Ghost of Sunday Classics: How would you describe the atmosphere? Austere? Melancholy? Solitary? Foreboding?

Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1960

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded live, April 1991

by Ken

This week again I found myself in the grip of music, specifically the music we hear above, and even though we've in fact actually heard this music, it was in the context of remembering a fondly remembered singer, and so we didn't really deal properly with the music or the scene, which suggested a post, if I were up to it and there seemed any point.


OF COURSE THE MUSIC IS . . .

. . . the brief orchestral prelude to Act IV of Verdi's Otello. On an old Met-broadcast "Singers' Roundtable," in which the panelists must have been asked to name a role they hadn't sung but which they wished they could have, and I remember Birgit Nilsson without hesitation naming Verdi's Desdemona. She did sing Verdi roles (Lady Macbeth, the Ballo Amelia, Aida), but no, I don't suppose Desdemona would have been workable for her, but it's not hard to understand why she wished it were otherwise.

The Act IV Prelude sets the stage for the scene in which the ever-loyal Emilia helps prepare Desdemona, filled with foreboding, for bed. Between the Willow Song Desdemona dredges out of memory and the "Ave Maria" that will be her final prayer, this may be the most beautiful as well as the most powerful scene ever written for soprano solo.

If we were doing such a post, it's likely -- in recognition of the first question Emilia asks Desdemona as we eavesdrop on the bed preparations, "Was he calmer?" -- that we might want to pin down what exactly Emilia is wondering whether "he" (Otello, of course) is calmer than. For which we might dip back into Act III, when -- as I described the moment when we listened to it in April 2013, in the aforementioned remembrance of soprano Margaret Price: "In Act III, with Jago's scheme to persuade Otello of Desdemona's infidelity succeeding only too well, Otello stuns the Cypriot court assembled to greet the Venetian ambassador by hurliing Desdemona to the ground, raging, 'To the ground, and weep!,' where she recalls the very different effect her smile once had on him and launches one of the most stunning ensembles in opera (which of course we're not going to hear)."

Otello, Act III: Otello, "A terra e piangi!" . . . Desdemona, "A terra, sì, nel livido fango"

OTELLO seizes DESDEMONA in fury. She falls. LODOVICO and EMILIA sympathetically support her.

OTELLO: To the ground! . . . And weep!
DESDEMONA: To the ground . . . yes . . . in the livid slime.
Stricken . . . I lie . . . I weep . . .
chilled by the icy touch
of death upon my soul.
And once upon a time my smile
would quicken hope and kisses,
and now . . . I have anguish in my face
and agony in my heart!
That sun so calm and bright
that brings joy to sky and sea,
can never dry the bitter drops
of my pain,
the bitter teardrops of my pain!

James McCracken (t), Otello; Gwyneth Jones (s), Desdemona; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, cond.
 EMI, recorded Aug.-Nov. 1968

Jon Vickers (t), Otello; Leonie Rysanek (s), Desdemona; Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1960

Luciano Pavarotti (t), Otello; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Desdemona; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded live in concert, April 1991


WE'D PROBABLY ALSO WANT TO BRING IN
DESDEMONA'S VERDIAN COUSIN LUISA MILLER

That is, if we were actually doing this post. There are probably other operatic heroines, perhaps even Verdi operatic heroines, who belong in this company: people who are genuinely and all but universally loved because of their basic uncompromised decency and humanity, living exemplary practitioners of the Golden Rule. Naturally they are crushed -- easy pickings in a world that talks a good game about the Golden Rule but truly doesn't believe in it.

I was even thinking about recordings of, say, the opening chorus of Luisa Miler, in which the villagers make clear the depth of their affection for Luisa on her birthday, and certainly the captivating little Act I duet in which Luisa's beloved Rodolfo joins her in what formally ought to be the cabaletta to her just-completed aria (we could certainly start with the performance by Anna Moffo and Carlo Bergonzi in the RCA Luisa), making it sound as if the village angel might actually be reaping some reward for her virtue. Of course this is still the opera's opening scene. (I was also startled to discover that, at least as best I can find, we've never listened to the Overture to Luisa, a wonderfully animated piece, one of my favorit Verdi overtures.)


