Sunday Classics preview: Preparing for the culmination of our "Andrea Chenier" series -- Recap No. 2, Chénier's "Improvviso"

Aureliano Pertile (1885-1952) as Chénier

by Ken

As I explained in last night's preview, in preparing (finally) to approach the Madelon scene of Andrea Chénier, we're reviewing the two chunks of the opera, both from Act I, that we've looked at already from the standpoint of what seems to me a remarkable depiction of a society that can't help but explode into revolution. Last night we reviewed the servant Carlo Gérard's extraordinary opening monologue (extending into his lust-saturated observation of our heroine, Maddalena). Tonight it's the astonishing story, known as his Improvviso, that the poet Chénier chooses to tell the upper-crust gathering of his hostess, the Contessa di Coigny.

In the click-through we're going to do the same thing we did last night: listen to the whole scene in the 1957 Decca recording. And once again I'm dipping into the archives to offer just one more Improvviso. I would have liked to make it one that nails the piece's poetic (and human) truth. Alas, I don't happen to have one of those offhand, so instead I offer Aureliano Pertile, understanding that with Pertile comes a whole package of, well, stuff.

You'll notice that at the start he's not telling a story, he's showing off how "sensitive" he feels; and this happens whenever he pulls back to singing softly (as when he later addresses Maddalena directly), which in fact he can quite beautifully but does as a show-off effect rather than fulfilling the musical sense. Similarly, when the piece goes big, the shoutiness is about showing off his feelings -- and of course his voice -- rather than conveying what it is that Chénier is trying to communicate here, or what he's experiencing. There's a lot of embarrassingly obvious histrionics. Still, there's no getting around that voice, a tenorial wonder. One is tempted to put up with a lot from Pertile, for the sake of . . . well, just listen.

GIORDANO: Andrea Chénier: Act I, Chénier, "Un dì, all'azzurro spazio" (Improvviso)

CHÉNIER: One day into the blue sky
I gazed deeply,
and on the meadows heaped with violets
the sun rained down gold,
and with gold
the world shone;
the earth appeared an immense treasure,
and serving as its coffer was the firmament.
From the earth to my brow
came a living caress, a kiss.
I cried out, conquered by love: I love y ou,
you who kiss me, divinely
beautiful, o my fatherland!
And I wanted, full of love,
to pray!
I crossed the threshold of a church;
there a priest, in the niches
of the saints and the Virgin
accumulated gifts . . . and to his deaf ear
a trembling old man vainly
pleaded for bread and in vain reached out his hand!
I crossed the entrance of a humble abode;
a man there was cursing, slandering
the soil that barely covered his taxes,
and against God
and against men
hurled the tears of his children.
[With the exception of GÉRARD, who stands listening entranced, everyone is completely scandalized.]
In the face of such misery
what do the ranks of the nobility do?
[To MADDALENA] Only your eyes express humanly
here a look of pity,
and so I looked at you as if at an angel.
And I said: "Here is the beauty of life."
But then, at your words,
a new sorrow wounded me full in the breast.
O beautiful maiden,
do not disparage the words of a poet.
Love, divine gift -- do not scorn it.
The world's soul and life -- that's love.

Aureliano Pertile (t), Andrea Chénier; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Sabajno, cond. EMI, recorded October 1927


FOR TONIGHT'S ANDREA CHÉNIER RECAP, CLICK HERE

THE ANDREA CHÉNIER POSTS

(1) The opening scene: Gérard's monologue

Main post (7/10/2011): "Giordano's Andrea Chénier and the class war that wrote the book on class warfare"
-- Leonard Warrren (Met 1957), Mario Sereni (1963 EMI recording), Ettore Bastianini (Vienna 1960), Bechi (1941 EMI recording)

Preview (7/9/2011): "Giordano's Andrea Chénier and the class war that wrote the book on class warfare "
-- Ettore Bastianini (Vienna 1960)
-- Giuseppe Taddei (RAI Milan, 1955)
-- Giorgio Zancanaro (1985 Covent Garden video and 1986 Sony/Hungaroton recording) et al.

(2) The scene that leads up to the Improvviso

Main post: "The seething revolutionary rage of Andrea Chénier certainly strikes a chord at our present moment"
Complete scene:
-- Beniamino Gigli et al. (San Francisco 1938)
-- Luciano Pavarotti et al. (1982-84 Decca recording)
-- Franco Corelli et al. (1963 EMI recording)
-- Mario del Monaco, Maria Callas, et al. (La Scala 1955)
Plus excerpts from Vienna 1960 (Kostas Paskalis as Fléville), Met 1957 (Richard Tucker et al.)

Preview (7/30/2011): "Is the moral of Andrea Chénier that poets make lousy party guests?"
-- studio recordings of the Improvviso by Enrico Caruso, Jon Vickers, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ben Heppner, José Cura (chosen on the basis of "what I've got on CD")

(3) The Madelon scene of Act III

Main post (8/21/2011): "We do know that young Roger Alberto isn't coming back, don't we?"
-- Madelon's story told by Larissa Diadkova (video, Madrid 2010) and Hilde Konetzni (Vienna 1960)
-- Gérard's appeal sung by Ettore Bastianini (Vienna 1960)
-- the complete opening scene of Act III with Fernando Corena, Bastianini, and Amelia Guidi (1957 Decca) and Paolo Montarsolo, Mario Sereni, and Anna di Stasio (1963 EMI)
Plus the end of Act I from 1957 Decca and 1963 EMI

Preview No. 1 (8/19/2011): "Preparing for the culmination of our "Andrea Chenier" series -- Recap No. 1, Gérard's monologue"
-- "Son sessant'anni" and "T'odio, casa dorata" sung by Riccardo Stracciari (1925)
-- complete scene with Ettore Bastianini and Renata Tebaldi (1957 Decca)

Preview No. 2 (8/20/2011): "Preparing for the culmination of our "Andrea Chenier" series -- Recap No. 2, Chénier's Improvviso"
-- the Improvviso sung by Aureliano Pertile (1927)
-- complete scene with Mario del Monaco, Renata Tebaldi, et al. (1957 Decca)

#