Two-thirds of a triumph: Tatjana Gürbaca’s Trittico at the Wiener Staatsoper

Tatjana Gürbaca's staging of Puccini’s Il trittico, the Wiener Staatsoper’s first premiere of the season, has much to recommend it. After getting off to a bit of a slow start the Berlin-based director’s realization just keeps improving, ending with a bravura piece of well-cast Personenregie. 

The binding theme in Puccini’s three one-act operas is concealed death, although the emotions linked to those deaths differ from piece to piece. In Il tabarro, anger and jealousy prompt Michele to murder Luigi, the lover of his wife, Giorgetta, hiding the body under his coat. Gürbaca, seizing on Giorgetta’s line “Come è difficile esser felici” uses the German translation in pieces throughout the evening, beginning with “schwer glücklich sein” in neon orange lights. This, at first the only stage design, makes for a sparse backdrop indeed, which is not helped by a staging that is minimalistic and confusing. Giorgetta is continuously flirting with or being physically fondled by other men in front of her husband, so Michele's sudden murderous jealousy feels incongruous. Silke Willrett's costumes are modern-ish but not terribly attractive for a cast of middle-aged actors who look like they are cosplaying Riverdale characters. Poor Frugola gets the worst of it – her wig alone should warrant a bonus for extreme workplace duress. 

On the upside, everyone could really sing. Joshua Guerrero’s tenor was resonant, precise and focused and Michael Volle was effective as the broken husband. He and Anja Kampe (Giorgetta) are full-voiced, technically proficient singers who were both forced to show their work at times, becoming strident when Philippe Jordan pushed the orchestra past the dynamic comfort of their characteristically warm sound. 

If Tabarro’s emotional world is anger and pain, a concealed death in Suor Angelica prompts motherly love and tragedy. Learning that her illegitimate son has died prompts Angelica’s suicide in the hopes of them being reunited. Here the word “sein” alone is highlighted, a word that in German means both “his” and “to be,” an effective conceptual touch in Henrik Ahr's design. From the opening offstage bells and choral singing, there is a lightness and vulnerability that differs so thoroughly from the menacing drones that fill the prelude to Tabarro, presaging disaster and evoking the barges on which the characters work. 

Jordan brought out these colors and contrasts effectively, and there were moments of effective shading, though they were nothing in comparison with Eleonora Buratto’s title role performance. Never forcing, she possesses not only an exceptionally beautiful voice, but a very well-regulated one. Her spin in the lower register and forward placement allowed her to move from drama, desperation and broken fragility with utter ease. The rest of the nuns, including Patricia Nolz, Daria Sushkova, Florina Ilie, Pittock Daviodona and Jefferies Charlotte and Isabel Signoret, were likewise beautifully cast; they may be dressed identically but their characters were vocally and physically curated. The scene-stealer, as Angelica’s aunt, was Michaela Schuster, whose haughtiness was as brilliantly imposing as her mezzo-soprano. Gürbaca seems unconvinced by Puccini’s ending; here the son is not dead after all, making Angelica’s mortal self-harm the true tragedy.

After all that emotional heaviness, Gianni Schicchi, which begins during intermission with Buoso listening to the radio during carnival, is a comedic antidote. Buoso chokes on pills washed down with wine and dies comically, face planted in a plate of spaghetti, after which a Weekend at Bernie’s cover-up begins as his disinherited family – all dressed as the carnival figures they are – scheme and squabble over his possessions. 

The casting was ideal, with Ambrogio Maestri at the helm, a perfect Gianni Schicchi who imitates, mocks, preaches and presides over the whole debacle. Lauretta, played by Serena Sáenz, produced the perennial favorite “O mio babbino caro” with freshness, and the talent did not ebb down the line. Highlights included house favorites Dan Paul Dumitrescu and Clemens Unterreiner, newcomers Anna Bondarenko and Daria Sushkova and many others, but all deserving of their own mention. “Gluck” (happiness) is the word behind all the action now, and Gürbaca’s directorial chops are in full glory here. For whatever reason, Schicchi seems to be where her energy was primarily invested. Regardless, despite some unevenness, the entire production is worth seeing and musically outstanding. Perhaps for critics like myself it is simply troppo difficile essere felice!