"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Sunday Classics snapshots: A fountain, a harp, and a mind in distress
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No, this isn't the fountain of "The Siren" referred to in the stage direction, but it's a reasonable guess that the Ravenswood fountain might have been based on the Fontana della Sirena in the Piazza Sannazaro in Naples. Just imagine it on a lonely Scottish estate fallen nearly to ruins, like so --
A park in the ground of the Scottish castle of Ravenswood. We see the fountain called "The Siren." Once it was covered by a beautiful structure decorated with all sorts of Gothic details; now only the ruins of this structure remain. It is nightfall.
[All translations in today's post by William Ashbrook]
RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Oct. 10, 1967
RCA Italiana Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded July-Aug. 1965
Orchestra of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Richard Bonynge, cond. Live performance, Nov. 12, 1975
by Ken
Here we hear three takes on a lovely 2½-to-3-minute musical snapshot -- Molinari-Pradelli decisive and sympathetically straightforward; Prêtre similarly decisive but a little more individual in some of his phrasing choices and, surprisingly (at least to me), turning out to time out a little quicker; and Bonynge more romantically discursive.
The music, which is sometimes described as an "interlude" between the scene preceding and the one about to take place, is pretty clearly indicated in the score as an orchestral lead-in to what follows -- though of course it's up to the stage director to decide where exactly to raise the curtain on Scene 2. In the meantime, I'm delaying identifying this piece of musical mood-setting (in the event that you don't know) to give you a chance to just allow it to wash over you and maybe sink in a little, to maybe set a mood. It's clearly the harp that dominates the music, and the fountain that dominates the scene, but I don't think anyone can say how exactly they're expected to relate.
And here I think we can jump ahead just a bit to our next snapshot, to add this vivid response to mention of the aforementioned fountain. In fact, since it's only 11-12 seconds, we're going to hear it three times.
That fountain! Ah! never do I see it without trembling.
I think we clearly have three interesting, and interestingly, different renderings of this extraordinary moment, but one thing I think we can also say is that, from the purely vocal standpoint, singer B handles it with greater assurance, and singer C handles it with astonishing assurance -- producing a sound of amazing fullness that doesn't strain or curdle at all on the upward leap for the "Ah!" in "Quella fonte! Ah! mai."
Steve Israel Starts Dumping His Miserable Recruits
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Steve Israel and the DCCC freaked out when they realized that a progressive grassroots candidate, George Gollin, was serious about running against freshman GOP corporate shill Rodney Davis. With Dick Durbin at their side, they did everything they could to undermine Gollin and, in the end, Israel's mystery meat candidate, Ann Callis, won the primary, with 54.65%, having significantly outspent Gollin. From the moment she won the primary, the Democrats could have written off the swing district. She stands for nothing except her own career and offers no one-- except for blind partisans-- any reason to vote for her. That didn't stop Israel from earmarking $1,753,000 in attack ads against Davis for this fall. So far he's only spent $21,700 though and their are very loud rumors everywhere that Callis is one of the nothing candidates with no chance to win that he's cutting off at the knees-- and leaving to the incompetent hands of EMILY's List, who will pick over the carcass and drain whatever money she has for themselves-- while she goes down to a horrible defeat. Too bad all her eggs were in the rotten DCCC basket and she didn't build a credible campaign that could stand on its own. Or, even worse that the DCCC didn't just stay out of it and let Gollin win the primary and fight it out with Davis. Beltway pundits now see Davis, despite his 50/50 district as a safe bet for reelection. Obama won 55-44% against McCain and was in a 49-49% tie 4 years later that Romney won by a a few hundred votes. Alex Isenstadt, sharper than most of the Beltway pundits wrote on Tuesday that "Democrats have gradually narrowed their focus to protecting jeopardized incumbents and are likely to seriously invest in only the dozen or so candidates seen as realistic contenders for Republican-held seats. At the start of the cycle, for instance, national Democrats had been talking up the candidacies of Ann Callis, a former county judge running for an Illinois seat, and Amanda Renteria, a former Capitol Hill aide seeking a California seat. Neither candidate is now seen as likely to win, and neither is receiving as much attention." The DCCC claimed, hysterically, that he was wrong about Renteria but were less definitive about the fate they have in store of Callis, who is running into money problems as Israel's interest in her campaign wanes. And not just Callis. Another weak EMILY's List candidate, Pam Brynes is desperately fighting to maintain her backing from the fickle Steve Israel, who has told allies he's dumping her. Byrnes released two very Beltway TV adds yesterday (below). Over the course of the next month, more and more hapless Israel recruits will become victims of his terrible recruiting agenda. Kind of sad.
