Sunday Classics snapshots: Lucia's last happy snap

Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti at the Met in 1987

LUCIA: Ah! On the breezes
will come my ardent sighs.
You will hear in the murmuring sea
the echo of my grieving
Thinking that I feed on sighs and grief,
shed a bitter tear then on this ring.
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on that ring then!

Joan Sutherland (s), Lucia; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tullio Serafin, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1959

by Ken

I know we're making microscopic progress toward our goal, that other Verdian musical dramatization of the aging process (besides Germont's aria "Di Provenza" in La Traviata, by way of the "double aria" format Verdi inherited from the Italian bel cantists. And this week we're slowing down even further.

Last week we heard Lucia di Lammermoor's great Scene 2 double aria as she awaited her secret lover, Edgardo, near the fountain on his family's ruined Scottish estate. I thought this week we would move on, or rather back, to the Scene 1 double aria of Lucia's brother, Lord Enrico Ashton and maybe get as far as the way he treats his sister. But even though we left Lucia singing rapturously of her love for Edgardo, a rare moment of unbridled happiness for her, I don't think we can leave her there. We really need to "see" her meeting with Edgardo. Here are four musical snapshots.


(1) ENTER EDGARDO

The new scene begins with Edgardo breaking some disturbing news to Lucia, quickly followed by his announcement of a plan she finds even more disturbing.

Alisa, "Egli s'avanza" . . . Edgardo, "Lucia, perdona"

A park in the ground of the castle of Ravenswood. We see the fountain called "The Siren." Once it was covered by a beautiful structure decorated with all sorts of Gothic details; now only the ruins of this structure remain. It is nightfall.

We encounter LUCIA and her confidante ALISA as we left them at the end of last week's post.

ALISA: He's approaching.
I will keep watch nearby.
[ALISA goes in the castle. EDGARDO enters.]
EDGARDO: Lucia, forgive me
if at an unaccustomed hour
I asked to see you:
A powerful reason forced me to it.
Before the new dawn grows pale in the sky,
from my native shores, I shall be far away.
LUCIA: What are you saying?
EDGARDO: For the friendly shores of France
I unfurl my sails:
There i have been assigned
to negotiate the fate of Scotland.
LUCIA: And me in tears
you abandon thus?
EDGARDO: Before leaving you
I would see Ashton . . .
I would extend him in appeasement
my right hand,
and your right hand
as a pledge of peace I would ask.
LUCIA: What do I hear?
[Agitated] Ah no!
Let our hidden love
remain buried in silence for now.
EDGARDO: I understand . . .
The evil persecutor of my family,
of my wrongs,
he is still not satisfied!
He killed my father,
stole my ancestral heritage . . .
is that not enough?
What more
does that cruel, evil heart desire?
My entire ruin? My blood?
He hates me . . .
LUCIA: Ah no! . . .
EDGARDO: He abhors me!
LUCIA: Calm, o heavens, your extreme anger!
EDGARDO: A burning flame courses through my breast!
Hear me!
LUCIA: Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Hear me, and tremble!

Anna di Stasio (ms), Alisa; Luciano Pavarotti (t), Edgardo; Renata Scotto (s), Lucia; RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Oct. 10, 1967

Anna Maria Canali (ms), Alisa; Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Edgardo; Maria Callas (s), Lucia; Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Jan.-Feb. 1953

Lilian Sukis (s), Alisa; Joan Sutherland (s), Lucia; Richard Tucker (t), Edgardo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, cond. Live performance, Dec. 31, 1966

(You'll note that we've retained our three Lucias from last week, not least because they're partnered by some pretty spiffy Edgardos -- though in Joan Sutherland's case this means switching performances, from that spectacular Covent Garden broadcast from her breakthrough run of Lucias, to hear her partnered by the 53-year-old Richard Tucker, who more than holds his own even with Luciano Pavarotti in one of his best roles. Giuseppe di Stefano isn't exactly chopped liver either.)


