Norma in Brussels closes with ‘silent’ protest
Belgium is not (yet) in a lockdown, but the Belgian opera houses are locked again, just like the Dutch. Just before the curtain falls, the Mint in Brussels was able to see a few more performances of Bellini’s norma to give. Fortunately, because it was a good performance.
December 2021 will be like a month in which the European opera visit is incomprehensibly divided. In London, performances are given to full halls without a corona ticket, in Paris there are full halls with a provided passe sanitaire. In Amsterdam there were still operas to be experienced in the first two weeks of the month with 25 percent room occupancy, including QR code to enter.
De Munt in Brussels celebrated its premature year-end on Thursday 23 December with a performance of norma from Bellini. On Sunday, all theaters were forced to close in the fight against Omikron. The performance concluded with a sacredly sung ‘Silent Night’ as a protest against this decision, because the policy of effectively keeping Belgian cafes, restaurants, Christmas markets and businesses open, but not the much safer theaters, rightly meets both incomprehension and anger at theater makers and enthusiasts.
Car
Norma, officially established in a Druid community in a wooded area, was moved to a gray, dark place in the Muntschouwburg, formed by visual artist Christophe Coppens. Central to the stage image is a car, which returns in various guises (from wreck to flying), symbolizing a breeding ground of emotions.
The designer is also the director. Coppens has mainly focused on creating the right emotions, in all purity. The great thing about his directing is that he lets the story unfold as it does in the libretto.
Norma, secretly a mother of two children, has let the love of her life slip away by giving too much thought to her leading role in the community. The love of her life, Pollione, belonging to a rival camp, has found newfound love with Adalgisa, a close friend of Norma’s. The basic emotions of love, jealousy, regret, anger, hatred and remorse are timeless and that is what Coppens sees as binding in this time versus the world of the Druids.
Great Italians
Due to Coppens’ strong focus on the emotions, the directing is entirely subservient to Bellini’s divine music. The singers evolve entirely on the music, performing the story to an unprecedented scale.
Musically, this Norma really left nothing to be desired. The orchestra and choir of La Monnaie have surpassed the language level thanks to the excellent guidance of the young conductor Sesto Quatrini. He mastered the score to perfection, resulting in the Brussels orchestra being transformed into a true Italian-sounding opera orchestra, with bel canto as its speciality. Here the true successor of the great Italians (Toscanini, Serafin, Abbado, Sinopoli) was at work. And like the orchestra, so does the choir. Sparkling in the incendiary war song and bold in the beautiful choral solos.
World class Norma
The star of the evening was Sally Matthews, who debuted in the role of Norma. She has already performed in several operas at Dutch National Opera. Memorable was her Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in 2006. Just like in Amsterdam at the time, she now completely adapted her role at La Monnaie; she brought a Norma with which she transported, emotional and impressed the audience. A completely different standard from the eternal reference of Maria Callas. Matthews’ Norma sings her coloratura perfectly, sings a diminuendo where it is and above all is a basis of the mother who cannot bring herself to hurt her children. Sally Matthews is a world class Norma.
Her Pollione was the good looking Enea Scala. A man who is still in the prime of his life. His character is somewhat one-dimensional than that of Norma and Adalgisa. Scala also sings like this, although he has a rich tenor with a metallic undertone, perfectly able to withstand the treachery of the role.
The surprise of the performance came from Raffaella Lupinacci. This young mezzo shone like a fragile yet caring Adalgisa, overflowing with emotions. Her radiant height and her beautiful middle register reminded me of a young Cosotto. A singer to keep an eye on, who we can count on lucky that she is on the agenda for the role of Seymour in Anna Bolena at DNO in May next year.
The other roles are excellent too, with a solid foundation, Norma’s father put down with a solid foundation.
It is a pity that the Mint was not awarded this beautiful norma play until the end of the month, but those who were there can look back on a night you often experience.