"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Sunday Classics: Verdi's King Philip -- a man in crisis
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On 78s, to fit on a single side, Philip's monologue was often begun at "Dormirò sol nel manto mio regal," as in the case of this classic recording Ezio Pinza made for Victor on Feb. 17, 1927
KING PHILIP: I will only sleep in my royal mantle,
when I have attained the evening of my days.
I will only sleep beneath the black vault,
I will sleep beneath the black vault
there in my tomb in the Escurial!
If only the royal crown gave me the power
to read in hearts what God alone can see!
Ah, if only the royal crown &c.
[Spoken in half voice]
If the prince sleeps, the traitor is standing watch.
The king will lose his crown, the husband his honor.
I will only sleep in my royal mantle
when I have attained the evening of my days.
I will only sleep beneath the black vault,
I will sleep beneath the black vault
there in my tomb in the Escurial!
Ah, if only the royal crown gave me the power
to read in hearts!
[Long silence]
She never loved me.
No, that heart is closed to me.
She doesn't love me, she doesn't love me.
by Ken
SINCE I SCREWED THE LINK UP FRIDAY NIGHT --
Let me see if I can get it right here. The new stand-alone "Sunday Classics with Ken" blog is at sundayclassicswithken.com. Still very much a work in progress, so comments are doubly welcome.
Yes, yes, Sunday Classics is on hiatus. Nevertheless, Friday night we began focusing on the great monologue of King Philip II in his study from the next-to-last act of Verdi's Don Carlos. And we began by spotlighting a couple of passages from the monologue, which I'd never had the opportunity to have listeners listen to together.
Sunday Classics preview: "First events" in "Nabucco," "Trovatore," and "Aida"
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He has a tale to tell:To keep the retainers and soldiers accompanying him alert for their wee-hours vigil in the service of their master, the Count di Luna, their captain, Ferrando (bass Plinio Clabassi), tells them a true-life ghost story from the di Luna family history, in this clip from a 1966 Italian Television production of Il Trovatore conducted by Arturo Basile. A line to note: following the men's immediate response to the story [at 4:33], "And the father?," Ferrando's heartbreakingly simple, poignant reply [at 4:38], "Brevi e tristi giorni visse" -- "Brief and sad days he lived on."
[I wasn't up to another week of grueling translation exercises. This translation at the online Opera-Guide respects enough features of Cammarano's libretto to pass muster. -- Ken]
A hall in the Aliaferia palace; a door on one side leads into the Count di Luna's apartments. FERRANDO and a number of the Count's retainers are resting near the door; some soldiers are pacing back and forth in the background.
[The men have asked their captain, in order "to drive off the sleep that hangs heavy on our eyelids," to tell them "the real story of Garzia, our Count's brother."] FERRANDO: I'll tell you; gather around me. SOLDIERS: We, too... MEN: Listen then. Listen. [0:15] FERRANDO: There lived a happy father of two sons, the good Count di Luna. The second boy's faithful nurse slept next to his cradle. As dawn was breaking one fine morning, she opened her eyes and whom did she find next to that baby? MEN: Who? Speak ... Who was it? [0:56] FERRANDO: A dark, despicable gypsy crone! Wearing the symbols of a sorceress! And with a sullen face, over the boy she cast her bloody, baleful eye! The nurse is seized with horror; she utters a sharp cry in the still air; and, in less time than it takes to tell, the servants hasten into the room; and with shouts, blows, threats, they expel the wretch who dared enter. MEN: Their hearts were moved by righteous scorn; the crazy crone provoked it! [2:16] FERRANDO: She claimed that she wanted to cast the boy's horoscope. The liar! A slow fever began to destroy the poor child's health! Weak, covered with a strange pallor, broken, he trembled at night, and moaned piteously all day long; he was bewitched! [3:04] The witch was pursued, seized and condemned to the stake; but her cursed daughter was left, to administer a horrible revenge! This criminal committed an unspeakable act! The child disappeared, and they found still glowing embers, on the very same spot where the witch had once been burned! And, alas, a child's skeleton, half-burnt, still smoking! MEN: Ah! the wicked, unspeakable woman! It fills me with both rage and horror! [4:33] What about the father? [4:38] FERRANDO: His remaining days were few and sad; yet an undefined presentiment at heart told him that his son was not dead; and when he lay dying, he desired that our master should swear to him not to stop his search. Ah! It was in vain! [5:10] MEN: And was no news ever had of her? FERRANDO: No news! Oh! were it granted me to track her down some day! MEN: But, could you recognise her? FERRANDO: Considering the years that have passed, I could. MEN: It would be time to send her to her mother, in hell. FERRANDO: In hell? [5:48] It's common belief that the wicked witch's damned soul still lives in the world, and when the sky is black she shows herself in various shapes. ALL: It's true! It's true! [6:33] On the edge of the rooftops some people have seen her! Sometimes she changes into a hoopoe or an owl! Other times, a raven; more often, a civet-owl, flying through the dawn like an arrow! FERRANDO:: One of the Count's men died of fear because he had struck the gypsy's forehead! He died, died of fear! He died, died of fear! MEN: Ah! Ah! He died! Ah! Ah! He died! FERRANDO: She appeared to him in the form of an owl, in the deep calm of a silent room! MEN: Of an owl! FERRANDO: She looked with gleaming eye, looked at the sky, sorrowing, with a bestial cry! MEN: She looked! She looked! [7:11] FERRANDO: Midnight was just striking! Ah! MEN: Ah! [Midnight strikes.] ALL: Ah! A curse on her, the infernal witch! Ah! [A drum is heard. The soldiers run to the back. The servants gather at the door.]
