Can Pavarotti, Domingo, Kaufmann, Marton, Netrebko, Harteros save IL TROVATORE?

Il Trovatore - whenever I see or hear this opera my only question is: what possessed Verdi to compose his divine music to such an absurd libretto? Probably money - and that’s a great reason, I get that. But what an awful, truly awful story he had to deal with.

There is this quote attributed to Caruso that Trovatore is an easy to produce opera: the only thing you need is the best 4 singers in the world. I would add the best stage director in the world to this list because it is a simply impossible task to make sense of the nonsense happening in this opera.

Bad enough that almost nothing is happening on stage. And that this nothing is always happening at night. Everything interesting happens between the acts and will be narrated in the following act. Every fight or duel or meaningful development - we never see it, we just hear about it after it happened somewhere else, probably in the cafeteria of the opera house or in the dressing rooms, I don’t know.

Original videos:
Bayerische Staatsoper 2013    • Видео  
Staatsoper Berlin 2013    • Видео  
Metropolitan Opera 1988    • Il Trovatore by Verdi--Pavarotti (com...