BUT THIS ISN'T THE POST IT OUGHT TO BE, SO
LET'S JUST GET ON WITH DESDEMONA'S SCENE

For one thing we ought to be combing through the discographic literature for more of the high points reached in this scene. Instead we're going to resurrect a batch of performances we've already heard, looking to Margaret Price and Mirella Freni particularly for the beauty of their renderings, and to Raina Kabaivanska and Gabriella Tucci for somewhat more personal realizations.

Otello: Act IV, Opening Scene: Prelude; Emilia, "Era più calmo?" . . . Desdemona, Willow Song ("Mia madre aveva una povera ancella" . . . "Piangea cantando") . . . "Ave Maria, piena di grazia"

EMILIA: Was he calmer?
DESDEMONA: He ordered me to wait for him.
Emilia, if you please,
lay out my wedding veil on the bed.
If I must die before you,
promise it will be buried with me.
EMILIA: Stop these thoughts.
DESDEMONA: Ah, I am so sad, and alone.

My mother once had a servant.
She was lovely, and in love.
Her name was Barbara.
She loved a man who abandoned her.
She would sing a song,
the song of the willow.
Help me loosen my hair.
Strangely, after all these years,
that song fills my thoughts tonight.
“Sighing, a poor soul sat upon the heath.
Sing willow, willow, willow.
She sat upon the heath, her head on her knees.
Sing willow, willow, willow.
Together we sing.
The weeping willow as garland, and I.”
Quickly. Otello will arrive soon.
“The fresh streams ran by her,
and murmured her moans.
And from her lashes flowed waves of bitter tears.
Sing willow, willow, willow.
Together we sing.
The weeping willow as garland, and I.”
“Sweet birds fly to her bending branches
to hear her sweet song.
And the cliffs echo her sighing,
as her eyes fill with tears.”
Take care of this ring for me.
Unhappy Barbara.
Her song ended with this simple cadence:
“He was born for glory, and I to love him.”
Listen. Did you hear that crying ?
Who is knocking ?
EMILIA: It’s only the wind.
DESDEMONA: “I to love him, and to die.
Together we sing . . .
Sing willow, willow, willow.”
Emilia, farewell. Oh, how my eyes are burning,
as they do before crying.
Good night, then.
Ah, Emilia, farewell!
[EMILIA leaves.]

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb.
Pray for those who kneel before Thee,
pray for the sinner - for the innocent.
Pray for the weak, and the powerful,
grant them Thy pity.
Pray for those who bend
under the weight of a cruel fate.
Pray for us, at all times,
and at the hour of our death.

Jane Berbié (ms), Emilia; Margaret Price (s), Desdemona; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, July 13, 1978

Jone Jori (ms), Emilia ; Mirella Freni (s), Desdemona; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Carlos Kleiber, cond. Live performance, Dec. 7, 1976

Anna di Stasio (ms), Emilia; Gabriella Tucci (s), Desdemona; NHK Radio Symphony Orchestra, Alberto Erede, cond. TV broadcast performance, recorded Feb. 4, 1959

Josephine Veasey (ms), Emilia; Raina Kabaivanska (s), Desdemona; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Georg Solti, cond. Live performance, June 30, 1962


IF YOU WONDER HOW OUR PERFORMANCES
OF THE ACT IV PRELUDE CONTINUED ON --

Why don't we listen?

Otello: Act IV, Opening Scene: Emilia, "Era più calmo?" . . . Desdemona, Willow Song ("Mia madre aveva una povera ancella" . . . "Piangea cantando") . . . "Ave Maria, piena di grazia"


Myriam Pirazzini (ms), Emilia; Leonie Rysanek (s), Desdemona; Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1960

Elzbieta Ardam (ms), Emilia; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Desdemona; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded live, April 1991

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