Constructing William Tell in Boston
BLO has graciously made themselves available at short notice to the American Rossini Society which posed numerous questions in connection with their upcoming performances of William Tell. We present some excerpts below and will consolodate their complete answers to distribute to members of ARS. Special thanks to John Michael Kennedy for faciliting these contacts.
We start with the internationally acclaimed George Gagnidze ( who is BLO’s Tell) observation about this epic role:
This is not my first Guillaume Tell: I first sang the role in Weimar 19 years ago, but I have not returned to it since then. After such a long time, it feels almost like approaching a new role, while also rediscovering something that was already part of me. The great joy of the role is the range of Tell’s character. He is a heroic leader who is loved and trusted by his people, but he is also a devoted husband and father, as well as a deeply religious man. The public and private sides of the character are equally important. In “Resta immobile,” for example, the hero suddenly becomes a terrified father who knows that the smallest mistake could kill his own son. The role requires considerable stamina because Tell is on stage for much of the opera, and it also includes some difficult recitatives. Vocally, one needs heroic power and authority, but also legato, soft singing and the elegance of the bel canto tradition. Finding the balance between strength and sensitivity is both a challenge and what makes the role so rewarding.”
We continue with a question for Boston’s Matilde, Anya Matanovic.
A: I often need to find my own way into a role, a way of making sense of the music, text, and staging. I can only fully inhabit the singing once I understand why, in that moment, the character has no choice but to sing those words in that way.
When Mathilde first enters the forest, there is a sense of trepidation in the orchestration. She is leaving the ordered world she knows and entering someplace wilder, both literally and within herself. While we were exploring that scene in rehearsal during the day, I happened that night to be reading Women Who Run with the Wolves, and its idea of the “wild woman” gave me a way into the character.
I began to see “Sombre forêt” as the moment when Mathilde connects to something deeper and more instinctive than her ‘royal’ identity. In nature, she becomes grounded in a different kind of power, and you can hear that shift in Rossini’s music. From that point forward, her music has a new strength.
For me, her transformation is not simply about abandoning her heritage or following Arnold. It is about finding the courage to act according to what she believes is right and just, rather than what her birth and position demand of her. Once I understood that, it became much easier for me to find a truth in my approach to the role.
Q. What prompted the BLO to mount william Tell? Werer there several factors ( availability of artists, the politics, etc.)?
A. – excerpted from Nina Yoshida Nelsen, artistic director of BLO.
.Beyond the scale, the piece itself speaks to what we’re trying to say as an organization looking back on five decades and forward at what comes next. It’s fundamentally about a community coming together to fight against tyranny. This piece premiered almost 200 years ago, in 1829 — and yet there’s something deeply resonant in staging it today. History of communities coming together to resist authoritarian rule repeats itself over and over again, and part of what art can do is ask how we learn from our past to keep from repeating where it leads. That thematic weight made it feel less like a museum piece and more like something urgent to tell today.
Q. What is the process of bringing an opera of this scope from the initial idea to be ready for performance? apparently the sets were already being constructed before Rossini has the fianl libretto in hand for the Parisian premire! Is the timeline different than for a smaller opera?
A. ( NYN)
The process for a piece of this scope starts well before an audience ever sees it — though I’ll say upfront, our timeline looks different from most companies’. Boston Lyric Opera doesn’t have our own theater here in Boston, which means we’re not locking in venues and productions three to five years out the way a company with a permanent home might. While most companies are planning three to five years ahead; we’re often working on a much more compressed timeline, closer to a year. That’s a real constraint, but it’s also the reality of how we have to operate, and it means everything downstream happens faster and more in parallel than it might at another company.
We picked William Tell as our season opener just over a year before opening night. Soon after, we brought our co-directors and co-designers (Vita and David) onto the project, and that’s when the real work of shaping the production began — coming up with and refining the concept, making cuts, and figuring out what this particular William Tell was going to be, because a piece this massive has to be trimmed and shaped for a modern audience. Casting also started around that same time, roughly a year out — which, given how far in advance top singers are typically booked, means we’re often moving faster than we’d ideally like to lock in the artists this piece demands.
