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Organization

Singer

Tenor

Gordon Gietz

Male chorus

Soprano

Susannah Glanville

Female chorus

Cristina Zavalloni

Bass

Joshua Bloom

Collatinus

Baritone

Philip Smith

Junius

Jacques Imbrailo

Tarquinius

Contralto

Kirstin Chávez

Lucretia

Julianne Young

Mezzo-soprano

Gabriella Sborgi

Bianca

Laura Catrani

Lucia

Conductor

Jonathan Webb

Stage director

Daniele Abbado

Costume designer

Gianni Carluccio

Set designer

Chorus master

Lighting designer

Video designer

Luca Scarzella

I Teatri di Reggio Emilia

Fondazione del Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Teatro Comunale Alighieri di Ravenna

Orchestra

Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia

English

The Rape of Lucretia

Reggio Emilia

Italy

Teatro Municipale Valli

Private

Public

Approved

"The Rape of Lucretia" by Benjamin Britten deals with a dramatic and highly topical theme: violence against women.
The work, written in the aftermath of the Holocaust, plays with the symmetry between that terrible era and an interpretation of the Roman world, of which Lucrezia becomes a symbol. A violent society that grows up violent individuals is the one photographed by Britten, a spectator of the horrors of war, whose shadow also falls on this Lucretia of 510 BC And which carries with it a very current theme even today: rape and violated innocence .
No other voice of the twentieth century has equaled the tragic tone of Britten's musical theater, whose characters try so hard to reach happiness the more they die in a dark and desperate loneliness. Today's audience is struck by the modernity of The Rape, by the ability of Britten's music to speak without rhetoric and with freshness of language of an ancient but always current tragedy.
A timeless work proposed in the staging directed by Daniele Abbado which, staged in Genoa in 1999, was taken up by Reggio's "I Teatri" already in 2004, and which is now re-proposed with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra directed by Jonathan Webb, in a co-production that also involves the theaters of Florence and Ravenna. Essential and refined, taut and clear, the production makes use of video projections by Luca Scarzella and sets, costumes and lights by Gianni Carluccio. Presented, in 2007, also at the Teatro Real in Madrid, where it received ovations from the public and an enthusiastic review of the national newspaper El Pais ("... .. in this work, the staging is very important. Daniele Abbado is splendid ")," The Rape of Lucretia "tells the horror of the betrayed innocence and the condemnation of injustice, perpetrated by society to the detriment of individuals.
The story is that of Lucretia, a woman of mirrored virtue of ancient Rome, at the time of the conflicts with the Etruscans, who is raped in her bed by the usurper Tarquinio, the last king of Rome, while dreaming of the return of her husband Collatino. Not holding up to her infamy, the woman kills herself in front of Collatino himself, despite the fact that he reassures her of her love for her and tries to convince her that no body can really be violated if her spirit is not consenting.
first of Britten's three chamber operas, The rape of Lucretia was first performed in Glyndebourne in 1946 to a libretto by Ronald Duncan, based on Le viol de Lucrèce André Obey's History of Rome Tito Livio's The rape of Lucrece by Shakespeare. The subject of the opera had been suggested by Eric Crozier, producer of the Peter Grimes, staged in London only a year earlier, even under the ruins of the war, and thanks to which Britten had established himself in musical theater.
In addition to King Tarquinio, with the generals Giunio and Collatino, and Lucrezia, with the nurse Bianca and the handmaid Lucia, Britten and Duncan have kept the two characters who mediate between the audience and the scene already present in Obey's play, the choir male and female choir, each played by a single singer.
Benjamin Britten, whose centenary is celebrated this year, has dealt a lot with the theme of violated innocence, but it is only in this case that it is approached from a female perspective.
At the helm of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra is Jonathan Webb, an English conductor with vast lyrical experience, having conducted more than seventy operas by now, but also highly appreciated all over the world in the symphonic field.
Of the fifteen operas written by Benjamin Britten, five were staged Reggio Emilia: "Billy Bud" in 1974, "Albert Herring" in 1980 and again in 1989, "The rape of Lucretia" in 2004, "Peter Grimes" in 2005 , “A midsummer nigth dream” in 2010.

Act I

The male choir (tenor) and the female choir (soprano) complain about the corruption in which Rome fell under the Etruscan dominion of Tarquinio the Superb.

Scene I: Camp outside Rome.
In a tent Prince Tarquinio, son of Tarquinio the Superb, and Giunio and Collatino, Roman generals, already drunk with wine, discuss a surprise visit made by some nobles to check the loyalty of their wives: only Lucrezia, wife of Collatino, proved to be virtuous. Tarquinio, strong in his celibate being, taunts Junius, whose wife was discovered in the company of a slave. Blinded by jealousy, Giunio challenges Tarquinius to test the virtue of Lucretia himself: excited by the challenge, the arrogant prince sets off on horseback for Rome.

Interlude: the male choir describes Tarquinio's frantic ride towards Lucrezia's house.

Scene II: a room in Lucrezia's house, in the middle of the night.
Lucrezia is spinning with Bianca, her old nurse, and with the handmaid Lucia and declares her love for her husband Collatino and her pain for the long separation. As they are preparing to go to sleep, there is a knock on the door: it is Tarquinio who, to the amazement of the women, asks for hospitality for the night. He is greeted with the respect due to his rank.

