Ghost of Sunday Classics: Rataplan!

How many "Rataplan"s can you count in these 33 seconds?

rataplan  n.  A tattoo, as of a drum, the hoofs of a galloping horse, or machine-gun fire. [French, of imitative origin.]

-- The American Heritage Dictionary

by Ken

So this is what I suddenly found going through my head this week. And once it was lodged in there, it was mighty hard to get out. Then it occurred to me that we've never listened to this wonderfully goofy moment from the little one-act farce Cox and Box, with a libretto by F. C. Burnand, here in Sunday Classics. (Regular readers will know that my admiration for Sullivan as musical dramatist in his partnership with W. S. Gilbert is something like reverence. However, Cox and Box is the only music he wrote without Gilbert which I return to with real pleasure.) I figured that while the lights are still on here at Sunday Classics, however dimly, we ought to rectify this omission.

In a moment we'll hear a little more music to place the above in context. Then I thought, since the delicious Bouncer of these excerpts is the beloved (by me, anyway) Donald Adams, we should do some sort of Donald Adams retrospective, but that project quickly got out of hand, so maybe we'll do it some other time. For the record, though, as I recall we've already heard him in his most famous role, the Mikado (and he's still the best I've ever heard, without even a close second), and also as Colonel Calverley in Patience, as Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre in The Sorcerer, and even in a snippet from a role that as far as I know he never sang, the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance. (The Pirate King was another of his most famous roles, and we have heard him in a snippet from that, the incandescent Paradox Trio.)

I love the idea of a Donald Adams retrospective, but for now, in order to make this a proper post, even a proper "ghost" post, after we've dealt with the rataplanning Sergeant Bouncer, we'll hear quite a different "Rataplan."


OF COURSE WE WANT TO START FROM THE BEGINNING

This is an old Sunday Classics habit, and in this case it's pays quick dividends, as I think you'll hear pretty quickly. You'll also note very different approaches to our material from our first two conductors, our old G-and-S friends Isidore Godfrey and Sir Malcolm Sargent. For the heck of it, I've thrown in the perfectly solid Overture from the generally lackluster later D'Oyly Carte recording of Cox and Box, also of basically the "Savoy edition," which chops the show down to a half-hour -- a loss that's almost pure gain.

F. C. BURNAND and ARTHUR SULLIVAN:
Cox and Box: Overture


New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded 1961

Pro Arte Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI, recorded 1961

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royston Nash, cond. Decca, recorded February 1978


NOW LET'S MEET SERGEANT BOUNCER

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Ghost of Sunday Classics: A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste Dept. -- Two operatic heroines, part 1

In Act II of Verdi's La Forza del destino, Leonora (Jennifer Maines) meets the kindly but ineffectual Padre Guardiano (Marek M. Gasztecki), at Innsbruck's Landestheater, September 2013.

by Ken
Another ghost-of-a-post idea, and one that may require some eventual fleshing-out. It was born of conjoined images from two different operas that suddenly started playing together in my head. And the "ghost" theme is actually appropriate, since it happens that both of the operatic heroines of our post title is that both have been seeing, er, fantastmi, as our Heroine No. 1, Verdi's Donna Leonora di Vargas from La Forza del destino, puts it.

HEROINE NO. !: VERDI'S LEONORA DI VARGAS
(LA FORZA DEL DESTINO)

We've actually heard this before, at some length. in the May 2011 post "Verdi's Forza demonstrates from start to finish what only opera can do." Donna Leonora, held responsible for the death of her father, the Marquis of Calatrava, the night she attempted to elope with her beloved Don Alvaro, has fled her home in Seville, eventually winding up at the mountain monastery of Hornachuelos, where she throws herself at the mercy of its superior, the kindly Padre Guardiano. When he finds out who she is, he recoils at first, then shows her the first human kindness she has received since her father's death, and what we hear from her in this release of pent-up tension rather terrifies me.

VERDI: La Forza del destino, Act II, Scene 2: Leonora, "Più tranquillo l'alma sento" ("I feel my soul more tranquil")

LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil
since I tread this ground.
The fearful phantasms
I no longer feel making war against me.
No longer does my father's shade
rise bleeding before me,
nor do I hear him, terrible,
cursing his daughter.

Maria Caniglia (s), Donna Leonora di Vargas; EIAR Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gino Marinuzzi, cond. Fonit Cetra, broadcast performance, 1941

Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora di Vargas; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded summer 1955

Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora di Vargas; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

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Sunday Classics: Three duets from three Verdi operas

Marcelo Álvarez and Sondra Radvanovsky sing the Act II duet from Verdi's A Masked Ball at the Met, Dec. 8, 2012.

by Ken

In Friday's preview we heard answering soprano and tenor snippets from three great Verdi duets, and I hope you heard what causes them, as I noted, to blend in my head. I assume you also guessed that, although the act numbers (I, II, and III) were given correctly, they weren't from the same Verdi opera.

Today we're going to listen to a larger chunk from each duet -- still not the full scene, though perhaps one day we'll get to that. Even though the full duets aren't that long (the longest runs about nine minutes), that would have been just too much to tackle in one post. (We've actually heard the whole of the Ballo in maschera duet, but never mind.)


