The list of tenors who have sung a principal role in the opening season of the Metropolitan Opera in New York reads like a best-of list. From José Carreras, Mario Lanza and Enrico Caruso to Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, the list reaches the high notes of bel canto.

Joseph Calleja last night added his name to the list.

An air of anticipation surrounded the Met’s opening night with the staging of the new production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma last night.

The anticipation was heightened by the debut of Mr Calleja in the leading role of Roman commander Pollione and soprano Sondra Ravanovsky, sharing the druid priestess’s role with Marina Rebeka and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato taking the role of Adalgisa.

Last year Mr Calleja played the leading role of Pollione in the Royal Opera House’s staging of Norma.

This year’s is a new production directed by Sir David McVicar.

Asked to make a comparison between both, Mr Calleja said: “I think they’re both good productions. This, because it’s period, is truer to the story than the one in London. That doesn’t mean it’s better. The audience will decide on that,” he said.

“The fact that I’m not in a suit in the first act (the first aria) does help my role a lot, because it immediately makes clear who I am, rather than someone who is quite indefinite, but again it’s always the choice of the producer.”

Asked what he thinks of Pollione as a character, Mr Calleja added: “Pollione is a narcissist, but not necessarily a malignant one because he realises his mistake – narcissists are never wrong and never apologise.

“As a character, he’s powerful, is a great warrior and leader, and has an incredible amount of charisma.”

Italian conductor Carlo Rizzi stepped on to the Met’s podium once again to open the 2017-2018 season in a McVicar production.

Mro Rizzi returned to conduct the bel canto masterpiece in New York having inaugurated the previous production, which opened in 2001 and was staged until 2013.

Mro Rizzi worked with Mr Calleja at the beginning of his career, conducting one of the Maltese tenor’s first recordings.

“Then, a few years later, when I was music director of Welsh National Opera, I invited him to sing Rigoletto in my theatre. It is very nice to meet again on this important occasion, opening the season of the Metropolitan Opera singing Pollione,” Mro Rizzi told the Times of Malta.

“During the past weeks, we have worked extensively on the role, particularly on the use of the nuances and the phrasing which is so vital in the bel canto operas. This role is a perfect match with Calleja’s voice at this stage of his career and the rehearsal process with him and the other singers has been really positive and exciting.”

Singers praise Mro Rizzi for being a singer’s conductor.

“Being a singer’s conductor means to work with singers rather than against them, or ignoring them. Conducting an opera is not like conducting a symphony. Singers are an integral part of the opera; without singers there would not be an opera, and it is with the singing that the composers express the drama of the opera,” Mro Rizzi explained.

“When I conduct an opera it is vital to work with the singers. This does not mean doing what the singer wants, but helping the singer to find the best way to express the musical phrasing and the drama according to the vocal quality of that particular singer,” he added.

Norma, Bellini’s most famous work, is rarely performed because of its vocal demands. As one of the early 19th century operas of bel canto style, it is a work in which the beauty of the voice takes centre stage.

The story’s main lines are religion and forbidden love. A Druid priestess must remain chaste to serve the goddess of the moon, but Norma has secretly had a longstanding love affair with the Roman oppressor by whom she has borne two children.

Now Pollione is deserting her for a younger woman and Norma is torn between the desire for vengeance and maternal love.

It is a hard act to follow in a role so memorably defined by Maria Callas.

“The notes are there in the score. You can’t just ignore them to make it easier for your voice,” Ms Callas once said in an interview with the Queen’s first cousin Lord Harewood, who devoted much of his life to opera. The late Greek soprano stated that singing the part in a bel canto opera was much more difficult than a role for one of Richard Wagner’s operas.

Bellini was probably the purest bel canto master and in Norma, he showcased all his talent, with fluent vocal writing, tragic and passionate outbursts, and daring leaps.

One of the performances of Norma, scheduled for October 7, will be transmitted live in cinemas throughout the world, including St James Cavalier, as part of The Met: Live in HD broadcast series.

 

Passion and betrayal

Bellini’s Norma was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1831.

Bellini (1801-1835) was a Sicilian composer whose greatest gift was his extraordinary understanding of the human voice.

His meteoric career was cut short by his death at the age of 33, shortly after his opera I Puritani triumphed in its Parisian premiere.

Norma is set in Gaul (France) at the beginning of its occupation by the Roman Empire. Most of the characters are druids, members of the Gallic priesthood, the only exceptions being the tenors, both of whom are Romans. The Roman Empire, long depicted in European culture as a civilising force, is here seen as corrupt and exploitative.

Norma is perhaps the archetypal bel canto opera, a style of singing that flourished in Italy in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Its principal features are beauty of tone, legato phrasing, and the delivery of florid ornamentation.

The score of Norma is characterised by extraordinary melody punctuated by sharp moments of raw drama.

This opera is an extraordinary fusion of sublime melody, vocal challenge, and dramatic power. It examines an archetypal situation that pits a powerful woman against her betraying lover and a younger woman who is the new object of her former lover’s attention and in whom Norma sees both a rival and a second self.

The title role demands dramatic vocal power combined with the agility and technique of a coloratura singer. It is a daunting challenge that few can rise to: those who have are part of operatic lore.