The operatic repertoire: a blueprint for renovation

You have read in recent weeks articles on the Colón and you know that the future is dicey; nevertheless, let´s hope for the best: a fully functioning international theatre with an ample repertoire, such as it was and should be. The intent of this article presumes that we shall have a respectable Colón, but also that the La Plata Argentino, the Avenida in our city and the Avellaneda Roma will keep on formulating intense operatic activity. Two of these theatres have big orchestral pits: the Colón and the Argentino; the Avenida should certainly increase its size but is giving no hint that it will happen; the same for the Roma. Here I will try to give a blueprint of what should be seen in BA and nearby opera theatres during the next decade, and I will do it by historical periods. I include many premieres but also operas that have been long absent after ther first local performances. It is, of course, a personal choice. This is a list to select from and to combine with the habitual fare. For reasons of space it excludes operettas and the like.

THE BAROQUE AND CLASSICISM. All the Baroque should be done in historicist versions. We´ve had the three Monteverdi masterpieces and long ago Cavalli´s "L´Ormindo". I would like to see more Cavalli (such as "Ercole amante") and also pieces by Cesti such as "Orontea" and "Il pomo d´oro". In the French repertoire, Lully´s "Atys" and "Phaëton", Charpentier´s "Médée" and Campra´s "L´Europe galante". And an early Alessandro Scarlatti opera, such as "Pirro e Demetrio".

Eighteenth-century, before 1750. In Italian: more Handel operas, such as "Alcina", "Rinaldo", "Sosarme" and "Tamerlano"; late A. Scarlatti ("Il trionfo dell´onore"); Bononcini´s "Griselda"; Vivaldi´s "L´Olimpiade"; Hasse´s "Demofoonte". In French: Rameau´s "Hippolyte et Aricie", a fully-staged and complete "Les Indes galantes", "Dardanus", "Platée", "Zoroastre".

After 1750 we gradually enter into Classicism. In Italian: Jommelli´s "Faetone"; Haydn´s "Lo speziale", "Orlando Paladino", "L´infedeltà delusa", "L´isola disabitata", "Armida"; Mozart´s "La finta semplice", "Lucio Silla", "Mitridate Rè di Ponto", "La finta giardiniera"; Gluck´s "Paride ed Elena"; Johann Christian Bach´s "Alessandro nell´Indie"; Paisiello´s "Il barbiere di Siviglia"; Cimarosa´s "Il matrimonio segreto", "L´italiana in Londra"; Salieri´s "Falstaff". In French: Grétry´s "Richard Coeur de Lion"; Gluck´s "Iphigénie en Aulide", "L´ile de Merlin"; Sacchini´s "Oedipe à Colone"; Salieri´s "Tarare", Cherubini´s "Lodoïska" and "Médée" (the original version); Méhul´s "Le jeune Henri". In English: Arne´s "Artaxerxes".

