"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Sunday Classics diary: I love this theme, especially when it's played like this
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by Ken
I love this theme. It's majestic, maybe even monumental, irresistibly forward-moving, even swaggering, and at the same time tender and uplifting -- if I could put it into words, I guess I wouldn't need the music.
Now, the theme can be played kinda fast:
And it can be played kinda slow:
And it can be played the way we just heard it:
THIS LAST PERFORMANCE IS THE ONE
THAT GOT MY ATTENTION THIS WEEK
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. RCA-BMG, broadcast performance from Studio 8-H, July 25, 1943
Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded 1976
RCA Italiana Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded June 1964
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, Riccardo Muti, cond. Sony, recorded Sept. 5-7, 1993
by Ken
The rousing and stirring Overture to Luisa Miller is a piece I adore, and I'm surprised to see that, as far as I can tell, we've never listened to it. I thought we would at least have heard the performance from Tullio Serafin's EMI Italian Opera Overtures disc, but I see now that it's not included on that disc, which could explain it! I've had my copy off the shelf so long that I don't know where it is anyway.)
The Toscanini performance has a scorching intensity I've never heard anyone else even try to get. The Karajan performance (with, of all orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic -- from a strange set of complete Verdi overtures and preludes I've never had much fondness for) takes the piece in a fairly different direction, and since the Schiller-based Luisa is set in the early-17th-century Tyrol (and even the southern Tirol didn't become Italian until after World War I, and itself isn't all that Italian), perhaps it's not such a demerit that the performance doesn't sound especially Italian.
The piece itself is in a very simple sonata form -- exposition, development, recapitulation, and whirlwind coda -- with the wrinkle that the secondary theme of the exposition, sounded by the solo clarinet, is simply the principal theme switched from the minor to the major -- a hallowed old trick we spotlighted in the December 2011 post "It's the old minor-to-major switcheroo -- courtesy of Mahler, Schubert, and Donizetti."
I could continue plying you with performances of the Luisa Overture, but I think I'll offer just one more: a fine all-purpose job from RCA's 1964 Luisa, the first stereo recording (my goodness, now 50 years old, but holding up very nicely), conducted by that age-old opera-house veteran Fausto Cleva. Well, okay, I threw in one more -- from a Sony Verdi overtures-and-preludes series by Riccardo Muti, to hear the concert version of La Scala's orchstra.
WE'RE ACTUALLY CONTINUING LAST WEEK'S
"GHOST" POST DEVOTED TO VERDI'S DESDEMONA
I began that post with the haunting orchestral prelude to Act IV of Verdi's Otello, asking, "How would you describe the atmosphere? Autere? Melancholy? Solitary? Foreboding?" Here it is again. Read more »
Sunday Classics Preview: Marching with Berlioz' pilgrims in Italy
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Violist William Primrose is our soloist tonight in all
three performances of Berlioz' Harold in Italy.
by Ken
For once, there's been no change of plan -- yet. I said last week that we might stick with Berlioz and take a peek at his symphony with viola obbligato Harold in Italy, inspired by Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, though nothing seems to have been taken directly or depicted from the long (very long; four cantos' worth) poem. Berlioz seems mostly to have responded to the idea of wandering around Italy.
Harold was a sequel of sorts to Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique, and in its four-movement form it actually behaves more like a symphony than the Fantastic Symphony -- except for that matter of the viola obbligato. It's clearly not a concerto, it's . . . well, a symphony with viola obbligato (an important solo part). And I thought tonight we would plunge right in, with three very different performances of the lovely second movement, the "March of the pilgrims singing their evening prayer." Note how much more jauntily Charles Munch's pilgrims march than Sir Thomas Beecham's (actually a fairly standard pace, but a hard one to maintain with real movement), with Arturo Toscanini's smack in between.
Different as these performances may be, they have one important thing in common: the great Scottish-born violist William Primrose, heard here over a 19-year span as soloist. In 1939, when he first played Harold with Toscanini, he was in fact a member of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, which had a host of outstanding musicians in its principal chairs.
One thing to listen for: As in the Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz used the idea of an idée fixe, a musical theme that recurs in each movement. In this second movement of Harold in Italy, which begins with some chords of taut expectation that quickly give way to a wonderful pastoral marching tune, the viola slips in with a bit of what sounds like decoration to the melodic line, and then suddenly it's singing, as a beautifully straightforward viola solo, the idée fixe -- at 1:27 of the Toscanini performance, 1:42 of the Beecham, and 1:18 of the Munch.
