Backstage at the Comédie-Française in the Paris of 1730, the title character of Francesco Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur,” a leading actress with the company, demurs when hailed by a prince and an abbé as a muse, a goddess, a siren. No, Adriana answers in the short, soaring aria “Io son l’umile ancella.” She is a humble maidservant of the creative spirit who provides the words, the delicate instrument that serves the creator’s hand. Actually, Cilea created this 1902 opera as a surefire vehicle for a prima donna, so it’s always hard to take Adriana’s words seriously when a soprano sings them. But on Monday at the Metropolitan Opera’s New Year’s Eve gala premiere of a new production of “Adriana,” Anna Netrebko turned this aria into the aching expression of a woman who triumphs on the stage but muddles through life. When we meet her she is hopelessly in love with a dashing young man, Maurizio, whom she believes to be an ensign to a count. (He actually is the Count of Saxony.) But even before we see the lovers together, Ms. Netrebko, for all the charisma and allure she conveyed with her glamorous presence and her plush, intensely beautiful singing, suggested… Read full this story
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