It’s usually grand opera which pulls the masses, but smaller scaled, more intimate productions can have their own very special attractions, like many composers over the centuries have proven.
In the past century it’s two Italian composers that come to mind: Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) and Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007). The former has, apart from Susanna’s Secret, written eight other operatic masterpieces, including the often melodramatic blood-and-thunder Jewels of the Madonna, written in the style of Puccini, as well as the more comical Le Donne Curiose (Inquisitive Women) and L’Amore Medico (Doctor Cupid).
Menotti is also famous for his shorter operas, like The Medium, The Telephone and Amahl and the Night Visitors. It is exciting news that the Black Tie Ensemble (BTE) will stage Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors to celebrate the composer’s 100th birthday at the end of July.
Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice of mixed German-Italian parentage. He was the son of August Wolf, a German painter, and an Italian mother. Initially he was self-taught in music, but later he studied with Josef Rheinberger in Munich. Wolf-Ferrari died at the age of 72 in his city of birth after a career of more than 50 years in which he also composed some exquisite orchestral and chamber music works.
In Susanna’s Secret the scene is a drawing-room in Piedmont. The time is 1840, but it can be set in any period. There are three characters: Countess Susanna, a soprano, and her husband, Count Gil, a baritone. The third person is the servant Sante. This is only an acting part.
Susanna’s secret is that she smokes in secret and against the conventions of her time. If one thinks how ostracised smokers are in our day, Wolf-Ferrari could have been inspiringly prophetical.
In this less than an hour long opera, Susanne sings a rare aria describing the bliss of a tobacco addict: “Oh what joy to follow with half-closed eyes the fine cloud that rises in blue spirals, more delicately than a veil.”
The aroma left by smoke, however, makes Gil suspicious. His constant detection of the unmistakable fumes persuades him that he has a rival for his wife’s favours. In due course everything will be resolved in the most natural way, during a moonlit scene as the reconciled partners go up in smoke together.
Considering the somewhat fragile plot, the music itself is often surprisingly dramatic, though ever so often pleasingly lyrical as well. The scintillating overture is one of the most memorable pieces Wolf-Ferrari has ever written.
In this BTE presentation Caroline Nkwe will sing the part of Susanna and Thabang Senekal is heard as her husband Gil. Sante, the butler, will be played by Elias Moss. On piano it is Susan Steenkamp-Swanepoel, the BTE’s coach and accompanist, who will do the honours.
Marcus Desando, the BTE’s newly appointed artistic manager, is the director, while the sets and costumes are provided by the SA State Theatre.
lThe two performances in the Brooklyn Theatre, corner of Thomas Edison and 13th Streets, Menlo Park, Pretoria, are this Saturday, March 26, at 8pm and this Sunday, March 27, at 11am. To book, call (012) 460 6033 or www.brooklyn theatre.co.za. A lucky patron booking tickets for Susanna’s Secret through the Brooklyn Theatre, stands a chance to win a Brooklyn Mall gift voucher valued at R1 500.