Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Zanetto – Opera in One Act
Zanetto: Yajie Zhang (mezzo-soprano)
Silvia: Narine Yeghiyan (soprano)
Chor der Berliner Operngruppe Orchester der Berliner/Felix Krieger
rec. live, 13 June 2022, Großer Saal, Berlin
No libretto – see below review
Oehms Classics OC993 [43]
Zanetto was Mascagni’s sixth opera in his ceaseless quest to repeat the success of Cavalleria rusticana and, to a lesser extent, L’amico Fritz. Despite its links with verismo, it is clearly in some sense a retrograde experiment in Romanticism, harking back to a Renaissance setting and the far gentler, more melancholy themes of unfulfilled love and music as a healing power. It is a lyrical, smaller-scale piece devoid of violence and almost chamber-like and Impressionistic in character. The sole two characters have allegorical significance, representing untrammelled emotion in Zanetto and moral maturity in Silvia. Another deliberately anachronistic device is the casting of a mezzo-soprano “in travestito” – the trouser role being a backward-looking feature similarly embraced by Richard Strauss. The music contains several identifiable leitmotifs but they bear no specific connection to an event or quality; they are just “there”, and enhancement of the characters’ underlying emotional turmoil is provided by the abundance of passages employing chromatic harmony.
I briefly remarked upon the beauty of Chinese mezzo-soprano Yajie Zhang’s voice in my review of Donizetti’s Dalinda, which was nominated as a Recording of the Month, saying “in Yajie Zhang we hear a mezzo with proper lower register development and a secure top.” Soprano Narine Yeghiyan has a fine voice, too, rich and also with ringing high notes.
The opera was premiered in 1896 and is very melodic, approachable and accessible, beginning with a wordless melisma for chorus – sending the message, “Prima la musica, senza parole”? – and an extended aria of complaint for Silvia followed by an introductory arioso for the boy minstrel. Both singers have good Italian and Mascagni’s frequent use of chamber forces permits us to hear the perfumed, poetic text. Zanetto has a charming little “calling card” aria, “Sono Zanetto; un nomade suonator” (I am Zanetto, a wandering musician) and I love the number of times Mascagni’s music requires him/her to exploit that caramel lower register. I am familiar with several more of Mascagni’s opera apart from the two most successful mentioned above and I hear quite a few (pre-)echoes of Iris, his next project after Zanetto, which contains some wonderful music and surely also merits more outings. It is essentially through-composed without set pieces as such, but the melodic line often soars ecstatically in recognisable manner. Perhaps the problem with it is that not much happens – but the theme of renunciation of love for various reasons – some noble, some less so – recurs in other operas which have enjoyed greater esteem, such as La traviata, La rondine, Zazà and Werther. I find it touching and absorbing and it can hardly outstay its welcome being so compact and dependent upon tunefulness. It is hard to believe that the same team of librettists who wrote Cavalleria were also responsible for the text of Zanetto – but its spareness and intimacy are perhaps explained by the fact that they were adapting a French Symbolist play, François Coppée’s Le passant.
The conducting is unobtrusively sensitive, giving the singers plenty of time to caress the long lines. The choral singing and orchestral playing are equally subtle and expressive.
I wonder whether this could not be combined with another contrasting or matching short opera to constitute a full evening’s entertainment – perhaps Suor Angelica or Cavalleria? Apparently this live performance was paired with the light, frothy Il segreto di Susanna for comic contrast. Just as its short running time and lack of drama inhibit its chances of being staged, the absence of a libretto in an essentially wordy opera is surely a disincentive to prospective purchasers of the recording; it’s not so long that it couldn’t have been included in the booklet, even if only in Italian. However, a quick online search brings one up from Project Gutenberg which may be accessed here. I have adapted it for my own use and it is attached as an appendix below; readers are welcome to print it off.
Ralph Moore
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