Barbara Hannigan at the Capitole, Patrizia Ciofi at Avignon Opera House.... violence and passion on stage, last week-end..

Two splendid actresses and singers fulfilled my emotional needs last week-end . They were the key stone of operas not so different as they both deal with women's fate in a male ruling world. Written on Skin, Le capitole de Toulouse, 23-XI-12 La Traviata, Avignon Opera House, 25-XI-12 Agnes, in G. Benjamin's

Written on Skin is reduced to a mere possession in the vast wealth of her husband, he owns her just as he does his servant his cattle and every single blade of grass. Full of himself, he decided to pay an artist to glorify his wealth in a sort of rich book of hours, in this XIIIth century medieval christian world. To do so he hires an artist, 'the Boy' who will be in charge of this project in his home. The master does not know what love is, certainly not pleasure shared with his wife through love. All he knows is duty, possession and violence, as he is the Master. The music and singing which tells this story gave me telluric shocks more intensely than at the opening night in Aix festival.

Although I have experienced contemporary music before, I have the conviction G. Benjamin's music under Franck Ollu gained in strength with amazing percussion and jazz echoes I did not feel so much under the composer's conducting. It was all more violent, gore, and somehow less poetic, or is it because I knew the story and words and climax this time so I listened more to the orchestral richness? Violetta, in Verdi's opera " La Traviata" is similarly owned by her rich protectors and has virtually no power of her own, she is bought by them and lives in a trendy environment. She decides to lauch herself in a true love relationship, probably to forget her illness. But she soon finds out she is an outcast rejected by the bourgeois society and its moral conformism. These women will meet their fate when their discovery of real love and passion give them the will to free themselves. Agnes discovers love and sexual impulse in the eyes of the boy who is supposed to magnify her husband's power, whereas Violetta, after hesitations and doubt, gives way to her love for a young man who cared for her when she was very ill. He is not buying her attractiveness like the Baron does. But passion is burning them without giving the expected freedom and happiness. Agnes who wants to read the word 'love' which is written at the end of the book, has a deadly last utterly violent scene with her husband and commits suicide. Violetta dies of TB with of course the easy solution of remorse from the ones who condemned her. I understand Agnes 's fate more than I will ever understand the bourgeois moral ending in Traviata, it applies also to some XIXth operas which share similar moral values, I do not get the message clearly because I hate hypocrisy). Before facing their death they both endured terrible sufferings: violence and humiliation. Violetta is publically shamed for what she was 'femme entretenue' (sort of posh whore... cocotte) by the man she at last chose to really share love with. But faced to the bourgeois moral lesson of the father in quest of his son because he has to save the honor of the family (and could not marry his daughter in proper manner, so it is a real business visit he pays to Violetta), she gives way, she hardly fights back and obeys. She has an amazing aria after that which tells more because the music reveals the storm in her heart and her resolution of sacrifice of her passion, but she does not fight for her own position. And Patrizia's voice was soaring, giving her best sustained legato, with very attentive orchestra,(which was not so good during the Ball, first act)

Agnes, being the revival of the XIIth c woman from an Occitan tale, is forced to eat her lover's heart by her husband who discovered how strong her wife's passion was for the 'boy. Violence reaches a climax when she eats her lover's heart in a solitary banquet, where she sings her own heart out watched by her brutal husband,forcing her to ask him about what she is eating to prove her obedience, threatening to kill her, pulling her hair, prepared to slaughter her like he slaughtered the Boy, in the same way he kills pigs. But Agnes reacts and does not indulge like Violetta in a romantic death, she gets into a sort of fit of madness and kicks him to the ground then starts a slow motion walk to her death. In a superb aria she walks to her death like a ghost and throws herself off a window. The music and the shouts and groans makes it somehow hysterical and poetic... then comes a gentle ripple from the violins and the voice of the dead boy being now Angel One, soars like a prayer, that very special counter tenor voice accompanies her slow motion upstairs describing what is painted on the last page, it is heaven and hell at the same time because it takes us back to the beginning which describes a kind of apocalyptic end of the world now... and yes right there I was devastated....

Violetta goes through an atrocious humiliating scene when the immature Alfredo throws the money (he has just won at table game) at her. The music too goes through unforgettable arias where it is sometimes hard not to cry, but it is not knocking me off as G. Benjamin's music and singing do. Both soprani in these roles were amazing, not only singing 'nicely'. They both reached to the point where I could not imagine I was sitting with a lot of people around me. The way they acted these hard bearing roles was utterly real. They both looked fragile and yet mastered their voice through incredible situations. For the last scenes they are almost in rags. Agnès is covered in blood and Violetta has come back to Hotel Lutetia, after having her head shaved so it was obvious she collaborated. (Scene one opened with two Nazis in the ballroom, joining in the Brindisi, being the last ones to quit the room almost like doing the security of the Palace, and I was expecting what followed. At the last scene, I could have done without the video of the returnees from the concentration camps, which is the very historical truth of this place in Paris. After all I suppose that Violetta could have been the center of this dreadful world in 1943, it does make sense. Yes.... Verdi would have appreciated this flash forward to 1944 in Hotel Lutetia in Paris, these sad historical hints took away the soap opera taste which is often there in some productions of La Traviata, but it spoiled my afternoon somehow, I did not enjoy at all the art deco style of the Entrance Hall and the furniture, although very stylish) Still, Patrizia Ciofi made the most of it and her singing in spite of this very special setting, was stunning, soaring with ease, expressing passion and feelings. She has the mature and frail vocal qualities for this role, and tremendous melodic energy for these difficult arias we all know more or less by heart, which is not the case for what is sung and heard in Written on skin! Barbara Hannigan is often cast in contemporary works, her Lulu was breathtaking (La Monnaie), and her Agnes I now saw twice is simply incredible because it is a strong character in search of identity right through . She has to act and sing in coarse situations which never turn out vulgar because she is very tactful in her acting. This comparison seems arbitrary but came to my mind and still makes me think... I love both singers a lot for the pleasure they gave me which is still burning in my heart now while trying to express my gratitude to them. DIVAS? THEY ARE MUCH MORE THAN THAT... we need to find a new term to define this new generation of very skilled artists. Some photos of mine. Traviata cast at the curtain call, video