Act II

The male and female choir express the growing desire of the Romans for revolt against the Etruscan tyranny.

Scene I: Lucrezia's bedroom.
Lucrezia sleeps peacefully, while Tarquinio sneaks into the room. In vain the woman tries to resist: she threatened with the sword, she is forced to suffer the violence of Tarquinio.

Interlude: Choirs remember Christ's pain when virtue is assailed by sin and invoke the Virgin Mary.

Scene II: a room in Lucrezia's house, at dawn.
Lucrezia sends Lucia to call her husband. When Collatino arrives, accompanied by Giunio, he tells him about the violence suffered and confesses that he cannot bear the shame: he hits himself with a dagger and dies to wash the shame with his own blood, despite Collatino professing his unchanged trust and his love. Giunio then turns to the Roman people and, revealing the offense done to Lucretia, incites them to revolt.

Epilogue: the choirs conclude the work by recalling the passion of Christ and the hope of forgiveness that he has given to the world.

Jonathan Webb has gained extensive experience both in opera houses, where he has conducted more than seventy operas, and in symphonic seasons.
He made his conducting debut at the age of 21 at the Manchester Opera House with the West Side Story . A graduate of the University of Manchester, he has had various positions, including musical director for Opera Ireland, Chorus Master at the Wexford Festival and permanent conductor at the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv where he has conducted many productions including Der Freischuetz, Tosca, Madama Butterfly , Macbeth, Samson et Dalila, La Juive, Faust, Cinderella, L'Italiana in Algeri, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Jenufa, The Cunning Little Vixen.
 
He has frequently been a guest of European opera houses, including Berlin (Deutsche Oper): Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, The Force of Destiny, Carmen ; Vienna (Volksoper) Don Pasquale, Der Zigeunerbaron, Die Zauberfloete ; Colonia La Traviata ; Lisbon (Sao Carlo Theater) Ein Florentinisches Tragodie, The Miserly Night, The Barber of Seville, La Navarraise, Cavelleria Rusticana; Seville (Teatro Maestranza) The Rape of Lucretia ; Marseille The Saint of Bleeker Street; Nice L'Histoire du Soldat; Dublin The Marriage of Figaro, Falstaff ; Tenerife The Turn of the Screw. In Italy he has conducted numerous opera and symphonic productions in Rome (Teatro dell'Opera), Naples (Teatro San Carlo) Elegy forYoung Lovers by Henze, Cosi 'fan by Mozart; Venice (La Fenice Theater) Tancredi ; Palermo (Teatro Massimo), Genoa (Teatro Carlo Felice) by Britten The Rape of Lucretia, Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, by Rossini Il Turco in Italy ; Reggio Emilia, Bari (Petruzzelli Theater) The Turn of the Screw, A Midsummer Night's Dream di Britten;  Bologna, Parma, Catania, Cagliari, Verona  Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte; Ravenna, Pisa, Lucca, Livorno, Trento  Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail; Cremona, Como, Brescia, Ferrara; Modena  The Death of Klinghofferdi Adams; Livorno, Modena  Cavalleria Rusticana e Pagliacci  Ha collaborato con numerosi importanti registi tra i quali  Daniele Abbado, Goetz Friedrich, Hugo de Ana, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, David Poutney e David Alden.
Invited by Valery Gergiev he conducted Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in a co-production between the Kirov Opera and the New Israeli Opera.
He conducted the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome with the Kings Singers and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra in Florence on the occasion of Henze's seventieth birthday. In Israel he has conducted the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta and Israel Chamber Orchestra on several occasions. He has collaborated with numerous soloists including Shlomo Mintz, Vadim Repin, Fazil Say, Arabella Steinbacher, Louis Lortie, Alexander Toradze. He was invited by the Camerata Strumentale di Prato and the Real Filarmonica di Galicia, he recorded with the RTE Radio and RTE Concert Orchestra labels in Ireland.
He has participated in various festivals including Caesarea, A Coruna, Wexford, Caracalla, Settembre Musica with the RAI orchestra of Turin and the Liturgica Festival in Jerusalem. Invited by Seiji Ozawa he collaborated with him at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan, and conducted The Festival Orchestra and the esembles on tour in Japan and China; he was harpsichordist with Ozawa for his project for young musicians, Ongaku Juku.
He also devoted himself to orchestras of young instrumentalists: he conducted the Italian Youth Orchestra in scores by Stavinskij and Mahler in Rome, Florence and Udine. He worked with the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted the Orchestra and Youth Choir of Santa Cecilia with music by Mendelssohn for Oedipus in Kolonus for the 'Colosseo 2000' event for the re-opening of the Rome amphitheater, for a concert for the first time in 1500 years. He was involved in the "Opera Studio" project in the theaters of Pisa and Livorno; at the RADA in London he directed Sondheimâs Company , confirming his interest in "musical theater". He inaugurated the 2011 symphonic season at del Teatro San Carlo in Naples conducting the world premiere Terra in the presence of the President of the Republic.
Jonathan Webb received the "Last 900 International Prize Pisa 2000 Nel Mondo" (November, 2004) and the medal of the Pisan Amici della Lirica Association in recognition of his work with the theaters of Tuscany including the Lyric City .

The Rape of Lucretia by Britten, From (2013/2013), Directed by Daniele Abbado,, Conductor Jonathan Webb, Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia, Italy

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