Re-thinking opera radically from the text and creating its very own musical revolution-By Guido Krawinkel

Should opera history be written anew? Has a sensation arrived that is capable of shaking the cornerstones of the opera world? It sounds presumptuous, but this is quite simply what the Italian conductor Giuliana Retali has set her sights on. She wants to change opera, and change it fundamentally.

In this context we can take the word ‘fundamental’ quite literally. Retali is going back to the source, back to the original fundaments of opera: its text…

“It all began after my studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, when I took over the Musical direction of the Opera class and couldn’t understand why the singing in musical theatre couldn’t be understood”. This observation did not let her rest. Retali researched, tried out and experimented, always starting from the symbiotic relationship that verse and music have had since the earliest days of opera. As an expert in early music, the study of historical sources was just as important as the work on the object, the operas from Caccini, Peri and Monteverdi to Rossini.

After her extensive work, Retali is now certain: “I have unlocked the great secret, the code surrounding the sung words of the opera, and can finally make it understandable to the audience”. Noble words, the exuberant and sympathetic Italian is clearly not without selfawareness.

During the interview on the phone, she is overflowing with the need to communicate and presents her ideas with eloquence and mastery. She has already tested her theses in concert settings, and the response was outstanding. “Her interpretation sets new standards and a new presence that I have never heard before – it is as if the instruments are speaking. The resulting power shows us Mozart from a new, probably his true side. Never before have I been so impressed by a Mozart interpretation!” This was written by Grammy Award winner Arend Prohmann, former producer at Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, someone who should know.

But what is so special about Opera 4.0? “The orchestra should work in harmony with the singers to support the individual and special interpretation of the sung texts and not just accompany them”, says Giuliana Retali. She doesn’t just start from the words, she also places them in relation to the orchestra, supporting and highlighting the rhetorical flow and the gestural dramaturgy. The result should not only be a better understanding of the text, but the meaning of the text should also be better revealed to the audience. “In this way, the message reaches the audience, people feel it”, Retali is convinced.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Le nozze di Figaro – in a production by director Deda Cristina Colonna – is the first full-length attempt to carry out the Opera 4.0 concept. The premiere will take place on 23 September in the auditorium of the Mallorcan capital Palma. Retali and her husband, the Berlin harpsichord maker Matthias Kramer, have a finca on the island, where they have the support of the authorities and an orchestra put together especially for their project. Is the audience on Mallorca really expecting a revolution with Opera 4.0? It will be seen. In any case, a breath of fresh air can’t do the opera genre any harm. And musically – as the first recordings already show – we can certainly expect an exciting evening, true to Retali’s motto: “Revolution, Passion, Emotion”.

‘Petite Messe Solennelle’, but it is not small at all.

– True, because it is very complex musically……although it is small in instruments, only three, is complex and difficult…..

What is special about this work?

– I could call it special, because it is unique as far as the instruments are concerned, unique in that respect, but at the same time it is also special because although it is religious music, I understand it as an opera, with its theme, its pathos and its history.

How was the process of preparing this complete work?

– When I thought about this production, I thought that the process would not be so long…

– Think that one of my goals has always been vocalization. A good singer or a good choir must pronounce well in the language they sing and they must also know what the text they are singing says. This is very important…Always, behind any musical text, there is a world, which if you do not understand the language you cannot discover, so the musical result is impoverished.

As a Rossini expert, do you think he knew the text of the Latin Mass well?

– Absolutely. He knew very well what the texts of the ordinary of the Mass say, something that is immediately evident, because he focuses on this or that phrase, always reflecting on what the words say, as in opera. So, I repeat what I said before, that being religious music is at all times at the service of the text.