In the wake of the San Francisco Opera (SFO) Orchestra strike at the beginning of this month, performances in the War Memorial Opera House finally got under way yesterday evening with the first (which should have been the fourth) performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. SFO first performed this opera on November 1, 1941, which was a West Coast premiere. Since that time, there have been six previous productions, the most recent having been in 2008. That was when Donald Runnicles conducted the Orchestra, and the Director was Elijah Moshinsky.
A confrontation between Fiesco (left) and Boccanegra (right) with a boulder threatening to fall through the ceiling
I wrote about that last production under the title “A Tragedy of Republic,” because the foundation of the narrative is one of antagonism. The antagonists are the title character (baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat) and the nobleman Jacopo Fiesco (bass-baritone Christian Van Horn). The tension is based on class, since Boccanegra is plebeian. It begins when Boccanegra falls in love with Fiesco’s granddaughter Maria (soprano Eleonora Buratto), who is also known as Amelia Grimaldi. (Fiesco is also known as Andrea Grimaldi.)
Ultimately, the plot is one of conspiracy and identity. (After her treatment of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle, Anna Russell would have had a field day in trying to take on the narrative of Simon Boccanegra!) I must confess that, after the intermission, I began just to listen to the music and put aside any thoughts about who was doing what to whom. For the most part, I enjoyed the clarity of the vocalists and, as always, the firm command of conductor Eun Sun Kim in the orchestra pit.
That said, I plan to give the opera a second try this coming Sunday afternoon; and I am hoping that I shall be better prepared for the complexities of who is doing what to whom!
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