[7/10/2011] Sunday Classics: Giordano's "Andrea Chénier" and the class war that wrote the book on class warfare (continued)

"Nemico della patria": Because (a) we're not going to get to it otherwise and (b) I noticed this fine performance online -- with subtitles, yet! -- we're going to have an unscheduled whack at Gérard's great Act III monologue, in which the erstwhile, now a muckety-muck in the revolutionary struggle, reflects bitterly on the corruption of his ideals, as reflected in his allowing Chénier to be condemned to death as an "enemy of the fatherland." This again is Giorgio Zancanaro from the 1985 Covent Garden Chénier.


NOW BEFORE WE GET TO THAT DRAMATIC TURN
IN GÉRARD'S MONOLOGUE, ABOUT "CICISBEO"

God bless Wikipedia. I've always thought that "cicisbeo," the word that Gérard uses in his apostrophe to the blue sofa to refer to the swains who have courted mature ladies thereupon, is just a hilarious word. (Tip of the hat to the Chénier librettist, Luigi Illica, also the co-librettist, with Giuseppe Giacosa, of Puccini's Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly).

Just say it! It's more or less "chee-cheese-BAY-o." Now say it three or four times. Is that a wonderful word or what? Now here's how Giordano makes it sound.

"Compiacente a' colloqui del cicisbeo che a dama maturate porgeva qui la mano"
("Obliging to the discourse of the dandy who offered his hand to mature ladies here!")
Mario Sereni (b), Carlo Gérard; Rome Opera Orchestra, Gabriele Santini, cond. EMI, recorded c1963

How could a cicisbeo be other than ridiculous? Only now do I discover that there's an entire sociology surrounding the term, which is even used in English. Per Wikipedia:

In 18th- and 19th-century Italy, the cicisbeo, or Cavalier Servente, was the professed gallant and lover of a married woman, who attended her at public entertainments, to church and other occasions and had privileged access to his mistress. The arrangement is comparable to the Spanish cortejo or estrecho and, to a lesser degree, to the French petit-maître. . . This arrangement, called the cicisbeatura or cicisbeismo, was widely practiced, with knowledge and consent of the husband, especially among the nobility of the cities of Genoa, Nice, Venice, Florence and Rome. . . . Some [scholars] maintain that this institution was defined by marriage contracts, others question this claim and see it as a peculiarity of 18th-century customs that is not well-defined or easily explained. Other scholars see it as a sign of the increasing emancipation of aristocratic women in the 18th century.

The cicisbeo was better tolerated if he was known to be homosexual.

I love it!


NOW LET'S MOVE ON TO THAT NEW TURN
IN GÉRARD's MONOLOGUE

GIORDANO: Andrea Chénier: Act I, Gérard, "Hai figliato dei servi" . . . "T'odio, casa dorata"

[With immense disdain GÉRARD strikes his breast with open hand, murmuring through tears]
You've fathered menials!
[He dries his tears disdainfully, turns to survey pridefully the opulence around him]
I loathe you, gilded house!
You are the image of a world
powdered and vain!
You pretty gallants in silk and laces,
faster ever faster whirl
your merry gavottes and minuets!
Your fate is sealed!
Worthless and wicked race,
the son of serfs and a servant
here, a judge in livery,
I tell you: It's the hour of death!

Leonard Warren (b), Carlo Gérard; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Dec. 28, 1957

Now we've got one last bit to add, no longer a monologue. We're introduced to our heroine, the young lady of the house, Maddalena di Coigny, and we discover that Gérard is, shall we say, not indifferent to her charms. Let's go back to the moment when the old man walks in from the garden, and continue through this bit of, um, duologue?

GIORDANO: Andrea Chénier: Act I, Gérard, "Son sessant'anni, o vecchio, che tu servi" . . . "T'odio, casa dorata" . . . Maddalena, "Il giorno intorno già s'insera"

An old man comes in from the garden carrying a heavy piece of furniture. GÉRARD throws down the duster he is holding and goes to help him. Weak and shaky, the old man leaves, disappearing through the garden. GÉRARD, much moved, watches him go.

GÉRARD: It's sixty years, old man,
that you've been a servant here!
On your insolent,
arrogant masters
you've lavished fidelity, sweat,
the strength of your nerves,
your soul, your mind . . .
and as if your own life didn't suffice
to carry on
eternally
the horrendous suffering,
you've given the existence
of your children . . .
[With immense disdain he strikes his breast with open hand, murmuring through tears]
You've fathered menials!
[He dries his tears disdainfully, turns to survey pridefully the opulence around him]
I loathe you, gilded house!
You are the image of a world
powdered and vain!
You pretty gallants in silk and laces,
faster ever faster whirl
your merry gavottes and minuets!
Your fate is sealed!
Worthless and wicked race,
the son of serfs and a servant
here, a judge in livery,
I tell you: It's the hour of death!

