"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" and the depths of Mozart's humanity

The trailer for John Schlesinger's Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)

by Ken

I tried to figure out how to work in a reference to Sunday, Bloody Sunday in writing earlier today about Mozart's Così, but couldn't figure out how to do it. I hoped maybe I'd find a clip online that shows the way director John Schlesinger used the great trio from Così to characterize his central character, a doctor (played by the great Peter Finch) who only now, in late mid-life, finds himself grappling with his sexual ambivalence. I came up empty, but it's still a great movie. I haven't seen it in ages, and probably ought to see it again.

The film was still very much on my mind when I reviewed Georg Solti's lovely first recording of Così fan tutte. Here's the trio from that lovely recording:

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Act I, Trio, "Soave sia il vento"

Gentle be the breeze,
Calm be the waves,
And every element
Smile in favour
On their wish.

Pilar Lorengar (s), Fiordiligi; Teresa Berganza (ms), Dorabella; Gabriel Bacquier (b), Don Alfonso; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1973-74

And as long as we're listening to this glorious trio, here it is again, from Karl Böhm's 1962 Così recording.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (s), Fiordiligi; Christa Ludwig (ms), Dorabella; Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Philharmonia Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. EMI, recorded September 1962

In some odd way that I can't explain, there's a dividing line in Mozart's creative life, not between the three operatic masterpieces written with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and the later Magic Flute, but between the second and third of the da Ponte operas, Don Giovanni and Così. It's fascinating how often conductors who are in the groove with The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni aren't with Così and Magic Flute, and vice versa. Somehow both Solti and Böhm seemed always to have a much stronger affinity for the later pair, Così and Magic Flute, than with Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Here is the great Act I farewell quintet -- often, and understandably, associated with the Così trio -- from Solti's later Magic Flute recording, and from Otto Klemperer's beautiful 1964 one. I've edited the quintet brutally, after the Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night have given Tamino and Papageno their marching orders for rescuing the Queen's daughter, Pamina, from the clutches of the supposedly evil Sarastro, and given Tamino a magic flute and Papageno a set of magic bells for protection, but we'll make that up some other time. (Recordings note: Böhm's glorious 1964 DG Magic Flute is one of my most beloved opera recordings, and I once had it on CD, but I can't find the CD edition. I could have dubbed it from LP, but I think Solti and Klemperer will represent this amazing music just fine, thank you.)

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Quintet, "Lebet wohl! Wir wollen gehn!" . . . "Drei Knäbchen, jung, schön, hold und weise" . . . "So lebet wohl!"

THE THREE LADIES: Farewell, we are going.
Farewell, until we see you again!
[All are about to go.]
TAMINO: Yet, fair ladies, tell us . . .
PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.
THE THREE LADIES: Three boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany you on your journey.
They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: Three boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany us on our journey.
THE THREE LADIES: They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
ALL: So farewell, we are going;
farewell, farewell, until we see you again!

Adrianne Pieczonka (s), Annette Kuettenbaum (ms), and Jard van Nes (c), Three Ladies; Uwe Heilmann (t), Tamino; Michael Kraus (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May and Dec. 1990
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (s), Christa Ludwig (ms), and Marga Höffgen (c), Three Ladies; Nicolai Gedda (t), Tamino; Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded March-Apr. 1964

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