"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Nicolai Gedda (1925-2017)
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10pm ET UPDATE: We have Yevgeny Onegin audio files!
Anneliese Rothenberger and Nicolai Gedda as Constanze
and Belmonte in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio,
from the cover of their 1966 EMI recording
MOZART: The Abduction from the Seraglio: Overture and Belmonte's entrance aria, "Hier soll ich dich denn sehen?"
BELMONTE: Here am I then to see you,
Constanze -- you, my happiness?
Let Heaven make it happen!
Give me my peace back!
I suffered sorrows,
o Love, all too many of them.
Grant me now in their place joys
and bring me toward the goal.
[aria at 4:35] Nicolai Gedda (t), Belmonte; Vienna Philharmonic, Josef Krips, cond. EMI, recorded February 1966
Now here it is sung by a younger, fresher-voiced Nicolai --
[aria at 4:20] Nicolai Gedda (t), Belmonte; Paris Conservatory Orchestra, Hans Rosbaud, cond. Recorded live at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, July 11, 1954
Finally, here it is sung in English (from a complete Abduction
recording based on a Phoenix Opera Group production) --
[in English; aria at 4:10] Nicolai Gedda (t), Belmonte; Bath Festival Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin, cond. EMI, recorded Oct.-Dec. 1967 (now available in Chandos's opera-in-English series)
by Ken
Although Nicolai Gedda continued singing publicly well into his 70s, he had, not surprisingly, slipped out of the international circuit well before then, and since he was 91 when he died on February 8, in Switzerland, it may be that to younger music lovers the Swedish tenor is just a name, if that. But there was a time, and a fairly long one at that, when he seemed to be everywhere, singing more or less everything -- at least everything assumable by a generous-voiced lyric tenor, in the wide range of languages in which he sang with both technical and expressive assurance.
I NEVER THOUGHT OF OUR NICOLAI AS A FAVORITE
SINGER. IT'S MORE THAT HE WAS ALWAYS THERE.
PAPAGENO: Right, then, that's still how it is!
Since there is nothing holding me back,
good night, thou false world!
-- most of our Magic Flute translations by Robert A. Jordan
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964
Or in English: "Fare thee well, thou world of pain!"
[in English] John Brownlee (b), Papageno; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Dec. 26, 1942
by Ken
We were just looking at Mozart's and Beethoven's exceptional use of minor keys for opening movements of symphonies and concertos, and one point I could have made more explicit is how frequently -- among these admittedly infrequent cases -- the "thematic" material that inspires such a plan is more "motivic" than really melodic -- think of Mozart's D minor Piano Concerto (No. 20) or of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies.
But of course the minor mode doesn't preclude great tunes, and I think that's what planted the thought of this great moment from The Magic Flute in my head. It's the moment when Papageno the lowly bird-catcher is driven by his loneliness to the ultimate despair, and I think the Fischer-Dieskau performance in particular makes it clear that Mozart plays this moment "for real." (Not to worry, we're going to hear the complete scene, er, eventually.)
As I suggested in Friday night's "double preview," "Enter the bird-catcher; exit Sir Colin Davis," we're focusing this week on Papageno, though as we often do, we're going to start with the Overture.
OUR THREE PRINCIPAL PAPAGENOS
AND THEIR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCTORS
Sunday Classics (double) preview: Enter the bird-catcher; exit Sir Colin Davis
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Colin Davis (1927-2013) at home
by Ken
As I must have mentioned, one of my core LPs in the early getting-to-know-music stage was a budget Seraphim issue of a disc of Mozart overtures conducted by Colin Davis early in his career. There were fine performances of all these indispensable pieces, and my recollection is that I played that LP a lot.
The subject of my complicated feelings about Sir Colin, who died on April 15 at 85, as a conductor has come up occasionally in these posts, and I'm afraid I'm going to need to rehash it in order to memorialize him properly, though I'm going to want to stress the truly wonderful things he did. The thing is, those truly wonderful things, which were often quite unexpected (who, for example, would have expected a great recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde from him?) tended to be a lot less heralded than a lot of stick-waving hackery.
I don't have those fine old EMI Mozart overtures on CD, and so tonight, since I happen to have some consideration of one of the characters of Mozart's Magic Flute in mind, I thought we'd let Sir Colin give us a taste from his 1984 Philips recording of the opera -- not a great performance by any means, but a pretty good one. We hear first Davis's Overture, which we've actually heard before.
MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Overture
Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984
Now we hear the bird-catcher Papageno's two ever-familiar, ever-beloved ditty-like songs.
Sunday Classics: Among our team of operatic avengers, which does Saint-Saëns's Dalila resemble most?
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Shirley Verrett sings Dalila's Act II aria "Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse" with Julius Rudel conducting in San Francisco, 1981. If the staging at the opening makes you wonder whether the stage director ever listened to the music (forget reading the libretto), we're on the same page.
Samson, seeking my presence again, this evening is to come to this place. Here is the hour of vengeance, which must satisfy our gods.
Love! come aid my weakness! Pour the poison in his breast! Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness, Samson is in fetters tomorrow! In vain would he wish to be able to chase me out of his soul, to banish me. Could he extinguish the flame that memory feeds? He is mine! my slave! My brothers fear his wrath; I, along among all, I defy him and hold him at my knees!
