Opera buffs were fascinated by director Marta Domingo’s groundbreaking iteration of Puccini’s La Rondine. Although it’s a staple of opera repertoire, Puccini was apparently never satisfied with this popular work, debuting his musical setting for a story of upper class love and lust in three versions from 1917 through 1921. Part of the score for the third edition was destroyed in an Allied air raid during World War II. And there are duets and arias seldom if ever performed in recent decades, missing pieces that more fully depict the characters.
Domingo’s 1998 reconstruction of Puccini’s probable best intentions for La Rondine was filmed for PBS and is now available on a Decca DVD. Performed at the Washington National Opera, the production was lavishly costumed and mounted. The fully furnished sets were closer to the norm of cinema than opera. The close-ups and various perspectives afforded by the cameras reveal a cast—including Ainhoa Arteta as the courtesan Magda and Marcus Haddock as her wealthy lover Ruggero, as adept at acting as singing. The performances were convincing all around.
