The calculus of revenge

In recent years the Deutsche Oper has stumbled upon a surefire recipe for success. Step One: find a moderately obscure opera from the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century. Step Two: get Christof Loy to direct it. While the opera in this case – Giordano’s Fedora - can’t quite claim to be great opera, the combination of first-class performances in the principal roles and charismatic musical direction from John Fiore resulted in an undeniably a great evening.

Umberto Giordano composed some ten operas in the course of a career lasting over forty years, and while many were moderately successful at the time, only Andrea Chénier has secured a firm place in the international repertoire. Indeed it was success of Chénier that allowed Giordano to secure the rights to adapt Victorien Sardou’s play Fédora, which had first appeared on the…