With a toned down rape, it’s a wonder what all the fuss was about.

Live cinema broadcast from Royal Opera, London,
July 5, 2015

Thousands of words had been written about this production of Guillaume Tell before I got to the cinema broadcast of its third performance. On the opening night, a rape scene in the third act provoked sustained booing from the audience, which in turn generated a huge amount of interest from the mainstream press. Most of the critics present condemned the scene, but primarily as the worst excess of a confused and misconceived production.

That turned out to be true, but there is still plenty of interest here. Director Damiano Michieletto has some big and ambitious ideas for the piece, some of which work better than others. Rossini’s final opera is also his longest, and his most radical. The story of the Swiss struggle for independence from the Austrian Empire is presented in epic terms. William Tell is the leader the rebellion is waiting for, a destiny he spends most of the opera reluctant to accept, eventually spurred on by his idealistic son Jemmy. A romantic subplot is also tied into the struggle, with a...