FIRST LET'S LISTEN AGAIN TO FRIDAY'S SNIPPETS . . .

. . . now properly identified.

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Sunday Classics: Verdi's "Forza" demonstrates from start to finish what only opera can do

VERDI:La Forza del destino: Act III, Recitative and aria, Alvaro, "La vita è inferno all'infelice" . . . "O tu che in seno agli angeli"

José Carreras sings Don Alvaro's Act III monologue at La Scala in 1978.

Life is a hell to the unfortunate. In vain
do I long for death. Seville! Leonora!
Oh, memories! Oh, night
that robbed me of all joy!
I shall be unhappy forever - so it is written.
My father wished to shatter the foreign yoke
on his native land, and by uniting himself
with the last of the Incas, thought to assume
the crown. The attempt was in vain!
I was born in prison, educated
in the desert; I live only because my royal birth
is known to none! My parents
dreamed of a throne; the axe awakened them!
Oh, when will my misfortunes end?

Oh, you who have ascended, forever pure,
to the bosom of the angels,
lovely and untouched
by mortal sorrow,
do not forget
to look down on me, unhappy wretch,
who, nameless and exiled,
the prey of fate,
longingly seeks to encounter death,
unfortunate that I am!
Leonora, help me,
have pity on my anguish.
Help me, have pity on me!

by Ken

We spent some time recently with A Masked Ball, which I pointed out is, for all its formal adventurousness and variety, the tidies of Verdi's middle-period operas, being the only one regularly perfomed without substantial musical alterations. At the other extreme lies La Forza del destino (The Force of Destiny), a sprawling epic that tends to be sliced and diced, sometimes simply because of length, sometimes because of being, well, just too much, but not often because any of its music is truly dispensable, on grounds of either musical quality or dramatic force.

The one exception, for me, is the middle of the three scenes between the archfoes Don Alvaro and Don Carlo -- a good idea for a scene, and good music, but not of the kind of memorability that pervades the rest of the score. Verdi himself set the standard here with the first and the third of the Alvaro-Carlo scenes. (We heard a great deal of the first, "Solenne in quest'ora, in last night's preview, and a chunk of the last, "Invano, Alvaro," in Friday night's -- and we'll hear the whole thing today.)

From Alvaro's monologue I just want to highlight, for the moment, this portion of the recitative.

La Forza del destino, Act III: Don Alvaro, "Siviglia! Leonora! O rimembranza!"

Seville! Leonora! O remembrance!
O night that ravished me of all good fortune.
I will be unhappy eternally. It's written.

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958

We've talked all around that dreadful night. Now I think we better go back and find out what happened.


FOR THE EVENTS OF THAT FATEFUL NIGHT,
AND MORE OF FORZA, CLICK HERE

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Sunday Classics preview: Before they knew they were mortal enemies, "Forza"'s Alvaro and Carlo were battlefield besties

José Carreras (Don Alvaro) and Piero Cappuccilli (Don Carlo) sing "Solenne in quest'ora" at La Scala, 1978. (You'd think someone would have had the tact to edit out that ghastly "lasciate" with which Piero sends the Surgeon away at the start of the clip.)

ALVARO: You must swear to me, in this solemn hour,
to carry out a wish of mine.
CARLO [much moved]: I swear.
ALVARO: Look above
My heart.
CARLO [he does so and discovers a key]: A key!
ALVARO [pointing to the case]:
With it you will take out
A hidden packet. I entrust it to your honor.
Within is a secret which must die with me.
Burn it when I am dead.
CARLO: It shall be done, I swear.
ALVARO: Now I can die in peace. I press you to my heart.
CARLO [embracing him with great emotion]:
My friend, trust in heaven. Farewell.
ALVARO: Farewell.

by Ken

Many of us wish we had a mission in life, something to motivate us, to drive us on. Don Carlo di Vargas, whom we might call the "nemesis" of Verdi's La Forza del destino (the baritone, naturally), has a mission: to see his sister, Donna Leonora di Vargas, and her onetime would-be lover, Don Alvaro, dead, as revenge for what he believes if their responsibliity for his and Leonora's father, the Marquis of Calatrava.

But as I noted in last night's Forza preview, when they first actually meet (the events of the fateful night of the Marquis's death having happened our of range of Carlo), neither having any idea who the other is, they become the closest of comrades, in war, fighting for Spain. Shortly after they meet, in fact, Alvaro saves Carlo's life, but in the process is wounded himself, and his prospects for recovery don't appear great.

What ensues is, as I said last night, probably the finest duet written for tenor and baritone. And in tonight's preview, we're going to hear it, and hear it, and hear it . . .


FOR MORE OF "SOLENNE IN QUEST'ORA," CLICK HERE

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Sunday Classics preview: In bits from Verdi's "Forza," two characters search for oblivion

To call the Forza Overture Verdi's greatest may not adequately reflect its stature, since as we've noted he didn't write that many full-scale overtures. Here, in Japan, Plácido Domingo -- after taking his bow, presumably for vocal contributions to the program -- literally takes the baton to conduct quite a credible performance as an encore.

by Ken

For a while now I've a musical passage encamped in my head, even coming in a specific voice. It's tenor Giuseppe di Stefano as Don Alvaro in the last act of Verdi's La Forza del destino (The Force of Destiny), trying to maintain his own control while pacifying his long-unencountered nemesis, Don Carlo, looking back on his former life from his present state of mental near-oblivion.