by Ken
In last night's preview we heard the openings of three Verdi operas: the Overture to Nabucco, the Introduction to Il Trovatore, and the Prelude to Aida. (Again, the reason for the choice of these operas will become clear tomorrow.) Each prepares us for an "event" of sorts, and tonight we're going to jump ahead to those events, then back up to hear how we got from last night's points A to tonight's points B.
In Nabucco, our "point B" is the first of the gorgeous bass solos that make the Hebrew high priest Zaccaria a plum role for basses plying the Italian reperory. In Il Trovatore it's once again the bass, a captain in the service of the Count di Luna who in the wee hours of the morning tells his band of retainers and soldiers a story that winds up scaring the dickens out of them. And in Aida, our bass is another high priest, this time Egyptian, leaves a young army captain alone to muse in what is certainly the most famous of tenor arias and perhaps the best-known of all operatic arias.
We're going to hear them one at a time, but I thought first we'd dip into the archives for a couple of landmark recordings.
First we hear the first half or so, a single 78 side's worth, but with chorus, of Ferrando's Trovatore narration sung by the foremost Italian-repertory bass in the era of recordings, Ezio Pinza (1892-1957), in 1930 still close to his absolute vocal prime.
Il Trovatore: Act I, Scene 1, Ferrando with retainers and soldiers, "Di due figli" . . . "Abbietta zingara"
MEN: To drive off the sleep that hangs heavy on our eyelids, tell us the real story of Garzia, our Count's brother. [0:18] FERRANDO: I'll tell you; gather around me. SOLDIERS: We, too... MEN: Listen then. Listen. [0:33] FERRANDO: There lived a happy father of two sons, the good Count di Luna. The second boy's faithful nurse slept next to his cradle. As dawn was breaking one fine morning, she opened her eyes and whom did she find next to that baby? MEN: Who? Speak ... Who was it? [1:16] FERRANDO: A dark, despicable gypsy crone! Wearing the symbols of a sorceress! And with a sullen face, over the boy she cast her bloody, baleful eye! The nurse is seized with horror; she utters a sharp cry in the still air; and, in less time than it takes to tell, the servants hasten into the room; and with shouts, blows, threats, they expel the wretch who dared enter. MEN: Their hearts were moved by righteous scorn; the crazy crone provoked it! [Cut to:] [2:38] FERRANDO: It's common belief that the wicked witch's damned soul still lives in the world, and when the sky is black she shows herself in various shapes. ALL: It's true! It's true! [3:30] On the edge of the rooftops some people have seen her! Sometimes she changes into a hoopoe or an owl! Other times, a raven; more often, a civet-owl, flying through the dawn like an arrow! FERRANDO:: One of the Count's men died of fear because he had struck the gypsy's forehead! He died, died of fear! He died, died of fear! MEN: Ah! Ah! He died! Ah! Ah! He died! FERRANDO: She appeared to him in the form of an owl, in the deep calm of a silent room! MEN: Of an owl! FERRANDO: She looked with gleaming eye, looked at the sky, sorrowing, with a bestial cry! MEN: She looked! She looked! [5:05] FERRANDO: Midnight was just striking! Ah! MEN: Ah! [Midnight strikes.] ALL: Ah! A curse on her, the infernal witch! Ah! [Final orchestral flourish is omitted.]
