Reading Cervantes’ Don Quixote was one of the great surprises on my youth. It sat on the shelf in my family home for many years before I had the gumption to pick it up and actually read the thing. It was a hulking ‘girthy’ brick of a book, and it didn’t take long for me to fall under its charms. The story is one of the most heart-breaking tragedies I’ve ever read, and even today, I sometimes think about the plight of poor old Quixote.
Published over two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Cervantes’ book is the first real modern novel, and it stands as a mantle of medieval chivalric romance. This founding work of modern Western literature delves into the psychological evolution of characters with a unique mix of depth and bumbling hilarity.
[pl_blockquote cite=”Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote de La Mancha, Vol 1.”] “Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them.” [/pl_blockquote]
Twenty years later, here I am sitting in an aisle seat of row O, at orchestra level, in the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, waiting for the curtain the rise on the Canadian Opera Company’s third production of the season: Don Quichotte (French spelling). This is an operatic adaptation of Cervantes’ “big deal” book by the one time “big deal” composer, Jules Massenet. My hopes are high.
The curtain rose to a scrim and a stage filled with giant books, a wooden table and chairs, and a lone staircase at the right of the stage. The chorus were a busy lot, dancing about the stage through Spanish ditties that set the collective toes a-tapping. The COC orchestra, led by Johannes Debus, did a fine job keeping the melodies soaring and the rhythms tight.
An actual horse and a donkey strolled on stage, carrying Quichotte and Panza who were both looking slightly worried at the prospect. Italian Ferruccio Furlanetto played Quichotte like an old hat, and his nuanced performance suggested a careful understanding of Cervantes’ beautiful loser archetype. His rich bass voice rumbled and growled with effortless ease, and he projected panache to match. Always the faithful friend, baritone Quinn Kelsey played Sancho Panza, a shambling brute with the heart of gold. His voice was strong and vibrant, and his French diction was particularly very well articulated.
Anita Rachvelishvili made an absolutely ravishing Dulcinée, and she carried the role with a mix of charm and attitude. Her duet with Quichotte in Act 4 was particularly touching.
One of the interesting challenges of performing the role of the Errant Knight Quichotte, is that his character has so many possible interpretations. It’s all too easy to pass him off as just a foolish dreamer, but his genius begins to coalesce with the idea of a dreamer as hero. Quichotte carries a profound understanding that the meaning of life is love and its eternal pursuit. Ferruccio Furlanetto, one of the greatest bass singers of all time, has clearly made the role his very own, and his interpretation speaks volumes as to why Quichotte is the prototype of the flawed, yet endearing knight.
If I were a betting man (and I am), I think it’s only a matter of time until the opera world remembers Massenet again.
Michael Vincent
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