressed in garishly striped costumes, are ahideous masquerade, a parody of splendor.
Illuminating this lurid world is equally unsettling music. Oliver, whostudied electronic music at Oxford, composed his duch*ess for anundergraduate production in 1971 and revised it last year. The operaopens with a blaring cacophony of brasses and winds. Voice andorchestra lines seem to begin and end with little regard for eachother. Only once, in the final act, does Oliver use a straightforwardmelodic passage. A chorus of madmen, a ghoulish group in feathers andrags, sings an elegant baroque masque to the imprisoned duch*ess(Soprano Pamela Myers). The contrast between stately chords and hideousfaces is terrifying.
Oliver’s racing dissonances are as fitting to the bloody drama asDebussy’s dreamy impressionism is to Pelléas et Mélisande. But asopera, the music is flawed: the vocal lines are so dense and undramaticthat the voices of the mostly young cast get lost. The production isoften riveting. In one of the most bizarre scenes, Ferdinand, superblysung and acted by British Tenor David Hillman, passionately kisses hisstrangled sister, then rips the red satin lining from her coffin andrushes from the stage.
Burton’s duch*ess, by comparison, is unabashedly romantic, old-fashionedfare. From the rousing processional entry of the duch*ess and her ladiesto the final brassy chords, the Wolf Trap opera is a masterly reworkingof the conventions. Hummable tunes abound, as do passionate arias.There is swordplay between Antonio (Tenor Neil Rosenshein) and Bosola(Baritone William Dansby), the brothers’ hired assassin—and even aviolent thunderstorm, as Ferdinand (Baritone Stephen Dickson) burstsinto his sister’s bedchamber to denounce her for her marriage.
The music is equally grand. Burton, who teaches composition atVirginia’s George Mason University, has a knowing ear for orchestraleffects. His opera glories in the crashing crescendos and outbursts oftympani and brass that recall Richard Strauss, and in arias that buildpredictably, but movingly, to piercing high notes. But Burton, whostudied in Europe with noted German Composer Hans Werner Henze, hasupdated his score with a sprinkling of 20th century dissonances. Theresult is a powerful mix of sweeping melodic lines and clashingdiscords.
With all of that thunder in the pit and blood on the stage, the WolfTrap production is a winner. Soprano Roberta Palmer as the duch*ess isan appealing figure with a bright, clear voice up top. But it is theCardinal, sung resonantly by Bass William Wildermann, who commands thestage vocally and visually. His red-gloved hand, raised high above theDuch ess’s head as he comes to arrest her, seems a menacing torch fromhell.
Too bad that Burton was not born in the 19th century. His duch*ess mighteven have rivaled Tosca in acclaim. As it is, he is a hundred years toolate: the romantic opera lover can spot every device ten mea suresbefore it arrives. Still, Burton may have timed his revival well.Contempo rary opera has not proved popular in the past few decades.Burton’s style, at least, is a real audience thriller. His duch*ess willbe around again.
—Annalyn Swan