Love! come aid my weakness! Pour the poison in his breast! Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness, Samson is in fetters tomorrow! Against strength is useless, and he, the strong among the strong, he, who broke his people's chains, will succumb to my efforts.
by Ken
Okay, here's where we are. Last week, in both the preview ("In which we hear a lady weighted by a heap of hurt") and the main post ("Meet Saint-Saëns's Dalila"), we heard the seductive side of Dalila -- and also the side, whatever you want to call it (I called it deep hurt) displayed in the great solo she sings when she's finally alone at the start of Act II. Then in Friday night's preview we heard her in "vengeance" mode, swearing along with the High Priest of Dagon, to bring Samson down -- and I also introduced several other operatic vengeance-seekers: Mozart's Queen of the Night, Beethoven's prison governor Don Pizarro, and the heroine of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
I certainly didn't mean to suggest any equivalence among our team of avengers. I wanted to lay the groundwork, because the text of Samson et Dalila doesn't give us much factual background to work with, for the best case I can make that Dalila's closest kin here is Isolde.
First we're going to hear from an actual monster, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, who has been forced into the decision to put an end to the suffering he has been inflicting on his old nemesis, Don Florestan, in a secret dungeon (where, you'll recall, we heard him languishing last month. Then, in the click-through, we'll hear from the Queen of the Night and Isolde, and finally we'll come back to Dalila.
(Note that I've juggled the lineup of recordings somewhat from the samples we heard in Friday night's preview. I wrote a bunch of long-winded explanations and exegeses, and then threw them out. We can talk about some of those issues some other time. Maybe. And note too that inclusion of a recording here doesn't necessarily constitute endorsement. There are some I'm not crazy about but have included for particular reasons.)
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio, Op. 72: Act I, Don Pizarro, "Ha! Welch ein Augenblick" ("Ha! What a moment!")
Ha! What a moment! My vengeance I will cool; your fate is calling you! In its heart dwell, oh live, good luck! Already I was nearly in the dust, by the loud scorn robbed, there to be stretched. Now it is up to me, to commit the murder myself. In his last hour, the steel in his wound, to cry in his ear: Triumph! Victory is mine!
THREE SNIPPETS OF REVENGE (EACH PERFORMED THREE TIMES)
(1)
Hell's revenge seethes in my heart! Death and despair burn all around me.
(2)
Ha Ha! Ha, what a moment! I will have my revenge! Your fate calls you! In his heart roots -- o wonder! -- great fortune.
(3)
HER: But what once with hand and mouth I swore -- that I swore silently to keep. HIM: What did you swear, lady? HER: Revenge for Morold!
by Ken
Yes, we're still getting to know Saint-Saëns's Dalila, and indeed in just a moment we're going to hear a side of her wildly different from anything we heard in last week's preview or the Sunday main post. By way of preparation, I thought this brief digression on operatic avengers would be helpful.
They'll be familiar to most music-lovers, but we'll hear them again, properly identified (including the performers)), in the click-through.
Sunday Classics special: Remembering Margaret Price, Part 4 -- in search of Pamina in "The Magic Flute"
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Pay no attention to the "staging"; this is actually a pretty darned good performance of the Magic Flute Overture, by Colin Davis and the Covent Garden orchestra. (It may go a teensy bit far in the other direction -- i.e., being a bit too tautly structured, but it's still a significantly better performance, I think, than the Davis-conducted one we're going to hear in the click-through.)
by Ken
Not surprisingly, considering the important role Mozart played in Margaret Price's career, in our remembrance of her career, Mozart roles have figured prominently, including "extended glimpses" of her Countess in The Marriage of Figaro. and her near-peerless Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. We're going to hit just one more before moving on to other composers.
I don't know that the lyric soprano role of Pamina in The Magic Flute would have seemed an obvious choice for her in the early years of her international celebrity, when the vocal fireworks of which she was so demonstrably capable -- as demonstrated so spectacularly in her Fiordiligi, of course -- might rather have suggested the coloratura pyrotechnics Queen of the Night. I don't know that she ever sang the Queen of the Night, or for that matter how important a part Pamina ever actually played for her, but it is a role she grew into, and I think the results are worth our attention.
"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" and the depths of Mozart's humanity
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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
Sunday Classics: The Magic Flute -- Mozart, at 35, lived just long enough to leave us this spiritual testament
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Soprano Dorothea Roeschmann and baritone Simon Keenlyside give a lovely account of the haunting Pamina-Papageno duet from Act I of The Magic Flute (with Colin Davis conducting, Covent Garden, 2003).
SHE: With men who feel love, a good heart can hardly be lacking. HE: To share these sweet urges is then a woman's first duty. BOTH: We want to enjoy love. We live through love alone.
SHE: Love sweetens every trial. To it every creature sacrifices. HE: It adds spice to the days of our life. It works in the circle of nature. BOTH: Its lofty purpose shows that there's nothing nobler than wife and man. Man and wife, and wife and man reach toward godliness.
[Note: It's tricky to translate something as seemingly simple as the variously repeated "Weib und Mann" and "Mann und Weib," since "Mann" really does mean both "man" and "husband" while "Weib" could refer to either "woman" or "wife." Clearly the overlapping senses are intentionally blurred here. We do this in English to an extent with the phrase "man and wife," so I tried to fall back on that. -- K]
by Ken
It doesn't take much to get me thinking about Mozart's Magic Flute. In this case I'm guessing it was a combination of:
* flipping on the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcast yesterday while I was huddled over the blogging machine, and landing in the midst of an arid performance of the Met's abridged "kiddie" version of the opera, out of which all soul had been carefully drained -- at least for the portion of the performance I stuck with. (Once upon a time my weeks were organized around the Saturday-afternoon Met broadcasts. I had to learn to fit the entire repertory onto C-60, C-90, and C-120 audio cassettes. Nowadays I may go whole seasons without tuning in to a Met broadcast.)
