Attila, San Francisco Opera, July 1 2012

For only the second time in its history, San Francisco Opera presented Giuseppe Verdi’s ninth opera, Attila. The previous time was in 1991, with Samuel Ramey in the title role. Ramey was back for this second production, this time in the minor role of Leone—the renamed Pope Leo I, to keep the censors happy.

Attila comprises a prologue and three acts, but it’s short enough that it was presented with only one intermission, with a “pause, please remain at your seat” between Prologue and Act 1, and again between Acts 2 and 3. Verdi’s message was Italian unification and rejection of Austrian rule; the director’s message was to decry the destruction of theaters. To that end, the Prologue and Act 1 featured the ruins of a stone amphitheater, with stones that had been displaced and a fluted column that had fallen over. Attila made his entrance by coming through an archway at the top of the theater. (The 1991 production, with Attila being carried in astride a platform held by four men, was much more impressive.) When Attila met with the Roman general Ezio, a great swath of brightly-colored fabric, hung on a bar in a manner to created semicircular folds, was dropped to stage level. Also attached to the bar was a gigantic golden emblem depicting a wreath, spears, and fasces (see the back of a dime). Act 1 retained the amphitheater but added a very large branch from a very large oak tree, suspended high above the stage. It made me think of Norma.

In Act 2, the amphitheater remained stage left; on stage right there now appeared a portion of the kind of Italian opera house in which Attila might have received its premiere, with three rows of boxes. The right-hand side of each level was broken off as though it had been hit by a bomb. For Act 3 the director brought us to the present time, adding to the amphitheater on the right and opera house on the left a movie theater in the middle. There were tall upholstered chairs that had seen better days; in the back, a dirty gray fabric was suspended from a triangulated metal support. A movie, presumably a movie about Attila from the 1930s, played (silently) on the fabric. At first the movie was quite distracting, but as the act progressed, the contrast in the moving images decreased, making it easier to ignore. According to the program notes, the director’s “concept” was to call our attention to the destruction of historically important performing theaters to replace them with movie theaters.

Our cast:
Attila: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Uldino: Nathaniel Peake
Odabella: Lucrecia Garcia
Ezio: Quinn Kelsey
Foresto: Diego Torre
Leone (Pope Leo I): Samuel Ramey
Conductor: Nicola Luisotti
Director: Gabriele Lavia

Most everyone sang very well. The standout performer was Lucrecia Garcia as Odabella, who handled her difficult role with apparent ease. Diego Torre (Foresto) started his first scena with a recitative that sounded as though he hadn’t completely warmed up,  but by the time he reached the cabaletta he was up to full speed. The sole disappointment (and not surprising, given his lackluster Boris Godunov of 2008) was Samuel Ramey, who is simply past his prime with a pronounced wobble in his voice. Nevertheless he got a rousing ovation at curtain call time, which was more of a “lifetime achievement” recognition than kudos for this particular afternoon. He mouthed a message to the audience, the first two words of which were obviously “Thank you,” and I can imagine that the complete message was “Thank you for your support all these years.” I wonder whether we’ll see him again.

While the orchestral playing wasn’t as sharp and clear as it had been a week ago for The Magic Flute, it was obvious that Luisotti loved the music and was a firmly committed conductor. It was the great singing that made it a solid beta. I hope we get to hear Lucrecia Garcia again.