Sunday Classics: Verdi's Queen Elisabeth demands justice from King Philip but gets something else

Ferruccio Furlanetto (at the Met last year) as the sleepless King Philip in his study -- with the fateful jewel box

The KING's study in Madrid. The KING, plunged in deep meditation, leaning on a table covered with papers, where candles are near burning out. Day begins to illuminate the colored glass of the windows.

KING PHILIP [as if in a dream]:
She never loved me.
No, that heart is closed to me.
She doesn't love me, she doesn't love me.

I still see her again, contemplating with a sad look
my white mane the day that she came here from France.
No, she doesn't love me, she doesn't love me.

[in Italian, as above] Cesare Siepi (bs), King Philip II; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 11, 1950

[in Italian, as above] Nicola Rossi-Lemeni (bs), King Philip II; NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Oliviero de Fabritiis, cond. Telecast performance, Sept. 2, 1967

[in French (slightly different text)] Erwin Schrott (bs), King Philip II; Rafat Jezierski, cello; Orquestra de la Communitat Valenciana, Riccardo Frizza, cond. Decca, recorded Jan.-Feb. 2008

by Ken

As I noted in last night's preview ("Poor King Philip receives yet another unwelcome early-morning visitor"), we're resuming our journey through the Don Carlos Act IV scene in King Philip's study which began with his pre-dawn monologue ("Verdi's King Philip -- a man in crisis," January 2013) and continued with the crack-of-dawn confrontation between the king and the 90-year-old blind Grand Inquisitor pay a just-at-dawn call on the king ("'The pride of the king withers before the pride of the priest!' (Verdi's King Philip)," March 2013).

Back when we began our journey, I said that sleeplessly half-deranged state in which we found the king, exacerbated by the severe bullying inflicted by the Grand Inquisitor, would lead him to commit a monstrous act. That act is the climax of the slender bit of scene which is our work unit this week.


WE GET DOWN TO BUSINESS PRETTY QUICKLY

To recall the basic facts: Elisabeth, the beautiful daughter of the French king, Henri II, has been prevailed upon to end the suffering of her countrymen from the Hundred Years' War by accepting one of the terms proposed by King Philip II of Spain: that she marry Philip's son, Don Carlos. Then she discovered that Carlos was just her cup of tea, and vice versa, but then she discovered that there was a slight change in the plan, and it was now Philip himself rather than Carlos whom she was to marry. Not a happy day for the young people.

On this fateful night-into-day, as day broke, the Grand Inquisitor was ushered into Philip's study, nominally in response to a summons from the king but in fact to enforce his own agenda. The king's question: Could he, as a good Christian, sign off on the execution of his son, for abetting the cause of the insurrection of the Flemish Protestants (now being brutalized by Spain to bring "peace" to Flanders)? For the Inquisitor that's a no-brainer. Of course Carlos must die. The issue for the Inquisitor is that so must the real instigator, Carlos's friend Rodgrigue, the Marquis of Posa (who has more recently become the king's one and only confidant).

When the king resists, the Inquisitor really cranks it up, pointing out that it can easily enough be arranged for the king himself to face the Inquisition. We pick up the action as the king, pretty well battered, tries to make peaces.

The Inquisitor's exit and Elisabeth's entrance

[The GRAND INQUISITOR starts to leave.]
KING PHILIP: My father, may peace be restored between us.
GRAND INQUISITOR [continuing to move off]: Peace?
KING PHILIP: Let the past be forgotten!
GRAND INQUISITOR [at the door, as he leaves]: Perhaps!
KING PHILIP: The pride of the King withers before the pride of the priest!
[ELISABETH rushes in and throws herself at the KING's feet.]
ELISABETH: Justice! Justice, sire!
Justice, justice, justice!
I have faith in the integrity of the king.
In your court I am cruelly treated,
and outraged by mysterious, unknown enemies.
The casket, sire, where I kept
all my treasure, my jewels . . . other objects
still dearer to me,
they have stolen from me!
Justice, justice!
I claim it of Your Majesty!
KING PHILIP: What you're looking for, here it is!
[He produces the casket from his desk.]
ELISABETH: Heavens!
KING PHILIP: May it please you to open it.
[She refuses.]
Well then, I'll open it.
[He breaks open the casket.]
ELISABETH [aside]: I feel like I'll die.
KING PHILIP: The portrait of Carlos!
You don't find any words?
The portrait of Carlos!
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: Among your jewels?
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: What! You dare to confess that to me?
ELISABETH: I dare it! Yes!

