Guglielmo Tell will be my marathon

Translation by Giovanna Mazzei of Guglielmo Tell sarà la mia maratona an interview with Fabio Carducci for Il Sole 24 Ore, 14 Ottobre 2010.

Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, 50 years old, is going to be Guglielmo Tell in the performance of this Rossinian masterwork, which will start, next Saturday in Rome, the symphonic season at Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano’s conducting. [Click here for details and reviews] It will actually be a marathon – on a physical point of view too, for it lasts four hours despite the cuts. This great romantic opera is considered the composer’s musical testament. According to Donizetti’s appreciative words: “Rossini wrote the first, the third and the last act, but God wrote the second one!”.

-Mr. Finley, You have moved freely from Mozartian parts to contemporary music: How do you feel about performing Guglielmo?

- I find it a wonderful experience to give the character voice, as he passes from an initial feeling of constriction through to the final triumph.

- Which scene of such a rich opera do you love the best?

- The more famous and dramatic scene, when Guglielmo faces Gessler, the Austrian governor, who compels Guglielmo to shoot an arrow against the apple on his son head. Even though this aria lasts only two and a half minutes, it gives voice to the man’s passion, his love for his son and his strike for freedom.

- On a technical point of view what do you find the greatest challenge?

- To sing such an high-pitched part for a baritone. And then the length: it really is a marathon.

- Does the opera keep the political meaning it had when it was written and for which it was censored?

- Yes, surely, it has a strong message of freedom; we always ought to remember that we can make ourselves heard for what we think is unjust.

- What is the heart of the opera in three words?.

- Justice, compassion, devotion: the essence of human being.