Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87 (1770)
Michael Spyres – Mitridate (tenor)
Julie Fuchs – Aspasia (soprano)
Sabine Devieilhe – Ismene (soprano)
Elsa Dreisig – Sifare (soprano)
Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian – Farnace (countertenor)
Adriana Bignani Lesca – Arbate (mezzo-soprano)
Cyrille Dubois – Marzio (tenor)
Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski
rec. live, 19-23 November 2020, SR1, Philharmonie de Paris
Booklet with commentary in English, French and German and Italian libretto with translations into English, French and German included
Erato 9029661757 [3 CDs: 151]
A major achievement during Mozart’s first journey to Italy with his father (December 1769 – March 1771) was a commission to compose the three-act opera seria Mitridate, re di Ponto. Mozart directed the premiere from the keyboard on 26 December 1770 in the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan. The opera was greeted with enthusiasm and performed 22 times but not revived until the twentieth century. Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi used Giuseppe Parini’s Italian translation of Mithridate, a five-act tragedy by Jean Racine, as the source for his libretto. Cigna-Santi’s text had been set previously by Quirino Gasparini and performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1767 with some of the same singers who appeared subsequently in Mozart’s cast.
I was inspired to review this recording by a performance conducted by Marc Minkowski at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin on 22 November 2023, which I reviewed for another journal. Tempi and the selection of recitative in this performance were similar to those on the present recording and Minkowsi’s interpretation from the Salzburg Festival 2006, which has been preserved on DVD. Over the past decade, I have seen Minkowski conduct several concerts and operas, including a revelatory Lucio Silla at the Salzburg Festival in August 2013 and an enthralling La clemenza di Tito at the Stavovské divadlo (Estates Theatre) in Prague in May 2018.
One virtue of this recording is the cast of singers, including Michael Spyres as Mitridate, a role with leaps to the uppermost reaches of the tenor voice. Spyres evokes tranquillity when Mitridate arrives home in Ninfea after losing a war against Rome (‘Se di lauri il crine adorno’, an aria which Mozart had to rewrite multiple times to satisfy the tenor Guglielmo d’Ettore) and angry repetition of ‘perfidi’ in ‘Già di pietà mi spoglio’. Spyres has a baritonal quality, which gives him a broad range to portray Mitridate’s emotional contrasts convincingly.
Soprano Julie Fuchs delivers a passionate, defiant, and yet vulnerable Aspasia, who is engaged to be married to Mitridate but is in love with his son, Sifare. Fuchs displays mastery of the virtuosic coloratura and expresses the future queen’s enormous sorrow over the prospect of marrying a man she detests.
Sabine Devieilhe sings Ismene, a princess from Parthia who is rejected by her intended husband Farnace. Ismene shows courage by persuading Mitridate not to execute Farnace for his treasonous alliance with Rome and romantic advances toward Aspasia, his father’s fiancée. Devieilhe captures these aspects of the character with an edge of anger in her lyric soprano voice, while not forgetting Ismene’s pain from being spurned by Farnace.
Elsa Dreisig’s bright lyric soprano voice gives Sifare a degree of innocence that is evident in the libretto but not always conveyed vocally. Her aria ‘Soffre il mio cor con pace’ in the first act depicts Sifare’s love for Aspasia, which puts him into conflict with his father. Sifare’s unwavering loyalty to Mitridate cannot prevent him from falling in love with the king’s intended bride. Dreisig’s high register emphasises Sifare’s vulnerability and inner strife, which remains unresolved until Mitridate’s suicide at the end of the opera makes it possible for the lovers to marry.
Countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian transcends the image of Farnace as Mitridate’s rebellious son with a righteous tone, especially in the second-act aria ‘Son reo; l’error confesso’, which implies that there is more to his defiant attitude than stated overtly in the libretto. Bénos-Djian seems aware that Farnace’s connection with Rome might be motivated, at least in part, by Mitridate’s erratic and, at times, abusive behaviour toward his sons. Given that his father exercises absolute monarchical power over Pontus, Farnace might have seen Rome as a viable alternative to his home country. Bénos-Djian projects genuine remorse and sadness in the aria ‘Già dagli occhi il velo è tolto’ in which Farnace’s transformation occurs, tragically at the end of his father’s life.
In the small role of Arbate, the mezzo-soprano Adriana Bignani Lesca gives a sense of compassion to the governor of Ninfea, who avers to Mitridate’s wishes out of loyalty to his country. The tenor Cyrille Dubois performs Marzio as a cold, arrogant Roman tribune, who extols the empire that he represents uncritically. Marzio’s pompous exaltation of Rome’s purported virtues in act three (‘Se di regnar sei vago’) prompts Farnace to support Mitridate after all.
Minkowski leads Les Musiciens du Louvre in a thrilling performance driven by thoughtful pacing rather than mere speed. There is tremendous dramatic energy where the content demands it (e.g., in the overture and in Mitridate’s rage aria ‘Quel ribelle, e quell’ingrato’ at the end of the first act). Reflective arias (e.g., ‘Lungi da te, mio bene’, Sifare’s declaration of love to Aspasia in the second act) are given due emotional weight.
My only reservation about listing this recording as a first choice concerns the abridged recitatives. In opera seria, much of the action and character development takes place between arias and ensembles. Reducing the text eliminates part of the plot and the characters’ personalities. One notable instance occurs at the end when Sifare pledges to take revenge on Farnace as a traitor. Isemene rushes in with Farnace and tells Sifare, Aspasia, Arbate, and the dying Mitridate about how Farnace set fire to the Roman fleet and fought to defend his father’s kingdom. This recording omits the eleventh scene from act three. Without reading the stage instruction that Ismene and Farnace enter and kneel, it is inexplicable that Mitridate addresses a son whose sudden presence is not indicated otherwise. Mitridate’s forgiveness of Farnace makes sense only when Ismene’s explanation is heard in full. In live performances, one might argue that some of the audience cannot follow long spoken passages, but a recording should offer an opportunity to study the entire story, especially since this libretto is first-rate literature. Lovers of this opera should supplement this recording with Leopold Hager (1977) and/or Christoph Rousset (1999), both of which are complete. In addition to the full recitatives, it would be desirable to have an appendix with Mozart’s original versions of seven arias and a duet.
The three CDs are stored in cardboard sleeves inside a slim clamshell box; the accompanying 112-page booklet contains the Italian libretto with translations into German, English, and French. Rich, clear sonics enable all of the orchestral and vocal detail to be savoured. This excellent recording will, hopefully, kindle interest in this and Mozart’s other early operas. Erato has released a recording of Lucio Silla, the third opera that Mozart composed for the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan. A new recording of Ascanio in Alba, his second work for the same theatre, would complete a cycle of all three Milanese operas.
Daniel Floyd
Help us financially by purchasing from
Previous review: Mike Parr (January 2022)
