The Corps de ballet of the Opรฉra de Nice offered a magnificent demonstration last night, showing how an author could inspire very different interpretations from choreographers. For this first event, the Lyric Establishment of Rue Saint-Franรงois-de-Paule chose two pieces โ originally two pantomimes โ by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla: “Le Tricorne” and “Lโamour sorcier,” two ballets written upon his return to Madrid after seven years in Paris where he mingled with Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel.
The premiere of “El Sombrero de tres picos” (the “Tricorne”) in July 1919 at the Alhambra Theatre in London consecrated the collaboration between three giants of culture and art: the dancers of Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet, Picassoโs sets and costumes, and Manuel De Fallaโs music. What does the story tell? During a walk on a hot Spanish day, an old “Corregidor,” the Governor of the city, attempts to seduce a young millerโs wife: the starting point of a folk comedy where authority is mocked, true love ultimately sanctified, and people greatly entertained. While we can applaud the perfect symbiosis of teamwork among dancers, orchestra, and set designers, we can question the choices of choreographer and Ballet Master Eleonora Gori, who may have erred on the side of excessive classicism: the perfect execution of the piece by the artists of the Corps de Ballet of the Opรฉra de Nice, in clear harmony during group movements, and in particular the performances for the premiere by Aldriana Vargas in the role of the millerโs wife, Andres Heras Frutos as the miller, and Stรฉphane Ferrand, a very funny disjointed puppet for the Corregidor, do not completely dispel the feeling of a narrative that sometimes, dare we say it, seemed to overshadow expression and movement. At the risk of potentially confining the work to a strictly conventional register. The sets and costumes by Caroline Constantin โ the magnificent blue mosaic fountain in a play of intersecting red and orange lights recall the warm and sensual Spain of El Andalus โ sometimes contributed more to the Spanish atmosphere than the dancers’ scenic evolution and movement.
Curiously, the second part proposed somewhat the opposite approach. It is true that “Lโamour sorcier,” which also takes place in Andalusia, was originally conceived as a “musical gitanery,” reworked several times by Manuel de Falla: initially a pantomime for chamber orchestra, it became a piece for symphonic orchestra before finally taking the form of a ballet where the previously sung parts were replaced by instruments. The storyline is, a priori, as simple as that of the “Tricorne”: a woman named Candela, haunted by her former lover to the point that her current love for her fiancรฉ is hindered, uses a spell to divert the ghost towards another gypsy. It appears that the work contains other dimensions, a dreamlike atmosphere, a depth of mystery โ accentuated by the beautiful and dark vocal register of mezzo-soprano Patricia Fernandez โ which the two choreographers Jean-Gรฉrald Dorseuil and Nathanรซl Marie fully exploited to offer the Nice audience a version mainly focused on creativity and bodily expressiveness. Sometimes, with only shadows and light as decor, including a theater of moving silhouettes against a particularly successful bluish night backdrop, or the ingenious use of multiple spotlights on the stage itself. An interpretation marked by modernity, aiming to restore the violence of the story, the sufferings of bodies thwarted in their desires. The superb performance of Laure Zanchi in the role of Candela and that of the “Danse du feu follet” by Hervรฉ Ilari will be noted.
Congratulations must also be extended to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Nice under the direction of Maestro Sergio Monterisi, who managed to convey, between spirited musical attacks of these Spanish melodies and more familiar moments of classical repertoire, the blend of inspirations that marks the entire work of Manuel de Falla. A lively music where castanets can freely converse with percussions before being interrupted by a broad lyrical swell of strings. And a composer who does not hesitate to nod to the genius of Beethoven by incorporating the famous “sol, sol, sol, mi flat” from the first movement of the Fifth Symphony when the Corregidorโs guards also come, like fate, “knocking at the doorโ!