VERDI: La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Vissi nel mondo, intendo"

DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958

At other times I am vulnerable to this startling glimpse into the mental state of Alvaro's should-have-been life partner, Donna Leonora di Vargas, whom we encounter in the second scene of Act II still seeking mental oblivion following what Alvaro will refer to as the "night that ravished me of every happiness." It has taken her last ounce of strength to reach the monastery in the mountains of Hornachuelos (in Córdoba province), where at first the kindly Padre Guardiano recoiled, realizing who she was, then more characteristically invited her -- in an extraordinary phrase we'll hear in the click-through -- to "come trusting to the cross."

VERDI: La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2,
Leonora, "Più tranquilla l'alma sento"

LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil
since I tread this ground.
The fearful phantasms
I no longer feel making war against me.
No longer does my father's shade
rise bleeding before me,
nor do I hear him, terrible,
cursing his daughter.

Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

* * *

We're going to hear these musical moments of "character truth" again in the click-through, and then hear them in slightly fuller contexts -- though not nearly full enough to do anything like justice to the extraordinary scenes I'm ripping them out of. And then we're going to hear a couple of other vivid musical characterizations of them, and then . . . if you click through, you'll hear.


FOR MORE OF ALVARO'S AND LEONORA'S
QUESTS FOR MENTAL OBLIVION, CLICK HERE

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[5/29/2011] Sunday Classics: Verdi's "Forza" demonstrates from start to finish what only opera can do (continued)

Ezio Pinza as Padre Guardiano directs
his compassion toward Leonora.

Come, trusting, to the cross.
There the voice of heaven will inspire you.

Ezio Pinza (bs), Padre Guardiano; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Jan. 23, 1943

When we heard this amazing passage Friday night, it may have seemed as if Verdi was proposing nice churchy solutions to earthly problems. On the contrary, he seems to be showing the church's utter absence of any ability to provide real spiritual sustenance. It is that deep compassion of Guardiano's that drives him to try to help Leonora in the way that she seeks -- occupying a solitary mountain refuge near the monastery which she's been told about -- but the fact is that he has no real help to offer her. Neither she nor Alvaro committed any crime, and their punishment is to be put beyond earthly hope.


THE FATEFUL NIGHT: MEET THE MARQUIS

In one of the later confrontations, Carlo makes clear that he considers Alvaro "my father's murderer." Well, no, I'm sorry. Not even close. I know that the world considers Alvaro and Leonora loathsome criminals for their conduct, but I'm sorry, they didn't commit any crime. And I think we need to go back to the fateful events themselves.

The opera opens in the scene is the main room of the country home of the Marquis of Calatrava -- "furnished in 18th-century style, but shabby." At first we have every reason to believe that the marquis is a wonderfully caring parent.

La Forza del destino: Act I opening,
Marquis of Calatrava, "Buona notte, mia figlia"

The MARQUIS , with a candle in his hand, is bidding goodnight to DONNA LEONORA, who seems preoccupied. LEONORA's servant CURRA enters.

MARQUIS [embracing Leonora affectionately]:
Good night, my daughter; goodnight, dear.

Is that balcony window still open? [Goes to close it.]
LEONORA [aside]: (What anguish!)
MARQUIS [turning to her]:
 Have you no word of affection? Why so sad?
LEONORA: Father, my Lord . . .
MARQUIS: The pure country air

has brought peace to your heart.

You have given up that foreigner unworthy of you.

Let me take care

of the future. Trust your father,

who loves you so!
LEONORA: Ah, father!
MARQUIS: Well, what troubles you?

Do not weep.
LEONORA: (I feel so guilty!)
MARQUIS: I'll leave you.
LEONORA [throwing herself effusively into her father's arms]: Ah, father!
MARQUIS: Heaven bless you. Good night.
LEONORA: Good night!
[The MARQUIS kisses her, takes up the candle, and goes into his room.]

Norman Treigle (bs-b), Marquis of Calatrava; Zinka Milanov (s), Donna Leonora; New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, Walter Herbert, cond. Live performance, March 12, 1953
Giovanni Foiani (bs), Marquis of Calatrava; Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; RCA Italiana Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1964 (stereo)

But he's not simply a doting, overprotective father. He's a monster, a stifling tyrant, and a racist bigot who has driven Leonora to her plan to elope with her beloved Don Alvaro, a nobleman of half-Incan extraction. Leonora is so filled with hesitation that her father is alerted and interrupts the planned departure.

La Forza del destino, Act I,
Marquis of Calatrava: "Vil seduttor"

After repeated blows, the door on the left opens, and the Marquis of Calatrava enters in a rage, brandishing a sword; he is followed by two servants carrying lamps.

MARQUIS: Vile seducer! Shameless daughter!
LEONORA [
throwing herself at his feet]: 
No, father -
MARQUIS [repulsing her]: No longer am I your father!
ALVARO [to the Marquis]: I alone am the guilty one.

