DownWithTyranny!: Sunday Classics preview: "First events" in "Nabucco," "Trovatore," and "Aida"

He has a tale to tell: To keep the retainers and soldiers accompanying him alert for their wee-hours vigil in the service of their master, the Count di Luna, their captain, Ferrando (bass Plinio Clabassi), tells them a true-life ghost story from the di Luna family history, in this clip from a 1966 Italian Television production of Il Trovatore conducted by Arturo Basile. A line to note: following the men's immediate response to the story [at 4:33], "And the father?," Ferrando's heartbreakingly simple, poignant reply [at 4:38], "Brevi e tristi giorni visse" -- "Brief and sad days he lived on."

[I wasn't up to another week of grueling translation exercises. This translation at the online Opera-Guide respects enough features of Cammarano's libretto to pass muster. -- Ken]

A hall in the Aliaferia palace; a door on one side leads into the Count di Luna's apartments. FERRANDO and a number of the Count's retainers are resting near the door; some soldiers are pacing back and forth in the background.

[The men have asked their captain, in order "to drive off the sleep that hangs heavy on our eyelids," to tell them "the real story of Garzia, our Count's brother."]
FERRANDO: I'll tell you; gather around me.
SOLDIERS: We, too...
MEN: Listen then. Listen.
[0:15] FERRANDO: There lived a happy father of two sons,
the good Count di Luna.
The second boy's faithful nurse
slept next to his cradle.
As dawn was breaking one fine morning,
she opened her eyes and whom did she find
next to that baby?
MEN: Who? Speak ... Who was it?
[0:56] FERRANDO: A dark, despicable gypsy crone!
Wearing the symbols of a sorceress!
And with a sullen face, over the boy
she cast her bloody, baleful eye!
The nurse is seized with horror;
she utters a sharp cry in the still air;
and, in less time than it takes to tell,
the servants hasten into the room;
and with shouts, blows, threats,
they expel the wretch who dared enter.
MEN: Their hearts were moved by righteous scorn;
the crazy crone provoked it!
[2:16] FERRANDO: She claimed that she wanted to cast
the boy's horoscope. The liar!
A slow fever began to destroy
the poor child's health!
Weak, covered with a strange pallor,
broken, he trembled at night,
and moaned piteously all day long;
he was bewitched!
[3:04] The witch was pursued,
seized and condemned to the stake;
but her cursed daughter was left,
to administer a horrible revenge!
This criminal committed an unspeakable act!
The child disappeared,
and they found still glowing embers,
on the very same spot
where the witch had once been burned!
And, alas, a child's skeleton,
half-burnt, still smoking!
MEN: Ah! the wicked, unspeakable woman!
It fills me with both rage and horror!
[4:33] What about the father?
[4:38] FERRANDO: His remaining days were few and sad;
yet an undefined presentiment
at heart told him that his son
was not dead; and when he lay dying,
he desired that our master
should swear to him not to stop
his search. Ah! It was in vain!
[5:10] MEN: And was no news ever had of her?
FERRANDO: No news!
Oh! were it granted me
to track her down some day!
MEN: But, could you recognise her?
FERRANDO: Considering the years that have passed,
I could.
MEN: It would be time to send her
to her mother, in hell.
FERRANDO: In hell?
[5:48] It's common belief that
the wicked witch's damned soul
still lives in the world, and when the sky
is black she shows herself in various shapes.
ALL: It's true! It's true!
[6:33] On the edge of the rooftops
some people have seen her!
Sometimes she changes into a hoopoe or an owl!
Other times, a raven; more often, a civet-owl,
flying through the dawn like an arrow!
FERRANDO:: One of the Count's men died of fear
because he had struck the gypsy's forehead!
He died, died of fear! He died, died of fear!
MEN: Ah! Ah! He died! Ah! Ah! He died!
FERRANDO: She appeared to him in the form of an owl,
in the deep calm of a silent room!
MEN: Of an owl!
FERRANDO: She looked with gleaming eye,
looked at the sky, sorrowing,
with a bestial cry!
MEN: She looked! She looked!
[7:11] FERRANDO: Midnight was just striking! Ah!
MEN: Ah!
[Midnight strikes.]
ALL: Ah! A curse on her, the infernal witch! Ah!
[A drum is heard. The soldiers run to the back. The servants gather at the door.]

by Ken

In last night's preview we heard the openings of three Verdi operas: the Overture to Nabucco, the Introduction to Il Trovatore, and the Prelude to Aida. (Again, the reason for the choice of these operas will become clear tomorrow.) Each prepares us for an "event" of sorts, and tonight we're going to jump ahead to those events, then back up to hear how we got from last night's points A to tonight's points B.