Jerome Hines (bs), King Philip II; Nicola Moscona (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Eleanor Steber (s), Elisabeth; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Kurt Adler, cond. Live performance, Mar. 5, 1955

Cesare Siepi (bs), King Philip II; Ivo Vinco (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Sena Jurinac (s), Elisabeth; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Silvio Varviso, cond. Live performance, June 17, 1968

Nicolai Ghiaurov (bs), King Philip II; Martti Talvela (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Gundula Janowitz (s), Elisabeth; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Horst Stein, cond. Live performance, Oct. 25, 1970


THINGS DON'T GO WELL FROM HERE

No indeed. it's not hard for the king to connect the dots and make the obvious but erroneous assumption, in which we'll find out shortly he has been assisted by the party with whom he himself has been doing what he wrongly accuses his wife of. We get to that part really quickly, in the version of this scene from which I first got to know it, via DG's 1961 La Scala recording.

The king does something he can't undo

ELISABETH: Justice! Justice, sire!
Justice, justice, justice!
I have faith in the integrity of the king.
In your court I am cruelly treated,
and outraged by mysterious, unknown enemies.
The casket, sire, where I kept
all my treasure, my jewels . . . other objects
still dearer to me,
they have stolen from me!
Justice, justice!
I claim it of Your Majesty!
KING PHILIP: What you're looking for, here it is!
[He produces the casket from his desk.]
ELISABETH: Heavens!
KING PHILIP: May it please you to open it.
[She refuses.]
Well then, I'll open it.
[He breaks open the casket.]
ELISABETH [aside]: I feel like I'll die.
KING PHILIP: The portrait of Carlos!
You don't find any words?
The portrait of Carlos!
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: Among your jewels?
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: What! You dare to confess that to me?
ELISABETH: I dare it! Yes!
You know it well: Once my hand
was promised to your son.
Now I belong to you, submissive to God,
but I am immaculate as the lily.
And now there is suspicion
of the honor of Elisabeth . . .
there is doubt about me . . .
And the person who commits the outrage is the king.
KING PHILIP: You speak to me too boldly!
You think me weak
and seem to defy me;
weakness in me
can turn to fury.
Tremble then,
for you, for me!
ELISABETH: What is my guilt?
KING PHILIP: Perjurer!
If so much shame has overflowed my cup,
if by you I was betrayed,
I swear it before heaven,
blood will flow!
ELISABETH: You make me feel pity.
KING PHILIP: Ah! The pity of an adulterous consort!
[She faints. PHILIP opens a door.]
KING PHILIP: Help for the queen!
[Enter PRINCESS EBOLI and the MARQUIS OF POSA.]
PRINCESS EBOLI [to herself, on seeing ELISABETH unconscious]:
Heavens! What have I done? Alas!
MARQUIS OF POSA [to PHILIP]: Sire!
Half the world is subject to you;
could you be then the only one in your vast empire
whom you are unable to command?

Antponietta Stella (s), Ellisabeth; Boris Christoff (bs), King Philip II; Fiorenza Cossotto (ms), Princess Eboli; Ettore Bastianini (b), Marquis of Posa; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Gabriele Santini, cond. DG, recorded July and Sept. 1961


BUT WAIT! ISN'T SOMETHING MISSING?

If you were here for last night's preview ("Poor King Philip receives yet another unwelcome early-morning visitor"), you will have noticed that something is missing here. (Or you may have noticed the struck-through text above.) Let's listen again to the exchange we heard last night:

ELISABETH: You know it well: Once my hand
was promised to your son.
Now I belong to you, submissive to God,
but I am pure as the lily.
And now there is suspicion
of the honor of Elisabeth . . .
there is doubt about me . . .
And the person who commits the outrage is the king.
KING PHILIP: You speak to me too boldly!
You think me weak
and seem to defy me;
weakness in me
can turn to fury.
Tremble then,
for you, for me!

