Rossini’s “La Gazza Ladra” at Geneva’s Grand Theatre
- Relocated to the BFM due to renovations, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is presenting Rossini's opera "L'Italienne à Alger" until Febuary 5th, in a staging by Swiss director...
- "It was with this opera that Rossini established all the codes that would make him successful: comedy, the finale, and the Rossinian crescendo at the end of the...
- Composed in around twenty days in 1813 by a 21-year-old Gioachino Rossini, "L'Italienne à Alger" is considered a *turquerie*, a genre very popular between the 17th and 19th...
Relocated to the BFM due to renovations, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is presenting Rossini’s opera “L’Italienne à Alger” until Febuary 5th, in a staging by Swiss director Julien Chavaz. An exhilarating production conducted with inspired flair by Italian orchestra leader Michele Spotti.
“It was with this opera that Rossini established all the codes that would make him successful: comedy, the finale, and the Rossinian crescendo at the end of the acts, and the male choirs that arrive to comment in a very ironic way on a comedy that is already badly planned. Most of the arias are obviously composed for bel canto, acrobatics and spectacle, but they are above all full of wit,” analyzes Julien Chavaz, the Swiss director of the production “L’Italienne à Alger,” currently showing in Geneva, in Musique Matin on january 21st.
Composed in around twenty days in 1813 by a 21-year-old Gioachino Rossini, “L’Italienne à Alger” is considered a *turquerie*, a genre very popular between the 17th and 19th centuries that draws inspiration from the Orient, then perceived as exotic. But what distinguishes this *dramma giocoso* from other *turqueries* is that Rossini and his librettist brilliantly subvert the genre, creating a work described by Stendhal as “organized and complete madness.”
A Subverted *Turquerie*
Here, there is no innocent woman waiting for her savior. Isabella is a strong heroine and mistress of her own destiny. A prisoner of the Bey of Algiers, Mustafà, who, tired of his wife, wants to marry her, she organizes her escape, and also that of her beloved Lindoro and all the Bey’s slaves. To manipulate Mustafà, she uses, admittedly, her charm, but above all her intelligence and the Bey’s prejudices about Italian customs. The opera ends with a ridiculed Mustafà, but ultimately reconciled with his wife Elvira, and an Isabella who regains her freedom and her lover.
Rossini’s music underscores this subversion with formidable energy and a prodigious sense of rhythm. Virtuosity serves social satire. As in the delirious finale of the first act, when in an organized cacophony, the seven characters overwhelmed by the situation can only articulate “din din,” “tac tà,” and “crà crà.”