Verdi: Les vêpres siciliennes; Sara Cortolezzis, Valentyn Dytiuk, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Quinn Kelsey, director: Stefan Herheim/Dan Dooner, conductor: Speranza Scappucci; Royal Opera Home
Reviewed 3 October 2025
Verdi’s drawback French grand opera returns with Herheim’s grand staging lifted by some very good solo performances
Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes was his second try to put in writing a full grand opera for the Paris Opera. His first, Jérusalem from 1847 had been a serious rewrite of I Lombardi however Les vêpres siciliennes was supposed to start out with a brand new libretto. The 1848 revolutions slowed issues down, and by 1853 librettist Eugène Scribe had missed deadlines. Verdi was eager to work with Scribe and to create a five-act grand opera within the custom of Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots (1836) and Le prophète (1849). However instances have been a-changing; musical style alongside the social adjustments wrought by the 1848 revolutions and the creation of Napoleon III’s imperial monarchy meant that five-act grand opera was beginning to look old school.
Shortly after the premiere of Les vêpres siciliennes, Verdi would set to and create a French model of Il trovatore, Le trouvère which included a ballet alongside different adjustments but was nonetheless recognisably Verdi’s Italian opera slightly than a grand opera. When Les vêpres siciliennes fell out of the repertoire on the Paris Opera it was to get replaced by Le trouvère. And La traviata could be carried out in Paris each in Italian and in a French model by by Édouard Duprez, older brother of the tenor Gilbert Duprez. But Verdi’s fascination with French grand opera continued, and he would return for a 3rd, profitable go along with Don Carlos.
Les vêpres siciliennes has issues as a result of Scribe prompt fixing the time-constraint points through the use of a earlier libretto Le duc d’Albe, written 20 years earlier for Halévy (who refused it) after which provided to Donizetti (who partly set it to music in 1839). Thus the libretto was pointing again to grand opera of one other period. One other drawback was that the unique had solely 4 acts while Verdi pressed for the complete 5 acts. Scribe duly obliged, however the last act of Les vêpres siciliennes has by no means actually hung collectively. Although Verdi solely solved the ‘grand opera drawback’ totally in Don Carlos, his expertise of working with the Paris Opera would have an effect on all of his later works that are bigger in scale with better amplitude. The actual points with Les vêpres siciliennes could be returned to slightly extra efficiently with Un ballo in maschera.
Due to its size and the truth that French grand opera continues to be a slightly undervalued style, Les vêpres siciliennes doesn’t seem too usually on phases. The one two main productions in latest reminiscence within the UK being Stefan Herheim’s 2013 manufacturing on the Royal Opera Home [see my review] and David Pountney’s 2022 manufacturing of Welsh Nationwide Opera [see my review]. These with lengthy recollections would possibly bear in mind the manufacturing at ENO in 1984 with Rosalind Plowright, Kenneth Collins, Neil Howlett and Richard Van Allan [it is on YouTube]
Herheim units his manufacturing within the theatre, the battle is offered as a theatrical one. The locus for that is the Palais Garnier which post-dates the premier of Les vêpres siciliennes by not less than 10 years by which period Les vêpres siciliennes had disappeared from Paris phases totally!
Herheim’s manufacturing returned to the Royal Opera Home final month for its second revival (the manufacturing debuted in 2013 and was revived in 2017). Regardless of my reservations concerning the manufacturing, that the Royal Opera is persisting with this prime piece of French grand opera is admirable. This revival was within the arms of revival director Dan Dooner and carried out by Speranza Scappucci making her debut as principal visitor conductor.
Casting was considerably topsy turvy with each soprano Marina Rebeka and tenor SeongJong Baek dropping out. The function of Hélène was shared between Joyce El-Khoury and Sara Cortolezzis with Ukrainian tenor Valentyn Dytiuk as Henri. On Friday 3 October 2025 we caught the efficiency with Sara Cortolezzis making her sole look as Hélène, Cortolezzis having impressed as Amelia in Opera North’s manufacturing of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra [see my review]. Ildebrando D’Arcangelo was Procida and Quinn Kelsey was Man de Montfort, with Blaise Malaba as Le Sire de Béthune, Thomas D Hopkinson as Le Comte de Vaudemont.
Philipp Fürhofer’s advanced surroundings nonetheless appears to be like good-looking certainly and fortunately the issue with the creaking and stage noise has not reappeared. But it surely must be admitted that a few of the strikes are lower than clean and also you discover the transferring surroundings in methods that aren’t thought.
The drama slightly took a while to get going. There have been fairly a couple of younger folks within the viewers, which is admirable certainly, however on the first interval (after Act Two) we heard some discussing whether or not they have been going to remain. It didn’t assist that in Act Two, the essential scenes between Hélène, Henri and Procida have been a little bit too shut to face and sing. There was little question that the voices have been very good. Within the first two acts Sara Cortolezzis made Hélène one thing of a distant icon, it was tough to imagine her relationship with Henri, however this was not helped by Valentyn Dytiuk being a performer who relied extra on his voice than his physicality. That stated, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo’s account of O tu Palerme was nice certainly and a sign of the beauties to come back.
The plot solely actually will get moving into Act Three and this benefitted from a really excellent efficiency by Quinn Kelsey [a fine Rigoletto at ENO back in 2014, see my review]. He actually caught the opera’s theme of the battle of public obligation and personal ardour. When Valentyn Dytiuk’s Henri joined him the outcomes have been musically vivid and compelling. The ball scene maybe didn’t fairly sustain the depth, however it managed the stability between spectacle and private dedication. It was in Act 4 that the efficiency actually got here collectively. Valentyn Dytiuk made Henri’s solo vividly intense and his voice greater than made up for a sure stiffness of character, then the scene with Sara Cortolezzis’s Hélène, main into the trio with D’Arcangelo and the stand-off with Kelsey. This singers made this gripping stuff, and also you forgave that the manufacturing itself was disappointing.
Sara Cortolezzis made Hélène’s private conflicts compelling. She had a really nice sense of Verdian line while giving the extra intimate moments a particular really feel. This was a nice efficiency certainly and I do hope that she returns to the Covent Backyard stage too. Valentyn Dytiuk confirmed that when he had the precise materials, he might actually create a musical character and maybe with an extended rehearsal interval he would have embodied Henri extra. Ildebrando D’Arcangelo managed to make Procida inform regardless that the character is slightly under-written and a bit comedian lower out. It was, nonetheless, Quinn Kelsey who matched Cortolezzis for probably the most expressive and complicated efficiency of the night.
The dramatic stage dropped in Act 5. For a begin, has anybody ever labored out why Hélène celebrates he marriage ceremony day by singing a bolero? Wonderful although it was. Cortolezzis made her change of coronary heart touching. They introduced off the need they, will not they pressure although this takes too lengthy, regardless of Ildebrando D’Arcangelo’s outstanding flip as a murderous determine in a frock!
The smaller roles have been all properly taken and a specific shout out to Blaise Malaba who made the comparatively thankless function of Le Sire de Béthune into one thing a bit particular.
Within the pit, Speranza Scappucci introduced out the large-scale ceremonial sweep of the music, relishing the richness of Verdi’s orchestration for the big Paris Opera orchestra, but the extra private scenes had an intimacy too.
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