Ezio Pinza, bass; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Giulio Setti, cond. Victor/RCA/BMG, recorded Apr. 9, 1930
And really I don't see how we can touch on "Celeste Aida" without taking account of Caruso. This is a nice dub of his 1911 Victor recording, which includes the recitative, taken at a notably unhurried -- dare we say contemplative -- tempo.
Aida: Act I, Scene 1, Recitative and aria, Radamès, "Se quel guerrier io fossi" . . . "Celeste Aida"
RADAMÈS: If I were that warrior! If my dreams were to come true! A valiant army led by me… and victory… and the acclamations of all Memphis! And to return to you, my sweet Aida, crowned with laurels… to tell you: for you I fought, for you I conquered!
Heavenly Aida, form divine, mystical garland of light and flowers, of my thoughts you are the queen, you are the light of my life.
I would return to you your lovely sky, the gentle breezes of your native land; a royal crown on your brow I would set, build you a throne next to the sun.
Heavenly Aida, form divine, mystical gleam of light and flowers, etc.
Sunday Classics preview: If you hear what tonight's musical selections have in common, you know our subject for tomorrow
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Bonus! An actual prize! Win a CD of Sousa marches!
The musical joy of The Marriage of Figaro's Act I finale is stripped out of this singularly joyless rendering in the Unitel film directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conducted by Karl Böhm, with Hermann Prey as Figaro, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Count, Mirella Freni as Susanna, John van Kesteren as Don Basilio, and Maria Ewing as Cherubino.
There's nothing mysterious about the common thread between our musical selections, so I'm not sure this week's prize, a CD of Sousa marches performed very smartly by the Band of H.M. Royal Marines conducted by Lt. Col. G.A.C. Hoskins, M.V.O., L.R.A.M., R.M. (Prinicipal Director of Music, Royal Marines). I know that sounds made up, possibly by the Pythons. Sometimes the boys didn't have to go far to achieve parody, though -- real life came pre-self-parodied.
The prize could go for answering this question, or for picking up on the distinction between British and American Sousa performances hinted at below, or maybe just for making up a better question for this week's preview, which was supposed to be an easy one but instead has taken me an entire day -- an entire beautiful springlike day, to boot. Somebody's gonna win that damned CD!
[A]
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: (1) The Stars and Stripes Forever (2) The Liberty Bell
Eastman Wind Ensemble, Donald Hunsberger, cond. Kem-Disc, recorded c1981
The Wallace Collection, John Wallace, cond. Nimbus, recorded c1987
In many years of listening to Sousa march performances, I've become increasingly persuaded that there's a fundamental difference between British and American performances. So wouldn't you know that now, when I would like that difference to be so blatant as to be unmistakable, it comes out as relatively subtle -- although less so in the case of The Liberty Bell, which any Monty Python will recognize immediately. In fact, the difference is certainly the reason why the Pythons originally thought Liberty Bell would suit their purposes.
[B]
MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro): Act I finale, concluding with the aria "Non più andrai"
Le Nozze di Figaro: Act I finale
The hapless, hormonally overdrive young page Cherubino has developed the unfortunate habit of being in the company of young women on the estate who are also being seduced by the lord of the estate, Count Almaviva (whom we last encountered, in The Barber of Seville, as a romantic, idealistic young tenor seeking the hand of the lovely young Rosina, whom we will encounter again after the first intermission, now as the Countess Almaviva, having undergone one of the most heart-rending transformations in the annals of fictions). Figaro, now the Count's manservant, knows that his master is trying to delay his marriage to the Countess's personal maid, Susanna, on whom the Count has dallying designs (the "right" that he has given up, the infamous droit du seigneur, is the feudal lord's "right" to sleep with brides under his stewardship), and by way of speeding up the process has brought in a troupe of villagers to pay choral tribute to their lord. We're skipping over the first sounding of this choral tribute (we get to hear it down below) and picking up at the annoyed Count's response.
