You have to admire the optimism of any opera company that chooses to stage Puccini’s biggest flop. Edgar – his second opera – was dismally received at its world premiere, failed to persuade in a revised version and was eventually condemned by the composer himself as “warmed-up soup”, its subject “rubbish”.
In the rediscovered-gems stakes, though, Opera Holland Park isn’t just any opera company. It stages rarities as a matter of course, often from the verismo tradition and often with impressive results. Puccini’s first opera Le Villi featured in OHP’s 2022 season, so perhaps Edgar – even rarer, with bags more sensationalism – seemed a logical next step.
