The second opera from tonights Il Triticco is Suor Angelica.
“Senza Mamma” is one of the most lyrically crushing arias in opera and is delivered achingly tonight by Kristine Opolais. The song is a message to her dead son who after being separated feels he died from lacking her touch and kisses; and worse, without knowing she loved him.
I think all great art has this moment where there is an overlap that makes the experience personally meaningful, and I can’t help but think of my own mothers voice when I hear it.
If Il Tabarro wasn’t bleak enough, Suor Angelica makes that dour affair feel like a family sitcom. The innocence of characters in Suor Angelica makes the outcome seem all the more heartbreaking.
So what’s Sour Angelica all about? It begins with Sister Angelica who has been in a convent for seven years after giving birth to an illegitimate child. Angelica’s aunt arrives to have her sign over her inheritance to her younger sister who is about to be married. Before leaving Angelica asks about her son and the aunt tells her that he died two years ago. She is crushed and sings senza mamma singing about how he never knew how much she loved him. Tissues. Soon after she puts to tragic use the plants she was tending to earlier in the opera, but will her soul reach heaven?
Notes on the production
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Sister Angelica……………………. Kristine Opolais
The Monitor…………………………. MaryAnn McCormick
The Princess…………………….…. Stephanie Blythe
The Mistress of Novices ….… Jame Shaulis
Conductor………………………….….. Bertrand de Billy
Metropolitan Opera
11/23/18