COUNT ALMAVIVA: What is this comedy? FIGARO [softly to SUSANNA]: Now we're in the dance. Back me up, my dear. SUSANNA [softly to FIGARO]: I have no hope. FIGARO [to the COUNT]: My lord, do not disdain this deserved tribute of our affection. Now that you've abolished a right so unwelcome to anyone who falls in love. COUNT: That right no longer exists. What do you want now? FIGARO: This first fruit of your wisdom we've gathered today to celebrate; our wedding is already arranged; now it remains for you to make sure that your gift is turned over unstained, dressed in this candid garment, symbol of honesty. COUNT [to himself]: Diabolically clever! So I have to finesse. [aloud] I'm grateful, friends, for such an honest expression. but for this I don't deserve either tributes or praise. It's an unjust right, and by abolishing it in my lands, I merely restore the rights of nature and duty. EVERYONE: Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. SUSANNA: What virtue! FIGARO: What justice! COUNT [to FIGARO and SUSANNA]: I promise you that I'll perform the ceremony. I just wish a brief indulgence, to be able -- in the company of my most loyal subjects and with the richest ceremony -- to bring about your fullest happiness. [to himself]: Marcellina has to turn up. [aloud]: Leave me, friends.
CHORUS OF VILLAGERS: Happy maidens, strew flowers before our noble lord. His great heart preserves for you an even more beautiful flower's glorious innocence. [The villagers exit.]
FIGARO: Hurrah! SUSANNA Hurrah! DON BASILIO: Hurrah! FIGARO [to CHERUBINO]: And you're not applauding? SUSANNA: The poor little thing is suffering because the master is sending him away from the estate. FIGARO: Ah, on such a lovely day! SUSANNA: On a wedding day! FIGARO: When everyone is praising you! CHERUBINO [kneeling]: Forgive me, my lord . . . COUNT: You don't deserve it. SUSANNA: He's still a boy. COUNT: Less so than you might think. CHERUBINO: It's true, I did wrong, but never from my lips will -- COUNT [raising him]: Fine, fine, I pardon you. In fact, I'll do more. There's a vacant posting for an officer in my regiment. I choose you. Leave at once. Farewell! [The COUNT starts to leave. SUSANNA and FIGARO stop him.] SUSANNAandFIGARO: Ah, just till tomorrow. COUNT: No, he leaves at once. CHERUBINO: I'm ready to obey you, my lord. COUNT: Go, for the last time embrace your Susanna. [to himself] That blow was unexpected! [The COUNT and BASILIO exit. CHERUBINO embraces SUSANNA, who remains confused.] FIGARO [to CHERUBINO]: Hey, captain, give me your hand. [softly] I want to talk to you before you leave. [aloud, with feigned joy] Farewell, little Cherubino! How your fate changes in a moment!
aria, "Non più andrai" [Note: The translation of the aria is taken over straight -- apart from adding the major repetitions, and of course introducing typos -- from Lionel Salter's 1968 rendering of the opera; after the ridiculous amount of time I spent agonizing over this much of the scene, including getting the damned HTML coding more or less right, I'm plain out of gas.]
No more, you amorous butterfly, Will you go fluttering round by night and day, Disturbing the peace of every maid, You pocket Narcissus, you Adonis of love.
No more will you have those fine feathers, That light and dashing cap, Those curls, those airs and graces, That roseate womanish colour.
No more, you amorous butterfly, Will you go fluttering round by night and day, Disturbing the peace of every maid, You pocket Narcissus, you Adonis of love.
You'll be among warriors, by Bacchus! Long moustaches, knapsack tightly on, Musket on your shoulder, sabre at your side, Head erect and bold of visage, A great helmet or a head-dress, Lots of honour, little money, And instead of the fandango, Marching through the mud.
Over mountains, through valleys, In snow and days of listless heat, To the sound of blunderbusses, Shells and cannons, Whose shots make your ears sing On every note.
No more, you amorous butterfly, Will you go fluttering round by night and day, Disturbing the peace of every maid, You pocket Narcissus, you Adonis of love.
Cherubino, on to victory, On to military glory! Cherubino, on to victory, On to military glory!
