Sunday Classics: Listening back to Otto Klemperer's "Così fan tutte" recording

Klemperer with his Così score at the time of the recording

by Ken

As I indicated in Friday night's preview, today we're going to listen again to a little of the recording that Otto Klemperer made of Mozart's Così fan tutte," in celebration of sorts of this lovely recording's overdue reissue by EMI.

We actually did a more comprehensive listen-through to chunks of this recording in the March 2011 post "Remembering Margaret Price, Part 3 -- as Mozart's Fiordiligi," and I've begun replacing the original audio clips for that post, made from my German-pressed LPs, with clips from the (pretty good) new CD issue. As I've said, it's not among my very favorite recordings of the opera, but as I indicated in writing about it for The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera, in this case most of Klemperer's special insights have been intuited by other conductors on records -- among whom my clear favorite remains Eugen Jochum in his near-miraculous 1962 DG recording.

We're just going to hit some high points today, with a couple of other performances tacked on, and I thought we'd kick off with a perennial favorite excerpt of mine, the Act I farewell trio, as the ladies think their fiancés are going off to war, in a scheme engineered by their cynical old friend Don Alfonso.

Act I, Trio, Fiordiligi-Dorabella-Don Alfonso,
"Soave sia il vento"

Gentle be the breeze,
Calm be the waves,
And every element
Smile in favour
On their wish.

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


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"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" and the depths of Mozart's humanity

The trailer for John Schlesinger's Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)

by Ken

I tried to figure out how to work in a reference to Sunday, Bloody Sunday in writing earlier today about Mozart's Così, but couldn't figure out how to do it. I hoped maybe I'd find a clip online that shows the way director John Schlesinger used the great trio from Così to characterize his central character, a doctor (played by the great Peter Finch) who only now, in late mid-life, finds himself grappling with his sexual ambivalence. I came up empty, but it's still a great movie. I haven't seen it in ages, and probably ought to see it again.

The film was still very much on my mind when I reviewed Georg Solti's lovely first recording of Così fan tutte. Here's the trio from that lovely recording:

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Act I, Trio, "Soave sia il vento"

Gentle be the breeze,
Calm be the waves,
And every element
Smile in favour
On their wish.

Pilar Lorengar (s), Fiordiligi; Teresa Berganza (ms), Dorabella; Gabriel Bacquier (b), Don Alfonso; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1973-74

And as long as we're listening to this glorious trio, here it is again, from Karl Böhm's 1962 Così recording.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (s), Fiordiligi; Christa Ludwig (ms), Dorabella; Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Philharmonia Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. EMI, recorded September 1962

In some odd way that I can't explain, there's a dividing line in Mozart's creative life, not between the three operatic masterpieces written with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and the later Magic Flute, but between the second and third of the da Ponte operas, Don Giovanni and Così. It's fascinating how often conductors who are in the groove with The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni aren't with Così and Magic Flute, and vice versa. Somehow both Solti and Böhm seemed always to have a much stronger affinity for the later pair, Così and Magic Flute, than with Figaro and Don Giovanni.

Here is the great Act I farewell quintet -- often, and understandably, associated with the Così trio -- from Solti's later Magic Flute recording, and from Otto Klemperer's beautiful 1964 one. I've edited the quintet brutally, after the Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night have given Tamino and Papageno their marching orders for rescuing the Queen's daughter, Pamina, from the clutches of the supposedly evil Sarastro, and given Tamino a magic flute and Papageno a set of magic bells for protection, but we'll make that up some other time. (Recordings note: Böhm's glorious 1964 DG Magic Flute is one of my most beloved opera recordings, and I once had it on CD, but I can't find the CD edition. I could have dubbed it from LP, but I think Solti and Klemperer will represent this amazing music just fine, thank you.)

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Quintet, "Lebet wohl! Wir wollen gehn!" . . . "Drei Knäbchen, jung, schön, hold und weise" . . . "So lebet wohl!"

THE THREE LADIES: Farewell, we are going.
Farewell, until we see you again!
[All are about to go.]
TAMINO: Yet, fair ladies, tell us . . .
PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.
THE THREE LADIES: Three boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany you on your journey.
They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: Three boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany us on our journey.
THE THREE LADIES: They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
ALL: So farewell, we are going;
farewell, farewell, until we see you again!

Adrianne Pieczonka (s), Annette Kuettenbaum (ms), and Jard van Nes (c), Three Ladies; Uwe Heilmann (t), Tamino; Michael Kraus (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May and Dec. 1990
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (s), Christa Ludwig (ms), and Marga Höffgen (c), Three Ladies; Nicolai Gedda (t), Tamino; Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded March-Apr. 1964

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[7/29/2012] Listening back to Klemperer's "Così fan tutte" recording (continued)

One obvious casting strength of the Klemperer Così is his pair of sisters, the formidable Margaret Price as Fiordiligi and Yvonne Minton as Dorabella, and so in the selections for the original Margaret Price-themed post I devoted most attention to excerpts featuring them.

