LA DONNA DEL LAGO: Rossini's Dark Scottish Drama

Two weeks ago saw the encore simulcast of Rossini's little-known gem La Donna del Lago.  It's called the Lady of the lake in name only as the opera is based off of a novel by Sir Walter Scott and has nothing to do with Arthurian legend. This opera was a vehicle for the two foremost bel canto artists, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and tenor Juan Diego Flórez, whom I saw last season in La Cenerentola.  Joining them were Italian contralto Daniela Barcellona and tenor John Osborn.   

I cannot do a play-by-play like most of the others, due to the complicated plot.  Simply put, this story has one thing in common with Ernani, and that is the fact that it has a love square.  Elena, the lady of the lake, and the young warrior Malcolm are in love.  Elena is engaged to Rodrigo, a Highland cheiftain.  Also pursuing Elena is King James V, who has been traveling in disguised using the name Uberto (your head may now explode).  Elena's father Duglas was once the king's tutor before he rebelled against him many years earlier.  While the various Scottish chieftains prepare to fight against the king, Elena desperately hopes and pleads for peace within a country that's tearing itself apart.  In the end the contralto gets the mezzo.  

Joyce DiDonato has long been a champion of this piece.  I couldn't find fault at all with her performance.  Nowhere is her skill with bel canto more evident than in the famous aria "Tanti affetti", with its rapid coloratura and blazing trills.  And her chemistry with Juan Diego
Flórez and Daniela Barcellona was just superb.

I have already talked before about how amazing Juan Diego Flórez is.  This is the third time I have seen him in a Rossini opera, the fourth time I have seen him in a simulcast, the third time I have seen him alongside Joyce DiDonato, and the second time I have seen him as an incognito king (well, Don Ramiro is a prince, but it's the same principle).  His sensitive portrayal of a king who lets love win out over anger was without any flaws.  In fact, it was such that I wished Elena would fall in love with him.   

  

Despite the fact that I have heard Daniela Barcellona before (she's one of the guest singers on Flórez's "Bel Canto Spectacular" album), I had never actually seen her perform.  And having seen her perform live, I will honestly say that she was absolutely splendid as Malcolm.  And she had great chemistry with Joyce DiDonato (although I do wish that the make-up department had given her more of a stubble or a beard for the part). 

John Osborne was somewhat new to me.  But he was also great as Roderigo.  He was fiery, bold, warlike, and very much a Highlander in this piece. Actually, I think with the way he did this role he should have been featured in the TV show Game of Thrones.  

Speaking of Game of Thrones, that's how director Paul Curran describes the sets and costumes.  Scotland is a very cold and wet climate, so many of the costumes had fur or heavy cloth.  Of course this changes in the court of the king where the nobles are wearing Reconnaissance-style clothing and the king is clad in gold brocade.  Most of the action takes place on a heath by the lake, although for one scene as small cutaway representing the interior of Elena's cottage appears and the final scene is set in the court of the king.  The finale scene of Act 1 was awesome, but also a little bit creepy with blue-clad druids performing pre-battle rituals and painting warriors faces with indigo paint.  Perhaps the musical highlight for me is the Act 2 trio, in which the king and Roderigo prepare to do battle, and Elena pleads for peace.  That scene had a tent to one side, and enemy heads mounted on pikes.  

This opera is amazing and the performances stellar.  It's just harder to do a love-square in a serious drama than it is in a comedy.