'La Merope': when the stars align at the Liceu

Among the many duties of every public theatre is the recovery of heritage, especially indigenous heritage. And this includes opera houses. Since its reopening, the Liceu has done its homework half-heartedly, because there have been seasons without titles by our composers and, when there have been, the formula of the concert version has often been chosen.

In the case of Thursday night, the stars aligned in favour of The Merope, a serious opera in three acts with a libretto by Apostolo Zeno premiered in Rome in 1743 with music by the Barcelona-born Domènec Terradellas (1713-1751). After travelling around Europe in the style of an adventure novel, he was taken to Naples and ended up in Rome, where he was murdered in strange circumstances. Terradellas left a legacy with titles such as Artserse, Mithridates, Giuseppe recognized (a scenic oratorio that we were able to hear a few months ago) at the Palau de la Música), The Merope and Sestri, king of Egypt, which was performed in 1754 at the Teatro de Santa Cruz in Barcelona, where it was the first opera by a Catalan composer to be performed in the city.

Terradellas' work is still too unknown to us, although The Merope (of which Robert Gerhard made a critical edition) was seen in the Orange Garden of Can Bartomeu in 1955. Later, To be artful and Sestri have also made an appearance, but in a very timid way.

That the Liceu has opted for The Merope This is excellent news, especially because of the presence of the aligned stars of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted with energetic poise by Francesco Corti. Impeccable sound for a concert version (on tour in Madrid, Vienna and Berlin) that allows us to enjoy a well-coordinated musical team and occasional shining vocal stars. Especially the soprano Francesca Pia Vitale, an Epitide with a fiery voice, impeccable coloratura and generous projection. Terradellas' score is excellent, with great originality in the melodic and harmonic turns and risky use of resources such as intervallic leaps. And that meant that the singing of the soprano Emöke Baráth (Merope) did not always conform to the precision that the composer asks for in the attack on the committed high notes. The Trasimede by countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian was very good and went from less to more, the Polifonte by tenor Valerio Contaldo and the Licisco by mezzo Margherita Maria Sala were correct and the Argia by soprano Sunhae Im and the Anassandro by tenor Thomas Hobbs were discreet.