A night at the opera - Il Seraglio

On June, 29, I went to Teatro Alla Scala in Milan to see the opera called The Abduction from the Seraglio (in German Die Entführung aus dem Serail ), a Singspiel (characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with sung parts) in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This opera dates back in 1782, but it's very innovative, especially due to the features of each character: they are not bound to their time, but their feelings, their worries are always universally understandable.

So the audience can see love, trust, determination, but also misogyny and deceit, brutality and humour (if you want, click here to read the full plot).

Briefly, it is the story of Belmonte, a young Spanish gentlemen, who is in search for his lover Konstanze, abducted by pirates together with Blonde, her maid, and Pedrillo, his servant. They are kept in the seraglio of Pasha Selim and under surveillance of the cruel Osmin, so Belmonte hatches a plan to free them. 

CAST
Konstanze	Lenneke Ruiten
Blonde	Sabine Devieilhe
Belmonte	Mauro Peter
Pedrillo	Maximilian Schmitt
Osmin	Tobias Kehrer
Selim	Cornelius Obonya
A servant (mute)	Marco Merlini

             

             CONDUCTOR

                    Zubin Mehta

The most difficult arias are the one of Konstanze (soprano), Belmonte (tenor) and Osmin (basso profondo), which requires extraordinary skills of the singers, regarding especially vocal range. Another part I really like is the Pasha Selim one. Even if it is only a spoken part, I think the actor chosen must have a great stage presence and I really appreciated the actor of this version.

From left to right: servant, Pedrillo, Osmin, Konstanze, Zubin Mehta, Blonde, Belmonte and Selim

This opera is played on the 20th anniversary of Giorgio Strehler's death and on the 10th anniversary of Luciano Damiani's death. Strehler was a famous opera and theatre director, who also founded the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, while Damiani was a stage and costume designer, who worked both for theatre and opera productions.

In this opera, in fact, they are the director and the stage designer: Strehler's seraglio is not only full of characters, but also of silhouette, as in a shadow play. This reminds us that we are looking at a sort of fable and when the singers are overshadowed it's because they are singing their thoughts and feelings. There is only one scene when this thing do not happen: Konstanze is showing her worries and we can clearly see her. This is a director's choice, to underline the skills of the soprano.

Also, Luciano Damiani managed to create an astonishing colour for the background, which is blue as the real sky. The scenic design is perfect, from the Pasha's palace to the ship at the end of the opera.

I really enjoy this opera, even if usually I prefer a dramatic genre.

-----------------------------------------------------

Bye for now

Yours, Silvia