Sunday Classics snapshots: More Vickers -- "Otello fu," how he gets from here to there

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

by Ken

Leonard Bernstein had such a strong feeling for the scene of the death of Otello as depicted by Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Verdi that, as I recall the story (maybe somebody can help me out here? I can't remember where I read or heard him tell the story), he named a family dog "Otello Fu" -- and everyone assumed the name was Chinese.

Last week, remembering Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, we heard two performances of the sublime Love Duet that ends Act I of Verdi's Otello, one of his legendary roles. I should perhaps have issued a spoiler alert before noting that by the end of the opera Otello will murder Desdemona.


HOW DO WE GET FROM HERE TO THERE?

So we have a pair of musical snapshots, asking the question of how we get from here to there. "Here" would be the Love Duet, which ends like so (picking up from the point of the little excerpt we heard isolated last week, in which Otello voices the fear that he'll never be allowed such happiness again):

Otello: Act I, Otello, "Ah! la gioia m'innonda!"

OTELLO [supporting himself against the parapet]:
Ah! Such joy overcomes me
so vehemently, I cannot bear it.
A kiss!
DESDEMONA: Otello.
OTELLO: A kiss!
Yet another kiss!
The stars of the Pleiades descend toward the sea.
DESDEMONA: It is late.
OTELLO: Come. Venus shall guide us.
DESDEMONA: Otello!
[They go slowly toward the castle, clasped in each other's arms.]

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

And "there" being the moment in Act III when, during the official visit to Cyprus of the Venetian ambassador Lodovico, in front of the assembled company, Otello hurls Desdemona to the ground.

Otello: Act III, Otello, "A terra e piangi!"

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!

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

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

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

Some of the answer of how we get from here to there we've already covered in Sunday Classics. But perhaps we can put together a few more musical snapshots next time. Meanwhile I thought we should at least here in full --

THE DEATH OF OTELLO

Otello: Act IV, Otello, "Niun mi tema" to end of opera

OTELLO: Let no one be afraid
if they see me still armed.
Here is the end of my path.
Oh Glory! Otello was.
[He lets the scimitar fall, goes to the bed, and looks at DESDEMONA.]
And you . . . how pale you are,
and wan, and mute and beautiful,
good creature born under an evil star.
Cold as the chastity of your life . . .
now gathered in heaven.
Desdemona! Desdemona!
Ah! . . . dead! dead! dead!
[Stealthily drawing a dagger from his doublet.]
I have yet another weapon!
[He stabs himself.]
CASSIO: Ah! Stop!
LODOVICO and MONTANO: Wretched man!
OTELLO: Before killing you . . . wife . . . I kissed you.
Now dying . . . in the shadow . . .
where I lie . . .
A kiss . . . another kiss . . .
yet another kiss.
[He falls down and dies.]

Jon Vickers (t), Otello; Florindo Andreolli (t), Cassio; Ferruccio Mazzoli (bs), Lodovico; Franco Calabrese (bs), Montano; Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1960

Jon Vickers (t), Otello; Ryland Davies (t), Cassio; Luigi Roni (bs), Lodovico; Siegfried Rudolf Friese (bs), Montano; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, July 30, 1971

#