Un ballo in maschera is an opera that I especially love. I have worked on it twice, both times outside Italy, and with a twenty-year gap in between. This production has enriched my Verdi catalogue: despite my reputation as a “Donizetti” conductor, Verdi is the composer with whose work I have engaged the most, with twenty-three out of twenty-seven titles.
Il Ballo is being staged at the Teatro Comunale Nouveau, with whose orchestra I have very close ties. It was with them that I made my debut as a conductor many years ago, and I have built an increasingly intense relationship with them in recent seasons. I had the honour of inaugurating this season with La fanciulla del West and recently interpreted Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony for the first time, again allowing me to experience profound mutual understanding with these musicians from Bologna.
Un ballo in maschera is an enigmatic masterpiece for two reasons. Before the final disclosure, enigma prevails: on discovering which characters hide behind the masks, the audience become involved in the action, revealing its secrets before the theatrical climax. Secondly, the opera is remarkable from a musical perspective for its balance between dramatic tension and the levity of opera buffa, represented emblematically by the character of the page, Oscar. With each appearance, he breaks the monotony and brings with him a joy and freshness that transform the musical atmosphere.
In Il Ballo, the heart of the drama lies in the antinomy between festiveness and death, between the superficiality of social life and the profoundness of inner torment. These themes were common in nineteenth century opera and here they become a painful revelation of the authenticity of suffering in contrast with a joyous façade. The daggers hidden beneath the conspirators’ and Renato’s cloaks pierce not only Riccardo’s heart but also our conscience, bringing us face to face with the difficulty of living, loving and forgiving.
We will be on stage at the Comunale Nouveau on 13, 15, 16, 17 and 19 April with this new production by stage director Daniele Menghini, with two excellent casts and the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna prepared by Gea Garatti Ansini.