And The Kochs Are Also Dumping Their Weak Links Starting in Oregon, where their mess of a candidate, Monica Wehby, is being viewed as just a big waste of time and energy by the far right. She only has $646,831 cash on hand and the Koch-run American Partners Action SuperPac has already wasted $215,750. Carly Fiorina's shady New Republican PAC wasted another $507,076, the only electoral investment they've made this cycle, out of the $1,302,104 they've squeezed from right-wing suckers. The Register-Guard reported today that "Freedom Partners’ super PAC, the Virginia-based group affiliated with oil and gas magnates Charles and David Koch, confirmed Friday that it has canceled all the television ad time it had reserved in October to influence Oregon’s U.S. Senate race."
The cancellation wasn’t the only bad news for the Wehby campaign on Friday. Rasmussen Reports released its latest poll for the race, which found that Wehby remains 13 percentage points behind Merkley. …On Thursday, Wehby said she wasn’t concerned that Freedom Partners could pull back its spending, and was focused on her own campaign.
The Kochs also pulled their ads from the hapless, sinking Terri Lynn Land campaign in Michigan, although another neo-fascist, Joe Ricketts, former CEO of Ameritrade and the owner of the Chicago Cubs, has already pumped $2,153,309 into that race on Land's behalf, through his extreme right wing Ending Spending Action Fund. Just last week Rove dumped $763,962 into the race for Land, on top of the $500,000 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already put in. So far-- even without Koch cash-- right-wing groups have spent $3,505,361 smearing Gary Peters and another $838,994 talking up Land.
Sunday Classics preview: "If you don't love me, I love you, and if I love you, watch out" -- meet La Carmencita
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Keep your eye on the flower: We're in the square in Seville outside the cigarette factory where the charismatic gypsy CARMEN and the other cigarette girls work.CARMEN has just sung her Habañera (which we'll be coming back to in a moment) to the assembled soldiers and assorted other drooling males. As our excerpt begins she has been surrounded by a group of importuning young men. The only man paying no attention to her the young Basque sergeant DON JOSÉ.
CARMEN looks at the young men one after the other, leaves the circle they've formed around her, and goes straight up to DON JOSÉ, who is still occupied with his little chain. CARMEN throws a cassia flower at DON JOSÉ. He stands up abruptly. The flower has fallen at his feet. Outburst of general laughing.
CIGARETTE GIRLS [surrounding DON JOSÉ]: Love is a gypsy child;
it's never, never had any law.
If you don't love me, I love you;
if I love you, watch out!
The factory bell. The girls exit running. CARMEN exits first. The young men exit right and left. The soldiers and the lieutenant return to their posts. DON JOSÉ has his eyes fixed on the flower, which has fallen on the ground in front of him.
Chorus of Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Seiji Ozawa, cond. Philips, recorded July 13-22, 1988
by Ken
In just a moment José is going to pick that flower up, and then . . . well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Just keep your eye on that flower!
You thought we were going to be finishing up with the Mahler Seventh Symphony this week, right? Or rather starting and finishing up, since it's the hulking first and last movements that still await us after hearing the enchantingly weird three middle movements last week ("Mahler's most characteristically 'Mahlerian' symphony is also his least loved").
Well, for various reasons -- not least that I'm still waiting for that CD set I mentioned ordering which includes the Klemperer recording of the symphony, rather than working from my LP copy -- I'm going to put that off till (probably) next week, and this week start another two-part inquiry, which itself forms a series of sorts with our recent looks at the operatic retellings of the story of Manon and the Chévalier des Grieux and the unrequited passion of Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Yevgeny Onegin.
I'll explain this better, or at least more fully, on Sunday. Meanwhile, as promised above, let's have our proper introduction to La Carmencita.
Including a recording that Maria Callas refused
to allow to be released (don't ask me why!)
Just 'cause we slipped into Act II of Samson et Dalila in Friday night's preview is no reason to go crazy and think we're going to make it to Act III today, but here's the famous "Bacchanale," from the Met's 1983 Centennial Gala, conducted by James Levine.
by Ken
Friday night we heard Maria Callas's riveting 1961 recording of Dalila's Act II-opening "Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse!," one of three excerpts from Samson et Dalila she recorded for the first Callas in Paris LP. Only two of those excerpts -- "Amour! viens aider" and the Act I solo "Printemps qui commence" -- found their way onto the record, though. Callas refused to allow the recording of the opera's best-known number (maybe along with the "Bacchanale") to be released, and in fact it wasn't in her lifetime, not slipping into print until 1982, five years after she died.
Our goal today is going to be to get (finally!) to the end of Act I of Samson. But we're going to digress again into Act II to hear what has become one of Callas's best-known recordings, the amping up of Dalila's seduction of Samson.
SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila: Act II, Dalila, "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" ("My heart opens at your voice")
My heart opens at your voice like the flowers open
at the kisses of dawn!
But, o my beloved, to better dry my tears,
let your voice speak again!
Tell me that you return to Dalila forever!
Say again to my tenderness
those promises of before, those promises that I loved!
