For the coronation of Charles X as King of France, to take place in the cathedral at Rheims, the site traditionally used under the ancien régime, Rossini composed Il Viaggio a Reims ossia L'Albergo del Giglio d'Oro (The Journey to Rheims, or The Inn of the Golden Fleur-de-lys). The opera had an Italian text by Luigi Balocchi.
The opera was considered a success, although the king found it long and boring. Rossini alowed only a limited number of performances. He wished to re-use some of the music in another opera that would not be tied to so specific an event as the coronation. He did adapt some of the material for use in Le Comte Ory in 1828.
The plot of Il Viaggio a Reims involves an international assortment of guests at an inn en route to the coronation. The opera was written to be performed as one act (perhaps that is why the king found it long). After various interactions among the guests, there is a farewell entertainment in which the guests sing national songs. (See Gioacchino Rossini, The Reluctant Hero, by Alan Kendall, 1992).
Richard Osborne, author of a biography of Rossini has called Il Viaggio a Reims "a series of treats for the musical gourmet." (Rossini, by Richard Osborne (The Master musicians series), London & Melbourne, 1986).
DVD
| Rossini - Il Viaggio a Reims | ||
IL VIAGGIO A REIMS. Music by Gioachino Rossini. Libretto by Luigi Balocchi. With Kathryn Honan-Carter, Peter Strummer, Kenneth Floyd, Sally Wolf, Mary Dunleavy, Leah Creek, Benjamin Brecher, Kevin Glavin, Dean Ely, Paula Rasmussen, Jefrey Francis, Monte Jaffe, Camilla Tilling, Roberto Scaltriti, Jennifer Hines, Barry Banks, David Ossenfort, and John Lankston. Conducted by George Manahan. Director James Robinson. Set designer Allen Moyer. Costumer designer Anna Oliver.
I attended the performance of "Il Viaggio a Reims" by the New York City Opera on the afternoon of Saturday 25, 1999.
Uppermost in my mind was the "sound enhancement" system, newly installed in the State Theater this season. I was hearing it for the first time. From seat G 14 in the Fourth Tier, I did not form a favorable impression. The orchestra was relatively loud, louder than I would have liked. The voices were generally somewhat louder than I am accustomed to hearing in the State Theater as well. The sound most of the time seemed to emanate from speakers on the side walls rather than from the stage. It had a slightly artificial quality that was occasionally slightly unpleasant to my ears.
The production was a lively one, much enjoyed by the audience. Rossini composed the opera to be performed as part of the festivities surrounding the coronation of Charles X as King of France. Considered by Rossini merely an occasional work, the opera fell from the repertory. Rossini used some of the music for later woorks, most notably "Le Comte Ory."
The story involves an assembly of international guests of rank at a hotel en route to the coronation at Reims. There are various amatory interactions among them. Ultimately, no horses are available to take the characters to Reims. They then stage their own celebration of national songs at the hotel.
The sets at City Opera depict a corridor and a room with an indoor pool at a health spa. The walls and floor are of light green tile. It was often unclear why the action was taking place in a corridor or in the room with the indoor pool. In fact, it was hard to keep the characters straight, and to understand or care who was in love with whom. It did not help that the program booklet provided only the most minimal one-paragraph overview of the story. There was a little more lying on the floor than seemed called for, and some of the action in the male-female duets was excessive.
Rossini had ten major singers available to him, and the libretto gave each of them a role. Much of the music is of very good quality. The singers were generally good. Camilla Tilling (Corinna), Mary Dunleavy (Countess of Folleville), and Sally Wolf (Madame Cortese) stood out as the best. Roberto Scaltriti, the baritone making his City Opera debut as Lord Sidney, was the one singer who seemed just barely adequate.
Although Rossini had composed the opera to be performed as one long act, City Opera mercifully provided an intermission after a first act of approximately one hour and forty minutes. On the whole, the performance was enjoyable, and my interest flagged only during the national songs of the last half hour.
John Pierce
In the New York Times of February 7, 2000, critic Allan Kozinn, who was reviewing a performance by the New York Philharmonic of the overture to Il Viaggio a Reims, wrote: "The clattery overture to 'Il Viaggio a Reims,' the Rossini opera--about the travails of a group of travelers--is now believed not to have been the work of Rossini at all, but of an unknown 20th-century composer who adopted Rossini's style to create an overture from a bucketful of Rossini's themes."