Marianela Marianela,
The work is based on a good libretto, which always functions well and adequately condenses Galdós's drama/novel. In reality it is one of the Spanish writer’s least typical works, due to its sentimental background, but perhaps that very reason makes it a good candidate for lyric transformation. The libretto starts from the theatrical version, logically abbreviated and condensed by the Quintero brothers from the original novel. Pahissa concentrates it, to build an opera of solid musical dramaturgy, in modern style, straightforwardly developed to suit operatic aesthetics.
An event like this will be remembered as a moment of historical importance. We must salute Teatro de la Zarzuela, especially its director Daniel Bianco, for maintaining the commitment to promote revivals of Spanish repertoire – no easy task, given the organizational conditions of a theatre that depends on ministerial bureaucracy, especially in the face of a pandemic. If it is a miracle to present opera and music under Covid (we should remember what is happening in such great international centres as La Scala, Vienna State Opera or the New York Metropolitan) it is even more so to present a revival of an unknown work, honoured with great artistry. It is surprising to find that Pahissa composed many other operas: Gala Placidia (1913), La Morisca (1919) and La princesa Margarida (1928) all premiered at the Liceu. That was a time when local flowers bloomed naturally in the programmes of the theatre in Las Ramblas, with many other operas, such as those by Enric Morera (Emporium, Bruniselda, Titaina and Tassarba), Hesperia by Lamote de Grignon, Nerón by Joan Manén – and the posthumous revival of Vives’s Euda d’Uriach in 1934, an opera mounted in 1900 before the composer moved to Madrid and focussed his career on zarzuela. This is no mere scholarly list, but a catalogue of works of considerable interest, which were appreciated in their time. From this group, Marianela also enjoyed some international exposure, being presented at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires during 1946, after Pahissa moved to Argentina. That native opera flourished, no one can doubt, except through ignorance or lack of interest. Despite this, today’s Spanish opera houses have nothing to do with it: neither the Liceu nor Madrid’s Teatro Real have shown even minimal interest in artistic endeavours such as this Marianela. We must not cease denouncing the laziness of theatres that, under the protection of foundations, operate mainly with public funds – of course much larger ones than those managed by Teatro de la Zarzuela – and which should not ignore opportunities to do cultural service, by searching for gaps between their endless Don Giovannis and Traviatas to bring to light works such as this. This is not a matter of national pride, but of belief in the genre and its riches. Just as the operatic repertoire is enriched by Czech works like Rusalka, many of these Spanish operas would cause surprise. These opera houses have been oblivious to ‘el año Galdos’, the centenary of his death in 1920, not realising that they had such a work to hand as Marianela. The writer was a great lover of music, who worked in his early days as a critic at the Teatro Real, which appears in many of his novels. At least Teatro de la Zarzuela has not missed the opportunity to show that this opera ought to be staged sometime soon. Sadly, its presentation in the theatre has been somewhat ephemeral, as no recording has been scheduled – or even a single broadcast. This is not the fault of Teatro de la Zarzuela, but of other institutions such as RTVE and the Ministry of Culture itself. But let’s not lose hope, instead congratulating ourselves on the rediscovery of a great opera, on a text by one of our great novelists. For music lovers at least, this has been the great moment of this ‘Galdós Year’. © Víctor Sánchez Sánchez and zarzuela.net, 2020
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