BERLIOZ: Harold in Italy, Op. 16: ii. March of the pilgrims singing their evening prayer
William Primrose, viola; NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Music & Arts, recorded live, Jan. 2, 1939
William Primrose, viola; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Nov. 13 and 15, 1951
William Primrose, viola; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded March 31, 1958
Sunday Classics: Inscribed in the book of pardon -- we see Berlioz' "Roméo et Juliette" through to the soaring conclusion
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Shakespeare's humble Friar Laurence has been promoted by Berlioz to the rank of father, in which capacity he will rise, in guilty and righteous rage, to browbeat the once-again-battling Capulets and Montagues into reconciliation.
FATHER LAURENCE: Swear then by this august symbol, on the body of the maiden and the body of the son, by this sorrowful wood that consoles, swear all, swear by the sacred cross, to fix between you an eternal chain of tender charity, of fraternal amity; and may God, who holds future judgment in His hand, inscribe this oath in the book of pardon.
[CAPULETS and MONTAGUES sing their own versions of the above.]
José van Dam, bass-baritone; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded October 1975
This final scene of the reconciliation of the two families is reserved for the domain of opera or oratorio. It hasn't been played on any stage since the time of Shakespeare; but it is too beautiful, too musical, and it crowns a work of the nature of this one too well for the composer to have thought of treating it otherwise.
-- Berlioz, in the Preface to Roméo et Juliette
by Ken
Whew, as I laid out in last night's combined "flashback" and mini-tribute to tenor Cesare Valletti, we have a lot of ground to cover today -- and, happily, a lot of astounding music to listen to. So I'll try to keep the chatter to a minimum.
As we proceed through Parts II and III of Berlioz' "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette, we need to keep in mind the composer's explanation for his decision to portray the impassioned scenes of the lovers, which fall within what we're calling Part II, in purely orchestral language. One last time, then:
If, in the famous scenes of the garden and the cemetery, the dialogue of the two lovers, the asides of Juiet and the impassioned expressions of Romeo, aren't sung, if finally the duets of love and despair are confided to the orchestra, the reasons are numerous and easy to grasp. It is first -- and this motive alone would have provided the author with sufficient justification -- because we're dealing with a symphony and not an opera. Then, duets of this nature having been treated vocally a thousand times and by the greatest masters, it was prudent as well as intriguing to attempt a different mode of expression. It's also because the very sublimeness of that love made portraying it so dangerous for the musician that he had to give his imagination a latitude that the positive sense of sung words wouldn't have allowed him, and recourse to instrumental language, a language richer, more varied, and less fixed, and, by its very vagueness, incomparably more powerful in such a case.
-- Berlioz, from the Preface
"What we're calling Part II"??? In case that slipped past you, there is much confusion and disagreement about the breakdown of Berlioz' Roméo, and we had better establish right now exactly what we mean by Parts II and III.
A NOTE ABOUT THE THREE "PARTS" OF ROMÉO
There's no question that the "symphony" is made up of seven "scenes" ("tableaux") or, more symphonic-sounding, "movements." Nor is there much disagreement that what we've been calling Part I actually is Part II. From here, though, all hell breaks loose.
I've stuck with a division into three parts, which is what one most commonly encounters, even though my Peters miniature score clearly divides the work into four parts: Part II consisting of just the "Roméo Alone" sequence; Part III of just the "Love Scene"; and Part IV all the rest, including the "Queen Mab Scherzo," which would seem clearly to belong with the events and aftermath of the great ball at the Capulets', just like the Scherzetto version of Queen Mab in Part I.
However, since the Toscanini downloads of the complete are in three strictly defined files, we're going to follow its division. It's the one that's probably most often encountered, and it actually seems to me quite reasonable:
Part II -- 1. Romeo alone 2. Love Scene 3. Queen Mab Scherzo
Part III 1. Juliet's funeral convoy 2. Romeo at the tomb of the Capulets 3. Finale
ROMÉO ET JULIETTE PART I
Believe it or not, I think I've had my say (at least for now!) on Part I. If you've missed any of it, or just want to review before setting off into Parts II and III, check out Friday night's "flashback" post.
