By Dave
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwNz8C33JOc
Available until: 16th February 2021
I like a good pun and this isn’t a bad one. You’ve got to
admire the speed with which they’ve put it together (I know the opera houses
were probably all closed, but that didn’t mean nobody had anything to do). There
is some great singing, obviously some great music and there is a lot about this
production which is really enjoyable.
However, I do wonder if a comic opera about the coronavirus is entirely sensitive. So many people have died. Many have been seriously ill. Some are still suffering physically following their ‘recovery’ and lots of people are suffering psychologically, emotionally, socially and financially as a result of the pandemic. Although saying ‘a whole generation’ is probably stretching it, several year groups will suffer educationally. If anyone feels uncomfortable about this opera, it’s understandable.
I would say if you feel a comic opera about the coronavirus
is inappropriate, you probably wouldn’t like this one. If you have been able to laugh and joke about
it – and there’s nothing wrong with that either, humour is a very normal way of
getting through difficult times – then you might enjoy this. I’d say there’s no
harm in this opera and there’s no offence intended but it won’t be for
everyone.
It’s about an opera company who are putting on a performance
of Die Walkure (an opera which the Finnish National Opera really were
preparing to perform) when a virus comes along. The Wagner opera is cancelled and
the interface manager (the harried but still rather scary Sanna-Kaisa Palo)
gets them doing a bit of Mozart instead. There is an image of a
smartphone at the back of the stage where we see images of Mozart, as well as
the latest coronavirus news.
The opera mostly uses music from Cosi fan tutte,
though it has a completely new plot. There is also an aria from Don Giovanni
and part of an ensemble piece from The Magic Flute - both clever ideas –
a bit of Wagner and a rogue repetiteur who tries a bit of Bizet and Puccini.
The libretto – in Finnish with English subtitles – was
written by Minna Lindgren. The recitative is replaced by spoken dialogue
relating to the virus and the arias have new lyrics which fit musically into
the arias but otherwise bear little resemblance to the originals. The
characters are different too, with Fiordiligi and Dorabella recreated as politicians
and the romance in the story reduced to one truncated duet. The singers don’t
even always sing their own character’s music.
Not all of Cosi is used in Covid. From the
second act, we only really get a bit of Ferrando and Fiordiligi’s duet (and
that probably only made it in because the original words have so much potential
for social distancing) and the Act 2 finaleThe opera could have been longer if
the characters had had more of a personal story – it was focused more on the
story of the virus – but for safety reasons, maybe it was better to keep the
opera short but sweet.
The libretto isn’t bad at all and Minna has done very well
to get it to fit the music – though I don’t speak Finnish so it could all sound
really weird for all I know. There are some moments of comedy, some of which
work well and some of which fall flat (the sound of coughing at the beginning really
wasn’t funny but I couldn’t help laughing at the delightfully irresponsible
granny, sung by Despina) but there are also some really touching moments that
show the seriousness of the situation. Ferrando’s aria is particularly moving.
The cast of Finnish National Opera’s Die Walkure and
the cast would have included Tommi Hakala, Miina-Liisa Varela and Johanna
Rusanen, who appear in in Covid fan tuttte. The rest of the Covid
cast is made up of Finnish National Opera regulars and one Finnish
international star.
Tuomas Katajala is an outstanding Ferrando with a lovely
lyric tenor and it would be great to see him in the conventional version of the
opera. Waltteri Torikka is rather shortchanged by all the cuts and alterations
but still shows signs of being a good Guglielmo. Tommi Hakala has a great stage
presence as Don Alfonso and the short aria he was allowed to sing was, unusually, a
highlight.
Karita Mattila isn’t a typical Despina (she has recorded
Fiordiligi and that was quite a while ago) but there’s no doubt about her vocal
quality and her gift for comedy. Miina-Lisa Varela and Johanna Rusanen are, as
one of them says, Wagnerian singers rather than Mozartian ones but they scale
their voices down well and throw themselves into the comedy.
The virus is played by a dancer, Natasha Lommi. The idea is
really good and Rikka Rasanen’s choreography helps create a feeling of danger
which is increased by Natasha’s performance – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a
scarier smile. But she was hardly in it and it would have been great to have
seen a lot more of her right from the beginning.
But considering how quickly this opera was put together I
think Finnish National Opera have produced something remarkable and although
some might find it inappropriate, I do think there’s a very good chance Mozart
would have loved it.
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