Edgar, Opera Holland Park review ★★★★★

In the centenary of Giacomo Puccini’s death, Opera Holland Park gives three semi-staged performances of one of his least-known works, Edgar, and after the staging of his first opera, Le Villi, in 2022, it is exciting to see another of his rarities aired.

Edgar was Puccini’s second opera, and was based on Alfred de Musset’s play La Coupe et les Lèvres, with libretto by his Le Villi co-collaborator, Ferdinando Fontana. Where Le Villi was inspired by Germanic folklore, Puccini brings this story to Flanders, even though de Musset’s original story was set in the Tyrolean Alps.

Young Edgar is torn between the virtuous Fidelia, to whom he is betrothed, and the seductive Tigrana. Abandoning Fidelia for a life of hedonism with Tigrana, Edgar is filled with regret and feigns his own death to escape his turmoil. He eventually realises Fidelia's true love and returns to her. Tigrana, jealous and vengeful, exposes Edgar's deceit, with terrible consequences.

Anne Sophie Dupree's as Fidelia. Photo: Ali Wright

In Ruth Knight’s production, Tigrana is abandoned by her parents as a child, and has made her way in the world through sex work; she is portrayed less as a plotting and vengeful seductress and more as an outsider whose chances are stacked against her from the beginning.

Despite high expectations and the initial enthusiasm surrounding Puccini's promising talent, the premiere of Edgar in 1889 was met with mixed reviews; critics and audiences found the libretto convoluted and the characters unconvincing.

Puccini himself was not dissatisfied with his second opera. He revised the piece several times in an attempt to address its shortcomings. The most significant revision came in 1905 (the version OHP is performing), when Puccini reduced the opera to three acts, hoping to tighten the narrative and improve its theatrical impact.

Peter Auty as Edgar and Julien Van Mellearts as Frank. Photo: Ali Wright

Some of the music is taken from the composer's Messa di Gloria, which Opera Holland Park performed earlier in this Puccini centenary, and the Opera Holland Park Chorus sings it spectacularly. All in black with a little stylised movement, the singers are reminiscent of a Greek chorus, watching and accompanying the downfall of the drama's main characters.

Principals are costumed and act their roles affectingly. Anne Sophie Duprels and Peter Auty are cast in roles similar to those they performed in Le Villi. Duprels shines as the sweet and infatuated Fidelia, and her voice floats beautifully through the score.

Although the character is treated with little empathy, the audience sympathises with this Tigrana, thanks to Gweneth Ann Rand's ability to defy Puccini's intentions and portray her as a woman betrayed by her lover and by those around her, rather than as a temptress, as she is conventionally depicted.

James Cleverton as Gualtiero. Photo: Ali Wright

Naomi Woo ignites the best of the City of London Symphonia, celebrating an anniversary of its own, after 20 years as OHP’s resident orchestra. The most soaring moments of Puccini’s score glisten.

Puccini's greatest music was yet to come, and so Edgar doesn't make it to the stage very often. But in this important year it is wonderful to see it come to life. Knight and the OHP team do this brilliantly.

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Edgar is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Further performances on 4 and 6 July