[Baring his chest.] Strike -- take your revenge!
MARQUIS [to Don Alvaro]: No, your conduct

shows the baseness of your origins.
ALVARO [offended]: My lord!
MARQUIS [to his daughter]: Stand aside.

[To the servants.] Arrest the scoundrel!
ALVARO [again taking out the pistol; to the servants, who back away]: Beware,
if either of you moves . . .
LEONORA [running to him]: Alvaro -- heavens, what are you doing?
ALVARO [to the MARQUIS]: I yield to you alone. Strike!
MARQUIS: Die by my hand? Let such a life
be ended by that of the executioner!
ALVARO: My Lord of Calatrava! Pure as the angels

is your daughter -- I swear it; I alone am guilty. Let the suspicion

aroused by my boldness be removed along with my life.

Here I stand, unarmed . . .
[He throws down the pistol; as it strikes the ground, it goes off, mortally wounding the MARQUIS.]
MARQUIS: I am dying!
ALVARO [desperately]: Fatal weapon!
LEONORA [running to her father's side]: Help!
MARQUIS [to LEONORA]: Get away from me! The sight of you sullies my death.
LEONORA: Father!
MARQUIS: I curse you!
He falls into the arms of his servants.
LEONORA [in desperation]: Heaven, have mercy!
ALVARO: Oh, cruel destiny!
[The servants carry the MARQUIS to his apartments while ALVARO drags the unfortunate LEONORA with him towards the balcony.]

Norman Treigle (bs-b), Marquis of Calatrava; Zinka Milanov (s), Donna Leonora; Mario del Monaco (t), Don Alvaro; New Orleans Symphony Orchestra, Walter Herbert, cond. Live performance, March 12, 1953
Giovanni Foiani (bs), Marquis of Calatrava; Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; RCA Italiana Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1964 (stereo)


NEVERTHELESS, LEONORA AND ALVARO BECOME OUTCASTS

And they're treated as if they are criminals, of the most sordid sort. Friday night we heard some of Leonora's arrival at the monastery where she seeks nothing more than oblivion. Now we're going to hear the whole of her aria, and then we'll hear the whole of her interview with the kindly Padre Guardiano.

For these excerpts we introduce two more new Leonoras. Mirella Freni as a lyric soprano really had no business singing this heavy a role, but she managed it creditably enough to be worth hearing, I think, especially as a change of pace from the likes of Leontyne Price, Renata Tebaldi, and Maria Caniglia, whom we heard last night, and Zinka Milanov, whom we heard (briefly) earlier today. I might have preferred to place Freni's performances after a vocally more conventional Leonora, but since I'm pairing her today with Maria Callas, I'm not going to ask her to be heard after that; the Forza Leonora seems to me one of Callas's really outstanding studio opera recordings.

La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2, Scene, Leonora, "Son giunta" . . . "Madre, pietosa Vergine" . . . "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"

A small level clearing on the slope of a steep mountain. Cliffs and precipices on the right; center, the façade of the church of Our Lady of the Angels; left, the door of the monastery, in the middle of which is a small grille, and beside which is a bell rope. Above is a small projecting shelter. Beyond the church, high mountains, with the village of Hornachuelos. The church door is closed, but lights can be seen through a large semicircular window above it. Slightly to the left of center a rough stone cross, worn by time, stands at the top of four steps. Bright moonlight illuminates the scene.


DONNA LEONORA enters exhausted, climbing in from the right. She is dressed as a man, in a wide-sleeved cloak, broad-brimmed hat and riding boots.

LEONORA: I'm here at last!
Thanks be to Thee, O God!
This is my last refuge! I am here!
I am trembling! My dreadful story is known

at the inn -- my own brother was telling it!
If he had discovered me! Heavens! He said

that Don Alvaro was sailing to the West!
He did not fall dead that night
when I, soaked in my father's blood,
followed him, but lost him! And now he leaves me,
he flees from me! Ah, I cannot bear such anguish!
She falls to her knees.
Mother, merciful Virgin,
forgive my sin.
Help me to erase that ingrate
from my heart.
In this seclusion
I will expiate my guilt.
Have mercy on me, Lord.
, do not abandon me,
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
Oh, do not abandon, ah!
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
[Inside the monastery, the organ accompanies the monks singing their morning prayers.]
MONKS: Venite, adoremus et procedamus
ante Deum ploremus,
ploreumus coram Domino,
coram Domino qui facit nos.
LEONORA [over the monks' prayer]: What sublime songs,
the harmonies of the organ,
which like incense ascend
to God in his firmaments,
inspire this soul
with faith, hope, and calm.

Mirella Freni (s), Donna Leonora; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMI, recorded July 6-15, 1986 (stereo)
Maria Callas (s), Donna Leonora; Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Aug. 17-24, 1954

We're skipping Leonora's first contact with the dour and sour Brother Melitone, in which she insists on speaking with the Superior of the monastery. Finally Melitone brings Padre Guardiano. Again, we heard climactic moments from the Leonora-Guardiano scene Friday night.