Ah! answer, answer my tenderness!
Fill me, fill me with delight!
Answer my tenderness, etc.
As one sees ears of corn undulating
under a light breeze,
just so my heart flutters,
ready to take comfort
from your voice, which is dear to me!
An arrow is less swift in carrying death
than is your lover to fly into your arms,
to fly into your arms!
Ah! answer etc.
Maria Callas (s), Dalila; Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1961
IN THE INTEREST OF MAKING OUR WAY TO
THE END OF ACT I, LET'S TAKE ONE SMALL STEP
When we left off in April, the High Priest of Dagon had just discovered the body of Abimélech, the satrap of Gaza, "struck down by slaves," meaning the Israelite rabble newly roused by their young rabble-rouser Samson. He storms off, vowing to make those uppity Hebrews pay. We'll hear the end of that again in the click-through, but for now let's listen to the very next thing that happens: this ravishing orchestral daybreak.
SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila: Act I, Daybreak Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Sept.-Oct. 1962
Sunday Classics: Remembering Margaret Price, Part 9 -- Verdi's "A Masked Ball" with two Prices and another luminary
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VERDI: Aida: Act III, Aida, "O patria mia"
Margaret Price sings Aida's Act III aria, "O patria mia," in San Francisco, 1981.
by Ken
We're still remembering the Welsh soprano Margaret Price, and finishing up today with our listenback to her notable Verdi roles. Last night we sampled her Élisabeth in Don Carlos and heard more of her Desdemona in Otello. Today, as we did in Part 7, devoted to Otello, we're going to use our Margaret Price retrospective as an occasion to focus on the opera itself, in this case the middle-period gem A Masked Ball, based on the assassination of Sweden's King Gustav III, but transposed -- at the insistence of censors apprehensive about allowing the depiction of an actual royal assassination onstage -- to a wild and woolly colonial Boston, where the erstwhile King Gustav serves as the governor, Riccardo.
To get us in a Masked Ball kind of mood, let's listen to the brief orchestral Prelude, from a complete recording of the opera conducted by probably the most interesting Verdi conductor on records, Gianandrea Gavazzeni.
VERDI: Un Ballo in maschera: Prelude
Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. DG, recorded 1960
Career beginnings (plus the Act I Love Duet from Verdi's Otello) Part 1: From Handel's Messiah to Wagner's Tristan, emerging in Mozart Part 2: The Countess in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (plus "Or sai chi l'onore" from Don Giovanni) Part 3: Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte [Plus postscript: more of "Soave sia il vento" in the later post Sunday, Bloody Sunday and the depths of Mozart's humanity] Part 4: Pamina in Mozart's Magic Flute Part 5: Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz Part 6: Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos Part 7: Verdi's Otello with Price and others as Desdemona Part 8: Elisabeth in Verdi's Don Carlos and more of Price as Desdemona Part 9: Verdi's A Masked Ball with Margaret Price, Leontyne Price, and Maria Callas as Amelia (today) Still to come: Price the song-singer
Sunday Classics: In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta faces her second life-transforming event
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Anna Moffo and Gino Bechiperform the first half of the Violetta-Germont scene from Act II, Scene 1 of La Traviata, up to the point where our audio clip in the click-through kicks in, tracks [1] through [4] of our breakdown, in this lip-synched 1967-ish film (online sources list Bechi as having retired in 1965 or maybe 1961!), with Giuseppe Patané conducting. We've got English translations of the whole scene in the click-through.
by Ken
I'm arguing that in each of the three acts of La Traviata the heroine, Violetta, undergoes a life-transforming experience, and in Friday night's and last night's previews we considered the first, a happy and most unexpected one: She meets a secret admirer, Alfredo Germont, and falls gloriously and -- by the start of Act II -- blissfully in love. What happens next is just as unexpected, but alas a whole lot less happily so.
It's worth pointing out that these life-transforming events tend to transform not just our immediate subject, in this case Violetta, but the people around her, in this case Alfredo obviously, but -- it turns out -- the rest of his family as well. The scene we're about to plunge into is one of the supreme confrontations, not just in opera, but in the whole of the theatrical literature. One thing to remember in approaching it as that two people go through the wringer here. I don't want to exonerate Germont père for what he does here, which strikes me as fairly monstrous, but just to underscore how desperately important it is to him.
First we need to back up a bit. Last night, as we heard Violetta bring Act I to a breathtaking close after the lavish party in her Paris home with her aria "Sempre libera," it seemed as if her final decision about the tantalizing life change suggested by the entry of the worshipful Alfredo into her life was "no way." As Act II opens, however, we discover that the couple has taken up residence in Violetta's country house, and they're living an idyllic life of delirious passion. And then, just as unexpectedly as her life-transforming event in Act I, in walks Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont. The happiness that exceeds anything she dared to dream of is over.
