MusicByTheLake

Poor Violetta, Destined for Death

by Jim Edwards, Music Critic

I recently saw a fine opera production on July 25 in the 650-seat Ferro Pavilion at George Williams College in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The opera was part of an entertainment festival called Music by the Lake. Each year since 2001 one opera has been presented. "The New Moon," "The Student Prince," "Madame Butterfly," and "Die Fledermaus" are among those operas seen at Music by the Lake.

This summer the opera was the ever popular, gay (old sense of the word) and romantic "La Traviata" by Guiseppe Verdi. The opera is set in Paris in the 1850s and centers around the life of a Paris Hilton-type beauty for whom "pleasure is a drug that makes life bearable." Her name is Violetta.  In the end she dies a slow death as Mimi does in "La Boheme." Verdi based his opera on Dumas' popular drama "La Dame aux Camelias."

Leading ladies in most operas get to die in bed, commit suicide, are murdered by villains with knifes and daggers, leap to their death from castle walls, or perhaps are crushed to death by soldiers' shields! Few sopranos survive smiling as Turandot in Puccini's "Turandot."

Why do sopranos take the lead role in so many tragic operas? We decided to explore the answer to this question with the talented producer and conductor of "La Traviata," Christine Flasch. The interview was scheduled for 2 p.m. on July 25 at the Brandenburg building at Aurora University's George William College before she raised her baton at 4 p.m. to conduct the final performance of "La Traviata." For a conductor to consent to an interview two hours before curtain time almost never happens, and I consider myself a most fortunate critic!

Flasch is a former opera singer who sang at the Met during the early years of conductor James Levine's leadership. "These days I do all my ‘singing' with my fingertips on the podium," noted Flasch. She neglected to mention her sparkling eyes, which she uses as affectively as fingers-on-baton to work her magic with musicians.

Flasch's manner on the podium reminds me a lot of the late great Sarah Caldwell who created operas on a shoestring in Boston in the 1970s. Like Caldwell, Flasch has no baton actions aimed to show off for the audience. She is there to shape the singing on stage and sounds from the orchestra.

Presenting opera outdoors has more than a few advantages and disadvantages. Flasch is very positive on presenting operas in the Pavilion. "There is a sense of great intimacy. The audience gets to see and hear clearer than in big opera halls. They can dress up or come casual. Two things I regret that we were not able to add to our pavilion were a fly and wings to move onstage singers and sets unseen by the audience."

One of the delights, I feel, was seeing the costumed cast entering in full view to the stage and then acting as stage hands move sets off and on. Further fun and intimacy was created when birds entered the pavilion and tried to chirp in tune with the singers, bells were used to call the audience back from intermissions, and Flash's willingness to turn around on the podium and chat with well-wishers in the audience between acts. You do not get to do that with Sir Andrew Davis at Lyric Opera of Chicago!

So how went the opera? Extremely well. This cast and orchestra could very well have sung and played without the aid of mikes! The evening's Violetta, Rochelle Bard, truly lived up to her billing as a great young "singing actress." Flasch gave her a big smile and thumbs up at the end of Act I. Her death scene in Act III was right on the money, almost having the audience scream out "No. No. She truly is too young to die!".

Violetta's young lover, Alfredo, was sung by Joel Burcham. Burcham's soft voice was lyrical and smooth as silk but when he opened up his voice, beautiful loud steely notes poured forth. Burcham was not as good an actor as Bard. Act III had a moment when his voice failed but quickly recovered. Burcham has a most pleasing voice and the best male voice of the afternoon. 

Jacob Lassetter, who sang the role of the father of Alfredo, has a powerful voice but at times his notes lacked proper vibrato. Rosalind Lee, in the role of Violetta's maid, Annina, showed us a smoky voice that has some of the qualities of a young Leontyne Price. Here is a singer you might want to track on her way to fame.

Both the chorus and orchestra were able to deliver great masses of sounds. Flasch kept up a brisk proper tempo, never letting things drag. "La Traviata" was a great delight and the audience knew it. Bravos filled the air at the end of the opera.

So why do sopranos get chosen to be the center of the tragedy in opera? Flasch has the answer. "It all has to do with the vulnerability of the female character. There is something in all of us that speaks to the tragedies of life - a frailness that the soprano voice captures best. A few mezzo-leading roles are out there, like ‘Carmen,' but sopranos seem to have an edge with composers seeking maximum drama and tragedy on stage in their operas."

Flasch has not chosen next summer's opera but one she is leaning toward is a non-typical tragedy, "The Ballad of Baby Doe." American composer Douglas Moore wrote this work in 1956. Set in the Old West at Leadville, it involves the life of Elizabeth "Baby" Doe Tabor. Christine Flasch has sung the role of "Baby," so it would be a fun opera to present. In the end of this opera, the "fella" dies in the arms of the soprano!

In my opinion, operas have to have powerful-voiced women center stage acting and singing to underline life's miseries. Women-centered operas are full of extra dramatic juiciness. Today's operatic sopranos are a new breed - trim, attractive and very sexy. THEY keep the opera houses full!