A Spirited Performance

MIKE WHEELER was in the audience at Buxton for Giuseppe Verdi's 'Ernani'

Ernani, Verdi's fifth opera, was a success in its day, but has since been somewhat sidelined. But the four main characters are all strongly drawn, and Verdi's grasp of dramatic pacing is bedding down well - Buxton Festival, Buxton Opera House, 6 July 2024.

Based on a play by Victor Hugo, the plot centres on not a love triangle but a quadrilateral. Elvira is in love with Ernani, a nobleman who has turned bandit following his father's murder on the orders of Don Carlo, King of Spain. He returns her love, but she is also pursued by Don Ruy Gomez de Silva (who she loathes), an aristocrat who also happens to be her uncle - this was obviously not such a questionable proposition back in the day - and Carlo himself, who is angling for election as Holy Royal Emperor.

Ernani and his fellow-bandits plan to rescue Elvira from Silva's clutches, but with alliances among the three men continually being realigned, political enemies Ernani and Carlos find themselves joining forces to defeat Silva, before a turn of events unites Ernani and Silva (for the time being) against Carlo.

Yes, it's a tangled web, and it doesn't end well for anybody, but Jamie Manton's production clarifies the action. The space created by the two walls of Sami Fendall's set, converging at the back of the stage, suggest the main characters trapped in their archaic code of honour, with D M Wood's lighting design adding a telling use of shadows.

Roman Arndt is an appropriately headstrong Ernani, and Nadine Benjamin's atlernately ardent and apprehensive Elvira is very much his equal. Their Act II duet is one of the evening's highlights.

André Heyboer suggests Don Carlo's contradictory nature, a desire to rule wisely jostling for position with a capacity for megalomania. Alastair Miles has the vocal heft for a very nasty Silva.

The smaller roles are all well taken - Jane Burnell as Elvira's nurse, Giovanna, Emyr Lloyd Jones as Carlo's equerry, Don Riccardo, and Theo Perry as Silva's equerry, Jago.

Buxton Festival Artistic Director Adrian Kelly conducts a spirited performance, which sees the Orchestra of Opera North making a welcome return to the Festival after several years - the beginning of a more regular collaboration, it is suggested. Their playing impresses right from the start of the Overture, and the vibrant, twenty-strong chorus gives this production another firm backbone.

There are more articles here about operatic music, vocal music, choral music, orchestral music, Italy, Spain, Buxton Opera House, Derbyshire, UK and nineteenth century classical music.

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The background image on this page has been derived from late nineteenth century artwork - author unknown - of a scene from Ernani Act IV where Silva sounds the horn to summon Ernani.

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