singer for all seasons: Anna Bolena: the Queen is Mariella Devia, Maggio 15 March 2012.

Flyer from Marseille Opera house and Mariella Devia as Anna Bolena, program Maggio 2012.

Sometimes it is worth playing productions again and appreciate their qualities when they are rich like this Graham Vick one for the Verone festival 2007. There, Mariella Devia took this role for the first time.
It is a very fine one with clever symbols refering to the true facts of English History like the huge red cross which is the main setting on the stage floor. It is emblematic of King Henry VIII 's struggles with Pope Clement VII to change the rules of the Catholic chuch and get his divorce from his Spanish wife. Pope Clement is a Medici and I could feel in the rich costumes and material as well as in the attitudes of all the artists on stage the splendours of the Florentine Renaissance which spread all over the European courts with very special links with France and the English Court.
Blind Giusticia, then the smashed glass pane at the last scene, where the newly married couple in dazzling white attire can be seen, are strong reminders of the Tudor period.

The smashed glass pane reflecting on one side the dazzling newly wed royal couple, and on the other side the abandoned woman who has lost everything she struggled for, love, power and yet pardoned the 'coppia iniqua' is also a clever device, the symbol of the crual fate for both Anna in black and Jane in white. This last scene was the best I ever had the chance to witness and Mariella Devia left on an amazing long high E flat....before thunder of applause which lasted more than ten minutes. LINK
I watched this Verone performance on youtube (the whole opera can be seen here).
This time, this production opened the Maggio on the 15th of March. Anna Bolena, like in Verone and Trieste, is Mariella Devia, the real Queen of this opera.
It is now widely spread among opera lovers that Anna Netrebko is Anna Bolena because this artist has on her side the benefits of the record industry plus the Met live broadcasts where she is their best trump, with her ravishing looks, her rather dusky voice yet luminous in the high-pitched range and above all her youth. She appeals to younger generation of opera lovers and yet is not convincing for me in this role from what I heard and saw on the Arte broadcast on Television. I regret I could not afford to go to La Scala last December to be able to hear and see the live production.
I admit to be seduced by the generosity of her voice, by her charismatic energy but I do not agree entirely with the Met and Vienna productions and the style of singing of nearly all the singers. They fail to be moving, especially the two women fighting one for her life the other one for easing the burden of her guilt towards her queen and friend.
In this G. Vick production where singers are not static there is a real physical challenge between Bolena and Seymour. Sonia Ganassi gives a torn vision of her faith to her queen and yet betrays her as a lover of her husband. She creeps at her queen's feet, while Anna keeps her distant and melancholic looks, though crowns her during their duet with her crown slightly slanting on jane's head, showing it will be also for Jane a precarious position. At Act II the crown of spines like the Christ one, appears in the background, symbol of sufferings and death. I found their duet utterly moving.
I was not expecting from the acting and singing of both Roberto Scandiuzzi- King Henry and Sonia Ganassi-Jane Seymour so much sensuality and expression, it was a real hot scene very well played and sung. Both singers have huge voices and vocal abilities to increase the sensual aspects in the dramatic course of this scene.
Bel Canto is a hard job and requires mastering trills and cadenza. Whenever I listen to Mariella Devia I feel she makes it and goes entirely in the musical chore of this art, when some only get to the surface, even if their voice and quality of singing are fine and pleasant.
Mrs Devia brings more into it. She is utterly moving because she gives a melancholic image of this condamned Queen who gets beheaded, not an angry one, she gets all the poetry which is in the text and the music to a very moving extent. Her 'dolce guidame' with also the soft direction of Roberto Abbado was a real luxury and brought tears. She has reached a degree of perfection in the way she sustains her breath and links high notes in a unique manner.
Edita Gruberova is in competition with her on the bel cantist side but badly lacks the low range and sometimes the dramatic tension.
I was glad I made the journey to such a daring performance.
The beauties of this evening at Teatro Comunale are thousands, because not only Mariella Devia is probably the best Anna Bolena now, corresponding to the ideal of Bel Canto but also the entire cast was sharing these qualities of Bel Canto. It was almost an Italian cast and I was pleased to hear Sonia Ganassi again. I adored her Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda at La Fenice. Roberto Scandiuzzi I saw at Orange in Lucia de Lammermoor is also one of my favourite bass. I did not know the other singers, but got thrilled at the nice looks and voice of José Maria LO Monaco, a charming Smeton, then, Percy- S. Mukeria, took me by surprise. His voice sounds more like tenore di grazia, very clear and light, a wonder after all but perhaps more a dedicated effective singer than actor. Rochefort-K.Gorny and Sir Henry- L. Casalin were fine singers too. It was a homogeneous cast with brilliant arias for all of them.
The fact I was in Florence was part of the thousand beauties of this evening.
Walking past the palazze, evoking the Medici, seeing the portraits of Renaissance women at the Palatine, and linking all these to Alessandro Medici who became Pope Clement VII, against whom King Henry VIII had to fight to gain right to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Ann Boleyn, made the evening even more attractive.
When I saw the setting and the costumes I sincerely felt I was right in one of the Renaissance paintings. Anna's court women and ladies-in-waiting were particularly attractive, always standing by the side of the red turning parts of the cross which delimited the setting. Their black caps lined with a white thread were in the Tudor style.
Maria Callas when she sang Bolena was also wearing a similar cap. Their singing was moving, compassionate and etheral in scena XI'
"Chi puo vederla a ciglio asciutto'.
I appreciated Roberto Abbado 's rendition of this Donizetti master piece. I had never heard it so softly and poetically played from the orchestra. The white snow which falls on the hunting scene with both queen and King mounting splendid horses is the trademark of this production! (photos from the program)

Donizetti is a marvellous composer and knows how to move an audience. Here, with Mrs Devia it was a real achievement. At the back of Teatro Comunale there were some RAI broadcasting vans.
Does it mean that at last there will be a DVD of this opening Maggio evening? It is time to give this unique bel cantist singer a proof of her art for opera lovers to come.
I would like to know about that.
When I left I read sad news about the Maggio. They are undergoing severe cuts in May. The orchestra is taking industrial action and it was said they do not know if there will be the other three Anna Bolena performances. Today there might be only piano accompaniment. A pity we all go through severe cuts in Art budgets.
Culture is necessary and vital as the air we breathe. But Finance is rulling and there will always be affordable Culture for the Wealthy. So, we have to fight for equal rights to Culture for average people and poor ones as I believe we all pay taxes and have right to be educated to the best forms of art. Opera is a complete art form and employs lots of trades. So, we have to get organised and fight the increase in prices in our opera houses, especially the lower categories, which is terribly unfair.
Last news from Teatro Comunale:
Today the production will be under an 'alternative' form and you can get your money back if you do not want this replacement.
Anna Bolena in scena domenica 18 marzo

Il Teatro del Maggio comunica che pur in presenza di uno sciopero indetto da un sigla sindacale fortemente rappresentativa nell'orchestra, in considerazione che lo stesso potrebbe essere anche revocato, a salvaguardia dell'interesse del pubblico la Fondazione conferma l'effettuazione della recita di Anna Bolena, in programma domenica 18 marzo alle ore 15.30 al Teatro Comunale, anche in forma alternativa. Si conferma il rimborso del biglietto agli spettatori non interessati a tale formula.

The applause on the 15 march 2012Maggio Firenze