Willem Jeths, Ritratto (2020)

Hey look, it's my first 2020s opera. I know some people will go "the 2020s don't start until 2021, there was no year zero, I am extremely smart, blah blah," but I don't care about that. I don't know if you've noticed, but there really aren't many people around who were alive when the calendar ticked over from BCE to CE. It's just not connected to how how we perceive time and history. So. But actually, the point may be moot, because this opera has never actually debuted, in the technical sense: it was preempted from its planned March premiere by you-know-what. But the Dutch National Opera released a video of this dress rehearsal, so we can see it anyway. That also explains why there's no applause at any point and no curtain call.

The Italian word "ritratto" means "portrait," and this is in particular a portrait of Luisa Casati, a rich Italian heiress and patron of the arts in the early twentieth century, noted for her outrageous behavior (in spite of the title, the opera is mostly in English, albeit interspersed with substantial snatches of Italian and French). The opera doesn't have a plot, really: it's mainly the Marchesa talking about art with various of the prominent figures in her circle, most notably the painter Romaine Brooks and poet and father-of- fascism Gabriele D'Annunzio. It proceeds through the First World War and her eventual bankruptcy and death. She gouges her eyes out here at the climax, which I don't think is historical record. But obviously, that's not the point.

A lot of contemporary opera don't, let's be honest, have particularly memorable music. That doesn't mean I don't in some cases enjoy them, but the story is the main thing, with the music being more background. I'm happy to say that that's not the case here; this is very tuneful, with plenty of memorable arias. I really enjoyed it a lot. Being more about aesthetics than shit actually happening, it might remind you of Strauss' Capriccio. It's a fair comparison, even if this (unlike that) is in an ultimately tragic vein. This one's a winner, a promising start to the decade.

The other thing that's a winner is the production, and particularly the costume design: the "dress" part of "dress rehearsal" is taken extremely seriously, with all the characters decked out in outlandish costumes. Here's a screen capture that gives you the idea better than I could:

The Marchesa is the redhead holding up her hand just right of center. The color palate switches throughout the opera; it's not green the whole time. I must say, I'm glad that the Dutch Opera put this out for consumption, but I cringe when I think about them having to just eat the costs for this elaborate costuming. I hope everything is able to get back to "normal" soon, though it's hard to imagine how.