Eleanor Steber (s), Elisabeth; Jerome Hines (bs), King Philip II; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Kurt Adler, cond. Live performance, Mar. 5, 1955

Sena Jurinac (s), Elisabeth; Cesare Siepi (bs), King Philip II; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Silvio Varviso, cond. Live performance, June 15, 1968

Gundula Janowitz (s), Elisabeth; Nicolai Ghiaurov (bs), King Philip II; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Horst Stein, cond. Live performance, Oct. 25, 1970

This seems to me exceptionally distinctive music for each of these characters. And some genius got the idea that hey, we can save a couple of minutes by cutting it! Which goes to show, well, something.

HERE'S THE WHOLE SCENE

Now all that's really left is to put the whole scene together.

Don Carlos: Act IV, Scene 1, Elisabeth-Philip scene
(from the Grand Inquisitor's exit)

[The GRAND INQUISITOR starts to leave.]
KING PHILIP: My father, may peace be restored between us.
GRAND INQUISITOR [continuing to move off]: Peace?
KING PHILIP: Let the past be forgotten!
GRAND INQUISITOR [at the door, as he leaves]: Perhaps!
KING PHILIP: The pride of the King withers before the pride of the priest!
[ELISABETH rushes in and throws herself at the KING's feet.]
ELISABETH: Justice! Justice, sire!
Justice, justice, justice!
I have faith in the integrity of the king.
In your court I am cruelly treated,
and outraged by mysterious, unknown enemies.
The casket, sire, where I kept
all my treasure, my jewels . . . other objects
still dearer to me,
they have stolen from me!
Justice, justice!
I claim it of Your Majesty!
KING PHILIP: What you're looking for, here it is!
[He produces the casket from his desk.]
ELISABETH: Heavens!
KING PHILIP: May it please you to open it.
[She refuses.]
Well then, I'll open it.
[He breaks open the casket.]
ELISABETH [aside]: I feel like I'll die.
KING PHILIP: The portrait of Carlos!
You don't find any words?
The portrait of Carlos!
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: Among your jewels?
ELISABETH: Yes.
KING PHILIP: What! You dare to confess that to me?
ELISABETH: I dare it! Yes!
You know it well: Once my hand
was promised to your son.
Now I belong to you, submissive to God,
but I am immaculate as the lily.
And now there is suspicion
of the honor of Elisabeth . . .
there is doubt about me . . .
And the person who commits the outrage is the king.
KING PHILIP: You speak to me too boldly!
You think me weak
and seem to defy me;
weakness in me
can turn to fury.
Tremble then,
for you, for me!
ELISABETH: What is my guilt?
KING PHILIP: Perjurer!
If so much shame has overflowed my cup,
if by you I was betrayed,
I swear it before heaven,
blood will flow!
ELISABETH: You make me feel pity.
KING PHILIP: Ah! The pity of an adulterous consort!
[She faints. PHILIP opens a door.]
KING PHILIP: Help for the queen!
[Enter PRINCESS EBOLI and the MARQUIS OF POSA.]
PRINCESS EBOLI [to herself, on seeing ELISABETH unconscious]:
Heavens! What have I done? Alas!
MARQUIS OF POSA [to PHILIP]: Sire!
Half the world is subject to you;
could you be then the only one in your vast empire
whom you are unable to command?

Cesare Siepi (bs), King Philip II; John Macurdy (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Montserrat Caballé (s), Elisabeth; Grace Bumbry (ms), Princess Eboli; Sherrill Milnes (b), Marquis of Posa; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Apr. 29, 1972

Nicolai Ghiaurov (bs), King Philip II; Martti Talvela (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Renata Tebaldi (s), Elisabeth; Grace Bumbry (ms), Princess Eboli; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Marquis of Posa; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded June-July 1965

Ferruccio Furlanetto (bs), King Philip II; Samuel Ramey (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Aprile Millo (s), Elisabeth; Dolora Zajick, Princess Eboli; Vladimir Chernov (b), Marquis of Posa; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine, cond. Sony, recorded Apr.-May 1992

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