My Pocket Kobbe’s Opera doesn’t even list Cimarosa, despite his relatively massive production of operas and that he lived with a fame greater even than his contemporary, Mozart. The Secret Marriage is considered to be one of his masterpieces. It was composed in Vienna when Emperor Leopold II invited him there, on the death of Mozart in 1791. It must have been an invitation he couldn’t refuse, as he had managed to get himself established for the previous five years at the Court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg. All of this I know thanks to Google. What would we do with out it?
I like Mozart and, as Cimarosa’s music has what Scottish Opera call a familiar Mozartian feel, I assumed that it would be safe territory. Alas, no. Now I understand why his 18th century promise went to the grave with him: the score is essentially one-dimensional. It lacks variety, drama, magic, beauty, punctuation and singalongability. Instead the action is supported by three hours of fast string playing with a very occasional injection of fortepiano. It’s all violins and it’s all very samey.
Notwithstanding this, the company have done their very best with the material and turned in mostly excellent performances, notably Rebecca Bottone in the lead. For one so petite, her outrageously beautiful voice commands the entire theatre. She’s young, she acts well and she’s going to the top. Tom Rogers’ sets are excellent and very clever, creating a rich and colourful, highly credible multi-storey interior of a London town house. This staging of the opera has been set in 1958, so comes with big, flouncy dresses and pin-striped suits. Best of all are the ladies’ shoes: simply to die for, they might have walked straight off Warhol’s graphic studies of the mid 50s.
Despite the fast-paced music, it’s a slow-moving tale which, apart from Renate Arends’ performance, had no need for the supertitles. Being Dutch, her English is lost in a zone somewhere close to her lips. Otherwise, the cast’s diction was close to perfect and in no way compromised by the noise coming from the orchestra pit. Perhaps the greatest success is the English translation, for which the programme annoyingly gives no credit. It’s witty, sharp and perfectly tuned to both the stage action and the music.
SO’s Autumn Season has moved on to Aberdeen and concludes at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the last performance of The Secret Marriage being on 28th November. Other performances include La Traviata and The Two Widows
HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE, ABERDEEN
Fri 14 Nov 7.30pm †
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FESTIVAL THEATRE EDINBURGH
Sat 22 Nov 7.15pm • Wed 26 Nov 7.15pm * • Fri 28 Nov 7.15pm †
The Secret Marriage Unwrapped – Fri 21 Nov 6pm
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Running time – 2hrs 50mins approx
† Pre-Performance Talk 6pm
* Audio Description/Touch Tour