I should that, because I did Fiordiligi's two great arias fairly extensively in that post, offering not just Margaret Price's heroic performances but performances by Teresa Stich-Randall, Irmgard Seefried (from the Jochum-DG Così), Leontyne Price, and René Fleming, we're not going to revisit them at all. Also, I'm sorry, but I still haven't incorporated an excerpt featuring Klemperer's Despina, Lucia Popp.

Overture


New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


Act I, Duet, Fiordiligi-Dorabella, "Ah guarda, sorella"

[A garden by the seashore. FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA are both gazing at miniatures hanging round their necks.]

FIORDILIGI: Ah tell me, sister,
If one could ever find
A nobler face,
A sweeter mouth.
DORABELLA: Just look,
See what fire
Is in his eye,
If flames and darts
Do not seem to flash forth!
FIORDILIGI: This is the face
Of a soldier and a lover.
DORABELLA: This is a face
both charming and alarming.
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: How happy I am!
If ever my heart
changes its affection,
may love make me
live in pain.

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


Act I, Quintet, "Sento, o Dio"

GUGLIELMO: O Heaven, I feel my steps falter
In their progress towards you.
FERRANDO: My trembling lips
Cannot utter the words.
DON ALFONSO: In moments of the greatest stress
A hero calls up all his strength.
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: Now that we have heard the news,
One detail remains for you to do;
Be brave, and plunge your blade
Into this heart.
FERRANDO and GUGLIELMO: My love, blame fate
If I must abandon you.
DORABELLA [to GUGLIELMO]: No, no, do not go!
FIORDILIGI [to FERRANDO]: Cruel one, do not leave me!
DORABELLA: I would sooner tear my heart out!
FIORDILIGI: I would sooner die at your feet!
FERRANDO [aside, to DON ALFONSO]: What did I say?
GUGLIELMO [aside, to DON ALFONSO]: Do you see now?
DON ALFONSO [aside]: Patience, friend;
We've not reached the end yet!
ALL: Thus destiny confounds
Our mortal hopes.
Ah who, amid such sorrow,
Can ever more delight in life?

Geraint Evans (b), Guglielmo; Luigi Alva (t), Ferrando; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso; Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Ernst Häfliger (t), Ferrando; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

[in English] Peter van der Bilt (b), Guglielmo; Kurt Westi (t), Ferrando; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


Act I, Quintet, "Di scrivermi ogni giorno"

Recitative
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: I'm dying of breathlessness.
Quintet
FIORDILIGI [weeping]: Swear that you'll write me
Every day, my love!
DORABELLA [weeping]: Write me twice as often, if you can.
GUGLIELMO: Never doubt me, my dear!
FERRANDO: Rest assured, my love!
DON ALFONSO [to himself]: I'll burst if I don't laugh!
FIORDILIGI: Be true to me alone!
DORABELLA: Remain faithful!
FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA, FERRANDO, and GUGLIELMO: Farewell!
My heart is rent in twain, my love.
Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella); Luigi Alva (t), Ferrando; Geraint Evans (b), Guglielmo; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Ernst Häfliger (t), Ferrando; Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Peter van der Bilt (b), Guglielmo; Kurt Westi (t), Ferrando; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


Act II, Recitative and Duet, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, "Questo è ver" . . . "Prenderò quel brunettino"

Recitative
FIORDILIGI: This is true.
DORABELLA: So?
FIORDILIGI: So you go ahead:
But I don't want to be involved
If there should be a scandal.
DORABELLA: How can there be a scandal
When we're taking such precautions?
However, listen, let's come to an agreement:
Which of these two Narcissi do you fancy for yourself?
FIORDILIGI: You decide, sister.
DORABELLA: I've already chosen.
Duet
DORABELLA: I'll take the dark one,
Who seems to me more fun.
FIORDILIGI: And meantime I'll laugh
And joke a bit with the fair one.
DORABELLA: Playfully I'll answer
His sweet words.
FIORDILIGI: Sighing, I'll imitate
The other's sighs.
DORABELLA: He'll say to me:
My love, I'm dying!
FIORDILIGI: He'll say to me:
My dearest treasure!
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: And meanwhile
What sport and pleasure
I shall have!

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Jan. 25-Feb. 18, 1971

[recitative begins earlier] Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

[in English; recitative begins earlier] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969


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[5/25/2012] Preview: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012) (continued)

"Is this the most beautiful music ever written?" I asked when we first heard this astounding trio from Act I of Mozart's Così fan tutte, in a March remembrance of soprano Margaret Price. I'm still not prepared to say no.

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Act I,
Trio, Fiordiligi, Dorabella, and Don Alfonso, "Soave sia il vento"

Gentle be the breeze,
Calm be the waves,
And every element
Smile in favour
On their wish.

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962


FOR MOST MUSIC LOVERS, THERE ARE NO MORE
BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSIONS OF THE PAIN OF PARTING . . .

