Don Quichotte

I have been attending opera performances for over fifty years, but cannot recall feeling as elated as I was after attending Opera Australia’s latest offering, Massenet’s Don Quichotte. I have not seen it before and have no music in my extensive collection from this little known opera.

I was constantly swept away by the magnificent music. The five acts were reduced to two halves, with the inclusion of some ballet music from the same composer’s Le Cid. The haunting entr’acte to the final scene was a highlight.

One reason for the opera’s neglect would be the availability of suitable inhabitants of the demanding title role. Written for the great Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin, it not only requires an impressive voice, but a strong actor.

Ferruccio Furlanetto was magnificent.

His voice was big, relaxed and beautiful, with no hint of strain over a long evening. There was a stillness and nobility to his acting which demanded attention. He dominated the stage, and it was easy to understand why he has sung at all the world’s top opera houses.

However, the locals were not put into the shade. Sian Pendry and Warwick Fyfe more than held their own. Sian Pendry played La Belle Dulcinée, a heartless noblewoman, rather than the prostitute depicted in the original. She sang beautifully and was appropriately contrite when she saw the effect her rejection had on the deluded knight.

Warwick Fyfe, a memorable Alberich in the Ring, was an alternatively strong and comic Sancho. Graeme Macfarlane, John Longmuir, Jane Ede and Anna Dowsley worked well as Dulcinée’s quartet of lovers.

The sets from San Diego Opera were impressive, and I particularly liked the bare rocky outcrop for the death of Don Quichotte. The lighting was good, particularly in the fight with the windmills, as more appeared as the scene progressed, some in front of the knight on a scrim. At the end he went off to fight them, and we saw his body flying through the air on the blade of a windmill as the curtain descended.

The chorus, orchestra and dance troupe were exceptional. If you only see one opera this year, try to get to this one. There are only three more performances in Melbourne.

Graham Ford

Photographer: Jeff Busby