Opera Holland Park’s decision to bring two operas together in a double-bill was a stroke of genius yesterday evening. Il segreto di Susanna and Pagliacci deal with the same theme of marital jealousy, but in style and content they couldn’t be more different.

‘Il segreto di Susanna’ by German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, is a little-known comic opera but OHP have performed it twice, once in 2019 and again in 2024. Over in 2019 it was extremely popular with the OHP audience and you can see why.

A husband suspects his fragrant wife of cheating on him when he discovers smoke lingering in the apartment. She doesn’t smoke – it could only be a secret lover. The storyline is wafer-thin, but it makes for good comedy, physical comedy especially.  John Savournin in the silent role of Sante, the butler, was a hoot, his long strides and gymnastics cramming himself into a basket with a lit cigarette was reminiscent of John Cleese’s antics in Fawlty Towers. 

Richard Burkhard as the portly husband, sporting a rose-pink suit was a joy, played his role well in his pleasing and reassuring baritone . Burkhard and Clare Presland singing Susannah were perfectly matching in voice and attire, her floral dress coordinating well with her husband’s suit and the pink peonies in the apartment! The styling, attention to detail and stage direction made this a pristine piece of musical theatre. The music was both frothy and ravishing, referencing Mozart, Debussy and Strauss. This is a good feel opera, with a few truisms, where the cigarette, becomes the symbol of a woman’s independence, her “dream”.

A thirty-minute interval divided the two operas. With Pagliacci, we were transported to a poor region of Italy – a poor acting troupe have come to entertain a village. 

Immediately, and in sharp contrast to the Il segreto score, you felt the voluptuous, dramatic weight of the Pagliacci score. Robert Hayward, as Tonio, an old clown, opened the opera with his limping presence and commanding baritone. “We are men of flesh and blood” he sang. This is an tragic opera about, actors, clowns, life, on and off the stage.

The Pagliacci cast were astoundingly adept at displaying the blurring of fantasy and reality in this opera, their stage personas and their real-life selves morphing into one another. This kept the audience guessing at every turn. Canio and his wife Nedda, hold each other and start to kiss. They kissed a good long while. Until this moment, I had never witnessed such intimacy in opera. Eroticism, passion, yes, but this kissing seemed real – and yet it was Canio’s fantasy, a tender remembrance of the younger days of his marriage. The episode was necessary to reveal the gentler side of the violent Canio.

David Butt Philip as Canio was mesmerising in the role. His tenor would erupt with sudden force and startle you with its emotional vigour. He was clearly a baddie, but the audience felt for him when he sang, “Laugh at the pain that is poisoning your heart”.

He was joined by a top-notch cast and chorus and with talented conductor, Francesco Cilluffo, leading the  City of London Sinfonia, this was opera at its best.

KH

Performances remaining of Pagliacci at Opera Holland Park : 27^th, 30^th July and 1,3 August at 7.30pm