Soprano Lisette Oropesa doing her best to take I puritani seriously (from the Metropolitan Opera Web page for this performance)
This afternoon I caught up on my recordings of Great Performances at the Met broadcasts to watch Vincenzo Bellini’s I puritani. If the production I saw was faithful to the libretto, then I think I have now encountered the most ridiculous opera narrative ever! I found myself thinking about all the jokes Anna Russell could pack into her account of the four operas by Richard Wagner that constitute The Ring of the Nibelungs. However, that was a matter of clever wit that was amazingly faithful to the narrative.
I puritani, however, was conceived to be dead serious. The narrative revolves around the English Civil War from the middle of the seventeenth century. The title of the opera, of course, refers to the Puritans, who had declared war against the Royalists. However, the effort to weave romance into this story resulted in a libretto that could never rise to any of the assets of Bellini’s capacity as a composer. As a result, there is not much of a through-line in the narrative, meaning that the opera-goer can do little more than enjoy the vocal dexterity (which is definitely very demanding) and forget about all the muddled comings and goings by the cast on stage.
As the narrative slogged its way to conclusion, I found myself wondering if handing out purple hearts to the performers would be more productive than a round of applause.
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