La Forza del destino, Act II, Scene 2: "Chi mi cerca?" . . . "Venite fidente all croce" . . . "Più tranquillo l'alma sento"

PADRE GUARDIANO: Who is asking for me?
LEONORA: I am.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Speak.
LEONORA: It is a secret.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Leave us, Melitone.
FRA MELITONE [as he goes]: (Always secrets!
And only these holy men must know them!
We're so many cabbages!)
PADRE GUARDIANO: Brother,
What are you muttering?
FRA MELITONE: Oh, I was saying that the door is heavy
and makes a noise.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Obey me!
FRA MELITONE: (He's asserting his authority!)
[He goes back into the monastery, leaving the door ajar.]

PADRE GUARDIANO: Now we are alone . . .
LEONORA: I am a woman.
PADRE GUARDIANO: A woman at this hour! Good Lord!
LEONORA: One unhappy, deceived, rejected,
accursed by both earth and heaven,
who throws herself in tears at your feet
and begs you to rescue her from hell.
PADRE GUARDIANO: How can a poor monk do that?
LEONORA: Did Father Cleto not send you a note?
PADRE GUARDIANO: He sent you?
LEONORA: Yes.
PADRE GUARDIANO [surprised]: 
Then you are Leonora di Vargas!
LEONORA: You shudder!
PADRE GUARDIANO: No. Come, trusting, to the cross.
There the voice of heaven will inspire you.
[LEONORA kneels at the foot of the cross and kisses it; then, less agitated, she turns to PADRE GUARDIANO.]
LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil
since I tread this ground.
The fearful phantasms
I no longer feel making war against me.
No longer does my father's shade
rise bleeding before me,
nor do I hear him, terrible,
cursing his daughter.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Always in vain here
has Satan's ardor been addressed.
LEONORA: That is why I seek my tomb here

among the rocks, where another woman lived.
PADRE GUARDIANO: What! You know of her?
LEONORA: Cleto told me.
PADRE GUARDIANO
: And you wish … ?
LEONORA
: To give myself to God.
PADRE GUARDIANO
: Woe to him who lets himself be misled

by the delirium of a moment!

Regret would prove fatal

for one so young as you.
LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil

since I tread this ground, &c.
Ah! no!
PADRE GUARDIANO: Woe to him who lets himself be misled.

Who can read into the future?

Who can tell your heart won't change?

And your lover?
LEONORA: He killed my father

by accident.
PADRE GUARDIANO: And your brother?
LEONORA: He has sworn

that I shall die by his hand.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Better that a convent should open

its holy doors to you.
LEONORA: A convent? No.
If you drive this penitent away

I shall wander through the rocks crying for help,

begging refuge from the mountains, food from the woods,

until the beasts take pity and end my woe
.
Ah yes, here have I heard the voice of heaven:

"Take refuge in the shadow of this cross.“

And you drive me away'?
[
She runs to embrace the cross.]

This is my haven;

who shall take this solace from me?
PADRE GUARDIANO: (Glory to Thee, O merciful God,

Omnipotent Father of the wretched,

the spheres are whose footstool!

Thy will be done!)
LEONORA: Here I have heard the voice of heaven:

“Take refuge in the shadow of this Cross” . . .

This my haven;

who shall take this solace from me?
PADRE GUARDIANO: Your decision is firm?
LEONORA
It is.
PADRE GUARDIANO: May God receive you then!
LEONORA
Divine compassion!
PADRE GUARDIANO: Only I shall know who you are.

Among the rocks is a cave: there you will stay.

Near a spring, each seventh day,

I myself will set down a frugal meal.
LEONORA: Let us go there.

In the remainder of the scene, GUARDIANO orders MELiTONE to have the brothers assemble with candles, then tells LEONORA that in the morning she will go on foot to her refuge and invokes God's blessing on her.

Paul Plishka (b), Padre Guardiano; Mirella Freni (s), Donna Leonora; Sesto Bruscantini (b), Fra Melitone; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMI, recorded July 6-15, 1986 (stereo)
Nicola Zaccaria (bs), Padre Guardiano; Maria Callas (s), Donna Leonora; Renato Capecchi (b), Fra Melitone; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Aug. 17-24, 1954


MEANWHILE ALVARO ELUDES CARLO'S VENGEANCE

Alvaro, now known as Father Rafaelle, has by chance retreated to the very monastery where Leonora has sought refuge, neither knowing of the other's presence there. We heard part of the "Invano, Alvaro" confrontation Friday night, and now hear the whole thing.