Ezio Pinza (bs), Figaro; John Brownlee (b), Count Almaviva; Bidù Sayao (s), Susanna; Alessio de Paolis (t), Don Basilio; Jarmila Novotna (s), Cherubino; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Ettore Panizza, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1940
Cesare Siepi (bs), Figaro; Frank Guarrera (b), Count Almaviva; Nadine Conner (s), Susanna; Alessio de Paolis (t), Don Basiliio; Mildred Miller (ms), Cherubino; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Jan. 15, 1955
Giorgio Tozzi (bs), Figaro; George London (bs-b), Count Almaviva; Hilde Gueden (s), Susanna; Norman Kelley (t), Don Basilio; Mildred Miller (ms), Cherubino; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. Live performance, Jan. 11, 1958
Walter Berry (bs-b), Figaro; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Count Almaviva; Erika Köth (s), Susanna; Julius Katona (t), Don Basilio; Edith Mathis (s), Cherubino; Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance from Tokyo, Oct. 23, 1963
It's the aria we're interested in here, but I wanted the run-up to it for two reasons: first, to establish the context makes this such a grand finale, as exhilarating as it is entertaining; but also to give you a sample of the real greatness of our first Figaro, Ezio Pinza. With both his Figaro and his Don Giovanni, you can listen to his recordings of the operas' musical numbers and he wipes away the competition, but you don't have a glimmering till you've heard his live performances, even though they capture him at later, vocally less splendiferous stages of his career than the jaw-dropping recordings of the '20s and early '30s. It's in the recitatives, which for so many singers are merely the monotonous conversational stuff that has to be gotten through to get to the musical numbers, that we hear in Pinza's performances not just a tonal refulgence but a warmth and rounded humanity that put him truly in a class by himself.
One note about our fourth performance above: Although it's sung in Italian, this is very much Figaro, and Mozart in general, in the Germanic tradition, with a preference for a higher-range (baritone or bass-baritone rather than bass) Figaro and a generally more exaggerated, almost lurching approach to (I almost said "assault on") the music. And there's no more, er, dramatic example than the Count of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, which would later be immortalized in the Unitel film of the opera, also conducted by Karl Böhm, where Fischer-Dieskau is partnered by another very Germanic-style Mozart baritone, Hermann Prey, as Figaro. (In fairness, you may also hear in the first three performances a distinctly broad-humored American approach.)
With regard to Fischer-Dieskau's Count (of which he made at least three studio recordings, without resort to the countless live performances in circulation), even in the bits we hear here, I think we can hear what Conrad L. Osborne meant when he ventured that DFD is giving us his opinion of the character rather than portraying him. That said, I think our Figaro here, Walter Berry, has significantly better instincts about the music, though he's not terribly comfortable singing in Italian.
Finally, to make sure we're probably fixed on the aria, here's one last performance of "Non più andrai," just the aria:
José van Dam (bs-b), Figaro; Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. Philips, recorded August 1985
[11/27/2010 preview] "First events" in "Nabucco," "Il Trovatore," and "Aida" (continued)
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Hey, somebody get Radamès a flashlight!Tenor Nicola Martinucci sings "Celeste Aida" in Parma, 1988.
Again, in last night's preview we heard how our three Verdi operas begin: Nabucco with its imposing Overture; Aida with its ethereal Prelude; and Trovatore, with that slashing martial orchestral introduction that leads us right into the captain Ferrando's midnight "ghost" story. In each case we're headed toward a "first event." We're jumping right to those musical "events," after which we're going to fill in the blank that got us there -- a full-fledged choral scene in the case of Nabucco, just a wisp of dialogue in the cases of Trovatore and Aida.
1. OUR THREE "FIRST EVENTS"
Nabucco: The Hebrew high priest Zaccaria offers his beleaguered people a ray of hope
Act I, Scene 1, Zaccaria, "Sperate, o figli!" . . . "Del Egitto là sui lidi"
The High Priest ZACCARIA enters the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, where the Hebrews are huddled awaiting doom at the hands of the Assyrian king Nabucodonosor. ZACCARIA is escorting FENENA, daughter of Nabucco.
ZACCARIA: Have hope, my children! God in His power has given a sign; He delivered into my power a precious hostage: [indicating FENENA] The enemy king's offspring can bring us peace. HEBREWS: The sun of a glad day has perhaps risen for us! ZACCARIA: Curb your fears! Place your trust in God's eternal help! Aria, Zaccaria There on the shores of Egypt He gave Moses life; Gideon's hundred men he rendered invincible one day. Who, in the extreme moment, believing in Him, has perished? HEBREWS: The sun of a glad day etc. ZACCARIA: Curb your fears! etc.