* having been reminded a couple of days earlier that, faced with a price I couldn't pass up, I'd bought, but never listened to, a DVD set of Glyndebourne Festival performances of six Mozart operas: Idomeneo plus the five masterpieces: The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and of course The Magic Flute. I wound up watching the Magic Flute, from 1978 and quite a nice performance, with an especially lovely Pamina and Papageno in soprano Felicity Lott and baritone Benjamin Luxon. (Later I watched the Don Giovanni and Act I of the Cosi.)
Abduction, I admit, has its awkwardnesses, at least some of which I attribute to the fact that Mozart was trying so desperately to prove himself as an operatic composer worthy of decently compensated commissions. Mozart flexing every last bit of compositional muscle puts me in mind of the inspired cartoon from the Rocky and Bullwinkle series in which Bullwinkle-as-magician tells Rocky to watch him pull a rabbit out of his hat, and Rocky says things like, "Again? That trick never works." I'm thinking of the one where Bullwinkle pulls a giant roaring head (a lion?) out of the hat, then quickly shoves it back in, saying, "Oops! Don't know my own stren'th!" Alternatively, you might imagine the future Superman as a child, before he comes to understand that, measured against earthly mortals, he has superpowers.
By the time of The Marriage of Figaro Mozart had it all in sync, but already in Abduction we have a composer with direct access to the human soul such as few other creative artists ever have had. I like to point out that in the characterization of the "villian," the ferocious Osmin, we see a depth and delicacy of characterization that I doubt would have occurred to anybody else.
Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi, the three Italian-language operas Mozart wrote to splendid librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte, are of course among the supreme products of the human imagination. Still to come was one last take on the clunky old German Singspiel (or "song play") form -- musical numbers that are joined by spoken dialogue, more or less the way the typical Broadway musical is constructed, The Magic Flute.
In plot synopsis, it looks like a simple, not to say simple-minded, fairy tale. Handsome young Prince Tamino has found his way to Egypt, where -- accompanied by the jolly bird-catcher Papageno -- he is pressed into service by the "star-flaming" Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter, Pamina, from the clutches of the evil priest Sarastro. The prince has only to see a tiny portrait of Pamina to fall hopelessly in love with the princess. Only when he arrives at Sarastro's temple, everything seems turned upside-down. Here he is led to believe that the all-wise Sarastro is the font of virtue and the Queen of the Night the font of evil.
I don't think it's a coincidence that these four supreme operatic masterpieces of Mozart's all have this same basic format: The characters start out thinking they're working toward some fairly straightforward objective, but somewhere along the line, often without their quite realizing it, they find themselves in serious search of something quite different. Much the way real life has a way of working out. In The Magic Flute, Pamina and Tamino -- and even Papageno, in his more down-to-earth way -- find themselves grappling with some of the most basic of human issues: appreciating and acquiring real wisdom and maturity as well as generosity of spirit, finding purpose in life, balancing the realities and needs of our "daylight" and "nighttime" selves.
Of course, in the hands of another composer, it might have wound up as trivial and cliched as it sounds. To anyone who knows and has lived with The Magic Flute, it's nothing less than a miracle. It's Mozart at the peak of his amazing maturity, and never mind that it had its first performance some two months before the composer's death, not quite two months before what would have been his 36th birthday. There are some achievements that are beyond explaining.
I've been living with The Magic Flute for, well, a sizable bunch of years, and over those years it has -- in common with a number of other great works of art which have become part of me -- helped shape and define my understanding of the world around me, and given me a way of measuring that understanding over time.
When I was still young and impressionable, I encountered a memoir by the great conductor (and in particular great Mozart conductor) Bruno Walter, in which he wrote that as he had progressed through life the always-beloved works of Mozart, and in particular The Magic Flute, which he considered Mozart's "spiritual testament," had risen to the point of eclipsing everything else. The notoriously uncheerful Otto Klemperer said that one of the things he would most regret about dying was losing The Magic Flute.
Our clip is a really lovely performance of the great duet "Bei Maennern, welche Liebe fuehlen." In the mission to rescue Pamina, it's the sidekick Papageno rather than Prince Tamino who finds the princess, who responds with a tender outpouring of compassion to the luckless bird-catcher's revelation -- remember, a total stranger to her until just minutes before -- that he doesn't have "a girlfriend let alone a wife." A soprano-baritone duet is a tricky thing to write, since their normal vocal ranges are separated by a full octave plus an extra interval of a fifth or so, so that even if they are assigned equivalent vocal lines, they don't fall in the same part of the voice. Mozart turns this into a singular opportunity.
No composer, or creative artist, had a stronger sense of decency or empathy than Mozart, and a really fine performance of "Bei Maennern" -- a difficult feat, given the pure simplicity of the vocal lines -- is apt to send us searching for words like "sublime."
(Note: I've never seen the complete performance our clip is drawn from, but it is available on DVD. I can't help suspecting that we may be seeing/hearing the best of it right here.)
THE MAGIC FLUTE ON RECORDS
It's one of those oddities of fate that the two recordings I consider most indispensable were both made in 1964. If The Magic Flute was, as Bruno Walter suggested, Mozart's spiritual testament, then perhaps Karl Boehm's recording of it with the Berlin Philharmonic (in glorious form) -- dramatically vital and singularly songful -- may be his. The cast (Roberta Peters as the Queen of the Night, Evelyn Lear as Pamina, Fritz Wunderlich as Tamino, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as Papageno, Franz Crass as Sarastro) is good to great, and the spoken dialogue is especially well performed. This remains among my handful of very favorite opera recordings. The DG Originals edition is attractively priced, though it doesn't include a libretto. (You can buy one, of course, or undoubtedly track one down online.)
