This year marks the centenary of the death of Felip Pedrell and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid decided with excellent criteria at the request of Professor Emilio Casares, to present a concert version of La Celestina, an opera that the great Catalan master wrote in 1902 Pedrell, like other musicians of that time, had gone to Madrid in search of better fortune, and there the young Manuel de Falla met him. And as in the cases of Albéniz and Granados and others, his teachings made history. His ideas were a base that, without being him, influenced the aesthetics of the times of Modernism, and hence this important sequence that -despite being described as a "nationalist school"- is undoubtedly a product of the thought of progress promoted in Catalonia.
Aesthetics aside, it is significant that the great tribute to the maestro was made in Madrid – where his life had not been made easy either – with the Catalan authorities absent from the act (is there a Department of Culture?). This opera, inspired by the classic tragicomedy by Fernando de Rojas, was adapted by the master, although Rojas's Old Castilian is not well resolved musically. In fact, the first act is a syllabic construction, which hardens and dulls the lyrical discourse, and with a strong demand on the singers, especially Calisto (tenor Andeka Gorrotxategi) who felt affected in the last part.
The opera has relevant moments, of good musicality especially in the second act, in which Maite Beaumont (Celestina) and Miren Urbieta (Melibea) shine and with a very interesting dramatic development until the end. I say, the first act is disconcerting, but it is common that between the writing and the performance rehearsals, the composer makes adjustments, something that was impossible for Pedrell because he never tried to premiere. The subject matter had been successfully used by Breton in 1889 in Barcelona in The Lovers of Teruel. Very good work of singers, with excellent choir parts, and orchestra and direction by Guillermo García Calvo. A good staging would help to recognize the virtues of the work.
