[5/27/2011] In bits from Verdi's "Forza," two characters search for oblivion (continued)

The monastery in the mountains of Hornachuelos

[I know this looks like a lot, especially for a "preview," what with all the texts and musical selections, but for the most part the selections are so cruelly truncated that they're quite short.]


Here first is that same passage of Alvaro's, in both instances sung very beautifully, but sounding, well, rather different -- and differenter.

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Vissi nel mondo, intendo"

DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.

Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1965

And here, as promised, is this passage in a slightly fuller context:

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Fratello," Don Carlo, "Riconoscimi!" . . .
"Vissi nel mondo, intendo"

DON ALVARO [entering, in monastic robe]: Brother.
DON CARLO: Recognize me!
DON ALVARO: Don Carlo! You! Alive!
DON CARLO: For five years I've been on your trail.
I find you, ah, finally I find you!
With blood alone is it possible to cancel
the infamy and the crime.
That I should punish you is written
in the book of destiny.
You were a gallant soldier, now a monk,
you have no weapon here.
I must spill your blood.
Choose, I've brought two swords.
[DON CARLO offers DON ALVARO the choice of two swords.]
DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.
DON CARLO: Neither the monk's habit
nor this deserted place,
coward, can protect you.
DON ALVARO: Coward! Such an assertion . . .
No! No! Assist me, Lord!

["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:25] Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958
["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:18] Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:19] Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1965

(Remember where we left off. It's going to be important in a moment.)


HERE AGAIN (AND AGAIN) IS LEONORA'S
MUSICAL MOMENT OF CHARACTER TRUTH

Again we hear it first by itself, then in a slightly fuller context, including that remarable phrase of Padre Guardiano's I mentioned, "Venite fidente alla croce."

La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2,
Padre Guardiano, "Dunque voi siete Leonora di Vargas" . . . "Venite fidente alla croce" . . . Leonora, "Più tranquilla l'alma sento"

PADRE GUARDIANO: Then you are Leonora di Vargas.
LEONORA: You shudder!
PADRE GUARDIANO: No . . .
Come trusting to the cross.
There the voice of heaven will inspire you.
[LEONORA kneels near the cross, kisses it, then turns to PADRE GUARDIANO.]
LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil
since I tread this ground.
The fearful phantasms
I no longer feel making war against me.
No longer does my father's shade
rise bleeding before me,
nor do I hear him, terrible,
cursing his daughter.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Always in vain here
has Satan's ardor been addressed.

"Più tranquilla l'alma sento" only
Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded 1955
Maria Caniglia (s), Donna Leonora; EIAR Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gino Marinuzzi, cond. Fonit Cetra, broadcast performance, 1941

from "Dunque voi siete Leonora di Vargas"
[for all, "Venite fidente alla croce" is at 0:14, "Più tranquilla l'alma sento" at around 0:40]
Cesare Siepi (bs), Padre Guardiano; Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded summer 1955
Tancredi Pasero (bs), Padre Guardiano; Maria Caniglia (s), Donna Leonora; EIAR Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gino Marinuzzi, cond. Fonit Cetra, broadcast performance, 1941
Jerome Hines (bs), Padre Guardiano; Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

IT'LL HELP IF WE ADD ANOTHER DEFINING MUSICAL
MOMENT APIECE FOR ALVARO AND LEONORA

First Leonora --

We go back to the beginning of the scene outside the monastery at Hornachuelos, hearing first the tempestuous orchestral introduction and going just through Leonora's first words, "Son giunta! Grazie, o Dio!." Then, shockingly, we skip over the body of her aria, "Madre, madre, pietosa Vergine," to the plea to God not to abandon her, "Deh, non m'abbandonar."

La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2,
(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"
(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"

(1)
LEONORA: I've arrived! Thank you, o God!
This is for me the ultimate refuge . . . I've arrived!
(2)
LEONORA: Oh, do not abandon me,
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
Oh, do not abandon, ah!
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
[Inside the monastery, the organ accompanies the monks singing their morning prayers.]
MONKS: Venite, adoremus et procedamus
ante Deum ploremus,
ploreumus coram Domino,
coram Domino qui facit nos.
LEONORA [over the monks' prayer]: What sublime songs,
the harmonies of the organ,
which like incense ascend
to God in his firmaments,
inspire this soul
with faith, hope, and calm.

(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"

(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"
Renata Tebaldi (s); Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded 1955

(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"

(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"
Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

Then Alvaro --

You remember where we left off a moment ago in the Act IV scene between Alvaro and Carlo? At this point Alvaro makes one more heroic effort to avoid a violent confrontation with Carlo.

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Le minaccie, i fieri accenti"

DON ALVARO: Let threats and fiery words
be carried away on the winds.
Forgive me, mercy!
o brother, mercy!
Why offend so much
someone who was only ill-fortuned?
Oh, let us bow our heads to fate;
O brother, mercy, mercy!
DON CARLO: You profane that name,
you profane, &c.
DON ALVARO: O brother, mercy, mercy, &c.
DON CARLO: Ah, you left me a sister
who, betrayed, was abandoned
to infamy, to dishonor.

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958
Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb., 6, 1965


AT WHICH POINT I THINK WE'RE READY
TO HEAR THE OVERTURE ONE MORE TIME

By now you should recognize that tempestuous opening music, which recurs at strategic points throughout the opera (we'll hear two others on Sunday), and also Alvaro's "Le minaccie, i fieri accenti" at 0:50 and Leonora's "Deh, non m'abbandonar" at 1:55.

La Forza del destino: Overture

Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, cond. DG, recorded live at a New Year's Eve gala, Dec. 31, 1998

(I'm not a huge Abbado fan -- almost least of all, generally, of his Verdi -- but this seems to me a heckuva performance, and with that improbable Verdi orchestra the Berlin Philharmonic.)


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S PREVIEW: BEFORE THEY
WERE MORTAL FOES, THEY WERE BROTHERS IN ARMS

We focus on the great scene for Don Alvaro and Don Carlo that includes perhaps the greatest duet written for tenor and baritone, "Solenne in quest'ora," in further preparation for Sunday's look at Alvaro's and Leonora's quest for oblivion.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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