(2) EDGARDO REALLY DOESN'T LIKE LUCIA'S BROTHER ENRICO

And apparently he feels the need to try to make her understand how much he doesn't like Enrico.

Edgardo, "Sulla tomba che rinserra"

EDGARDO: On the tomb that contains my betrayed father,
on your bloodline in my fury I swore eternal war.
LUCIA [a shreik]: Ah!
EDGARDO: But I saw you, and in heart was born
another emotion, and my anger was stilled.
Yet that oath has not been canceled.
I could, yes, yes, yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA [affectionately]: Ah, calm yourself!
Ah, restrain yourself!
EDGARDO: Ah, Lucia!
LUCIA: We can be betrayed, we can be betrayed
by a single word!
Is not my suffering enough for you?
Do you want me to die of fright?
EDGARDO: Ah, no, no, no, no!
LUCIA: Give up all other feelings.
Let love alone inflame your breast.
Nobler, holier than any oath is a pure love.
Ah, let love alone inflame your breast!
EDGARDO [overlapping]: Yet that oath has not been canceled.
I could, yes, yes, yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA: Yield, yield to me.
EDGARDO: Yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA: Yield, yield to love.

Luciano Pavarotti (t), Edgardo; Renata Scotto (s), Lucia; RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Oct. 10, 1967

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Edgardo; Maria Callas (s), Lucia; Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Jan.-Feb. 1953

Richard Tucker (t), Edgardo; Joan Sutherland (s), Lucia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, cond. Live performance, Dec. 31, 1966


(3) EDGARDO HAS A RING, AND SO DOES LUCIA

On impulse, Edgardo springs into action.

Edgardo, "Qui, di sposa eterna fede"

EDGARDO [with sudden resolve]:
Here, your eternal faith as a spouse
her swear it to me before heaven.
God hears us, God sees us.
A loving heart is both church and altar.
to your fate I unite my own.
[Placing a ring on LUCIA's finger]
I am your spouse.
LUCIA: And I am yours.
[In turn places her own ring on EDGARDO's finger.]
EDGARDO and LUCIA: Ah, only the chill of death
will put out our fire.
With my oaths I call on love,
with my oaths I call on heaven.
EDGARDO: Now we must separate.
LUCIA: Oh word, fatal to me!
My heart goes with you.
EDGARDO: My heart remains with you here,
my heart remains with you here.
LUCIA: Ah, Edgardo! Ah, Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Now we must separate.
LUCIA: Ah, sometimes from you let a letter come,
and my truant life I will feed with hope.
EDGARDO: A living memory of you
I will always retain, my dear.
LUCIA: Ah!

Luciano Pavarotti (t), Edgardo; Renata Scotto (s), Lucia; RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Oct. 10, 1967

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Edgardo; Maria Callas (s), Lucia; Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Jan.-Feb. 1953

Richard Tucker (t), Edgardo; Joan Sutherland (s), Lucia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, cond. Live performance, Dec. 31, 1966


(4) NOW COMES LUCIA'S LAST HAPPY SNAPSHOT

Lucia, "Verranno a te sull'aure i miei sospir ardenti"

LUCIA: On the breezes
will come my ardent sighs.
You will hear in the murmuring sea
the echo of my grieving
Thinking that I feed on sighs and grief,
shed a bitter tear then on this ring.
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on that ring then!
EDGARDO: On the breezes will come etc.
LUCIA [overlapping]: Ah! Yes, on that ring then, Edgardo!
EDGARDO: On that ring.
LUCIA: Your letters will always keep . . .
EDGARDO: Dear one!
LUCIA: . . . your memory alive in me.
EDGARDO: Yes, Lucia, yes!
LUCIA and EDGARDO: Ah! On the breezes will come etc.
[Much repertition of the above.]
EDGARDO: I am leaving.
LUCIA: Farewell.
EDGARDO: Remember, heaven binds us to it.
LUCIA: Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Farewell.
[EDGARDO leaves, and LUCIA retires into the castle.]

