It is well-nigh impossible to imagine what the opera world would have been like had Giuseppe Verdi stuck to his "resolution to compose no more" after the failure of his first two operas. It was only on the insistence of Merelli, the impresario of La Scala that he was persuaded to compose an opera to a libretto by Solera that Merelli promised to put on at La Scala. The libretto, a rather poor one, related the biblical acount of Nebuchadnezar's pride, downfall and subsequent acceptance of Jehovah, whose people he has taken captive, but its language only comes to life by virtue of the music. Verdi completed the opera in 1841 and it sealed the beginning of his artisitic career which made him the by-word for Italian opera.
Nabucco was a success right from the beginning. In the years immediately following its premiére, it was performed throughout Europe and in the Americas, while in Milan it continued to be enthusiastically received, season after season.
Nabucco was presented in Gozo last weekend, the climax of the Gaulitana Festival of Music that has been going on since the beginning of April. It is a fine, though uneven opera. But even while it adopts most contemporary operatic conventions, it holds a significance of its own. Verdi added his own freshness, vigour and intensity to the flair of Donizetti and the grace of Bellini and it is through his music that the libretto comes to life.
It is an opera that is replete with splendid choruses that embrace a wide range of feeling which earned the composer the nickname of il papa dei cori. The orchestra too is used with greater freedom and expressiveness. The various combinations of woodwind used to produce that dark, melancholy sound, which is so distinctive a feature of Verdi's mature orchestration, are already there and used with particular effectiveness. No less effective are the main characters: the neurotic Nabucco and the cruel, single minded Abigaille.
In fact as in so many of Verdi's operas it is not the plot that counts, the love element is secondary. What matters is character. From the characters comes the drama and, indeed the music. In Nabucco there are sharply defined characters in a plot that is nebuolous to the point of unintelligibility. These characters do not exist in a vacuum but against a setting and a social context that contribute to shaping them.
An almost brutal energy animates Nabucco. This was made clear in the overture, superbly played by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Colin Attard. Except for the chorale-like opening, this is made up of themes from the opera, the main, recurring idea being from the maledetto chorus in Act II.
This feeling continued to develop with the production. The recitative that introduces Abigaille immediatlely fixed her unusual vocal character, which requires power in the lower register, agility above the staff and forceful dramatic presence throughout. And with her wide-ranging voice, outstanding singing skills and performing ability soprano Hanying Iaia Tso gave an outstanding performance. Tso was a very last minute substitute for Rebekah Lokar, who had to opt out of the performance on the very eve because she was unwell. But however good Lokar may have been she surely could not have been much better than Tso. Tso was an aggressive woman, proud, wilful, even warlike. Her cutting vocal line was marked by brilliant coloratura. On the other hand her singing of the aria in act ii, Anch'io dischioso un giorno had a dreamlike quality.
Verdi had a predilection for the baritone voice that he considered more realistic and more human than that of the tenor. He diversified it from the basso cantante, pushing the bass to higher notes normally beyond his register. Nabucco is Verdi's first great baritone character. His is an exceptionally complex figure in his waverings between arrogance and extreme humiliation, between ferocity and paternal affection. Dimitris Tiliakos brought out all the varied alternating musical lines that express these fluctuations. When in the Finale of act ii he has given vent to his arrogance and confused and sad moves into the adagio O mia figlia et tu pur ancor the high tessitura produced a pathethic timbre and colour as well as a smooth soft vocal production.
The opera has no important tenor role but Verdi presents both his baritone and his bass with magnificent opportunities. The regal and sacerdotal dignity of Mattia Denti's Zaccaria, the high priest of Jerusalem, came out forcefully in his singing of the prophecy in Act III, while his lower register in the aria Tu sul lannro dei veggenti had the colour and depth of certain tones of the organ.
Compared to the two titanic figures of Nabucco and Abigaille the other characters, though they also have their highlights, lack their strength. Ismaele, sung by tenor Alan Sceberras, and Fenena, sung by mezzo Carmen Topciu, provided the statutory love element, but Verdi refused to give them a duet. The story goes that Verdi made his librettist cut the love duet between these two characters since it interrupted the action and seemed to him to diminsh the biblical grandeur which characterised the subject. Other supporting roles were sung by soprano Adriana Yordanova (Anna, Zaccaria's sister), tenor Filippo Micale (an old officer in Nabucco's service) and bass Zhen Weng (high priest of Babylon).
The third protagonist of Nabucco is the chorus. Verdi's choruses were always important to him and in Nabucco these dominate several of the strongest scenes expressing a wide range of feeling. They often enter with stirring effect at climactic points in many of the solo numbers. Sensitive to both the music and the libretto the Gaulitana choir was a vital element in the production. The chief glory of the opera is its long slow chorus for the Israelites yearning for their homeland. For a local audience this chorus might have lost its patriotic Risorgimento resonance, but it is still a very moving piece of music. This, however, is only one of several memorable choruses.
Enrico Castiglione's production emphasised the atmosphere of two rival nations, the Jews and the Assyrians, dominated by two rival religions. It did not go for any special effects but rather allowed the music, both vocal and instrumental to speak out. Yet a real and affecting sense of exile and loss pervaded the production.
Attard's direction paid attention to the dramatic pacing of the score which is rough, exciting and often vigorous. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra responded by giving a performance that was full of rhytmic vitality.