There's no spoken dialogue at all in Otto Klemperer's Magic Flute, at the conductor's insistence; he believed that it made no sense to include it, badly performed by opera singers, on a recording. To EMI's consternation he was insisting on doing the same thing with the recording of Abduction from the Seraglio they were trying to make in the last year or two of his life. (A cast was actually assembled and sessions scheduled, but the conductor had to cancel for health reasons.) His Magic Flute recording, with a generally strong cast (Lucia Popp, Gundula Janowitz, Nicolai Gedda, Walter Berry, Gottlob Frick) probes deeper than any other, and often has a radiant beauty like no other. Shockingly, it's currently unavailable, though copies can still be found. His recordings of the three Mozart-da Ponte operas are even harder to find. Admittedly they're for somewhat specialized tastes -- they tend to be quite gradual, placing considerable demands on the singers. But you'll hear dimensions in all these pieces that go beyond what anyone else has looked for. It would be nice to have a box of all four Klemperer Mozart operas.
Among more recent versions I would put in a good word for the Philips recording sparklingly conducted by Neville Marriner, with a strong cast (Cheryl Studer, Kiri Te Kanawa, Francisco Araiza, Olaf Baer, Samuel Ramey). Georg Solti had a lifelong special affinity for The Magic Flute, an identification with it I can only describe as a feeling of special joy,. He had served as a musical assistant to Arturo Toscanini (and played the glockenspiel part) at the Salzburg Festival in the 1930s, and both of his Decca recordings, both with the Vienna Philharmonic, have solid but somewhat uneven casts. You might want to check out the later one (with Sumi Jo, Ruth Ziesak, Uwe Heilmann, Michael Kraus, Kurt Moll).
For the budget-conscious, there's a Classics for Pleasure issue of the lovely EMI recording conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (with Edda Moser, Anneliese Rothenberger, Peter Schreier, Walter Berry, Kurt Moll) that can be had online for a paltry $8.50 plus shipping (without libretto, but you should be able to track one of those down online).
AND ON VIDEO
There's a genuinely outstanding Munich performance conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch (more vivaciously than the above-noted audio recording), with Edita Gruberova, Lucia Popp, Francisco Araiza, Wolfgang Brendel, Kurt Moll.
The legendary Ingmar Bergman made a deeply personal, deeply wonderful film of The Magic Flute (in Swedish), filled with the wonder of a child's-eye view. Happily, there's a Criterion Collection DVD.
RECENT CLASSICAL MUSIC POSTS
Berlioz' always-unexpected Childhood of Christ, for Christmas Day (music: "Farewells of the Shepherds to the Holy Family" from Part I, with Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony)
Maureen Forrester sings Mahler: It doesn't get more eloquent (music: "Urlicht" from Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with Glenn Gould conducting -- left-handed!)
[3/11/2011] Special: Remembering Margaret Price, Part 4 -- in search of Pamina in "The Magic Flute" (continued)
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THE SEARCH FOR PAMINA BEGINS
Okay, this is a little weird, but it's the only professional-quality performance I could find on YouTube of the Act I quintet from The Magic Flute, and it's musically a quite satisfactory performance, with Sandra Trattnig, Katharina Peetz, and Irene Friedli as the Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night sending off Jonas Kaufmann as Prince Tamino and Michael Volle as the bird-catcher Papageno on their mission to rescue the Queen's daughter, Pamina, from the supposedly evil Sarastro. (We heard the last part of the quintet in last Sunday night's post.)
MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Quintet, "Hm, hm, hm, hm. hm, hm, hm, hm!" . . . "Lebet wohl! Wir wollen gehn!" . . . "Drei Knäbchen, jung, schön, hold und weise" . . . "So lebet wohl!"
PAPAGENO [steps in front of Tamino and points ruefully at the lock on his mouth]: Hm, hm, hm, hm. hm, hm, hm, hm! TAMINO: The poor man can talk about punishment, for he has lost his speech. PAPAGENO: Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm! TAMINO: I can only pity you, because I have no power to help. PAPAGENO: Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm! [Enter THE THREE LADIES.] FIRST LADY [to Papageno]: The Queen pardons you, remits your punishment through me. [She takes the lock off his mouth.] PAPAGENO: Now Papageno can chatter again. SECOND LADY: Yes, chatter! Only do not tell any more lies! PAPAGENO: I'll never tell another lie. No, no! THE THREE LADIES: Let this lock be a warning to you! PAPAGENO: This lock shall be a warning to me! ALL: For if all liars received a lock like this on their mouths, instead of hatred, calumny, and black gall, love and brotherhood would flourish. FIRST LADY [giving Tamino a golden flute]: O Prince, take this gift from me! Our sovereign sends it to you. The magic flute will protect you, and sustain you in the greatest misfortune. THE THREE LADIES: By it you may act with all power, change the passions of men: the sorrower will be joyful, the old bachelor fall in love. ALL: Oh, such a flute is worth more than gold and crowns, for through it human happiness and contentment will be increased. PAPAGENO: Now, fair wenches, if I may - I'll take my leave. THE THREE LADIES: You can certainly take your leave, but our sovereign intends you to accompany the Prince without delay and hasten to Sarastro's fortress. PAPAGENO: No, thank you very much! I have heard from you yourselves that he is like a tiger. Certainly, with no mercy, Sarastro would have me plucked and roasted and fed to the dogs. THE THREE LADIES: The Prince will protect you, only trust in him! In return you shall be his servant. PAPAGENO: (The Prince can go to the devil! My life is dear to me. In the end, I'll swear, he'll steal away from me like a thief.) FIRST LADY [giving Papageno a glockenspiel]: Here, take this treasure, it is for you. PAPAGENO: Well, now! What might be in there? THE THREE LADIES: In there you'll hear little bells ringing. PAPAGENO: And can I play them as well? THE THREE LADIES: Oh, quite certainly! Yes, yes, certainly! ALL: Silver chimes, magic flutes are needed for your/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. 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!
