Long before verismo adopted the theme of feminine infidelity from realist perspectives charged with testosterone - and inclined to exhibitions of resounding high notes for tenors - Bellini addressed what was then a prickly taboo with respect and dramatic delicacy, and an almost dreamlike vocal score. Set in the Swiss Alps, this semiseria opera confronts the people of these idyllic surroundings - idealized by the romantics in Guillaume Tell, La Fille du Régiment or Giselle - with their own meanness, cast into a vacuum of distrust and exclusion due to the treacherous shadow of nasty suspicion. The sleepwalking of the main character is a necessary jolt to awaken everyone from a collective nightmare. At the same time, it provides a decisive moment for a poetic score which would become one of the most long lasting and enduring icons of belcanto.
This new production by Bárbara Lluch, a talented young Spanish director who was based in London for a decade but who has already presented Le cinesi (2017), La casa de Bernarda de Alba (2018) and La del manojo de rosas (2021) in Madrid. From what we can ascertain, this will be La Sonnambula with a lucid touch of modernity and feminism.
Melodramma in two acts
Music by Vicenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835)
Libretto by Felice Romani, based on the Ballet Pantomine La Sonnambula, ou l'arrivée d'un noveau seigneur by Eugène Scribe
Premiere al the Teatro Cercano, MIlan, 6 March 1850
Premiere at the Teatro Real, 10 December 1850
New production by the Teatro Real in coproduction with the New National Theatre Tokyo, Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona and the Teatro Massimo of Palermo
*Note: Earlier 6 PM showing on December 18 performance.