Act IV, Scene 1, Scene, Don Carlo-Don Alvaro, "Invano, Alvaro, ti celasti al mondo"

CARLO: In vain, Alvaro, have you concealed yourself
from the world, and hypocritically made
a monk's habit a shield for your baseness.
Hatred and the thirst for revenge have pointed me
the way to the monastery where you are hiding.
There will be no one here to intervene between us.
Blood, your blood alone, can wash away
the outrage that stained my honor;
and I will spill it all, I swear to God!
DON ALVARO [entering, in monastic robe]: Brother.
DON CARLO: Recognize me!
DON ALVARO: Don Carlo! You! Alive!
DON CARLO: For five years I've been on your trail.
I find you, ah, finally I find you!
With blood alone is it possible to cancel
the infamy and the crime.
That I should punish you is written
in the book of destiny.
You were a gallant soldier, now a monk,
you have no weapon here.
I must spill your blood.
Choose, I've brought two swords.
[DON CARLO offers DON ALVARO the choice of two swords.]
DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.
DON CARLO: Neither the monk's habit
nor this deserted place,
coward, can protect you.
DON ALVARO: Coward! Such an assertion . . .
No! No! Assist me, Lord!
DON ALVARO: Let threats and fiery words
be carried away on the winds.
Forgive me, mercy!
o brother, mercy!
Why offend so much
someone who was only ill-fortuned?
Oh, let us bow our heads to fate;
O brother, mercy, mercy!
DON CARLO: You profane that name,
you profane, &c.
DON ALVARO: O brother, mercy, mercy, &c.
DON CARLO: Ah, you left me a sister
who, betrayed, was abandoned
to infamy, to dishonor.
ALVARO: No, she was not dishonored --
I swear it to you as a priest.
On earth, I adored her
as one can love in heaven.
I love her still; if she still loves me,
my heart asks for nothing more.
CARLO: My rage is not to be placated
by lying and cowardly words;
take up a sword, traitor,
and do battle with me!
ALVARO: If remorse and tears
no longer plead for me,
I will do what no one has ever seen me do --
throw myself at your feet!
He does so.
CARLO: Ah, you have proved the stain
on your escutcheon by this act.
ALVARO leaping to his feet in fury]:
It shines brighter than a jewel.
CARLO: It is tinted with your half-breed's blood.
ALVARO [unable to restrain himself]:
You lie in your throat!
Give me a sword, a sword -- lead on!
[He snatches one from his hand.]
CARLO: At last! [Setting out.]
ALVARO [recovering himself]: No -- the devil
shall not triumph. Go, leave me.
[He throws down his sword.]
CARLO: So you mock me?
ALVARO: Go.
CARLO: If now, coward, you lack courage
to measure swords with me,
I condemn you to dishonor.
He slaps his face.
ALVARO: in a fury
Ah, now you have sealed your fate!
[Seizing the sword again] Death!

Ah! death, come forth to death! Let us go!
CARLO: Death . . . death to both!

Ah! death, come forth to death! Let us go!
[They rush off.]

Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1965
Giorgio Zancanaro (b), Don Carlo; Plácido Domingo (t), Don Alvaro; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMi, recorded July 6-15, 1986 (stereo)


AND LEONORA?

Even the oblivion Leonora sought has eluded her in her solitary refuge. I went around and around on "Pace, pace," targeting a whole bunch of performances, but finally decided that it was impossible to not include any of the trio of Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, and Leontyne Price. Since I had already made the sound file for Julia Varady's performance, I've included it as well, if only for fans of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's Verdi conducting.

La Forza del destino, Act IV, Scene 2: Donna Leonora, "Pace, pace, pace, mio Dio"

A valley amid precipitous rocks, traversed by a stream. In the background, to the spectator's left, is a cave with a practicable door, above which is a bell that can be rung from within. The sun is going down. The scene darkens slowly; the moon appears, extremely bright. DONNA LEONORA, pale and worn, emerges from the cave in a state of great agitation.

Peace, peace, O God!
[She comes down.]
Cruel misfortune
compels me, alas, to languish;
my suffering has lasted for so many years,
as profound as on the first day.
Peace, peace, O God!
I loved him, it is true! But God had blessed him
with such beauty and courage
that I love him still, and cannot efface his image
from my heart.
Fatal destiny! A crime
has divided us down here!
Alvaro, I love you and in heaven above it is written
that I shall never see you again!
O God, God, let me die, for only death
can bring me peace.
In vain this soul of mine here sought peace,
a prey to so much woe.
[She goes to a rock on which the superior has left food for her.]
Wretched bread, you come to prolong
my inconsolable life.
But who comes here,
daring to profane this sacred retreat?
A curse! A curse!
[She retreats rapidly into the cave, closing it behind her.]

Maria Callas (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded Aug. 17-24, 1954
Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, summer 1955 (stereo)
Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; RCA Italiana Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1964 (stereo)
Julia Varady (s), Donna Leonora; Bavarian State Orchestra, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, cond. Orfeo, recorded January 1995 (stereo)


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[5/29/2011] Preview: Before they knew they were mortal enemies, "Forza"'s Alvaro and Carlo were battlefield besties (continued)

Baritone Robert Merrill and tenor Jussi Bjoerling recorded a gorgeous batch of duets, including "Solenne in quest'ora," for RCA in 1950-51.


VERDI: La Forza del destino: Act III, Scene 1,
Scene, Don Carlo-Surgeon-Don Alvaro, "Piano, qui posi" . . .
Duettino, Don Alvaro-Don Carlo, "Solenne in quest'ora"

Don Alvaro, wounded and unconscious, is brought in in on a stretcher by four grenadiers. On one side of him the SURGEON, on the other DON CARLO, covered with dust and very distressed. A soldier sets a dispatch case down on a small table. The stretcher is laid down almost in the centre of the scene.