[In the continuation of the scene heard in the excerpt from the 1960 Met performance, a noise is heard which turns out to be the arrival of the young Hebrew Ismaele, nephew of Zedekiah, the king of Jerusalem, bearing the news that the Assyrian king is closing in on the temple with his army. ZACCARIA suggests that Heaven may put an end to his wicked doings, entrusts Fenena to Ismaele, and sings a vigorous cabaletta (soon joined by the Hebrews), "Come notte a sol fulgente": "As night before the streaming sun, as dust before the wind, thou shalt vanish in your great trial, false god of Baal! Thou, mighty God of Abraham, descend to fight with us."]
[without chorus] Nazzareno de Angelis, bass; orchestra, Lorenzo Molajoli, cond. Italian Columbia, recorded 1928 [continues through Zaccaria's cabaletta, "Come notte al sol fuggente"] Cesare Siepi (bs), Zaccaria; Eugenio Fernandi (t), Ismaele; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. Live performance, Dec. 3, 1960
Il Trovatore: The army captain Ferrando tells his men a late-night tale of horror
Act I, Scene 1, Ferrando with retainers and soldiers, "Di due figli" . . . "Abbietta zingara"
FERRANDO: There lived a happy father of two sons, the good Count di Luna. The second boy's faithful nurse slept next to his cradle. As dawn was breaking one fine morning, she opened her eyes and whom did she find next to that baby? MEN: Who? Speak ... Who was it? [Pasero: 0:39; Vinco: 0:38] FERRANDO: A dark, despicable gypsy crone! Wearing the symbols of a sorceress! And with a sullen face, over the boy she cast her bloody, baleful eye! The nurse is seized with horror; she utters a sharp cry in the still air; and, in less time than it takes to tell, the servants hasten into the room; and with shouts, blows, threats, they expel the wretch who dared enter. MEN: Their hearts were moved by righteous scorn; the crazy crone provoked it! [Pasero: 1:53; Vinco: 1:51] FERRANDO: She claimed that she wanted to cast the boy's horoscope. The liar! A slow fever began to destroy the poor child's health! Weak, covered with a strange pallor, broken, he trembled at night, and moaned piteously all day long; he was bewitched! [Pasero: 2:36; Vinco: 2:35] The witch was pursued, seized and condemned to the stake; but her cursed daughter was left, to administer a horrible revenge! This criminal committed an unspeakable act! The child disappeared, and they found still glowing embers, on the very same spot where the witch had once been burned! And, alas, a child's skeleton, half-burnt, still smoking! [THE PASERO RECORDING ENDS HERE] MEN: Ah! the wicked, unspeakable woman! It fills me with both rage and horror! [Vinco: 3:57] What about the father? [Vinco: 4:01] FERRANDO: His remaining days were few and sad; yet an undefined presentiment at heart told him that his son was not dead; and when he lay dying, he desired that our master should swear to him not to stop his search. Ah! It was in vain! [Vinco: 4:31] MEN: And was no news ever had of her? FERRANDO: No news! Oh! were it granted me to track her down some day! MEN: But, could you recognise her? FERRANDO: Considering the years that have passed, I could. MEN: It would be time to send her to her mother, in hell. FERRANDO: In hell? [Vinco: 5:06] FERRANDO: It's common belief that the wicked witch's damned soul still lives in the world, and when the sky is black she shows herself in various shapes. ALL: It's true! It's true! [Vinco: 5:46] On the edge of the rooftops some people have seen her! Sometimes she changes into a hoopoe or an owl! Other times, a raven; more often, a civet-owl, flying through the dawn like an arrow! FERRANDO:: One of the Count's men died of fear because he had struck the gypsy's forehead! He died, died of fear! He died, died of fear! MEN: Ah! Ah! He died! Ah! Ah! He died! FERRANDO: She appeared to him in the form of an owl, in the deep calm of a silent room! MEN: Of an owl! FERRANDO: She looked with gleaming eye, looked at the sky, sorrowing, with a bestial cry! MEN: She looked! She looked! [Vinco: 6:17] FERRANDO: Midnight was just striking! Ah! MEN: Ah! [Midnight strikes.] ALL: Ah! A curse on her, the infernal witch! Ah! [A drum is heard. The soldiers run to the back. The servants gather at the door.]
[without chorus] Tancredi Pasero, bass; orchestral accompaniment. Odeon, recorded 1927 Ivo Vinco (bs), Ferrando; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. DG, recorded July 1962
Aida: Another high priest, this one Egyptian, has fanned a flame of hope in a different army captain
Act I, Scene 1, Recitative and aria, Radamès, "Se quel guerrier io fossi" . . . "Celeste Aida"
RADAMÈS: If I were that warrior! If my dreams were to come true! A valiant army led by me… and victory… and the acclamations of all Memphis! And to return to you, my sweet Aida, crowned with laurels… to tell you: for you I fought, for you I conquered!
