Rarity indeed, for such is this three-act work by Bach, premiered in London 30 years after the opening of the Manoel in Malta.
Eventually only remembered from its overture and a suite of some of its plentiful arias, it disappeared for almost 250 years, until the original manuscript was discovered in a private collection in the US. It was edited by Paul Corneilson and revived and directed by David Stern in February 2012 by Opera Fuoco in Germany and recorded by them.
It was a fine coup on the part of the Valletta International Baroque Festival and the Manoel to bring over the same Opera Fuoco ensemble, directed by Stern, to stage Zanaïda in ideal surroundings and playing on period instruments.
Being such a rarity, for most members of the audience (this writer included) this was all new and everyone wondered what the result would be – including those familiar with the conventions of mid-18th-century opera. Beginning with the vigorous overture and its Turkish touches, much promise could be discerned and this was indeed forthcoming.
The audience warmed up more and more to this charming work. It could not be otherwise because all the main characters, without exception, had a number of difficult set arias to sing.
Preceded by smoothly sung recitatives, the singers showed that they are all highly gifted, having an amazingly smooth vocal agility. Beautiful voices too, and it is hard to make any distinction in lauding their efforts.
Besides, within the stylistic context of the work, they were also convincing in interpreting their parts. This was true even if the final volteface of Tamasse, with regard to Zanaïda, stretches credibility to the limit, even within a genre which anyway needs suspension of credibility par excellence.
The title role was sung by soprano Sara Hreshkowitz, who projected the wronged princess to the full and was to be fortunately rewarded for her loyalty and nobility of character. Tamasse, King of Persia, was also ably interpreted by mezzo-soprano Marina de Liso.
The pity is that females singing breeches roles tend to look rather puny, as was the case with Daphné Touchais singing Cisseo. This initial impression gets overlooked in view of the excellent singing and projection of character, which never failed.
The villainess of the piece, Roselane (soprano Chantal Santon) plotted and schemed but was eventually foiled in her modest scheme to dominate not only Persia, but the whole world! Soprano Vannina Santoni’s Osira was convincing within the context, while the very rich baritone of Pierrick Boisseau as Mustafà was tonally the only deep and most welcome element.
All the relatively secondary roles also had their opportunity to shine as did soprano Julie Fioretti’s Silvera, mezzo-soprano Majdouline Zerari’s Aglatide and tenor Jeffrey Thompson’s highly-stylised Gianguir.
Cathrine Planchez’ costumes (with the help of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles) were a feast to behold and as extravagantly rich as they could and should be. Sigrid T’Hooft’s stage direction ensured a slickness of movement which worked out perfectly with some new backdrops and other projections of Bad Leuchstädt’s Goethe Theatre, where Zanaïda was reborn less than a year ago.