Rossini's 1820 opera Maometto II is not one of the better-known works in the repertory, but the Santa Fe opera's current production, which I attended Aug 2nd, reveals it to be a very rewarding one both musically and theatrically. I don't know I'm going to end up agreeing completely with the judgement of Philip Gossett, who edited the new critical edition that is soon to appear, and from which Santa Fe worked for this production, that it "is one of the greatest serious operas written during the the 19th century," but it is certainly very good. Sure, there are stretches of the old rum-ti-tum, I-V-I (this is Rossini, after all) but it takes up surprisingly little of the 3+ hours that the piece runs. Most of the expository dialogue is musically and melodically interesting, clearly written with care; there is relatively little standard-issue recitative and when it does occur, it's often with interesting twists, like apparently cliché cadences that turn false, or (I think) more, and more unconventional, modulation than usual in such settings.
The plot has some contrived and confusing aspects (though perhaps a read through the libretto would help clarify), but this is opera, so no biggie. More importantly, some of the contrivance creates an interesting complexity in the relationships between the characters. Anna, daughter of the Venetian nobleman Paolo Erisso, who commands the Venetian forces in the town of Negroponte, has fallen in love with Maometto II, who wooed her disguised as a nobleman of Corinth when Anna lived (or visited?) there. But now Maometto is attacking Negroponte...
The singing at Santa Fe was quite good. The bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni was superb as Maometto. He has a burnished, very focused and firm tone, refined and in control, strong but never strained. His acting was good too, projecting an interpretation of Maometto consonant with the qualities of his voice: refined, very intelligent, though at times shockingly barbaric. (The latter quality is not so much reflected in the voice!)
Leah Crocetto was outstanding as Anna. Although I heard some distortion when she unleashed some power in the high register at a couple of points in her earliest stretch of solo singing, her voice seemed to promptly smooth out (perhaps it just needed a warmup) and she sang the rest of the opera with a sweet but complex tone, very lyrically.
The other lead singers did well, but didn't stand out so much. Mezzo-soprano Patrica Bardon, in a male role as Calbo, a Venetian general, had a strong but at times somewhat rough-toned voice that worked well overall in the part. Some of her passagework came off quite well but a few times late in the opera she seemed to be having some difficulty with it. Bruce Sledge, as Paolo Erisso, sang accurately and clearly but his voice was a bit on the small side, especially in comparison with Pisaroni. This too seems to be in some ways consonant with the director's interpretation of the piece---director David Alden's notes in the program speak of Erisso as "overbearing" and not as "evolved" and "rounded" as Maometto. He certainly is somewhat overbearing in his attitude toward his daughter, although his voice isn't. But perhaps his smaller voice helps put across a view of the piece in which Maometto overshadows him. Both Sledge and Bardon are excellent in the ensembles which are such an important part of the piece.
I'll definitely be investigating this opera further, trying to find the many musical epsiodes that came across as superlatively beautiful, and trying to get further impressions of the overall character of the piece. Was the opera perfect in this performance? No. But more importantly, was it magic? Frequently, yes. I'm often annoyed at the ease with which American audiences give a performance a standing ovation, especially if it is a prelude to an early exit rather than a long series of curtain calls, but I was happy to join in this one, and the long series of curtainless bows and shouts of "bravo" that it presaged. (Some did exit early, perhaps on the excuse that a rainstorm seemed to be brewing, and indeed in the final scenes the audience was lashed with some cold wind from the open sides of the theater's midsection, and raindrops even reached the last row where we were seated.)
For an idea of some of the magic in this opera, here are two versions of Anna's aria "Giusto ciel! In tal periglio". First (with 3 minutes of recitative introduction before the aria), Montserrat Caballe from 1968:
Second, Joyce DiDonato:
I'm certainly willing to call that one of the great opera arias. But there are plenty of fabulous choruses, duets, and larger ensemble pieces as well as arias, in this excellent opera that I think will become standard repertory with the publication of Baerenreiter's new critical edition.