In Nabucco, our "point B" is the first of the gorgeous bass solos that make the Hebrew high priest Zaccaria a plum role for basses plying the Italian reperory. In Il Trovatore it's once again the bass, a captain in the service of the Count di Luna who in the wee hours of the morning tells his band of retainers and soldiers a story that winds up scaring the dickens out of them. And in Aida, our bass is another high priest, this time Egyptian, leaves a young army captain alone to muse in what is certainly the most famous of tenor arias and perhaps the best-known of all operatic arias.

We're going to hear them one at a time, but I thought first we'd dip into the archives for a couple of landmark recordings.

First we hear the first half or so, a single 78 side's worth, but with chorus, of Ferrando's Trovatore narration sung by the foremost Italian-repertory bass in the era of recordings, Ezio Pinza (1892-1957), in 1930 still close to his absolute vocal prime.

Il Trovatore: Act I, Scene 1, Ferrando with retainers
and soldiers, "Di due figli" . . . "Abbietta zingara"

MEN: To drive off the sleep
that hangs heavy on our eyelids,
tell us the real story of Garzia,
our Count's brother.
[0:18] FERRANDO: I'll tell you; gather around me.
SOLDIERS: We, too...
MEN: Listen then. Listen.
[0:33] FERRANDO: There lived a happy father of two sons,
the good Count di Luna.
The second boy's faithful nurse
slept next to his cradle.
As dawn was breaking one fine morning,
she opened her eyes and whom did she find
next to that baby?
MEN: Who? Speak ... Who was it?
[1:16] FERRANDO: A dark, despicable gypsy crone!
Wearing the symbols of a sorceress!
And with a sullen face, over the boy
she cast her bloody, baleful eye!
The nurse is seized with horror;
she utters a sharp cry in the still air;
and, in less time than it takes to tell,
the servants hasten into the room;
and with shouts, blows, threats,
they expel the wretch who dared enter.
MEN: Their hearts were moved by righteous scorn;
the crazy crone provoked it!
[Cut to:]
[2:38] FERRANDO: It's common belief that
the wicked witch's damned soul
still lives in the world, and when the sky
is black she shows herself in various shapes.
ALL: It's true! It's true!
[3:30] On the edge of the rooftops
some people have seen her!
Sometimes she changes into a hoopoe or an owl!
Other times, a raven; more often, a civet-owl,
flying through the dawn like an arrow!
FERRANDO:: One of the Count's men died of fear
because he had struck the gypsy's forehead!
He died, died of fear! He died, died of fear!
MEN: Ah! Ah! He died! Ah! Ah! He died!
FERRANDO: She appeared to him in the form of an owl,
in the deep calm of a silent room!
MEN: Of an owl!
FERRANDO: She looked with gleaming eye,
looked at the sky, sorrowing,
with a bestial cry!
MEN: She looked! She looked!
[5:05] FERRANDO: Midnight was just striking! Ah!
MEN: Ah!
[Midnight strikes.]
ALL: Ah! A curse on her, the infernal witch! Ah!
[Final orchestral flourish is omitted.]

Ezio Pinza, bass; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Giulio Setti, cond. Victor/RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 9, 1930

And really I don't see how we can touch on "Celeste Aida" without taking account of Caruso. This is a nice dub of his 1911 Victor recording, which includes the recitative, taken at a notably unhurried -- dare we say contemplative -- tempo.

Aida: Act I, Scene 1, Recitative and aria, Radamès,
"Se quel guerrier io fossi" . . . "Celeste Aida"

RADAMÈS: If I were
that warrior! If my dreams
were to come true! A valiant army
led by me… and victory… and the acclamations
of all Memphis! And to return to you, my sweet Aida,
crowned with laurels…
to tell you: for you I fought, for you I conquered!

Heavenly Aida, form divine,
mystical garland of light and flowers,
of my thoughts you are the queen,
you are the light of my life.

I would return to you your lovely sky,
the gentle breezes of your native land;
a royal crown on your brow I would set,
build you a throne next to the sun.

Heavenly Aida, form divine,
mystical gleam of light and flowers, etc.