It has driven him to make the long, arduous journey from his happy home in the south of France to Paris. As far as he's concerned, the stakes are life-or-death for his cherished daughter, and he's far from unconcerned about his son as well -- but then, society allows sons more leeway than daughter, and his future isn't in such immediate peril. One thing to listen for her is how much of Germont's "presentation" to Violetta is, in effect prescripted, formulated and reformulated on that long journey. Of course not much in life happens the way we plan, and almost immediately Germont is thrown off his game plan. Which is the next thing to listen for: how much of his "presentation" is reformulated on the fly, tailored to the unexpected circumstances -- that Violetta bears no resemblance to the wanton trollop of his imaginings. Unfortunately, in so far as his mission is concerned, this changes nothing at all, except to make the whole ordeal that much harder for both of them.
This is a scene we could spend weeks looking at, so we're just going to be skimming the surface here. But one thing to listen for on Violetta's side is, despite the ferocious fight she puts up, how easily and thoroughly her spirit is broken. What we find underneath all the outward confidence and bravado who doesn't expect real happiness, who expects it all to come apart. "I was too happy" is how she puts it in our selection [3]. This culminates in one of the most beautiful moments in all of music [5], her plea to Germont to tell his daughter ("so beautiful and pure") of the sacrifice she's made for her. Then Verdi if anything tops this, when she asks him for instructions and then implores him [6}, "Like a daughter, like a daughter embrace me. Then I'll be strong." And then there's their parting exhortation of "Be happy!": "Siate felice! Felice siate!" (Italian syntax allows the words to be put in either order.) Whew!
Here, first, is the scene first in English. The track changes will break the scene down rather clumsily, but that's not entirely a bad thing. It's a scene that warrants some breaking down for closer inspection.
La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, Violetta-Germont scene (in English)
[1] Violetta, "Alfredo" . . . Annina, "He has just set out for Paris" . . . [2] Germont, "I have a daughter sent from Heav'n" . . . [3] Violetta, "Do you realize I adore him" . . . [4] Germont, "A day will come when making love" . . . [5] Violetta, "Ah! Comfort your daughter, so pure and lovely" . . . [6] Violetta, "Then command me!" . . . [7] Violetta, "I'll die! But you must promise me" . . .
Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; Shelagh Squries (ms), Flora Bervoix; Edward Byles (t), Joseph; Christian du Plessis (b), Giorgio Germont; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980
Sunday Classics preview: In "La Traviata," Violetta stands on the brink of life transformation
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Virginia Zeani, who'll be one of our Violettas today and tomorrow, reflects -- on her 84th birthday! -- on her first performance of the role, in Bologna on three days' notice in 1948 at age 22. (Later she talks about singing Puccini's Manon with the young Plácido Domingo.)
by Ken
In last night's preview we witnessed the first actual meeting between the Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry and a charming, innocent young man from (we find out in Act II) the south of France, Provence, a very different sort of man from the ones she's become accustomed to socializing with. When he was introduced to her at they party she was giving, she learned that he had been in love with her for a year, had in fact been doing what we might call stalking her.
And something about him -- not just his dash and good looks, persuasive as they are -- got to her. She tried to dismiss him, in all senses, but wound up sending him off with grudging leave to return the next day. Now the guests have all gone, and Violetta is left alone to process what has just happened.
The stage is set for one of the great showpieces of the soprano literature, but of course it's also one of the great dramatic scenes. In form, it's clearly the old bel canto erea "double aria," or aria and cabaletta -- a normally slow first aria, in which the singer contemplates or deals with a situation or problem, and then, after the introduction of new information or perhaps just a change of thought (in this case it's simply what Violetta would probably think of as "coming to her senses"), a contrasting fast aria in which the singer deals with the revised situation or contrasting thought. It certainly corresponds to a basic human mode of behavior, and here Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave found an opportunity to bring it to about as full a music-dramatic realization as anybody ever did.
(There's some irony here, in that in the next scene both the tenor and baritone in Traviata, Viioletta's new fascination, Alfredo Germont, and his father, Giorgio Germont, have arias with cabalettas, in situations that could plausibly sustain the form, and for whatever reason(s) Verdi doesn't seem to have bought in. Those cabalettas are the weakest numbers in the score, indeed the only less than first-rate music in it. While great singers might make them work -- the baritone cabaletta seems to me on the verge of being workable -- it's not an accident that these numbers were for a long time routinely omitted. Restoring them hasn't necessarily been a gain.)
SIDEBAR: WHY IS ALFREDO'S FATHER SO SET AGAINST HIS LIAISON WITH VIOLETTA?
The words most often associated with Violetta are "courtesan" and "demimondaine." From the American Heritage Dictionary:
courtesann. A woman who is a prostitute, especially one whose clients are men of rank or wealth.