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. In Italian: Rossini´s "Semiramide", "Mosè in Egitto", "La gazza ladra", "La donna del lago", "Otello", "Il viaggio a Reims", "Il signor Bruschino", "Maometto II"; Donizetti´s "Marino Faliero", "Linda di Chamounix", "Anna Bolena", "Maria Stuarda", "Gemma di Vergy"; Mercadante´s "Il Bravo"; Mayr´s "Medea in Corinto"; Verdi´s "Aroldo"; Cilea´s "L´Arlesiana"; Mascagni´s "Iris". In German: Weber´s "Oberon","Euryanthe" and "Abu Hassan"; Lortzing´s "Zar und Zimmermann", "Undine", "Der Waffenschmied": Marschner´s "Hans Heiling"; Schubert´s "Fierrabras"; Schumann´s "Genoveva", Wagner´s "Rienzi" (and a reprise of "Die Meistersinger" is urgent); Goldmark´s "The Queen of Sheba"; Nicolai´s "The Merry Wives of Windsor"; Flotow´s "Martha"; Wolf´s "Der Corregidor"; Cornelius´ "The Barber of Baghdad". In French: Boieldieu´s "La dame blanche"; Auber´s "Masaniello", "Fra Diavolo"; Adam´s "Le postillon de Longjumeau"; Cherubini´s "Les deux journées", "Anacréon"; Spontini´s "La Vestale"; Rossini´s "Guillaume Tell"; Meyerbeer´s "Robert le Diable", "Les Huguenots", "L´Africaine"; Halévy´s "La Juive"; Berlioz´s "Les Troyens" (complete) and "Béatrice et Bénédict"; Thomas´ "Hamlet" and "Mignon"; Bizet´s "La jolie fille de Perth"; Chabrier´s "L´Étoile", "Le Roi malgré lui" and "Gwendoline"; Delibes´"Le Roi l´a dit"; Gounod´s "Le médecin malgré lui"; Massenet´s "Cendrillon", "Thaïs", "Hérodiade", "Le Cid", "La Navarraise" and "Esclarmonde"; Lalo´s "Le Roi d´Ys"; D´Indy´s "Fervaal"; Verdi´s original version of "Don Carlos" and of "Les Vêpres Siciliennes". In Russian: Glinka´s "A Life for the Czar" and "Ruslan and Ludmilla"; Dargomizhsky´s "The Stone Guest"; Borodin´s "Prince Igor"; Rimsky-Korsakov´s "Sadko", "The Czar´s Bride", "Czar Saltan", "The Legend of the invisible city of Kitezh"; Tchaikovsky´s "Mazeppa" and "The Oprichnik". In Czech: Smetana´s "The Bartered Bride", "Dalibor" and "The Secret"; Dvorák´s "Jakobin" and "The Devil and Kate".

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. In French: Charpentier´s "Louise"; Massenet´s "Le jongleur de Notre Dame", "Thérèse"; Dukas´ "Ariane et Barbe-Bleue"; Milhaud´s "Christophe Colomb" and "L´Orestie"; Honegger´s "Antigone". In German: Richard Strauss´ "Feuersnot", "Daphne", "Intermezzo", "Die schweigsame Frau", "Die Frau ohne Schatten", "Friedenstag"; Schreker´s "Der ferne Klang"; Pfitzner´s "Palestrina"; Hindemith´s "Mathis der Maler", "Cardillac", "Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen" and "Sancta Susanna"; Schönberg´s "Erwartung", "Von heute auf Morgen" and "Die glückliche Hand"; Henze´s "Der Junge Lord" and "Die Bassariden"; Einem´s "Dantons Tod"; Zemlinsky ´s "Der Zwerg". In Czech: Dvorák´s "Rusalka" and "Armida"; Janácek´s "From the house of the Dead", "The Adventures of Mr. Broucek". In Italian: Wolf-Ferrari´s "Le donne curiose", "I quattro rusteghi"; Respighi´s "La campana sommersa"; Pizzetti´s "Fedra" and "Debora e Jaele"; Montemezzi´s "L´amore dei tre Re"; Malipiero´s "Sette canzoni"; Giordano´s "Mese Mariano"; Alfano´s "La leggenda di Sakuntala"; Zandonai´s "I cavalieri di Ekebù"; Casella´s "La donna serpente"; Dallapiccola´s "Ulisse"; Berio´s "Un Re in ascolto". In English: Delius´ "A village Romeo and Juliet"; Vaughan Williams´ "Sir John in Love" and "Riders to the Sea"; Britten´s "Billy Budd" and "Gloriana"; Weill´s "Street Scene"; Tippett´s "King Priam" and "The Midsummer Marriage"; Menotti´s "The Saint of Bleecker Street"; Ward´s "The Crucible". In Russian: Prokofiev´s "The Gambler". In Finnish: Sallinen´s "The Red Line" and Rautawaara´s "Rasputin". In Danish: Nielsen´s "Masquerade" and "Saul and David". Two Argentine revivals: Ginastera´s "Don Rodrigo" and García Morillo´s "El caso Maillard".

If ten per cent of all this comes about I´ll be a happy man.

For Buenos Aires Herald