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ROMÉO ET JULIETTE PART II
1. Roméo alone -- Melancholy -- Distant noises of music and dancing -- Grand festivities at the Capulets'
We heard perfectly good performances of the extractable orchestral excerpts from Roméo in our very first Roméo preview, as performed by Carlo Maria Giulini and the Chicago Symphony, and a number of them we're simply going to bring back for another hearing, as in the case of the "Romeo Alone" sequence. First, though, we're going to hear the stereo Munch performance (we've heard excerpts from both his 1953 mono and 1961 stereo versions) of this sequence, for the convenience of hearing it broken down into its component parts on separate tracks.
In sections:
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 23-24, 1961 In one fell swoop:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 13-15, 1969
2. Love scene -- Night -- The Capulets' garden
As I pointed out in last night's "flashback," a purely orchestral version of the Love Scene can be produced with the simple excision of about 80 bars of choral depiction of the Capulet ball guests "go off in the distance," as the semi-chorus narrators put it in Part I. We'll hear it both ways.
Without chorus:
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Music & Arts, recorded live, Apr. 5, 1941 Complete:
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, cond. DG, recorded May 2000
Perhaps this is a good place to note that Toscanini was a leading champion of Berlioz' Roméo in this country, first during his years with the New York Philharmonic and then with the NBC Symphony. Apart from excerpts, he performed the complete piece as a guest conductor with the Philharmonic in 1942, then gave a broadcast performance with the NBC Symphony spread over two broadcasts in April 1947 which was something of a watershed in fostering awareness of the piece, even though the broadcast performance wasn't released on commercial records until almost two decades later, in 1965.
We're hearing Toscanini's 1947 Roméo in its entirely thanks to the $2.97 (!) download (see below for download info). I'm far from an unabashed admirer; almost none of the performance goes in any of the ways I would really like to hear this music. That said, the performance exudes understanding and commitment, and is in a different league from most of the recorded competition -- not that this is saying all that much.
3. Scherzo: Queen Mab, or the dream fairy
The "Queen Mab Scherzo" was one of the works Toscanini recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1941-42, the masters of which were assumed to be damaged beyond repair until the miraculously restored 2006 BMG issue of the whole series,where we can hear that the Philadelphians yield little in precision to Toscanini's own NBC Symphony while playing with a fullness and beauty of sound we don't associate with Toscanini performances. After that, let's listen again to the Giulini-Chicago recording.
Philadelphia Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Feb. 9, 1942
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 13-15, 1969
Chorus, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Recorded live, Feb. 9 and 16, 1947
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ROMÉO ET JULIETTE
PART III
1. Juliette's funeral convoy 2. Roméo at the tomb of the Capulets -- Invocation -- Juliette's reawakening -- Delirious joy, despair, final anguishes and death of the two lovers
So far, the only music we've heard from Part III (as we're defining it here, meaning everything after the "Queen Mab Scherzo") is the orchestra-only "Romeo at the tomb of the Capulets" sequence, which breaks down as listed above. It too was included in that batch of Giulini-Chicago orchestral excerpts. Why don't we listen to it again?
Roméo at the tomb of the Capulets
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 13-15, 1969
As noted above, the "Roméo at the tomb of the Capulets" sequence is preceded by "Juliette's funeral convoy," a choral setting of the following text:
Strew flowers for the dead maiden! Follow to her tomb our adored sister!
Here's the complete sequence.
Part III, 1. Juliette's funeral convoy 2. Roméo at the tomb of the Capulets
London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Westminster/MCA/DG, recorded June 1962
And now, finally, we're ready to take the big plunge into the grand finale.
3. Finale: The crowd gathers at the cemetery -- Recitative and aria of Father Laurence -- Brawling of Capulets and Montagues -- Oath of reconciliation
[a] The crowd gathers at the cemetery (Capulet and Montague choruses)
New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 23-24, 1961
[b] Recitative (Father Laurence and Capulet and Montague choruses)
At this point Father Laurence steps forward. He stuns the Capulet and Montague factions with a startling as well as horrific account of how the children come to be lying dead before them. There's an especially poignant moment at 0:24, when he cites his authority for the startling claim that the young lovers were married: He's the one who married them ("C'est moi qui les ai mariés").
FATHER LAURENCE: I'm going to lift the veil from the mystery. This corpse, it was the husband of Juliette. Do you see that body stretched out on the ground? That was the wife, alas!, of Roméo. I was the one who married them.
CAPULETS and MONTAGUES: Married?