CARLO: Gently, put him here. Prepare my bed for him.
SURGEON: Quiet!
CARLO: Is he in danger?
SURGEON: The bullet in his chest causes me concern.
CARLO: Oh, save him!
ALVARO [gaining consciousness]: Where am I?
CARLO: With your friend.
ALVARO: Let me die.
CARLO: Our treatment will save you. You will be awarded

the Order of Calatrava.
ALVARO [starting up]: Of Calatrava! Never! Never!
CARLO: (What! You shudder at the name of Calatrava!)
ALVARO: My friend …
SURGEON: If you talk …
ALVARO One word only.
CARLO [to the SURGEON]: Be good enough to leave us.
[The SURGEON withdraws to the background. DON ALVARO beckons to DON CARLO to come nearer.]

Duettino, "Solenne in quest'ora"
ALVARO: You must swear to me, in this solemn hour,
to carry out a wish of mine.
CARLO [much moved]: I swear.
ALVARO: Look above
My heart.
CARLO [he does so and discovers a key]: A key!
ALVARO [pointing to the case]:
With it you will take out
A hidden packet. I entrust it to your honor.
Within is a secret which must die with me.
Burn it when I am dead.
CARLO: It shall be done, I swear.
ALVARO: Now I can die in peace. I press you to my heart.
CARLO [embracing him with great emotion]:

My friend, trust in heaven. Farewell.
ALVARO: Farewell.
[The SURGEON and orderlies carry the wounded man into the bedroom.]

["Solenne" only] Enrico Caruso (t), Don Alvaro; Antonio Scotti (b), Don Carlo; instrumental ensemble. Victor, recorded March 13, 1906

Jussi Bjoerling and Robert Merrill
["Solenne" only] Jussi Bjoerling (t), Don Alvaro; Robert Merrill (b), Don Carlo; RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Jan. 3, 1951

Helge Roswaenge and Heinrich Schlusnus
["Solenne" only, in German, as "Die Stunde ist heilig"] Helge Roswaenge (t), Don Alvaro; Heinrich Schlusnus (b), Don Carlo; Berlin Radio Orchestra, Arthur Rother, cond. BASF, recorded 1942

Richard Tucker and Leonard Warren
["Solenne" at 1:25] Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Algerd Brazis (bs), Surgeon; Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 29, 1952

Mario del Monaco and Ettore Bastianini
["Solenne" at 1:26] Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Eraldo Coda (bs), Surgeon; Mario del Monaco (t), Don Alvaro; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded summer 1955 (stereo)

Franco Corelli and Anselmo Colzani
["Solenne" on track 2] Anselmo Colzani (b), Don Carlo; Walter Knetlar (bs), Surgeon; Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company Orchestra, Anton Guadagno, cond. Live performance, Apr. 14, 1965

Plácido Domingo and Giorgio Zancanaro
["Solenne" on track 2] Giorgio Zancanaro (b), Don Carlo; Frank Hadrian (bs), Surgeon; Plácido Domingo (t), Don Alvaro; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMI, recorded July 6-15, 1986 (stereo)


IN TOMORROW'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

What does Forza dos that couldn't be done in any medium except opera? Some thoughts.


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[5/27/2011] In bits from Verdi's "Forza," two characters search for oblivion (continued)

The monastery in the mountains of Hornachuelos

[I know this looks like a lot, especially for a "preview," what with all the texts and musical selections, but for the most part the selections are so cruelly truncated that they're quite short.]


Here first is that same passage of Alvaro's, in both instances sung very beautifully, but sounding, well, rather different -- and differenter.

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Vissi nel mondo, intendo"

DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.

Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1965

And here, as promised, is this passage in a slightly fuller context:

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Fratello," Don Carlo, "Riconoscimi!" . . .
"Vissi nel mondo, intendo"

DON ALVARO [entering, in monastic robe]: Brother.
DON CARLO: Recognize me!
DON ALVARO: Don Carlo! You! Alive!
DON CARLO: For five years I've been on your trail.
I find you, ah, finally I find you!
With blood alone is it possible to cancel
the infamy and the crime.
That I should punish you is written
in the book of destiny.
You were a gallant soldier, now a monk,
you have no weapon here.
I must spill your blood.
Choose, I've brought two swords.
[DON CARLO offers DON ALVARO the choice of two swords.]
DON ALVARO: I've lived in the world, I understand.
Now these garments, the hermitage
tell you that I've made amends for my faults,
that my heart is penitent.
Let me be, let me be.
DON CARLO: Neither the monk's habit
nor this deserted place,
coward, can protect you.
DON ALVARO: Coward! Such an assertion . . .
No! No! Assist me, Lord!

["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:25] Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958
["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:18] Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
["Vissi nel mondo, intendo" at 1:19] Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb. 6, 1965

(Remember where we left off. It's going to be important in a moment.)


HERE AGAIN (AND AGAIN) IS LEONORA'S
MUSICAL MOMENT OF CHARACTER TRUTH

Again we hear it first by itself, then in a slightly fuller context, including that remarable phrase of Padre Guardiano's I mentioned, "Venite fidente alla croce."