A "demimondaine" is defined as "a woman belonging to the demimonde," so let's jump to that:
demimonden. 1.a. A class of women kept by wealthy lovers or protectors. b. Women prostitutes considered as a group. 2. A group whose respectability is dubious or whose success is marginal: the literary demimonde of ghost writers, hacks, and publicists. In this sense, also called demiworld.
Now Violetta actually has a fiancé, and a baron at that, which makes me wonder whether she's actually a prostitute. Wouldn't you figure that even the most liberal baron would have certain limits of propriety in matters of matrimony? So I'm inclined to 1a, with the powerful odor of dubious respectability from 2.
Note that for Alfredo's father, in his primly middle-class social circle, this would probably be a distinction without a difference, which is one reason "updating" the time period of the opera, as has been done by many too-smart-for-their-own-good directors, seems to me dangerous. I think we need for the stigma attached to Violetta's social status to be powerful enough to set the opera's events in motion.
Why don't we lead off, now, with the English-language performance by Valerie Masterson?
La Traviata: Act I, Violetta, Recitative, "I wonder, I wonder!" . . . Aria, "Is he the one I dream about?" . . . Recitative, "It can't be, it can't be!" . . . Aria, "Give me freedom to be happy"
Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; John Brecknock (t), Alfredo Germont; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980
[5/15/2011] Remembering Margaret Price, Part 9 -- Verdi's "A Masked Ball" with two Prices and another luminary (continued)
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The conjuring of the seer Ulrica (mezzo-soprano) Elena Obraztsova) at La Scala, 1978, Claudio Abbado conducting
What an opera! It's the only Somma/Verdi collaboration (Verdi had started, but never completed, setting Somma's King Lear libretto), which is a pity. The action is compelling and entertaining; the verse are sturdy, frequenlty elegant, and sufficiently varied in form to allow Verdi great freedom. Arias, scenas, and ensembles (what ensembles!) of every size, shape, and temper -- never before had Verdi written with such consistent harmonic and rhythmic boldness and assurance; the melodies are not only unfailingly, lavishly first-rate, but also intimately contoured to the lines of the story. It is worth noting that Ballo is Verdi's only pre-Aida opera regularly performed without musical tampering.
-- me, reviewing a reissue of the Callas-di Stefano-Gobbi-Barbieri-Serafin-EMI Ballo in the June 1974 High Fidelity
It amazes me that I can quote something I wrote this long ago without cringing, but this still says what I believe about A Masked Ball -- and about that recording. I wrote that Antonino Votto "shapes the music beautifully," and that --
only the best will do for the three principal roles, all among Verdi's greatest, and Callas, di Stefano, and Gobbi are vocally and dramatically superb -- in each case this may be the singer's best Verdi recording. This, [Fedora] Barbieri's second Ulrica, is the most securely sung on records. . . . [Silvio] Maionica and [Nicola] Zaccaria are imposing conspirators.
Oh, I wrote some stuff later in the review that I wonder at now, but we don't need to go into that.
WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING FANCY IN OUR QUICK MASKED BALL SURVEY
Since we're focusing on the heroine, Amelia, to go with our Margaret Price excerpts, from the second complete Ballo conducted by Sir Georg Solti, I've chosen a performance featuring the greatest Amelia of my experience, Leontyne Price, and what seems to me Maria Callas's finest operatic studio recording. (The hoopla goes to the Tosca with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi, with Victor de Sabata conducting, and these folks might well have had a helluva Tosca in them, but this doesn't sound like it to me. I speculate that producer Walter Legge with his middlebrow control-freak "perfectionism" drilled the individuality and life out of everyone's performances. By contrast the Ballo finds all its contributors really contributing.)
Let's get listening now, and ease our way into our three performances by hearing the Prelude from each. The piece works out themes that will be heard in the opening scene, the first two representing two strains among the governor's court -- the first loyal, the second budding-insurrectionist, punctuated by the broad tune to which Riccardo, seeing her name on the invitation list for his upcoming masked ball, voices his infatuation for the beautiful Amelia, the wife of his closest adviser, confidant, and friend, Renato.
These recordings weren't chosen as the "best performances" of these excerpts, though I will certainly stand the Amelias of Leontyne Price and Maria Callas up with any I've heard, and while their associates here may not all be in the same class, they're not exactly zeroes either. One thing we could certainly have used is a really thundering Renato for the opening of Act III. I was sorely tempted to slip in Gino Bechi from the old recording with Beniamino Gigli and Maria Caniglia, but in the end I stuck to the principle of keeping it simple.
Un Ballo in maschera: Prelude
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-June 1982 and May 1983 Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1966 Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 4-9, 1956
SPLENDID FELLOW OR TYRANT? OR BOTH?