We’re in the rehearsal room for about three weeks before we move into the theater for tech rehearsals and performances. By that point, the concept, the cuts, the design, the building of sets and costumes, and the learning of the music have all been running in parallel for about a year.
Nina also takes on the role of Hedwig, and made this observation:
Q.Although Hedwig is not the principal female protagonist, she does play a pivitol role both as a support for her husband and also a conduit for Mathilde’s transition, particularly when the sublime trio for Mathilde, Hedwig, and Jemmy is included in the performance. Do you find this role interesting to work with?
A. Hedwige isn’t the principal female protagonist, but she’s pivotal in a different way — she’s the emotional and moral anchor of the piece. Mathilde’s arc is about crossing a political and personal divide, and Tell’s is about leading a resistance, but Hedwige is the one who embodies what’s actually at stake for ordinary people caught inside all of that: her husband, her child (in our production, a daughter rather than a son), her home, and her safety. She gives the audience someone to feel through, not just watch.
So Hedwige’s role leans heavily on what she carries in her scenes with Tell directly, and on the tension between fear for her family and the demand that her husband act.
And honestly, as a performer, I find secondary roles like this some of the most interesting to inhabit — maybe more interesting than a role built around big solos. Hedwige doesn’t get an aria to carry the emotional argument for her; she has to build presence and stakes through reaction, through what she holds back as much as what she sings. That’s a different kind of craft, and one I find genuinely rewarding.
BLO’s Arnold,Kim Konu had this beautiful response to our question about his role.
How do you see the character of Arnold who after all is very torn between his love for Mathilde and his patriotism. Does Rossini’s music give you all the clues you need?
A. For me, Arnold is a very human character. He is not a person who starts the opera as a great patriot. He is a young man who is in love with Mathilde, but at the same time he loves his father and his country. So he has a very big conflict inside him. I think this is what makes Arnold interesting. He doesn’t simply choose his country instead of Mathilde. Both of them are very important to him. He really loves Mathilde, and I think this makes his decision much more painful. When his father dies, his life changes completely. From that moment, his personal pain becomes connected with the fight for his country. He understands that he cannot continue to live only for himself and for his love. And yes, I think Rossini’s music gives us many clues about Arnold. When he is with Mathilde, the music is very beautiful and lyrical. We can hear the young man who is in love. But when he starts to think about his father and his country, the music becomes much stronger and more dramatic.
For me, “Asile héréditaire” is not only about being a hero or taking revenge. I feel there is a lot of sadness in this aria. Arnold understands that he has lost the life he wanted to have. And after that, he has to find the courage to do what he feels he must do. So I don’t want to play Arnold as a hero who always knows what is right. I see him as a young man who is trying to understand what his responsibility is. He has a lot to lose, and that is why I think his courage is more meaningful.
Then there is the issue of cuts.
BLO Music Director and Tell Conductor David Angus addressed this issue.
Q. What factors were used to determine the cuts in this production of William Tell? Cuts go back to Rossini’s time when according to the biographer Radiciotti, Rossini met the director of the opera in the street, who said to him:”Maestro,this evening we are performing the second act of William Tell. “Really?, answered Rossini – “All of it?”
In making cuts were you guided by Rossini’s own “cut” version?
A. We did take some of the cuts that were suggested in the score, presumably from Rossini’s own cuts, but we went further and removed or shortened anything that we felt held up the drama.
A modern audience doesn’t need ballet sections so that they can eat their picnics or parade in front of other guests! Our chorus and our stage machinery all move more quickly than in Rossini’s time, so the many extended introductions and playouts are no longer necessary and just hold things up.
We have kept all the bones of the story and all the most exquisite music, and I believe we have produced a much tauter and more dramatic show, with greater tension and excitement, whilst still highlighting the wonderful arias and ensembles that Rossini gave us.
Thanks again to all who contributed. We wish BLO a very happy William Tell run.
Anyone wishing to comment on this post is invited to contact the American Rossini Society at American.Rossini.Society@gmail.com