A NOT ENTIRELY HAPPY NOTE ON OUR MAGIC FLUTE SOURCE RECORDING
As I indicated in the caption for our lead-in video performance of the Magic Flute Overture, I like that performance -- musically, at least, paying no attention to the nonsensical production -- than the one we're about to hear, from Sir Colin's Dresden-made complete recording. As in the case of the Muti recording of The Marriage of Figaro from which we heard excerpts last week, and of a number of other recordings we'll be sampling in this remembrance, we're kind of forced, in order to hear Price, to resort to recordings I'm not all that fond of, with conductors who didn't even necessarily her best work. (The Klemperer-conducted Così would be a notable exception.)
This isn't a bad performance, certainly, but I've always found it generally disappointing, since there was a plausible cast on hand, and the Staatskapelle Dresden in top form could be as good an orchestra for The Magic Flute as you might wish. Unfortunately, Sir Colin Davis's reputation as a Mozart conductor has generally seemed to me wildly overblown, and this is recording strikes me as kind of an aimless shuffle.
THAT SAID, ON WITH OUR TOUR!
MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620 Margaret Price (s), Pamina; Peter Schreier (t), Tamino; Robert Tear (t), Monstatos; Mikael Melbye (b), Papageno; Kurt Moll (bs), Sarastro; Leipzig Radio Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984
Overture
Prince Tamino, teamed up with the humble bird-catcher Papageno, has been dispatched by the star-flaming Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter Pamina from the clutches of the evil priest Sarastro. Tamino and Papageno are separated, and it's Papageno who actually finds Pamina. He tells her of his terrible loneliness being still without a mate, and she assures him that he will find love.
Act I, Duet, Pamina and Papageno, "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen"
PAMINA: In men who feel love, a good heart, too, is never lacking. PAPAGENO: Sharing these sweet urges is then women's first duty. PAMINA and PAPAGENO: We want to enjoy love; it is through love alone that we live. PAMINA: Love sweetens every sorrow; every creature pays homage to it. PAPAGENO: It gives relish to the days of our life, it acts in the cycle of nature. PAMINA and PAPAGENO: Its high purpose clearly proclaims: there is nothing nobler than woman and man. Man and woman, and woman and man, reach towards the deity.
Margaret Price (s), Mikael Melbye (b)
Papageno hears a call from the magic flute that the Queen of the Night's Three Ladies have given him to safeguard him, and answers with the magic bells given to him. He and Pamina set off in search of the prince, but are soon apprehended by Monostatos and his posse.
from Act I finale, Pamina and Papageno, "Schelle Füsse, rascher Mut"
PAMINA and PAPAGENO: Swift steps, ready courage, guard against the enemy's cunning and fury. If only we could find Tamino! Otherwise they will catch us yet. PAMINA: Dear young man! PAPAGENO: Quiet, quiet, I can do better! He plays the pipes, Tamino answers from within on his flute. PAMINA and PAPAGENO: What greater joy could there be? Our friend Tamino can hear us already. The sound of the flute has reached here. What happiness if I find him! Just hurry! Just hurry! [They try to leave. Enter MONOSTATOS.] MONOSTATOS: Just hurry! Just hurry!
Margaret Price (s), Mikael Melbye (b)
Papageno screws up his courage and deploys the magic bells against Monostatos and his men, with magical results. Unfortunately, before Papageno and Pamina can make their escape, the run into Sarastro and his full retinue. To their surprise, he seems not evil, but benevolent.
from Act I finale, Papageno, "Wer viel wagt" . . . Pamina, "Herr, ich bin zwar Verbrecherin"
PAPAGENO: Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Come, you pretty chimes, make the little bells ring, ring, till their ears are singing. [He plays on his glockenspiel. Immediately MONOSTATOS and the slaves dance and sing.] MONOSTATOS and SLAVES: That sounds so splendid, that sounds so pretty! Lalala la la lalala! I've never heard or seen the like! Lalala la la lalala! [They dance off.] PAMINA and PAPAGENO: If every honest man could find little bells like that, his enemies would then vanish without trouble, and without them he would live in perfect harmony! Only the harmony of friendship relieves hardships; without this sympathy there is no happiness on earth! CHORUS [from within]: Long live Sarastro! May Sarastro live long! PAPAGENO: What does this mean? I'm trembling, I'm shaking! PAMINA: Oh, my friend, now it's all up with us. This heralds Sarastro's arrival. PAPAGENO: Oh, if I were a mouse how I would hide! If I were as little as a snail, I would crawl into my house! My child, what shall we say now? PAMINA: The truth, even if it were a crime! [SARASTRO, in a triumphal carriage drawn by six lions, makes his entrance with his retinue.] CHORUS: Long live Sarastro, Sarastro shall have long life! It is he to whom we gladly submit! In his wisdom may he always enjoy life. He is our idol, to whom all are devoted. PAMINA [kneels down before Sarastro]: My lord, it is true that I have transgressed, I wanted to escape from your power. But the fault is not mine: the wicked Moor desired my love; that is why, o lord, I ran away from you! SARASTRO: Stand up, beloved, be of good cheer! For even without pressing you, I know more of your heart; you love another very dearly. I do not want to compel you to love, yet I shall not give you your freedom. PAMINA: But filial duty calls me, for my mother . . . SARASTRO: . . . is in my power. You would lose your happiness if I left you in her hands. PAMINA: My mother's name sounds sweet to me. She is . . . SARASTRO: . . . a proud woman! A man must guide your hearts, for without him all women tend to step outside their own sphere of activity. [MONOSTATOS brings TAMINO in.] MONOSTATOS: Now, proud youth, just come here, here is Sarastro, our lord. PAMINA: It is he! TAMINO: It is she! PAMINA: I can't believe it! TAMINO: It is she! PAMINA: It is he! TAMINO: It's not a dream! PAMINA: I'll put my arms around him! TAMINO: I'll put my arms around her! PAMINA and TAMINO: Even if it were the end of me! [They embrace.]