Of Verdi's roles for the lighter-weight lyric-tenor voice, there's no question that Ballo's Riccardo is the juiciest, and it's hardly surprising that tenors who can sing the role love it. Our governor thinks of himself as, well, a prince -- gallant, generous, and just. And some of his subjects think of him that way too. Others, however, see him as self-indulgent, arbitrary, and downright tyrannical.
Of course it's only in opera that a man may be secretly madly in love with his most cherished and trusted friend's wife. So let's indulge ourselves with this extraordinary and unheard-of spectacle, and as we focus on the object of Riccardo's passion, Amelia, we can see both his lighter and his darker sides. On the bright side, for a man who is evidently unaccustomed to denying himself, he has indeed loyally (and sensibly) kept his secret passion secret. On the dark side, when he happens to learn that his passion is requited, well, let's listen.
In the opera's second scene, the governor and his court decide as a lark to pay a visit to a local seer who has been brought up on charges before him. By coincidence -- and what would opera be without conicidence? -- during their jolly outing Ulrica, the seer, learns that she has a highly confidential client wishing to see her, and she has the room cleared for her. Except for Riccardo, that is, who recognizes the envoy as a servant of Amelia and stays behind, hidden. He learns that the desperate Amelia has come seeking help, seeking "peace," to be precise, from her secret passion for the man who rules them all. Ulrica directs her to a terrifying destination, a desolate field to the west of the city, the site of the gallows, where by moonlight, at midnight (when else?), she can pluck an herb that will give her the obliviousness she's looking for. Amelia expresses relief and hope; Riccardo, giddiness and excitement.
I apologize for not including English texts, as I usually do. It was just too much work, and would have occupied an overwhelming chunk of online real estate, and I never know whether anyone makes any use of them anyway. I hoped to find a convenient online libretto, but I didn't. If you want to complain, you have every right.
Act I, Scene 2: Ulrica-Amelia-Riccardo scene: Ulrica, "Che v'agita così" ("What trouble you so?"), Amelia, "Pace, svellermi dal petto" ("Peace, to root out of my breast") . . . Riccardo "Che ascolto! Anima mia!" ("What do I hear! My soul!")
Christa Ludwig (ms), Ulrica; Margaret Price (s), Amelia; Luciano Pavarotti (t), Riccardo; National Philharmonic Orchestrta, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-June 1982 and May 1983 Mignon Dunn (ms), Ulrica; Leontyne Price (s), Amelia; Carlo Bergonzi (t), Riccardo; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1966 Fedora Barbieri (ms), Ulrica; Maria Callas (s), Amelia; Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Riccardo; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 4-9, 1956
WHAT SHE DID TO GET OVER LOVE
Act II is set -- where else? -- in "a lonely spot at the foot of a steep hill, in the vicinity of Boston," by the gallows. "Here is the horrible place were death is coupled with crime," the heavily veiled Amelia declares in her dramatic recitative as she arrives at the spot designated by Ulrica. Everything around her fills her with loathing and terror, even of death. As midnight arrives, her imagination runs wild, and in the first of her two gorgeous arias, "Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa," she releases some of her dread. (The photo shows Leontyne Price as Amelia in Act II in San Francisco.)
Act II, Prelude . . . Recitative and Aria, Amelia, "Ecco l'orrido campo" ("Here is the horrible field") . . . "Ma dall'arido stelo divulsa" ("But when from the withered stem")
Margaret Price (s), Amelia; National Philharmonic Orchestrta, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-June 1982 and May 1983 Leontyne Price (s), Amelia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1966 Maria Callas (s), Amelia; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 4-9, 1956
RICCARDO TENDS TO GET WHAT HE WANTS
This excerpt follows immediately upon the preceding. At the height of Amelia's terrors, who should show up but . . . Riccardo? It may be that he wants nothing more than the satisfaction of hearing her own up that she loves him. Maybe so; they're interrupted before we, or they, can find out. (There turns out to be quite a mob hanging out on the horrid field this night.) Is it necessary to add that this scene develops into one of Verdi's most rapturous love duets?
Act II, Riccardo-Amelia scene: Riccardo, "Teco io sto" ("I am at your side")
Luciano Pavarotti (t), Riccardo; Margaret Price (s), Amelia; National Philharmonic Orchestrta, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-June 1982 and May 1983 Carlo Bergonzi (t), Riccardo; Leontyne Price (s), Amelia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1966 Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Riccardo; Maria Callas (s), Amelia; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 4-9, 1956
"BLOOD IS CALLED FOR, AND YOU WILL DIE"
The new arrivals who interrupted the Act II duet were, first, the ever-loyal Renato come to warn that a party of conspirators was drawing nigh to dispatch him and, then, the conspirators themselves. Before their arrival, Renato promised his friend to escort the lady back to the city without attempting to discover her identity, and when the veil slipped off and the paramour turned out to be Renato's wife, the thwarted would-be assassin-liberators at least came away with a hearty laugh for their trouble.
