Stills from Aida. The pictures in this article were all taken by Qi Qi.
The development of opera art so far, whether it enters the museum to become history, or can it be vividly presented on the stage forever, as if it is a sword hanging over the head, torturing artists and managers at any time. The 2017-18 season opening drama "Aida", jointly launched by the Shanghai Opera House and the Shanghai Grand Theatre, answers this question.
"Aida" is a representative of traditional opera, the reason why it is "traditional", is more "traditional" than many other works, due to the setting of the storyline, it is difficult to completely subvert the production, so such a famous door as the New York Metropolitan Opera house will also turn over the production reuse of decades ago, which shows that the industry and the audience have formed a fixed impression of this work.
Stills from Aida
With the war and love of ancient Egypt as the plot, the music is also extremely brilliant and dramatic, most suitable for designing with retro battles, it is no wonder that large outdoor performance venues such as the Verona Ancient Arena always love it. Remember the super-large live opera performance in the 80,000-person stadium in 2000, and "Aida" is also a non-stop work. If it was just a hilarity at that time, then returning to the theater now tests the artists' performance skills and the director's ingenuity.
From the perspective of the scene, director Jean-Louis Granda did not deliberately destroy the original setting of the work, but added a frame on the basis of the original plot: using the "play within a play" technique, telling the process of shooting the film version of "Aida", while completing the performance of the opera, the nostalgic stills projected on the screen, in a sense, it is also a tribute to the classic film starring Sophia Roland, and it is not difficult to remind people of the "Magic Flute" shot by the film master Borgman, the shell and core of the play itself. Coupled with the fact that the audience formed a whole and jointly completed a meaningful and non-replicable performance, any movement can be counted.
However, this seemingly simple design may be trying to solve a mystery: does Aida belong to the past, or is it a work facing the future? The characters on the stage are both characters in the play and singers in reality, who do not have special arrangements for appearances, but appear on the stage naturally, even if they just make up, stretch, and stand by, breaking the tradition of Italian opera. The audience changed from ignoring the plot and only expecting the appearance of a superstar, but began to look at "Aida" as a work, tasting every detail, Verdi's characters are straightforward personalities, emotional explosions, but jumping out of these, you may be able to see the wider world.
As Verdi's later work, at this time he no longer has the "momentum" of writing in his youth, although the beginning also arranged the melody of "Holy Aida" such a concise and memorable aria, but this seems to be a blind eye, perhaps he was also influenced by other composers of the same era, no longer focusing on the portrayal of lines, nor can he find the same kind of war song as the "Running Horse Mountain Song", but consciously reduced the status of melody, strengthened the influence of drama and emotion on the direction of music, Language acquires a relatively equal status with music, and the expression of the characters is more distinct.
"Aida" can be said to be all-encompassing, with both Verdi's signature agitation and traces of his thinking and exploration, highlighting the writing of the band and vocal music, and the chorus clip "Battle!" fight! It is even reminiscent of the brushwork of his predecessor Bellini in Norma, and it is not an exaggeration to call him a "collector". Verdi then turned to Shakespeare's two masterpieces and wrote Othello and Fastav in completely different realms, perhaps the epic in front of him was also a summary of his past.
It is not simple to perform this work well, the three-hour "net performance time" under the command of the conductor Mr. Xu Zhong, running in one go, without any opportunity for the audience to relax, his flowing gestures provide courage and direct motivation for the music, the huge performance lineup in front of and behind the stage he cares about, the delicate shooting points help all the artists to get together, and his old partner and Hui joined hands again after performing "Aida" at the Verona Opera Festival with him last year, which also attracted the wide attention of music fans.
In 1998, Hehui performed "Aida" at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, and no one expected that nearly 20 years later, she would return to the same stage again, already with the aura of "the world's first Aida". Wen Wu first, this "first" aura does not mean to compare, but from the side shows the world's recognition of her. In recent years, in addition to her frequent invitations to perform in major top theaters, there have also been more domestic invitations to fly, and the audience should have realized that the newcomer singers of that year have experienced ups and downs and become famous. On the night of the premiere, the foreign actors were also very strong, and the warmest applause and cheers were dedicated to our proud compatriots.
Among the sopranos cultivated in China, there are not many "big trumpets" like Hehui, but more are good at singing light roles, such as "Celina" in "Don Juan", or "Mussetta" in "Bohemian", or "Gilda" in "Rigoletto", etc. Can control the heavy weight and stronger vocal requirements of the title characters in works such as "Aida" and "Tosca", in addition to the need for specific talents, but also need unremitting efforts. Now look at Hehui's singing, there is still delicacy in the atmosphere, and tenderness in passion, which is related to her absorption of the soil of Chinese culture, and it is inseparable from her experience of desperately forgetting herself in the most competitive European music scene for many years.
A good performance is not only on the stands, the small orchestra pit determines the basic level of the performance. What is particularly surprising is the joint orchestra of the Shanghai Opera House and the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, which presents first-class acoustics. The performers of Shanghai Opera House have rich professional performance experience, their sensitivity to sound and drama undoubtedly provides the greatest guarantee for the success of the performance, and the "Su Jiao" that has attracted many foreign musicians has also brought international elements, bringing a richer and more powerful texture to the orchestra's voice, especially the wind music part, although the time together is not long, but their tacit understanding with Mr. Xu Zhong's long-term work has made a qualitative leap in the artistic level of the performance.
The cultures of different countries and masterpieces that span the ages meet on this stage and become a little light and light in the reinforced jungle. Because of art, we temporarily forget the chai rice oil and salt in front of us, and enter another distant world, that short-lived blindness and no man's land, like the lubricant in a huge machine. People who are busy and busy are given warmth and strength, people who are tired of their hearts are healed and rested, people who are dry and thirsty are nourished and moisturized, because because of this bright stage night after night, the city becomes more soulful and more reassuring.