. . . than the Così trio we just heard and the Magic Flute quintet we're about to hear. Of course these farewells both contain at least the hope if not the expectation of seeing one another again. After all, the sisters in Così think their sweethearts are going off to war (Don Alfonso knows better, having set this whole charade in motion), while the gentlemen in The Magic Flute, being sent off to rescue the beautiful daughter of the Star-Flaming Queen of the Night from -- as they believe -- the evil Sarastro, don't know where the damn hell they're going.

Neither of the roles represented here figured much in Fischer-Dieskau's repertory. He did sing Don Alfonso in Così, but not much, and Papageno in The Magic Flute he never sang onstage, only for two complete recordings. (He explained once that he thought that at his over-six-foot height he would look ridiculous as the feathered bird-catcher Papageno.) However, in this later Magic Flute, with Karl Böhm conducting (not to mention Fritz Wunderlich singing Tamino), he sings (and in the spoken dialogue speaks) the best Papageno I've ever heard. It seems to me one of his finest recorded performances.

Turning to The Magic Flute, as a matter of fact when we first heard this quintet, which ends the opening scene of Act I, we didn't hear the whole thing. I owned up to having "edited the quintet brutally." At that time we picked up with the "farewell" sequence (about 4:15 of the clip below).

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Scene 1,
Quintet, Tamino, Papageno, and the Three Ladies, "Hm-hm-hm-hm!"

The mysterious Three Ladies, emissaries of the Star-Flaming Queen of the Night, have padlocked the bird-catcher Papageno's mouth for claiming to have slain the serpent lying dead before him. In fact, it was the Three Ladies who slew the serpent, just as it was about to smite the handsome Prince Tamino.

PAPAGENO [points sadly at the lock on his mouth]:
Hm-hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm-hm,
hm-hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm-hm.
TAMINO: The poor fellow can talk about his punishment
because his speech is gone.
PAPAGENO: Hm-hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm-hm,
hm-hm-hm-hm, hm-hm-hm-hm.
TAMINO: I can't do anything but pity you
because I'm too weak to help.
[THE THREE LADIES enter.]
1st LADY: The Queen pardons you,
[takes the lock away from his mouth]
remits your punishment through me.
PAPAGENO: Now Papageno can chatter again?
2nd LADY: Yes, chatter! Just don't lie again!
PAPAGENO: I'll never lie again! No! No!
THE THREE LADIES: This lock will be your warning.
PAPAGENO: This lock will be my warning.
ALL: If all liars were given
such a lock on their mouths,
instead of hate, defamation, and black bile
love and brotherhood would endure.
1st LADY: O Prince, take this gift from me!
This is sent to you by our ruler.
[Gives him a golden flute.]
The magic flute will protect you,
in the greatest misfortune sustain you.
THE THREE LADIES: With it you can act all-powerfully,
transform the passions of your fellow men.
The sad one will become happy,
The bachelor will take on love.
ALL: Oh, such a flute is worth more than gold and crowns,
because through it human happiness and
contentment will grow.
PAPAGENO: Now, you beautiful ladies,
may I so take my leave?
THE THREE LADIES: You can always take your leave.
However, the ruler intends for you --
with the Prince, without dallying --
to hurry to Sarastro's castle.
PAPAGENO: No, I thank you for that!
From you yourselves I've heard
that he's like a tiger.
Surely Sarastro without mercy
would have me plucked and roasted;
he would set me out for the dogs.
THE THREE LADIES: The Prince will protect you -- trust him alone!
That's why you are to be his servant.
PAPAGENO [to himself]: Let the Prince go to the devil!
My life is dear to me;
in the end, by my honor, he will creep
away from me like a thief!
1st LADY [gives him a wooden box with bells inside]:
Here, take this treasure, it's yours.
PAPAGENO: Hey, hey, what might be inside there?
THE THREE LADIES: In there you'll hear little bells sound.
PAPAGENO: Will I even be able to play them?
THE THREE LADIES: Oh, absolutely! Yes, yes, indeed!
Little silver bells, magic flute
are needed for your protection.
Farewell, we are going.
Farewell, until we see you again!
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: Little silver bells, magic flute
are needed for our protection.
Farewell, we are going.
Farewell, until we see you again!
[All are about to go.]
TAMINO: Yet, fair ladies, tell us . . .
PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: How the castle may be found.

We should take some note of the tune that Mozart introduces here, at 4:46 of the clip, which for all its simplicity is of such sublimity, especially with its otherworldly harmonization and insistent rhythmic underpinning, as to make clear that this isn't some ordinary fairy tale we're dealing with here.

THE THREE LADIES: Three little boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany you on your journey.
They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
TAMINO and PAPAGENO: Three little boys, young, beautiful, gracious, and wise,
will accompany us on our journey.
THE THREE LADIES: They will be your guides,
follow nothing but their advice.
ALL: So farewell, we are going;
farewell, farewell, until we see you again!

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Frtiz Wunderlich (t), Tamino; Hildegard Hillebrecht (s), Cvetka Ahlin (ms), and Sieglinde Wagner (ms), the Three Ladies; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded 1964


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

As noted, we'll he hearing Fischer-Dieskau singing farewells of his own, through the medium of the composer we've heard him singing most often here in Sunday Classics.


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