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| Maestro Israel Gursky will conduct Alfano's Sakúntala on Nov. 19 |
No newcomer to verismo, Maestro Gursky has conducted plenty of Puccini. “But,” he says, “the musical language of Sakúntala takes a step beyond Puccini's sound-world: The harmonies are more daring, the orchestration is more complex and the demands upon the performers - singers and orchestra alike - are ever more formidable."
Originally written in 1921, Sakúntala was written during a period when many composers expanded the size and the role of the orchestra in their operas, and consequently placed ever bigger demands upon their singers. “One can see this In Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, which Alfano completed. Puccini uses a very large orchestra in Turandot, with a big percussion section and off-stage brass, but the roles of Turandot and Calaf are hard to cast, with their long sustained phrases riding over the large orchestra and persistently high tessitura. One sees this also in Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten, premiered in 1919, or in the operas of Korngold which were also written during that period and all use very large orchestras."
“Just by looking at the orchestral score of Sakúntala , it becomes obvious that Alfano expected to have almost limitless resources at his disposal, and probably luxurious rehearsal time as well. Take, for example, Puccini’s La Bohème: there is a passage where Puccini gives a note to the violas –and asks that desks 1, 3, and 5 play one note, and desks 2, 4, and 6 play another. That means that he expected to have 12 violas at least. How often to you find 12 violas in an opera orchestra today?
While last year’s opera, La Nave—also premiered in 1919—was a complicated piece, “Sakúntala presents even more challenges for the orchestra." The instrumentation calls for a large percussion section, 2 harps, piano, celesta and heavily-divided strings: often divided by desk, and sometimes even divided by player. The harmonic language is very advanced, often pushing the limits of tonality, and many of the orchestral parts are quite virtuosic. "But while it’s a challenge for all of us, we are looking forward to performing in a new hall this year, the Skirball Center.” It’s a somewhat smaller theater than in previous years, but there could be advantages to performing in a more intimate venue. “in smaller theaters singers often have more of an opportunity to sing softly and play with dynamics in a way that the audience can hear and appreciate. That’s what we are trying to achieve.”
Gursky agrees with Alan Mallach, whose book “The Autumn of Italian Opera” states that verismo was the last great blooming of this artform. “Opera was a big deal back then, and opera singers - think of sopranos like Maria Jeritza, Rosa Raisa—were the big stars who headlined such difficult works.” Today companies such as Teatro Grattacielo demonstrate that the resources are still there, and are gathered to perform this difficult repertoire, even if it is for one performance a year.
“Just by looking at the orchestral score of Sakúntala , it becomes obvious that Alfano expected to have almost limitless resources at his disposal, and probably luxurious rehearsal time as well. Take, for example, Puccini’s La Bohème: there is a passage where Puccini gives a note to the violas –and asks that desks 1, 3, and 5 play one note, and desks 2, 4, and 6 play another. That means that he expected to have 12 violas at least. How often to you find 12 violas in an opera orchestra today?
While last year’s opera, La Nave—also premiered in 1919—was a complicated piece, “Sakúntala presents even more challenges for the orchestra." The instrumentation calls for a large percussion section, 2 harps, piano, celesta and heavily-divided strings: often divided by desk, and sometimes even divided by player. The harmonic language is very advanced, often pushing the limits of tonality, and many of the orchestral parts are quite virtuosic. "But while it’s a challenge for all of us, we are looking forward to performing in a new hall this year, the Skirball Center.” It’s a somewhat smaller theater than in previous years, but there could be advantages to performing in a more intimate venue. “in smaller theaters singers often have more of an opportunity to sing softly and play with dynamics in a way that the audience can hear and appreciate. That’s what we are trying to achieve.”
Gursky agrees with Alan Mallach, whose book “The Autumn of Italian Opera” states that verismo was the last great blooming of this artform. “Opera was a big deal back then, and opera singers - think of sopranos like Maria Jeritza, Rosa Raisa—were the big stars who headlined such difficult works.” Today companies such as Teatro Grattacielo demonstrate that the resources are still there, and are gathered to perform this difficult repertoire, even if it is for one performance a year.
Alfano had a strong French influence. “I hear so much of Ravel and Debussy in it,” says Gursky. “ especially Debussy's La Mer, for one, which also has two harps, and often uses the meter of 6/4; a rather unusual meter found frequently in Sakúntala. The ballet music which begins the third act of Sakúntala even quotes one of the themes from the 2ndmovement of La Mer. There's no question that Debussy’s sound-world was in Alfano's mind while composing Sakúntala.”
“In a way, Teatro Grattacielo is presenting a slice of musical history, of a musical style that was prominent before World War II, and since then is encountered less often. But during that time, those pieces were at the forefront of the artform.”
Maestro Israel Gursky will conduct Franco Alfano’s masterpiece, Sakúntala, on November 19, at the Skirball Center in New York, at 8 p.m. For more information, see www.grattacielo.org.
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