Mikael Melbye (b), Margaret Price (s), Robert Tear (t), Kurt Moll (bs), Peter Schreier (t)
In Act II, as Tamino and Papageno undergo the trials of Sarastro's Temple of Wisdom, Pamina finds them, but when Tamino -- unknown to her, under an order of silence -- refuses to talk to her, she assumes the worst.
Act II, Aria, Pamina, "Ach, ich fühl's"
Ah, I sense it has vanished! The joy of love gone forever! Hours of delight, you will never come back to my heart again! See, Tamino, these tears are flowing for you alone, beloved. If you do not feel love's longing then there will be rest in death!
Margaret Price (s)
TOMORROW NIGHT IN PART 5 OF OUR REMEMBRANCE OF MARGARET PRICE . . .
We move on to two other German roles: Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz and the title role in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.
[6/24/2012] Among our team of operatic avengers, which does Saint-Saëns's Dalila resemble most? (continued)
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ISOLDE: Curse you, vile creature, a curse upon your head! Vengeance! Death! Death for us both!
This lady sounds seriously peeved. That's (1) Birgit Nilsson, (2) Margaret Price, and (3) Kirsten Flagstad -- the climax of the performances of Isolde's Act I narrative we hear below.
Note the wrinkle in Isolde's vengeance plan: What she has in mind is "death for us both." And she's, um, dead serious. It's not her fault that the plan hits a snag. Now let's proceed with our gallery of avengers.
MOZART'S QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Queen of the Night, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's revenge seethes in my heart")"
Hell's revenge seethes in my heart, Death and despair burn about me! If Sarastro does not through you feel the pain of death, then you will be my daughter nevermore. Disowned may you be forever, abandoned may you be forever, destroyed be forever by all the bonds of nature, if Sarastro is not through you made pale. Hear, hear, hear, gods of revenge, hear a mother's oath!
Edda Moser (s), Queen of the Night; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded August 1972
Lucia Popp (s), Queen of the Night; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964
Wilma Lipp (s), Queen of the Night; Vienna Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, July 27, 1949
[in English, sort of] Roberta Peters (s), Queen of the Night; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Mar. 3, 1956
WAGNER'S ISOLDE
I feel bad about just plunging us into this great narrative, in which Isolde, on board the ship on which Tristan is transporting her from her native Ireland to Cornwall to marry his uncle, King Marke, fills her trusted sidekick Brangäne in on her history with Tristan. I was going to edit out just the hair-raising curse to which the narrative builds, but that would have defeated the point. While Isolde is indeed extremely angry (to put it mildly) in the early scenes of Act I in which we meet her, at least as angry as the Queen of the Night (who, by the way, also has her reasons for being so wrathful), in this remarkable scene Wagner nevertheless provides a delicately nuanced presentation of her deep anguish.
WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Act I, Isolde's Narrative, "Wie lachend sie mir Lieder singen" ("As they laugh and sing their songs at me")
ISOLDE: As they laugh and sing their songs at me, I well could answer too: how a boat, small and frail, came to Ireland's coasts, and in it lay a sick and stricken man, near to death. Isolde's art was made known to him; with healing salves and soothing draughts she faithfully tended the wound that tormented him. "Tantris," which with studied guile he called himself, Isolde soon recognized as Tristan, for into the sick man's sword, in which there was a notch, there fitted exactly a splinter that her skilled hand had first found in the head of the Irish knight sent home to her in scorn. A cry arose from my inmost being! With the gleaming sword I stood before him to avenge Sir Morold's death on him, this overweening knight. From his couch he looked up, not at the word, not at my hand, but looked into my eyes. With the gleaming sword I stood before him, to avenge Sir Morold's death on him, this overweening knight. From his couch he looked up, not at the sword, not at my hand, but looked into my eyes. His anguish touched my heart. The sword -- I let fall! The wound inflicted by Morold I healed, so that in health he could travel homeward and trouble me no more with his gaze! BRANGÄNE: O wonder! Where were my eyes? The guest whom once I helped to tend? ISOLDE: You heard him praised just now: "Hail! Our lord Tristan!" This was that wretched man! With a thousand oaths he swore to me eternal thanks and fidelity! Now hear how a hero keeps his oath! He whom as Tantris I released unexposed, as Tristan he now boldly returns; on a proud ship with a high prow he requests Ireland's heiress as bride for Cornwall's weary king, for Marke, his uncle. Had Morold lived, who would have dared to offer such an affront? For our vassals the Cornish princes to seek Ireland's crown! Ah, woe is me! It was I who in secret brought this shame upon myself! Instead of wielding the avenging sword, I let it fall harmlessly! Now I must serve our vassal! BRANGÄNE: When peace, reconciliation and amity were sworn by all, we hailed the happy day. How could I have foreseen that it would cause you such grief? ISOLDE: Oh blind eyes! Credulous heart! Despairing silence, feeble courage! How differently Tristan paraded what I had kept concealed! She who in silence gave him his life, from the enemy's fury quietly hid him, who silently lent her sanctuary to save him, both her and all that he abandoned! Boasting of victory, glorious and bold, loud and clear he pointed to me: "There's a treasure, my lord and uncle; how about that for a wife? This trim Irish girl I'll bring back to you; knowing well the way, with a wave I was off to Ireland; Isolde -- she's yours! What a splendid bit of adventure!" Curse you, vile creature, a curse upon your head! Vengeance! Death! Death for us both! BRANGÄNE [impetuously and tenderly embracing Isolde]: O sweet one, beloved! Dearest! Beautiful one! Golden mistress! Dear Isolde! [She gradually draws Isolde to the couch.] Listen to me! Come! Sit here!