FATHER LAURENCE: Yes, I have to admit it. I saw in it the hopeful pledge of a future amity between your two houses.
CAPULETS and MONTAGUES: Friends of Montagues/Capulets -- us! We curse them!
FATHER LAURENCE: But you resumed the war of the families. To escape another marriage, the unhappy girl, in despair, came to find me. "You alone," she cried, "could have saved me. I have nothing left but to die." In this extreme peril, I had her take, to cheat her fate, a potion that, that very evening, the pallor and cold of death.
CAPULETS and MONTAGUES: A potion!
FATHER LAURENCE: And I came here without fear to rescue her. But Roméo, deceived, arrived before me within the burial walls, to die on the body of his beloved; and upon her reawakening Juliette, realizing that death was lodged in his breast, turned Roméo's dagger against herself, and was passing into eternity when I appeared -- there's the whole truth.
CAPULETS and MONTAGUES [with consternation]: Married!
Giorgio Tozzi, bass; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 23-24, 1961
[c] Aria (Father Laurence)
Now the good father goes into (gorgeously) elegiac mode, but it isn't long before the rage bursts through again, at 2:52: "Where are they now?" ("Où sont-ils maintenant?"). With the air we have bass-baritone José van Dam taking over as our primary Father Laurence. Any number of perfectly estimable and honorable basses and bass-baritones have recorded this music, but van Dam seems to me truly without competition.
Short of a true bass with a free and easy upper range (hey, I can dream, can't I?), van Dam's bass-baritone is something close to the ideal voice for this music, having a smoothly, evenly, and beautifully knit compass with a modicum of basslike timbre and a full-bodied upper range that smartens excitingly when he's in his high-energy mode. He could be disappointingly casual at times, but when music like this induced him to really bring it, he could be a thrilling singer. We've already heard him in the final oath of reconciliation at the top of this post, and we're going to hear it again at the end -- he makes musical and dramatic sense of it in a way I've never heard anyone else even approach. I really don't have a second-place finisher.
FATHER LAURENCE: Poor children, for whom I weep, fallen before your time, on your somber resting place posterity will come to weep! Made great through you in history, Verona one day, without believing in it, will have its sorrow and its glory in your memory alone.
Where are they now, these cowardly enemies? Capulets! Montagues! Come, see, touch! With hatred in your hearts, insults on your lips, approach these pale lovers, barbarians! God will punish you through your tender spots. His chastisements, his avenging thunderbolts will find the secret of our terrors! Hear his voice, which thunders: "So that on high my vengeance may pardon you, forget your rage."
José van Dam, bass-baritone; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded October 1975
[d] Brawling between Capulets and Montagues
The raging and mutual recriminations of the two factions give way to another great moment for Father Laurence, at 0:32: his "Silence, wretches!" ("Silence, malheureux!").
FATHER LAURENCE [with indignation]: Silence, wretches! Can you without remorse, in the face of such a love, vent such hatred? Must your rage in this place break out, rekindled by the torches of the dead?
Great God, who sees into the depths of the soul, thou knowest if my pledges were pure. [As he continues, the choruses join in, each family lamenting the other's lost child.] Great God, with a spark of thy flame touch these somber and hard hearts! and may your enlightening breath, rising toward them at my voice, chase and dissipate their rage like chaff at the will of the wind.
CAPULETS and MONTAGUES: What a strange miracle! No more horror, no more bile! Just tears from heaven! Our whole soul is changed!
José van Dam, bass-baritone; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded October 1975
Before we move on to the Oath, let's recap the Finale so far.
[a] through [d]
David Ward, bass; London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Westminster/MCA/DG, recorded June 1962
[e] Oath (Father Laurence and Capulet and Montague choruses)
We're going to let all three of our Father Laurences have a crack at this soaring conclusion.
FATHER LAURENCE: Swear then by this august symbol, on the body of the maiden and the body of the son, by this sorrowful wood that consoles, swear all, swear by the sacred cross, to fix between you an eternal chain of tender charity, of fraternal amity; and may God, who holds future judgment in His hand, inscribe this oath in the book of pardon.
[CAPULETS and MONTAGUES sing their own versions of the above.]
