Vivaldi's Farnace returns to Venice at the Teatro Malibran

Historical truth has never been librettists' greatest concern, especially for Baroque opera: real events were just a pretext for fictional plots, often far-fetched and intricate. Vivaldi's Farnace (1727) is no exception. The text had already been set to music by Leonardo Vinci three years earlier, but the subject was of great interest for 18th-century composers, riveted by events in the Anatolian region. There are almost thirty libretti about Farnace II (97-47 BC), Mithridates VI's son.

Despite the title, the real protagonists of the drama are three women: Farnace's mother-in-law Berenice, his wife Tamiri and his sister Selinda. The first has sworn eternal hatred to her son-in-law for killing her husband; the second is torn between obedience to her husband's command and filial love; the third plays skilfully on seduction to restore her brother's throne.

Farnace belongs to Vivaldi's maturity and is one of his most successful works, proved by its countless versions. It was the custom of the time that at each revival the score underwent variations to adapt to new singers and theatres. Thus, after the first Venice version, there were numerous revisions, one for each city where the opera was staged: Livorno, Prague, Pavia (1731), Mantua, Treviso and Ferrara (1738). Only the Pavia and Ferrara versions survived – the Ferrara version lacking its third act.

The renowned Vivaldi expert Diego Fasolis has already recorded Farnace in 2010. Now he brings it back to Venice in a hybrid version, namely that of 1731, where the title role is sung by a tenor, but with the voice distribution of the Venetian original. His conducting highlighted the distinctive features of this opera, that is the dark colour of the voices and the tragic tone of many pages. Fasolis accentuated the orchestral richness of a score that relies less than usual on instrumental preciousness and solo interventions, but creates an effective, full sound drama. Vivaldi's instrumental brilliance was evident in arias such as “Gelido in ogni vena” where the orchestra accompanies Farnace's anguished thoughts about his son, whom he believes he has had killed, with the same ghostly string effects the composer had used in “Winter” from The Four Seasons. Fasolis' conducting confirmed Vivaldi's imaginative theatrical language.

Written for the renowned Anna Girò, Tamiri was here sung by Sonia Prina, returning to an oft-performed role. Her warm timbre and intensity of expression effectively depicted the opera's most complex character. As daughter (of Berenice), wife (of Farnace) and mother, Tamiri is torn in Act 1 by the idea of having to kill her son, as her husband has ordered her to do, to spare him the dishonour of slavery. Her maternal love does not protect her from her husband's accusations of disobedience, nor from her mother's thirst for revenge.

Berenice is a much more monolithic character and Lucia Cirillo had fewer opportunities to diversify the colour of her expression in arias where she declares: “I learned cruelty from that spear that disembowelled my unfortunate husband. I forgot pity aiming at a bloodless son, wet with my blood.” The role of seductress brands Selinda, here Rosa Bove, the singer with the most lyrical touch. She set out her plan to use passion to give rise to jealousy, and from jealousy to wrath and scorn between the two Roman commanders who have fallen in love with her, thus restoring her brother to the throne. The three female portraits were strongly characterised by three excellent performers who, while sharing the same mezzo-soprano register, brought their different and complementary personalities to the stage.

In this production the male singers were less effective. Tenor Christoph Strehl delivered an uneven performance, lacking in agility but impressive in the tragic scene of the aforementioned aria “Gelido in ogni vena”. The recitatives were a problem not only for Strehl, but also for Valentino Buzza, who could not find the right tone for Pompeo, here too pompous and declamatory. Kangmin Justin Kim's voice was weak to the point of audibility as Gilade, but he was perfectly at ease in his coloratura. David Ferri Durà was an unremarkable Aquilio – here a tenor role – for whom Vivaldi wrote only one aria.

Director Christophe Gayral sets the story in our own times, in an unidentified Middle Eastern region. In Rudy Sabounghi's sets, concrete artefacts similar to defence casemates dot the desolate scene, vividly lit by Giuseppe di Iorio. Elena Cicorella's costumes blend military uniforms for the Romans and Berenice with oriental costumes for Farnace and the two other women – with western details for Selinda's seductive weapons, namely a bra and shoes with stiletto heels.

The dramaturgy does not fully resolve the comings and goings of the characters and the finale leaves the audience even more disoriented. Instead of the expected happy ending, Farnace ascends to the throne, together with Selinda and his son, after murdering all the others, including his wife. In a richly braided military uniform, he will be the next dictator of the region. This gimmick was not well received by the audience, who cheered the musical creators instead.