Birgit Nilsson (s), Isolde; Christa Ludwig (ms), Brangäne; Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. DG/Philips, recorded live, 1966
Margaret Price (s), Isolde; Brigitte Fassbaender (ms), Brangäne; Staatskapelle Dresden, Carlos Kleiber, cond. DG, recorded 1980-82
Kirsten Flagstad (s), Isolde; Sabine Kalter (ms), Brangäne; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. Recorded live at Covent Garden, May-June 1936
FINALLY, LET'S COME BACK TO DALILA
The Wikipedia article on Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila says of the libretto, "Delilah is portrayed as a manipulative, conniving, ruthless woman bent on revenge." This is true, I guess, especially if one is speaking specifically of the libretto. But especially if we incorporate the music, and listen to the great monologue that opens Act II, the one time we see the character by herself, and thus presumably totally truthful, while it's certainly true that she's "bent on revenge," what I hear goes way beyond manipulativeness, connivingness, and ruthlessness.
To begin with we're going to listen again to the recording of the recitative and aria by Maria Callas, which we heard originally along with performances by Christa Ludwig and Marjana Lipovšek. Then in recordings that include the atmospheric Act II Prelude, we'll hear another round of Dalilas, all but one of whom (Waltraud Meier) we've heard before in other excerpts.
SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila, Op. 47: Act II: Prelude: Dalila, "Samson, recherchant ma présence" . . . "Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse!"
The stage represents the valley of Sorek in Palestine. At left, the dwelling of DALILA, fronted by a light portico and surrounded by Asiatic plants and luxuriant vines. Night is beginning, and becomes complete through the course of the act.
Prelude
At curtain rise, DALILA is seated on a rock near the portico of her house, seeming lost in reverie.
DALILA: Samson, seeking my presence again, this evening is to come to this place. Here is the hour of vengeance, which must satisfy our gods.
Love! come aid my weakness! Pour the poison in his breast! Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness, Samson is in fetters tomorrow! In vain would he wish to be able to chase me out of his soul, to banish me. Could he extinguish the flame that memory feeds? He is mine! my slave! My brothers fear his wrath; I, along among all, I defy him and hold him at my knees!
Love! come aid my weakness! Pour the poison in his breast! Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness, Samson is in fetters tomorrow! Against strength is useless, and he, the strong among the strong, he, who broke his people's chains, will succumb to my efforts.
Recitative and aria only:
Maria Callas (s), Dalila; Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1961 Including the prelude:
Risë Stevens (ms), Dalila; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Apr. 12, 1958
Elena Obraztsova (ms), Dalila; Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim, cond. DG, recorded July 1978
Waltraud Meier (ms), Dalila; Orchestra of Opéra-Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung, cond. EMI, recorded July 1-11, 1991
Part 3: Some mighty angry Israelites and Philistines -- the opening scene of Samson et Dalila, part 3 [4/29/2012] The Abimélech and High Priest scenes, with Ezio Flagello, Simon Estes, Alexander Malta, and Yves Bisson (Abimélech); Paul Cabanel, Renato Bruson, Ezio Pinza, Robet Merrill, and Ernest Blanc (High Priest); Plácido Domingo, José Luccioni, Mario del Monaco, René Maison, Jon Vickers, James King, and Carlo Cossutta (Samson). The complete opening scene conducted by Louis Fourestier (1946, with Luccioni, Charles Cambon, Cabanel) and Georges Prêtre (1962, with Vickers, Anton Diakov, Blanc)
2. DALILA
Meet Saint-Saëns's Dalila [6/17/2012] Second half of Act I with Louise Homer, Marjana Lipovšek, Elena Obraztsova, Risë Stevens, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Rita Gorr as Dalila; Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo, Mario del Monaco, and Jon Vickers as Samson; Marcel Journet, Harald Stamm, Robert Lloyd, Giorgio Tozzi, Richard Kogel, and Anton Diakov as the Old Hebrew (plus Alain Fondary and Ernest Blanc as the High Priest) Preview: In which we hear a lady weighted by a heap of hurt [6/15/2012] "Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse" sung by Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Marjana Lipovšek
Olga Borodina as Dalila and Juha Uusitalo as the High Priest in Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalila, San Francisco, 2007
AS I PROMISED, LET'S LISTEN TO OUR REVENGE SNIPS AGAIN, WITH EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IDENTIFIED
(1) MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Queen of the Night, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's revenge seethes in my heart")": opening
Hell's revenge seethes in my heart! Death and despair burn all around me.