Now we're back home with Renato and Amelia, and rage doesn't get expressed with much more believably explosive musical violence than we hear in the orchestral prelude and then Renato thunders, "Sangue vuolsi e tu morrai" -- blood is called for and she will die.
Amelia attempts to reason with him -- "One instant, it's true, I loved him," she allows -- but Renato at present isn't a man susceptible to reason. In her second great aria, "Morrò, ma prima in grazia," Amelia owns that she will die but asks, as one last favor, to be allowed first to see their child one final time.
Act III, Prelude . . . Renato-Amelia scene: Renato, "A tal colpa è nulla il pianto" ("For such a blow tears avail nothing") . . . Aria, Amelia, "Morrò, ma prima in grazia" ("I will die, but first in pity")
Leo Nucci (b), Renato; Margaret Price (s), Amelia; National Philharmonic Orchestrta, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-June 1982 and May 1983 Robert Merrill (b), Renato; Leontyne Price (s), Amelia; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Live performance, Feb. 26, 1966 Tito Gobbi (b), Renato; Maria Callas (s), Amelia; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 4-9, 1956
[2/6/2011] In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta faces her second life-transforming event (continued}
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"Dite alla giovine . . .": Violetta (Amelita Gallli-Curci) gives in, and Germont (Giuseppe de Luca) has won -- at considerable cost to both of them (but especially Violetta, of course); then she asks him to tell her what to do. This 1918 recording comprises our tracks [5] through [7] (translations below).
NOW WE HEAR OUR OTHER VIOLETTAS FROM OUR TRAVIATA PREVIEWS --
Maria Callas (with Mario Sereni) and Virginia Zeani (with her Romanian countryman Nicolae Herlea). In both performances we begin later than in the Masterson-du Plessis one, right at the moment of Germont's entrance. The Callas-Sereni version, conveniently, uses exactly the same track points as the Masterson-du Plessis, while the track-free Zeani-Herlea version allows us to hear the scene without interruption.
VERDI: La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, Violetta-Germont scene
[1] Germont, "Madamigella Valéry" . . . [2] Germont, "Pura siccome un angelo" . . . [3) Violetta, "Non sapete, quale affetto" . . . [4] Germont, "Un dì, quando le veneri" . . . [5] Violetta, "Dite alla giovine" . . . [6] Violetta, "Or imponete" . . . [7] Violetta, "Morrò! Morrò! La mia memoria" . . .
[1] (A): track 1, (B): 0:00 GERMONT: Mademoiselle Valéry? VIOLETTA: Yes. GERMONT: I'm Alfredo's father. VIOLETTA [surprised, invites him to sit down]: You are? GERMONT [sitting down]: Yes, I'm the father of that headstrong boy, Who's rushing to his ruin Because of his infatuation for you. VIOLETTA [rising indignantly]: I am a woman, Sir, And this is my house; Please excuse me if I leave you, More for your sake than mine. [She turns to go out. ] GERMONT [to himself]: What bearing! All the same ... VIOLETTA [returning to her chair]: There must be some mistake! GERMONT: He wants to make over everything to you. VIOLETTA: He wouldn't dare, I should refuse. GERMONT [looking round him]: But all this luxury . . . VIOLETTA [showing him a document]: That puzzles a lot of people, But you shall know the truth. GERMONT [looking at the document]: Heavens! What are you telling me? You're sacrificing Everything you possess? Is this how the past reproaches you? VIOLETTA [with enthusiasm]: The past is over. I love Alfredo now, God has wiped out the past. He knows of my repentance! GERMONT: Your feelings do you credit. VIOLETTA [getting up]: How kind your voice sounds now. GERMONT: I have to ask a sacrifice Of those noble feelings of yours. VIOLETTA: No! Don't tell me! Don't tell me your terrible demand! I foresaw it . . . I expected it . . . I was too happy! GERMONT: Alfredo's father Pleads with you now for the future Of his two children! VIOLETTA: His two children? GERMONT: Yes. [2] (A): track 2, (B): 3:08 God gave me a daughter As pure as an angel; And if Alfredo refuses To return to the bosom of his family, The man she loves and who loves her, The one whose wife she was to be, Will break the chain That was to bind them in their happiness. I pray you not to change the roses of their Love to flowers of sadness. Surely your heart will not deny The prayer I utter now. VIOLETTA: Ah yes, I understand. If I left Alfredo for a time . . . It would be a sacrifice, but then ... GERMONT: That's not what I'm asking. VIOLETTA: Heavens! What more do you expect? So much I've offered already! GERMONT: But not enough. VIOLETTA: You want me to leave him Forever? GERMONT: It's necessary. VIOLETTA: Oh, no! Never! No, never! [3] (A): track 3, (B): 5:13 You cannot know the kind of passion -- Living, overwhelming -- That burns in my heart! I have no friends, no family still