Renata Scotto (s), Lucia; Luciano Pavarotti (t), Edgardo; Renata Scotto (s), Lucia; RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Oct. 10, 1967

Maria Callas (s), Lucia; Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Edgardo; Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Jan.-Feb. 1953

Joan Sutherland (s), Lucia; Richard Tucker (t), Edgardo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, cond. Live performance, Dec. 31, 1966


NO DOUBT YOU WANT TO HEAR THE WHOLE THING

Lucia (Natalie Dessay) in the arms of Edgardo
(Joseph Calleja) at the Met, 2011

So we've brought in fresh troops.

Note that the Philips recording uses a critical edition prepared by conductor Jesús López Cobos commissioned by the publisher Ricordi, restoring the text of the composer's autograph manuscript, stripping away the coloratura encrustations added after the composer's death, including restoring the pitches of several of Lucia's numbers -- including this duet -- which had been raised to facilitate the insertion of unwritten upward options. López Cóbos insists that the restoration of the original keys brings the role of Lucia within the compass of a heavier-weight soprano than the bird-flight coloraturas who have taken the role over -- cf. la Caballé, though she could of course have ripped off plenty of coloratura gyrations. The Philips recording also features the pre-illness José Carreras.

DONIZETTI: Lucia di Lammermoor: Act I, Scene 2, Alisa, "Egli s'avanza" ("He's approaching") . . . . Edgardo, "Lucia, perdona" ("Lucia, forgive me") . . . . "Sulla tomba che rintrasse" ("On the tomb that contains") . . . . "Qui, di sposa eterna fede" . . . . Lucia, "Verranno a te sull'aure" ("Let come on the breezes")

ALISA: He's approaching.
EDGARDO: Lucia, forgive me
if at an unaccustomed hour
I asked to see you:
A powerful reason forced me to it.
Before the new dawn grows pale in the sky,
from my native shores, I shall be far away.
LUCIA: What are you saying?
EDGARDO: For the friendly shores of France
I unfurl my sails:
There i have been assigned
to negotiate the fate of Scotland.
LUCIA: And me in tears
you abandon thus?
EDGARDO: Before leaving you
I would see Ashton . . .
I would extend him in appeasement
my right hand,
and your right hand
as a pledge of peace I would ask.
LUCIA: What do I hear?
[Agitated] Ah no!
Let our hidden love
remain buried in silence for now.
EDGARDO: I understand . . .
The evil persecutor of my family,
of my wrongs,
he is still not satisfied!
He killed my father,
stole my ancestral heritage . . .
is that not enough?
What more
does that cruel, evil heart desire?
My entire ruin? My blood?
He hates me . . .
LUCIA: Ah no! . . .
EDGARDO: He abhors me!
LUCIA: Calm, o heavens, your extreme anger!
EDGARDO: A burning flame courses through my breast!
Hear me!
LUCIA: Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Hear me, and tremble!
On the tomb that contains my betrayed father,
on your bloodline in my fury I swore eternal war.
LUCIA [a shreik]: Ah!
EDGARDO: But I saw you, and in heart was born
another emotion, and my anger was stilled.
Yet that oath has not been canceled.
I could, yes, yes, yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA [affectionately]: Ah, calm yourself!
Ah, restrain yourself!
EDGARDO: Ah, Lucia!
LUCIA: We can be betrayed, we can be betrayed
by a single word!
Is not my suffering enough for you?
Do you want me to die of fright?
EDGARDO: Ah, no, no, no, no!
LUCIA: Give up all other feelings.
Let love alone inflame your breast.
Nobler, holier than any oath is a pure love.
Ah, let love alone inflame your breast!
EDGARDO [overlapping]: Yet that oath has not been canceled.
I could, yes, yes, yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA: Yield, yield to me.
EDGARDO: Yes, I could fulfill it yet.
LUCIA: Yield, yield to love.
EDGARDO [with sudden resolve]:
Here, your eternal faith as a spouse
her swear it to me before heaven.
God hears us, God sees us.
A loving heart is both church and altar.
to your fate I unite my own.
[Placing a ring on LUCIA's finger]
I am your spouse.
LUCIA: And I am yours.
[In turn places her own ring on EDGARDO's finger.]
EDGARDO and LUCIA: Ah, only the chill of death
will put out our fire.
With my oaths I call on love,
with my oaths I call on heaven.
EDGARDO: Now we must separate.
LUCIA: Oh word, fatal to me!
My heart goes with you.
EDGARDO: My heart remains with you here,
my heart remains with you here.
LUCIA: Ah, Edgardo! Ah, Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Now we must separate.
LUCIA: Ah, sometimes from you let a letter come,
and my truant life I will feed with hope.
EDGARDO: A living memory of you
I will always retain, my dear.
LUCIA: Ah! On the breezes will come
my ardent sighs.
You will hear in the murmuring sea
the echo of my grieving
Thinking that I feed on sighs and grief,
she a bitter tear then on this ring.
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on this ring then!
Ah, on that ring then!
EDGARDO: On the breezes will come etc.
LUCIA [overlapping]: Ah! Yes, on that ring then, Edgardo!
EDGARDO: On that ring.
LUCIA: Your letters will always keep . . .
EDGARDO: Dear one!
LUCIA: . . . your memory alive in me.
EDGARDO: Yes, Lucia, yes!
LUCIA and EDGARDO: Ah! On the breezes will come etc.
[Much repertition of the above.]
EDGARDO: I am leaving.
LUCIA: Farewell.
EDGARDO: Remember, heaven binds us to it.
LUCIA: Edgardo!
EDGARDO: Farewell.
[EDGARDO leaves, and LUCIA retires into the castle.]