La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2,
Padre Guardiano, "Dunque voi siete Leonora di Vargas" . . . "Venite fidente alla croce" . . . Leonora, "Più tranquilla l'alma sento"

PADRE GUARDIANO: Then you are Leonora di Vargas.
LEONORA: You shudder!
PADRE GUARDIANO: No . . .
Come trusting to the cross.
There the voice of heaven will inspire you.
[LEONORA kneels near the cross, kisses it, then turns to PADRE GUARDIANO.]
LEONORA: I feel my soul more tranquil
since I tread this ground.
The fearful phantasms
I no longer feel making war against me.
No longer does my father's shade
rise bleeding before me,
nor do I hear him, terrible,
cursing his daughter.
PADRE GUARDIANO: Always in vain here
has Satan's ardor been addressed.

"Più tranquilla l'alma sento" only
Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded 1955
Maria Caniglia (s), Donna Leonora; EIAR Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gino Marinuzzi, cond. Fonit Cetra, broadcast performance, 1941

from "Dunque voi siete Leonora di Vargas"
[for all, "Venite fidente alla croce" is at 0:14, "Più tranquilla l'alma sento" at around 0:40]
Cesare Siepi (bs), Padre Guardiano; Renata Tebaldi (s), Donna Leonora; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded summer 1955
Tancredi Pasero (bs), Padre Guardiano; Maria Caniglia (s), Donna Leonora; EIAR Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gino Marinuzzi, cond. Fonit Cetra, broadcast performance, 1941
Jerome Hines (bs), Padre Guardiano; Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

IT'LL HELP IF WE ADD ANOTHER DEFINING MUSICAL
MOMENT APIECE FOR ALVARO AND LEONORA

First Leonora --

We go back to the beginning of the scene outside the monastery at Hornachuelos, hearing first the tempestuous orchestral introduction and going just through Leonora's first words, "Son giunta! Grazie, o Dio!." Then, shockingly, we skip over the body of her aria, "Madre, madre, pietosa Vergine," to the plea to God not to abandon her, "Deh, non m'abbandonar."

La Forza del destino: Act II, Scene 2,
(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"
(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"

(1)
LEONORA: I've arrived! Thank you, o God!
This is for me the ultimate refuge . . . I've arrived!
(2)
LEONORA: Oh, do not abandon me,
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
Oh, do not abandon, ah!
mercy, mercy on me, Lord!
[Inside the monastery, the organ accompanies the monks singing their morning prayers.]
MONKS: Venite, adoremus et procedamus
ante Deum ploremus,
ploreumus coram Domino,
coram Domino qui facit nos.
LEONORA [over the monks' prayer]: What sublime songs,
the harmonies of the organ,
which like incense ascend
to God in his firmaments,
inspire this soul
with faith, hope, and calm.

(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"

(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"
Renata Tebaldi (s); Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Decca, recorded 1955

(1) Orchestral introduction . . . Leonora, "Son giunta!"

(2) Leonora, "Deh, non m'abbandonar, pietà, pietà di me, Signore"
Leontyne Price (s), Donna Leonora; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, March 9, 1968

Then Alvaro --

You remember where we left off a moment ago in the Act IV scene between Alvaro and Carlo? At this point Alvaro makes one more heroic effort to avoid a violent confrontation with Carlo.

La Forza del destino: Act IV, Scene 1,
Don Alvaro, "Le minaccie, i fieri accenti"

DON ALVARO: Let threats and fiery words
be carried away on the winds.
Forgive me, mercy!
o brother, mercy!
Why offend so much
someone who was only ill-fortuned?
Oh, let us bow our heads to fate;
O brother, mercy, mercy!
DON CARLO: You profane that name,
you profane, &c.
DON ALVARO: O brother, mercy, mercy, &c.
DON CARLO: Ah, you left me a sister
who, betrayed, was abandoned
to infamy, to dishonor.

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Fernando Previtali, cond. RCA/Decca, recorded 1958
Richard Tucker (t), Don Alvaro; Leonard Warren (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Stiedry, cond. Live performance, Nov. 19, 1952
Franco Corelli (t), Don Alvaro; Ettore Bastianini (b), Don Carlo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Nello Santi, cond. Live performance, Feb., 6, 1965


AT WHICH POINT I THINK WE'RE READY
TO HEAR THE OVERTURE ONE MORE TIME

By now you should recognize that tempestuous opening music, which recurs at strategic points throughout the opera (we'll hear two others on Sunday), and also Alvaro's "Le minaccie, i fieri accenti" at 0:50 and Leonora's "Deh, non m'abbandonar" at 1:55.

La Forza del destino: Overture

Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, cond. DG, recorded live at a New Year's Eve gala, Dec. 31, 1998

(I'm not a huge Abbado fan -- almost least of all, generally, of his Verdi -- but this seems to me a heckuva performance, and with that improbable Verdi orchestra the Berlin Philharmonic.)


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S PREVIEW: BEFORE THEY
WERE MORTAL FOES, THEY WERE BROTHERS IN ARMS

We focus on the great scene for Don Alvaro and Don Carlo that includes perhaps the greatest duet written for tenor and baritone, "Solenne in quest'ora," in further preparation for Sunday's look at Alvaro's and Leonora's quest for oblivion.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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