Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek sings Puccini’s gun-slinging heroine in this romantic epic of the Wild West, with tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the role of Dick Johnson, the outlaw she loves. Baritone Željko Lučić is the vigilante sheriff Jack Rance, and Marco Armiliato conducts.
A scene from Act I of Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" with Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera Season: La Fanciulla del West
Sunday 27 January 2019 at 6pm on RNZ Concert
Puccini’s “American” opera, based on David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West, had its glamorous and highly publicised world première at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, with the composer in the audience.
The drama is set during the California Gold Rush, and the girl of the title is one of Puccini’s most appealing heroines—a strong, independent woman determined to win the man she loves.
Although it fell out of favour with audiences for a few decades following its original success, Fanciulla has rebounded in popularity in recent years and is now counted among Puccini’s best works.
Željko Lučić as Jack Rance in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West." Photo: Ken Howard/MetropolitanOpera
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was immensely popular in his own lifetime, and his mature works remain staples in the repertory of most of the world’s opera companies. His operas are celebrated for their mastery of detail, sensitivity to everyday subjects, copious melody, and economy of expression.
In the course of her struggles, Minnie must fight her social and natural environment, the local sheriff (who has his own designs on her), and even her lover’s criminal past.
Željko Lučić as Jack Rance and Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West." Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
The opera explores themes of sacrifice and redemption that long have been popular in opera, but it is set within the common milieu of everyday people that inspired so much of Puccini’s best work.
Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie and Jonas Kaufmann as Dick Johnson in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West." Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
The multiple layers of Minnie’s character are revealed in the demands of her music, which ranges from the lyrical (her recollections of childhood in Act I) to the expressive spoken words that Puccini often used at key emotional moments (the tense poker scene in Act II) to the highly dramatic (her explosive outburst directly following the poker scene).
Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie and Jonas Kaufmann as Dick Johnson in Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West." Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