Giorgio Tozzi, bass; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 23-24, 1961
David Ward, bass; London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Westminster/MCA/DG, recorded June 1962
José van Dam, bass-baritone; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded October 1975
Sunday Classics flashback: "Soon death is sovereign" -- more of Berlioz' "Roméo et Juliette"
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Verona:"Ancient hatreds, dormant, have surged as if from hell"
by Ken
There was so much to cover last week, introducing Berlioz' "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette in the company of another Berlioz Shakespeare adaptation, the opera Béatrice et Bénédict, that I think tonight and tomorrow night we need to do a little retracing and consolidating and contemplating.
In order to round out the relatively brief Part I, in which, as I pointed out, Berlioz basically tells the whole story, before telling it all again in Parts II and III, we need first to add just a bit more music to what we covered in last Friday's preview as well as the Sunday main post. By Sunday, you may recall, we'd gotten our protagonists as far as the aftermath of the great festivities at the Capulets': Juliette, alone on her balcony, thinking herself alone, confiding her love to the night; and the lurking Roméo taking that great leap of faith and revealing himself and his love. All that's left in Part I is Roméo rejoining his Montague relations and friends, and being roundly ridiculed for his pale, dreamy state. His friend Mercutio ventures that he has been visited by the fairy queen Mab.
Finally it's left to the small chorus (14 voices, you'll recall Berlioz asked for) to encapsule the rest of the action ever so briefly. "Soon death is sovereign," they warn, and then foretell the great reconciliation among the Veronese which again we read the composer explaining seemed to him appropriate.
The section is so brief that I thought we might hear several performances, even if the geographical range is from Boston to Boston to Cleveland. Believe it or not, we're hearing the entire tenor part, which is why we'll encounter singers on records we'd hardly ever expect to hear in a live performance. I have a distinct order of preference among our three tenors (a Frenchman, an Italian, and an American, you'll ntoe); I wonder whether other listeners will share it.
BERLIOZ: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17: Part I conclusion, Recitative and Scherzetto
RECITATIVE AND SCHERZETTO (solo tenor with semi-chorus)
Recitative
TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: Soon Romeo's pale dreaminess puts all his friends in a state of mirth.
TENOR: "My dear," says the elegant Mercutio, "I wager that Queen Mab has visited you."
Scherzetto
TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: Mab! The messenger, slender and feathery, she has for chariot a nutshell, TENOR: which a squirrel fashioned; the fingers of a spider wove her harness. TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: In the nights, the fairy, with this tiny train, gallops madly through the brain of a page TENOR: who dreams of impish trickery or tender serenading TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: in the moonlight under the tower. And following her outing TENOR: the little queen alights TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: one the bronzed neck of a soldier. TENOR: He dreams of cannonades and lively thrusts . . . The drum! . . . the trumpet! . . . he wakes up, and then swears, and prays, swearing all the while, TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: then falls asleep again TENOR: and snores with his comrades.
TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: It's Mab who made this whole bacchanal! It's also she who, in a dream, dresses the girl and escorts her to the ball. TENOR: But the cock sings, day shines, Mab flees like a lightning bolt TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: in the air.
Narration (semi-chorus)
SEMI-CHORUS: Soon death is sovereign. Capulets, Montagues, chastened by their sorrows, are reconciled finally into abjuring the hatred that caused the flow of so much blood and tears.
Jean Dupouy, tenor; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded October 1975
Cesare Valletti, tenor; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 23-24, 1961
Kenneth Tarver, tenor; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, cond. DG, recorded May 2000
NOW TO PULL THE WHOLE OF PART I TOGETHER
We first heard the agitated opening of the piece in last Friday's preview, in which we heard the extensive orchestra-only excerpts recorded by Carlo Maria Giulini and the Chicago Symphony. Now we're ready to put the whole part together, via Arturo Toscanini's famous 1947 NBC Symphony Roméo, which can be downloaded for an amazing $2.97 ($.99 cents for each of the three files containing the work's three parts).
Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17: Part I (complete)
INTRODUCTION
Combat and tumult -- [1:36] Intervention of the Prince
PROLOGUE
Narration (semi-chorus with solo mezzo-soprano)
[4:27] SEMI-CHORUS: Ancient hatreds, dormant, have surged as if from hell. Capulets, Montagues, two enemy houses, have crossed swords in Verona.
However, these bloody disorders' course has been halted by the Prince, threatening death to those who, despite his orders, would again have recourse to the justice of swords.
[5:20] In these instants of calm a ball is given by the old head of the Capulets.