Patricia Kern (ms), Alisa; Carlo Bergonzi (t), Edgardo; Beverly Sills (s), Lucia; London Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. ABC-EMI-DG, recorded August 1970
["Sulla tomba" at 2:54, "Qui, di sposa" at 6:25, "Verrano a te" at 8:40]

Kathleen Kuhlmann (ms), Alisa; Alfredo Kraus (t), Edgardo; Edita Gruberovà (s), Lucia; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, cond. EMI, recorded 1983
["Sulla tomba" at 2:30, "Qui, di sposa" at 5:47, "Verrano a te" at 8:16]

[critical edition, ed. López Cobos] Ann Murray (ms), Alisa; José Carreras (t), Edgardo; Montserrat Caballé (s), Lucia; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Jesús López Cobos, cond. Philips, recorded 1976
["Sulla tomba" at 2:49, "Qui, di sposa" at 6:19, "Verrano a te" at 8:53]

Finally, I'm throwing in this performance by Roberta Peters and Jan Peerce (another 53-year-old Edgardo!), not because I think it's all that wonderful, but almost because of this 1957 recording's dismal reputation. When RCA reissued it on its budget Victrola LP label, Conrad L. Osborne -- the one opera critic I genuinely trust -- wrote, more or less, "I'm not sure a bargain price exists for this extremely uninteresting set." Nevertheless, I've always had a fondness for it, perhaps because the Victrola edition was my first Lucia. In recent decades I don't recall hearing a Lucia of comparable quality -- and I emphatically include the conducting of that improbable Donizettian Erich Leinsdorf. (It goes without saying, doesn't it?, that RCA's 1957 "Living Stereo" sonics are more attractive and believable than the general run of "modern" recordings.)


Mitì Truccato Pace (ms), Alisa; Jan Peerce (t), Edgardo; Roberta Peters (s), Lucia; Rome Opera Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded August 1957
["Sulla tomba" at 2:23, "Qui, di sposa" at 5:24, "Verrano a te" at 7:43]

#