2024 is the centenary of Puccini’s death. In order to honour the great man, James Clutton, Director of Opera at OHP, opted to put on Tosca this season and also Edgar, a little-known early work of Puccini’s.

Edgar premiered at La Scala in 1899 and received a lacklustre reception. Believing he could improve on the opera, Puccini tinkered with the work for a good many years, (in between his more successful operas) and there survives several versions of the opera. For this season, Opera Holland Park performed Puccini’s 1905 three-act version.

As I sat down to watch it, I was expecting an immature opera with problems; in short, a curiosity.

Edgar is the story of a man torn between two women. It’s a theme that is as old as the hills but not a bad one.

 Edgar is destined to marry Fidelia, a pure village girl. Meanwhile, Tigrana, a sensual woman, a sex-worker and outcast, has an erotic hold over Edgar. Tigrana is banned from the village by the church-going folk.

On the night there was a terrific chorus scene, where Tigrana was insulted and harangued by the flock . It was uncomfortable to watch. All the while, Tigrana defiantly stood her ground and sang a lascivious ditty. The opposing musical styles, the organ, the bells made for an interesting, experimental score. Edgar came to Tigrana’s aid and in a fit of madness, burned his family home down! Fidelia’s brother, Frank, a jilted lover of Tigrana’s, arrived. Both men fought as Edgar’s father stood by, unable to calm the commotion. Edgar escaped with Tigrana after wounding poor Frank with a sword .

High drama it was! Subtle it was not. At the end of Act 1, the audience were treated to a grand musical finale. We, in the audience, seemed to be watching an opera in reverse!

Melodrama was put to one side for Act II. The opera became more compelling as Edgar, now living with Tirana, had grown tired of his lover, and treated her with disdain. The scenes between Edgar, sung by Italianate tenor Peter Auty and husky mezzo Gwenth Ann Rand worked well. 

It was however, only in Act III, when the villagers were mourning Edgar’s death, that things really took on a more interesting, unexpected turn.

Edgar had joined the army and had died for his country. At this point there was an unforgettable scene with Anne Sophie Dupreis, who, in the role of Fidelia, sang a remarkably passionate and heartrending, ‘Addio, Edgar’. With her whole body swaying with grief, she defended Edgar’s reputation. We were starting to see glimpses of Puccini’s greatest heroine, Tosca.

In the last half-hour of the opera, Edgar and his life was reviewed by his loved ones and the village folk – is he a sinner or good brave patriotic soldier as Fidelia would have it. Did Tirana truly love him?

Despite its clunky structure and rudimentary characterisations, Edgar is worth seeing (if you can!), especially if you have already exhausted Puccini’s mature output and wish to see a work in progress, where the composer explores what it is to be female.

By the time Tosca premiered on January 14th 1900, the two opposing facets of womanhood, seen in Edgar, eleven years earlier, had come together more judiciously to produce admirable, flawed heroines.

KH

Edgar ran for three performances at Opera Holland Park on 2, 4 and 6 July 2024