The COUNTESS, MADDALENA, and BERSI, the latter curiously garbed, appear at the entrance to the conservatory. The COUNTESS stops to give some orders to her MAJOR-DOMO. MADDALENA comes forward slowly with BERSI.

MADDALENA: The whole day
is already darkening
slowly.
In these mysterious . . .
[GÉRARD sings as below, overlapping MADDALENA.]
shadows, fantastic shapes
do things assume!
Now thoughts turn to rest
serenely!
GÉRARD: What sweetness fills my dark soul
because of you!
Evn ideals may die, you never die,
you, Eternal Song!

Ettore Bastianini (b), Carlo Gérard; Renata Tebaldi (s), Maddalena di Coigny; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Lovro von Matačić, cond. Live performance, June 26, 1960


FINALLY, LET'S PUT THE WHOLE THING TOGETHER

We'll start with a performance from CD that splits it into four tracks (corresponding to our five work units except that "Son sessant'anni" and "Odio casa dorata" are allowed to run continuously on a single track. (Fancy that!)

GIORDANO: Andrea Chénier: Act I, Major-Domo, "Questo azzurro sofà" . . . Gérard, "Compiacenti a' colloqui" . . . "Son sessant'anni, o vecchio, che tu serv

The country estate of the Coigny family. The winter garden, the grand conservatory.

The curtain rises on a scene bustling with activity. Servants, lackeys, valets, all under the command of an officious MAJOR-DOMO, run hither and thither carrying pieces of furniture about and placing it down where he instructs them to. GÉRARD, in full livery, lends a hand in carrying a heavy blue sofa.

MAJOR-DOMO: This blue sofa, let's put it there.

GÉRARD and the lackeys obey his orders. Then the MAJOR-DOMO goes to another part of the château followed by all the servants. GÉRARD, left behind, kneels before the blue sofa, unruffling the fringe, smoothing the satin covering, and arranging the curtains.

GÉRARD: Obliging to the discourse
of the dandy
who offered his hand
to mature ladies here!
Here Red Heels
said sighing to the Beauty-patch:
"Orinthia, or Chloris, or Nike, powdered,
oldish and painted,
I long for you
and, only on this account, perhaps,
I love you!"
Such is the custom of the times.

An old man comes in from the garden carrying a heavy piece of furniture. GÉRARD throws down the duster he is holding and goes to help him. Weak and shaky, the old man leaves, disappearing through the garden. GÉRARD, much moved, watches him go.

GÉRARD: It's sixty years, old man,
that you've been a servant here!
On your insolent,
arrogant masters
you've lavished fidelity, sweat,
the strength of your nerves,
your soul, your mind . . .
and as if your own life didn't suffice
to carry on
eternally
the horrendous suffering,
you've given the existence
of your children . . .
[With immense disdain he strikes his breast with open hand, murmuring through tears]
You've fathered menials!
[He dries his tears disdainfully, turns to survey pridefully the opulence around him]
I loathe you, gilded house!
You are the image of a world
powdered and vain!
You pretty gallants in silk and laces,
faster ever faster whirl
your merry gavottes and minuets!
Your fate is sealed!
Worthless and wicked race,
the son of serfs and a servant
here, a judge in livery,
I tell you: It's the hour of death!

The COUNTESS, MADDALENA, and BERSI, the latter curiously garbed, appear at the entrance to the conservatory. The COUNTESS stops to give some orders to her MAJOR-DOMO. MADDALENA comes forward slowly with BERSI.

MADDALENA: The whole day
is already darkening
slowly.
In these mysterious . . .
[GÉRARD sings as below, overlapping MADDALENA.]
shadows, fantastic shapes
do things assume!
Now thoughts turn to rest
serenely!
GÉRARD: What sweetness fills my dark soul
because of you!
Even ideals may die, you never die,
you, Eternal Song!

Paolo Pedani (bs), Major-Domo; Mario Sereni (b), Carlo Gérard; Antonietta Stella (s), Maddalena di Coigny; Rome Opera Orchestra, Gabriele Santini, cond. EMI, recorded c1963
Gino Conti (bs), Major-Domo; Gino Bechi (b), Carlo Gérard; Maria Caniglia (s), Maddalena di Coigny; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Oliviero de Fabritiis, cond. EMI, recorded November 1941


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