[a]Edda Moser (s), Queen of the Night; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded August 1972 [b]Lucia Popp (s), Queen of the Night; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964 [c] [in English] Roberta Peters (s), Queen of the Night; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Mar. 3, 1956
(2) BEETHOVEN: Fidelio, Op. 72: Act I, Don Pizarro, "Ha! Welch ein Augenblick" ("Ha! What a moment!"): opening
Ha Ha! Ha, what a moment! I will have my revenge! Your fate calls you! In his heart roots -- o wonder! -- great fortune.
[a]Ekkehard Wlaschiha (b), Don Pizarro; Staatskapelle Dresden, Bernard Haitink, cond. Philips, recorded November 1989 [b]Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Pizarro; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, May 25, 1962 [c]Hans Hotter (b), Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Otto Klemperer, cond. Testament, recorded live, Feb. 24, 1961
(3) WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Act I excerpt, Isolde-Tristan, "Doch was einst mit Hand und Mund ich gelobt" ("But what once with hand and mouth I swore")
ISOLDE: But what once with hand and mouth I swore -- that I swore silently to keep. TRISTAN: What did you swear, lady? ISOLDE: Revenge for Morold!
[a]Margaret Price (s), Isolde; René Kollo (t), Tristan; Staatskapelle Dresden, Carlos Kleiber, cond. DG, recorded 1980-82 [b]Birgit Nilsson (s), Isolde; Wolfgang Windgassen (t); Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded live at the Bayreuth Festival, 1966 [c]Kirsten Flagstad (s), Isolde; Lauritz Melchior (t), Tristan; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. Recorded live at Covent Garden, May-June 1936
NOW BACK TO DALILA, AND A SIDE OF HER WE HAVEN'T HEARD BEFORE
We've heard the Philistine seductress Dalila in her very public pose in the second scene of Act I as the adoring admirer of the Israelite conquering hero Samson, and we've heard her alone at the start of Act II, in front of her home in the Sarek valley, on the other side of the mountains from Gaza, voluptuously invoking love to aid her weakness in the destruction of Samson. There was something mysterious going on there -- anger, certainly, but I argued for deep hurt -- but nothing, I think, to prepare us for what comes out in the ensuing scene with the High Priest, who has huffed and puffed his way across the mountain on the urgent mission to recruit her to extracti from Samson the secret of his superhuman strength. Here's how this scene winds up.
SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila: Act II, Dalila-High Priest, "Il faut, pour assouvir ma haine" ("It is necessary, to assuage my hatred")
DALILA: It is necessary, to assuage my hatred, it is necessary that my power enchain him! I want him, conquered by love, to bend his brown in his turn! HIGH PRIEST: I want, to assuage my hatred, I want for Dalila to enchain him! It is necessary that, conquered by love, he bend his brow in his turn! DALILA: It is necessary, to assuage my hatred, it is necessary that my power enchain him! I want him, conquered by love, to bend his brown in his turn! HIGH PRIEST: In you alone is my hope; to you the honor of vengeance! to you! I want, to assuage my hatred, &c. DALILA: To me the honor of vengeance! to me the honor! to me! It is necessary, to assuage my hatred, &c. DALILA and the HIGH PRIEST: Let him bend his brow in his turn! Let us unite! we two! Let us unite! we two! Death! Death! Death! Death! Death! Death to the leader of the Hebrews! HIGH PRIEST: Samson, you were telling me, is to return to this place? DALILA: I expect him! HIGH PRIEST: I'll distance myself; he could surprise us. Soon I'll come back by secret paths. The fate of my people, o woman, is in your hands. Tear away from his heart the impenetrable shield and discover the secret that hides from us his strength. [He exits.]
Rita Gorr (ms), Dalila; Ernest Blanc (b), High Priest of Dagon; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Sept.-Oct. 1962
Marjana Lipovšek (ms), Dalila; Alain Fondary (b), High Priest of Dagon; Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Sylvain Cambreling, cond. Koch-Schwann, recorded live at the Bregenz Festival, July 21, 1988
Gertrud Wettergren (ms), Dalila; Ezio Pinza (bs), High Priest of Dagon; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Maurice Abravanel, cond. Live performance, Dec. 26, 1936
IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST
We're going to try to figure out what makes our Dalila tick. We'll also hear fuller versions of our other revenge excerpts.
Part 3: Some mighty angry Israelites and Philistines -- the opening scene of Samson et Dalila, part 3 [4/29/2012] The Abimélech and High Priest scenes, with Ezio Flagello, Simon Estes, Alexander Malta, and Yves Bisson (Abimélech); Paul Cabanel, Renato Bruson, Ezio Pinza, Robet Merrill, and Ernest Blanc (High Priest); Plácido Domingo, José Luccioni, Mario del Monaco, René Maison, Jon Vickers, James King, and Carlo Cossutta (Samson). The complete opening scene conducted by Louis Fourestier (1946, with Luccioni, Charles Cambon, Cabanel) and Georges Prêtre (1962, with Vickers, Anton Diakov, Blanc)
2. DALILA
Meet Saint-Saëns's Dalila [6/17/2012] Second half of Act I with Louise Homer, Marjana Lipovšek, Elena Obraztsova, Risë Stevens, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Rita Gorr as Dalila; Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo, Mario del Monaco, and Jon Vickers as Samson; Marcel Journet, Harald Stamm, Robert Lloyd, Giorgio Tozzi, Richard Kogel, and Anton Diakov as the Old Hebrew (plus Alain Fondary and Ernest Blanc as the High Priest) Preview: In which we hear a lady weighted by a heap of hurt [6/15/2012] "Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse" sung by Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Marjana Lipovšek