living. Alfredo swore, That I should find them all in him. How should you know that my life Is threatened by a fell disease? That already I see the end is near? If I parted from Alfredo, My suffering would be so unbearable That I would rather die, Why yes, much rather die! GERMONT: The sacrifice is weighty, But hear me out with patience, You're young and beautiful And in time . . . VIOLETTA: Oh, say no more . . . I understand you. But it's impossible for me . . . I want nothing but to love him! GERMONT: That may be, But men are often less faithful. VIOLETTA: Oh, heavens! [4] (A): track 4, (B): 7:45 GERMONT: One day, when time Has put your charms to flight, Boredom will swiftly rise. What will happen then? Think! The gentle balm of affection Will not be for you, Because the threads that bound you Had not been blessed by heaven. VIOLETTA: It's true! GERMONT: Ah, why not then abandon So tempting a dream? VIOLETTA: It's true! GERMONT: Be the consoling angel Of my family! Violetta, only think, You still have time for that. My child, it's God who inspires The words this father speaks. VIOLETTA [in great grief]: So, for the wretched woman Who's fallen once, The hope of rising is forever gone! Though God should show His mercy, Man will never forgive her. [5] (A): track 5, (B): 10:49 [To Germont, weeping] Say to your daughter, so pure and fair, That there's a victim of misfortune Whose one ray of happiness Before she dies Is a sacrifice made for her. GERMONT: Weep, unhappy girl, weep! I see the sacrifice I ask Is the greatest one of all, In my own heart I feel your sorrow; Have courage, and your generous Heart will conquer! [6] (A): track 6, (B): 15:19 VIOLETTA: Tell me what I must do. GERMONT: Say you don't love him. VIOLETTA: He won't believe me. GERMONT: Then leave him. VIOLETTA: He would follow me. GERMONT: Then . . . VIOLETTA: As your daughter now embrace me, So you may give me strength. [embracing Germont] Soon he will be restored to you, But more unhappy than words can tell. You must be there To comfort him. [She indicates the garden. She goes to the writing table.] GERMONT: What are you doing? VIOLETTA: If I told you, You would oppose me. GERMONT: You are generous indeed! And what can I do for you? What can I do for you who are so generous? [7] (A): track 7, (B): 16:29 VIOLETTA [turning to him]: I shall soon die! And he'll not curse My memory If someone tell him How much I suffered. GERMONT: No, generous girl, you must live, You must be happy, For one day Heaven will repay you for these tears. VIOLETTA: Let him know the sacrifice I made of the love That will be his Till I draw my last breath. GERMONT: Your sacrifice shall be rewarded, And in days to come You will be proud Of so great a love. Yes! VIOLETTA: Someone is coming, you must go now. GERMONT: I thank you from my heart! VIOLETTA: Go now. [They embrace.] We may not meet again. VIOLETTA and GERMONT: May you be happy! Farewell! [Germont goes to the door.] VIOLETTA [weeping]: Let him know the sacrifice I made of the love . . . GERMONT [at the door]: Yes! Yes! VIOLETTA: That will be his forever ... Her tears stifle the words. Farewell! GERMONT: Farewell! VIOLETTA and GERMONT: May you be happy! Farewell! [Germont goes through the door into the garden.]
(A) Maria Callas (s), Violetta Valéry; Mario Sereni (b), Giorgio Germont; Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional (Lisbon), Franco Ghione, cond. Myto, recorded live at the Teatro São Carlos, Mar. 27, 1958 (B) Virginia Zeani (s), Violetta Valéry; Nicolae Herlea (b), Giorgio Germont; Orchestra of the Romanian National Opera (Bucharest), Jean Bobescu, cond. Electrecord/Vox, recorded 1968
VIOLETTA PUTS HER "PLAN" INTO EFFECT
This is the plan she refuses to share with Germont. Sorry to say, it kind of sucks. She hurriedly writes Alfredo a letter, which she has delivered to him while she's vamoosing to Paris. Alfredo returns sooner than she expects, and she struggles to retain her composure, finally erupting in this outburst.
La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, "Amami, Alfredo"
VIOLETTA: Love me, Alfredo. Love me as much as I love you. Farewell.
[in English] Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980 Maria Callas (s), Violetta Valéry; Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional (Lisbon), Franco Ghione, cond. Myto, recorded live at the Teatro São Carlos, Mar. 27, 1958 Virginia Zeani (s), Violetta Valéry; Orchestra of the Romanian National Opera (Bucharest), Jean Bobescu, cond. Electrecord/Vox, recorded 1968
AND ONE LAST TIME, LET'S GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING
No, I didn't forget about the Prelude to Traviata. I just thought that today we would save it for the end. I think the reason will be readily audible.
La Traviata: Prelude to Act I
Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Carlos Kleiber, cond. Live performance, Dec. 9, 1984
