The Apothecary
Haydn
Information
Lo speziale (1768), dramma giocoso in three acts
Music by F J Haydn, with additions by H C Robbins Landon
Libretto based on Carlo Goldoni, English translation by John Warrack
19 September 2015: Wotton House, Buckinghamshire (Music at Wotton)
17 September 2015: Apothecaries’ Hall, London (private performance)
Cast
| Sempronio, an old apothecary | Christopher Turner |
| Grilletta, Sempronio’s ward and pupil | Nathalie Chalkley |
| Mengone, Sempronio’s apprentice | Daniel Auchincloss |
| Volpino, a foppish young man | Rebecca Goulden |
| Conductor | Toby Purser |
| Director | Jeremy Gray |
| Costumes | Pauline Smith and Fiona Hodges |
Bampton Classical Players, on period instruments: Caroline Balding, Sarah Bealby-Wright violin; Heather Byrt viola; Gavin Kibble cello; Kate Aldridge double bass; Leo Duarte, Bethan White oboe; Alice Kingham, Dave Ransom horn; Chad Kelly harpsichord
Synopsis
Sempronio, a middle-aged and work-shy apothecary, is determined to marry his delectable ward Grilletta, chiefly on account of her attractive inheritance. However, with two rivals, Mengone and Volpino, will he succeed?
Act 1
Whilst Sempronio keeps himself busy by catching up on the latest news in the papers, his apprentice Mengone, underpaid and overworked, gloomily reflects on his lot and his inability to marry the lovely Grilletta. Unfortunately his work prospects don’t amount to much, as he knows remarkably little about chemistry. Volpino, a foppish and wildly eligible young gentleman, enters with prescriptions as a ploy to see Grilletta: he hopes to keep Mengone safely out of the way, occupied mixing up the remedies. Grilletta is sympathetic to Volpino’s infatuation but firmly rejects him. Aware that this is because she loves Mengone, Volpino swears to use violence against his rival. Mengone and Grilletta declare their mutual love, although Mengone is remarkably timid of the girl’s forward advances and is petrified lest he might lose his job. At last embracing, Sempronio catches them, but they lie their way out of the situation, pretending that Mengone is feeling sickly and that Grilletta was checking his pulse. Sempronio sets both to work, sifting powder and chopping herbs, whilst he avidly reads the latest news. His fascination with world politics causes him to leave in search of map and compass – however on returning he again catches the couple in flagrante delicto, and angrily dismisses the girl to her room and Mengone out onto the streets.
Act 2
Volpino returns and requests Grilletta’s hand from Sempronio; firmly rejected, he taunts Sempronio with a made-up story about a tutor in France who wished to marry his pupil. Sempronio only resolves more firmly to marry the girl, but is also suspicious about the propensity of pretty girls to flirt wildly. Mengone and Grilletta manage to meet in secret, but the lad’s prevarication enrages the girl, especially when stupidly he pretends that flowers left for her by Volpino are actually from him. She rows furiously and sends him away; fuming, she swears to be revenged by marrying the first person who asks her. Since Sempronio overhears this, she walks into a trap: at first she goes along with Sempronio’s proposal, but suddenly realises she is caught when he tells her that he has already asked a notary to attend. Volpino has caught wind of this, and so disguises himself as the notary. Somehow Mengone independently has also discovered Sempronio’s plan and turns up in disguise as another notary. There seems to be no escape for Grilletta. Semponio dictates the marriage contract, including a careful clause by which her fortune will come to him. However the ‘notaries’ write their own names into the contract. Eventually the deception is discovered and both Sempronio and Grilletta are furious.
Act 3
Volpino doesn’t give up. He visits Sempronio with a tempting story – the Sultan of Turkey is seeking a cargo of medicine to combat the plague (about which Sempronio had read in the papers – so it must be true): “the Grand Apothecary”, i.e. Sempronio, is clearly the man for this illustrious task. Sempronio is beside himself with excitement, and no longer cares for Grilletta or her paltry wealth: in Turkey he will enjoy riches beyond compare!
Grilletta and Mengone patch things up and declare eternal love.
Volpino returns, disguised as a Turk. Sempronio agrees that the visitor can marry Grilletta. The ‘Turk’ further entices Sempronio with a mock oriental song “Salaam aleika, salaam Sempronio”. Unwisely he leaves, at which point Mengone arrives – also disguised as a Turk; Grilletta is in on this plot. Sempronio is now quite indifferent to whom Grilletta might be paired with, and so he blesses the marriage of the girl and this second ‘oriental’. Volpino, still disguised, returns and is horrified to discover he has lost Grilletta.
The deceits are revealed, and Sempronio’s and Volpino’s hopes are dashed. “Our story is ended, least said, soonest mended. As down comes the curtain, of one thing we’re certain, that love wins the day”. Except, for the Apothecary, and for the Fop, it doesn’t….
The Apothecary
Opera November 2015
Located at an outstanding 18th-century mansion set in picturesque surroundings near Brill in Buckinghamshire, the concert series Music at Wotton House features occasional staged performances in the form of visits by Bampton Classical Opera - whose repertoire focuses on sometimes familiar but more often unusual works mostly dating from the second half of the 18th century. Their latest choice was Haydn's The Apothecary (Lo speciale), which sets a revised version of an original libretto by Goldoni. and which in 1768 inaugurated the new opera house at Eszterháza.
Scaled down in Haydn's version to employ just four solo singers - unusually, two tenors (the apothecary Sempronio and his assistant Mengone) plus two sopranos (Sempronio’s ward Grilletta and her aristocratic admirer Volpino, originally - as here - a trouser role), the piece survives incomplete, with a handful of numbers missing from the beginning of Act 3. In the edition performed on this occasion, music composed for the missing sections by the Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon filled in the gaps in entirely convincing fashion.
The plot involves the rivalry for Griletta’s hand on the part of the three other characters, with Mengone proving to be the eventual victor. The production, by Jeremy Gray - together with Gilly French, Bampton's co-founder and artistic director - was straightforward and sensible, maximising the potential of a small space in a larger room to produce a pleasurable and intimate artistic experience of a piece dependent on low comedy (there's a rude little aria in praise of laxatives), trickery and disguise. The piece was sung in English in John Warrack’s clever translation. Period costumes by Pauline Smith and Fiona Hodges added to its visual appeal. The staging deserves to be more widely seen.
Haydn's operas usually get a bad press, but rather than comparing them to Mozart's it would seem more sensible to take them on their own, generally less ambitious tems. The Apothecary is designed as a lightweight entertainment and works extremely well precisely on that level: it's a fun little piece, with a worthwhile and inventive score (including an unusual mock-Turkish scene), nicely played here by the ten-strong, period-instrument Bampton Classical Players, including unusually hard-working pairs of oboes and horns. Toby Purser conducted the performance with fine judgement and considerable expertise; the music flowed like oil.
The individual vocal performances. too, were of a high standard, with Christopher Tumer offering a richly lyrical, comic account of the gullible Sempronio, duped by fellow tenor Daniel Auchincloss's wily Mengone as they vied for the attention of the soprano Nathalie Chalkley's winsome Grilletta in competitive tandem with their joint rival Volpino, skilfully sung by the soprano Rebecea Goulden.