Heavenly Aida, form divine, mystical garland of light and flowers, of my thoughts you are the queen, you are the light of my life.
I would return to you your lovely sky, the gentle breezes of your native land; a royal crown on your brow I would set, build you a throne next to the sun.
Heavenly Aida, form divine, mystical gleam of light and flowers, etc.
Jussi Bjoerling, tenor; Stockholm Symphony Orchestra, Nils Grevillius, cond. EMI, recorded December 1936 Franco Corelli (t), Radamès; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, George Schick, cond. Live performance, Mar. 3, 1962
2. HOW'D WE GET THERE?
Nabucco: Act I, Scene 1, Chorus of Hebrews, "Gli arredi festivi"
The Hebrews assembled in the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem await a dismal fate at the hand of the forces of the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar (Nabucodonosor, or Nabucco for short).
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. Live performance, Dec. 3, 1960
Il Trovatore: Act I, Scene 1, Ferrando and retainers, "All'erta! All'erta!"
FERRANDO: Look sharp there! The Count must be served with vigilance; sometimes, near the house of his beloved he spends whole nights. MEN: Jealousy's fierce serpents are writhing in his breast. FERRANDO: In the Troubadour, whose song rises at night from the gardens, he rightly fears a rival. MEN: To drive off the sleep that hangs heavy on our eyelids, tell us the real story of Garzia, our Count's brother. FERRANDO: I'll tell you; gather around me. SOLDIERS: We, too... MEN: Listen then. Listen.
Ivo Vinco (bs), Ferrando; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. DG, recorded July 1962
Aida: Act I, Dialogue Ramfis-Radamès, "Sì, corre voci che l'Etiope"
A hall in the Palace of the King at Memphis. Left and right, a colonnade with statues and flowering shrubs. Rear, a great door beyond which can be seen the temples and palaces of Memphis and the Pyramids.
Dialogue, Ramfis and Radamès RAMFIS: Yes, rumour has it that Ethiopia dares to defy us again and to threaten the Nile Valley and Thebes. Soon a messenger will bring the truth. RADAMÈS: Have you consulted holy Isis? RAMFIS: She has named the Egyptian armies' commander-in-chief. RADAMÈS: Oh happy man! RAMFIS [looking intently at Radamès]: Youthful and valiant is he. Now I bear the divine commands to the King. [Exits.]
Ezio Pinza (bs), Ramfis; Giovanni Martinelli (t), Radamès; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Ettore Panizza, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1937
3. THE STORY THUS FAR
Really, that's quite enough for a "preview," don't you think? (Of course we haven't actually heard all that much music. It's just all those damned texts that sprawl out over so much online real estate.) Still, having come us this far in our three operas, it seems a shame to wait till tomorrow to put this much together. So here, opera by opera, is "our story thus far." (You'll note that I've cheated with Nabucco, stitching together an Overture and an opening scene that do feature the same conductor and orchestra, but from totally unrelated recordings, an LP of Verdi scenes by the bass Nicolai Ghiaurov and an LP of Verdi overtures and preludes conducted by Claudio Abbado made by different record companies nearly nine years apart.)
Nabucco: Overture London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded 1978 Act I, Scene 1: "Gli arredi festivi" . . . Zaccaria, "Sperate, o figli!" . . . "D'Egitto là sui lidi" . . . "Come notte a sol fulgente" Nicolai Ghiaurov (bs), Zaccaria; Leslie Fyson (t), Ismaele; Ambrosian Singers, London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, cond. Decca, recorded January 1969
Il Trovatore: Introduction and Act I, Scene 1 Giorgio Tozzi (bs), Ferrando; Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra of the Grand Théâtre, Geneva, Alberto Erede, cond. Decca, recorded July 1956
Aida: Prelude; Act I, Scene 1, Dialogue, Ramfis-Radamès, "Sì, corre voci che l'Etiope" . . . Recitative and aria, Radamès, "Se quel guerrier io fossi" . . . "Celeste Aida" Tancredi Pasero (bs), Ramfis; Beniamino Gigli (t), Radamès; Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded July-Aug. 1946