[5:33] MEZZO-SOPRANO: Young Romeo, bemoaning his destiny, comes to wander sadly around the entrance to the palace, for he's madly in love with Juliet, the daughter of the enemies of his family.
[6:01] SEMI-CHORUS with MEZZO-SOPRANO: Noise from the instruments, melodious singing emerge from the salons where gold shines, arousing dancing and joyous cries.
[6:16] [Music from the ball is heard.]
[6:53] SEMI-CHORUS: The ball is finished, and when all the noise dies out, under the arches can be heard the exhausted dancers singing as they go off in the distance. Alas! and Romeo sighs, for he has had to leave Juliet!
[7:36] Suddenly, in order to breathe again that air that she breathes, he vaults over the garden walls.
[7:47] Already on her balcony snow-white Juliet appears, and believing herself alone until daybreak, confides her love to the night.
[8:18] Romeo, trembling with a restless joy, [8:23] reveals himself to Juliet, and from his heart fires break out in their turn.
STROPHES (mezzo-soprano solo with semi-chorus)
[8:53] First transports that no one forgets, first declarations, first vows of two lovers. Under the stars of Italy, in that warm air without breezes, which distant orange blossoms scent, where the nightingale wastes away with long sighs.
[10:06] What art, in its chosen tongue, could describe your heavenly delights? First love, are you not more exalted than all poetry? Or rather are you not, in our mortal exile, that poetry itself of which Shakespeare alone had the supreme secret, and which he took with him [SEMI-CHORUS joining in] to heaven?
[11:50] Happy children with hearts on fire! Joined in love by the chance of a single look, hide it well under the shadow of flowers, that divine fire that sets you ablaze, ecstasy so pure that its words are tears.
[13:06] What king could match the transports of your chaste delights? Happy children! and what treasures could purchase a single one of your sighs? Ah! savor for a long time that cup of honey, sweeter than the chalices from which God's angels, jealous of your delights, draw happiness [SEMI-CHORUS joining in] in heaven!
RECITATIVE AND SCHERZETTO (solo tenor with semi-chorus)
Recitative
[14: 56] TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: Soon Romeo's pale dreaminess puts all his friends in a state of mirth.
TENOR: "My dear," says the elegant Mercutio, "I wager that Queen Mab has visited you."
Scherzetto
[15:20] TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: Mab! The messenger, slender and feathery, she has for chariot a nutshell, TENOR: which a squirrel fashioned; the fingers of a spider wove her harness. TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: In the nights, the fairy, with this tiny train, gallops madly through the brain of a page TENOR: who dreams of impish trickery or tender serenading TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: in the moonlight under the tower. And following her outing TENOR: the little queen alights TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: one the bronzed neck of a soldier. TENOR: He dreams of cannonades and lively thrusts . . . The drum! . . . the trumpet! . . . he wakes up, and then swears, and prays, swearing all the while, TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: then falls asleep again TENOR: and snores with his comrades.
TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: It's Mab who made this whole bacchanale! It's also she who, in a dream, dresses the girl and escorts her to the ball. TENOR: But the cock sings, day shines, Mab flees like a lightning bolt TENOR and SEMI-CHORUS: in the air.
Narration (semi-chorus)
[17:03] SEMI-CHORUS: Soon death is sovereign. Capulets, Montagues, chastened by their sorrows, are reconciled finally into abjuring the hatred that caused the flow of so much blood and tears.
Gladys Swarthout, mezzo-soprano; John Garris, tenor; Chorus, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Recorded live, Feb. 9 and 16, 1947
IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S SUNDAY CLASSICS PREVIEW --
We forge back onward into Parts II and III of Roméo, with more Berlioz in store for Sunday. Okay, I'm not absolutely sure exactly what at this precise moment. So sue me. I'm thinking maybe Harold in Italy (another Berlioz "symphony," though a much more nearly recognizable one, except for the pesky business of the viola solo), maybe with (or then again maybe without) some surprises.
SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE -- CHANGE OF PLAN:
There's just too much music for "review" to dump it all into another "flashback." So let's do something of a "preview" nature for tonight, and then finish up with Roméo -- and that includes going into the great finale of reconciliation -- in Sunday's post. Then maybe we'll visit Italy with Harold next week.
where we can hear that the Philadelphians yield little in precision to Toscanini's own NBC Symphony while playing with a fullness and beauty of sound we don't associate with Toscanini performances. After that, let's listen again to the Giulini-Chicago recording.
