'L’amore de tre re' by the Academy of Vocal Arts

It is a buried treasure that should be seen and heard. More than most operas, it’s an effective synthesis of tragic story, rich orchestral music, and singing. As in the operas of Wagner, the tale is told mostly through the orchestra and not through stand-alone arias, but the music is not imitative of Wagner. It sounds Italian with hints of Arrigo Boito plus Richard Strauss and Alexander Scriabin.

Fiora is a young woman engaged to a Prince Avito in her native Italy, but King Archibaldo conquers her land and forces her to marry his son, Manfredo. While her husband is away on military exploits, Fiora has an affair with her former fiancée. Archibaldo suspects what’s going on but cannot identify her lover because he’s blind. He strangles Fiora and coats her lips with poison. The brokenhearted Avito cannot resist a final kiss, which kills him, as Archibaldo had planned. Manfredo returns home, also kisses his wife, and he too dies from the poison.

Much to offer

The score has seething harmonic complexities, and dramatic contributions by brass, woodwinds, four prominent French horns, harp, celeste, and cymbals. Archibaldo, a showpiece role for Ezio Pinza before he moved to Broadway, is a towering character with breathtaking moments. Manfredo has a poignant scene where he wonders whether his wife ever loved him. Avito has a passionate last-act solo that is capped with a high B-flat.

So why did this opera fall into neglect?

The main reason is that you can’t walk out of a performance humming the tunes: Most of the words are declaimed rather than crooned. This is especially noticeable in contrast to Montemezzi’s contemporary, Giacomo Puccini, whose La Boheme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly are exceedingly popular.

A Fascist connection?

Questions have been raised about Montemezzi’s connection with Italy’s Fascist regime. It’s unclear whether Montemezzi supported Mussolini or just tried to ingratiate himself, but he wrote to him in 1931 to recommend his failed opera, La Nave (The Ship) as an appropriate opera to mark the 10th anniversary of the National Fascist Party’s founding. “No other opera can be more suitable than La Nave to exalt the power of our race,” he wrote.

Montemezzi’s reputation amongst the Allies wasn’t helped by this. L’amore de tre re was performed frequently in America from its 1913 premiere until 1941. Then it disappeared except for a single performance in 1949. The political association of its composer with Fascism seems to have doomed it.

Yet another impediment is the opera’s title. Whether in Italian or English, it’s both unwieldy and inaccurate — the plot actually concerns a king and two princes, not three kings. Montemezzi would have done better if he copied Puccini in naming his operas after their leading female characters. L’amore de Tre Re could have been called Fiora — Or maybe named for its most vivid character,the old blind king Archibaldo.

Unique juxtaposition

Because the orchestration is so rich, this production benefitted from the deployment of a 60-piece orchestra, which was placed on the stage, exposing the unique juxtaposition of strings, winds, brass, and percussion to the audience. Christofer Macatsoris led with urgency, intensity and propulsive energy.

The singers moved dramatically and used some props, but there were no costumes nor scenery. They all embodied their roles as if they’ve been playing these characters for years, a mark of the superb coaching they’ve received. After hearing two casts sing this opera, I’m impressed with the depth of talent at the Academy of Vocal Arts — even the secondary tenors who were the king’s servant have voices capable of lead roles on major stages.

Basses Andre Courville and Anthony Schneider as Archibaldo, baritones Jared Bybee and Armando Piña as Manfredo, tenors Marco Cammarato and Galeano Salas as Avito, and sopranos Marina Costa-Jackson and JoAna Rusche were all excellent.