Otello at the Israel Opera: Verdi Bicentenary Continues

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The celebrations of Verdi’s bicentenary continue at the Israel Opera, and since this season aims to focus on operas inspired by great literary works, none is more fitting than Otello, a labor of love written not by a young man working for commission, but by a mature, experienced composer who came of out retirement to write what would be his penultimate work.

Gustavo Porta (Otello) and Ira Bertman (Desdemona) in Otello/ Photo: Yossi Zwecker
Gustavo Porta (Otello) and Ira Bertman (Desdemona) in Otello/ Photo: Yossi Zwecker

After the grand triumph of Aida in 1871, Verdi considered himself officially retired, wanting nothing more than to return to his beloved farm at Sant’Agata. Over the following decade, the publisher Giulio Ricordi conspired to bring him out of retirement. His bait was an opera based on Shakespeare, who Verdi admired above all other writers. It took almost a decade of persuasion and another seven years of work, but when the opera premiered in 1887, the people of Milan hailed the composer with cries of “Viva Verdi!” which lasted until the small hours of the morning.

Of Shakespeare, Verdi wrote: “He is one of my favorite poets. I have had him in my hands from my earliest youth.” He was even known to refer to Shakespeare as “Papa”. As with his previous Shakespearean opera, Macbeth (1847), Verdi was meticulous in reading and adapting the translated source, and he was adamant that Otello’s libretto, written by the younger composer and librettist Arrigo Boito, would remain as true to the original play, and many of the play’s most memorable lines are translated or paraphrased in the libretto.

While Verdi spent most of his career avoiding the influence of German composers, some Wagnerian ideals can be spotted in this work: the heavier, darker music, fitting to a human tragedy of this kind; the uninterrupted flow of the music and drama; and the “leitmotif” of Otello’s kiss, which is quoted several times in the music.

Iago is perhaps the opera’s most developed character, and Verdi was so fascinated by him that he considered naming the opera “Iago”. In exploring the character, he and Boito added another layer to his character, out of which was born the powerfully shocking, blasphemous Act II “Credo”: Iago is a self-professed dystheist, proclaiming his belief in a cruel God who created him in His image, and is thereby at the root of his own malevolence. As in the play, Iago is present onstage for much of the opera, carrying out his plan for revenge. His tool is an unsubstantial, innocent item – a handkerchief (“il fazzoletto”), which becomes increasingly charged and eventually brings about the downfall of them all.

With Verdi’s music adding another layer of artistic expression, Shakespeare’s words are emphasized anew. The play’s Iago says in an aside, “O, you are well tuned now! / But I’ll set down the pegs that make this music”. Boito’s paraphrasing of muttered threat (“I’ll untune the strings that make this music!”) is given further significance when uttered as the Cypriots praise Desdemona. In Act III of the play, as Iago is beginning to plant seeds of doubt in Othello’s head, he repeats his words – in the opera, this repetition is given a musical setting, and tenor and baritone echo each other in words as well as music. Even the scene in which Iago plies Cassio with wine turns into a brindisi, and Cassio’s drunken stuttering is worked into the harmony.

The staging of this production is by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, who directed La Traviata here in 2011. Di Pralafera spares no effort when it comes to set design, and what he cannot depict onstage is given symbolic presence in props and gestures. For instance, Iago’s destructive intent and his hatred for Otello are made clear in the first act, and as the people of Cyprus look anxiously seaward, he sinks a model ship in a water tank onstage. From this tank the children of the island will bring Desdemona water-lilies (“T’offrioamo il giglio”). The performance is heightened by the detailed costumes of Fernando Ruiz, which are worn by every singer, from the main characters to the Cypriot children.

Otello - Scene from Act I/Photo courtesy of PR
Otello – Scene from Act I/Photo courtesy of PR

The opera omits the play’s first act, and instead opens in medias res, with no overture or prelude but with a storm that endangers Otello’s ship. The music simulates thunder, and is joined in this production by a sheet of rain that hammers on the stage and on its occupants, but doesn’t hinder the view of the action taking place. This awe-inspiring introduction immediately plunges the audience into the action, while at the same time foreshadowing the tempest of human emotion that will drive the opera to its bloody conclusion. Otello’s opening lines characterize his warlike nature perfectly: a rising cry of “Esultate!” – “Exult!” Argentinean tenor Gustavo Porta portrays the soldier Otello admirably, but truly excels in the piano lines of the love duet and the final aria, “Niun mi tema”.

In a letter dated 1881, Verdi wrote that Iago’s manner should be “vague, nonchalant, indifferent to everything” and that he should “throw off good and evil sentiments lightly”. Baritone Marco Vratogna’s interpretation of Iago would measure up to this description marvelously, and he portrays the conniving antagonist with an ironic charisma. Vratogna has already been hailed as the next great Verdi baritone, and at some points his voice echoes the great Iagos of the past. Di Pralafera emphasizes Iago’s role as a director, or puppet-master, of all the turmoil that unfolds on what is really Iago’s stage. As his plans play out, he watches, beckons and directs the other characters, leading them cunningly to the punishment he devised.

Opera regular Ira Bertman shines as Desdemona, who Verdi stated is “a part in which the thread, the melodic line, never ceases from the first note to the last […] Desdemona must always, always sing.” Bertman’s ability to conquer high notes and also maintain a melodic line is truly revealed in the Willow Song, in which Desdemona quotes the chillingly prophetic words of Barbara: “He was born for his glory, I to love him and to die.”

Performances of Otello will continue until the 27th of April. Tickets are available online at the Israel Opera’s website or by phone: 03-6927777. On certain dates you can enjoy backstage tours, pre-performance lectures and Opera Talkback sessions with members of the cast.