It was with some trepidation that I went to La Scala to see Marshall Pynkoski’s new production of Mozart’s seldom performed Lucio Silla, K.135, the trepidation arising from the fact that seldom-performed works are usually so for a reason. The opera is early Mozart, and one is reminded that a composer is a child of his times: he wrote for soprano castrato (Cecilio) performed, as is current convention, by a soprano, as was the role of Lucio Cinna. It did mean that there were plenty of ruffs and flourished riding coats in evidence (of which more anon).

The main character, Lucio Silla, is played by a tenor (Kresimir Spicer) and is the tyrannical leader of the Roman republic, having killed his rival Caio Mario, but unfortunately fallen for Giunia, Caio Mario’s daughter. She in turn is in love with Cecilio, who has fled in to exile, but has returned to kill Silla. (It was a little disconcerting in that there was definite confusion between the programme notes and the subtitles as to whether he was Giunia’s husband or lover…).  Silla’s sister, Celia, is in love with Silla’s erstwhile friend, Cinna, who is in league with Cecilio. A plot to kill Silla is foiled, with the expectation that Cecilio will be put to death and Giunia will kill herself rather than be forced to marry Silla. However, Silla steps down as dictator, pardons Cecilio, and lets him marry Giunia (Cinna marries Celia too). All’s well that ends well….(and the girl gets the girl – twice).

This opera must be a nightmare to stage! The challenge is that the ‘action’ is a succession of arias sung centre stage with very little else going on. A palpable flurry of activity did break out at one point (sword fight as an attempt is made to kill Silla) but swiftly passed. An earlier scene in the tombs (where Cecilio meets Giunia) had a group of men in black with daggers dancing around, which was more reminiscent of a vampire film than Mozart at La Scala. A result of the lack of action is a tendency to magnify every movement for dramatic effect; hence the coat flourishes when turning away from a character, or the ‘meaningful’ glances (so beloved of Downton Abbey). Some of the dramatic gestures were effective (for example, Silla moves away from centre stage to the orchestra pit to sing the piece announcing that he is leaving centre stage of political life – you get the idea…), others less so. The moment when Silla unties Cecilio’s blindfold to pardon him should be full of dramatic tension, but was lost in the applause for the previous aria (which really is just poor timing). There was also the issue of verisimilitude: I know how a guy looks at or holds a girl he is attracted to, and this was not it! (I accept that a castrato may not have had any better idea in this respect than a soprano!). The honourable exception was Celia (Giulia Semenzato); whilst I admit I liked her voice, where she really scored (for me) was the depth of feeling she expressed when around Cinna, which was light years away from the other female performers. Giunia (Lenneke Ruiten) was played as an ‘ice maiden’, only softening slightly in what she believes to be her farewell to Cecilio: the La Scala audience at this performance was not taken with her and there was booing at the final curtain. Silla, however, I liked (as did the audience), I thought he sang well and with feeling. I particularly enjoyed the aria where he muses that, despite all his power, he cannot force Giunia to love him. It gave the opportunity to show a range of emotion.

Musically, the score held one’s attention, and Marc Minkowski directed the orchestra with good pace. It did show how Mozart’s development in the art form started with the musical composition, with the complexities of staging/action/movement coming to him later. It was not an uninteresting performance (albeit aspects could have been executed better) and the music was absorbing (and new to me), yet the overall sensation was of something that lacked dramatic impact. Seldom performed operas are seldom performed for a reason.

Mozart’s Lucio Silla was performed at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, from February 26th to March 17th 2015.