Sunday Classics preview: Méphisto's masterstroke is slipping that mirror in with the jewels for Marguerite

This is what happens when you have a director too lazy, stupid, dishonest, or just plain contemptuous of the work he's staging. From a 1985 Vienna State Opera production we have Marguerite's "Roi de Thulé," sung quite nicely by the fine Czech soprano Gabriela Beňačková and decently conducted by Erich Binder, but staged as part of some other story -- a quite uninteresting-looking story -- concocted by director Ken Russell.

Recitative
I would really like to know who this young man was,
if he's a great lord, and what his name is.
Aria
“There once was a king of Thulé,
who, faithful unto the grave,
kept in memory of his beloved.
A cup of chiseled gold -- “
[She interrupts her song.]
He bore himself well, it seemed to me.
[She resumes her song.]
“No treasure had so many charms!
On great occasions he used it,
and every time he drank from it
his eyes filled with tears!

"When he felt Death coming,
stretched out on his cold bed,
to carry it up to his mouth
his hand made a supreme effort!”
[Again she interrupts her song.]
I hardly knew what to say, and I blushed at first.
[She resumes her song.]
“And then, in honor of his lady,
he drank one last time;
the cup trembled in his fingers,
and gently he gave up his soul."

by Ken

In last night's preview I tried to introduce the sound world of Gounod's Faust, working from the title character's aria outside Marguerite's "chaste and pure" little house early in the Garden Scene (Act III). The stage is set now for one of the great soprano showcases in the operatic literature, the heroine's double aria, "There was once a king of Thulé" and the spectacular Jewel Song.

The overall form of this double aria is actually quite similar to the game plan for Violetta's bravura Act I-ending scene, which we heard two weeks ago:

* a brief meditative opening recitative pondering the immediate idea in the heroine's head, in this case Marguerite's lingering fascination with the fancy-pants stranger she met at the Kermesse in Act II;

* a basically slow, reflective aria, in this case the innocent young romantic Marguerite recalling the story of the king of Thulé's lifelong devotion to his lost love, interspersed with continued pondering of the mysterious stranger;

* back to recitative, for further contemplation of the situation mixed with new circumstances, in this case Marguerite's discovery of the casket of jewels left for her by Méphisto, which launches her on --

* a brilliant fast second aria, in this case the spectacular Jewel Song.

Here's Renée Fleming singing the Jewel Song in concert:

[MARGUERITE puts on the earrings, stands up, and looks at herself in the mirror.]
Ah! I laugh seeing myself
so pretty in this mirror!
Is it you, Marguerite?
Answer me, answer quickly!
No, no, it's no longer you,
It's no longer your face!
This is the daughter of a king,
To whom everyone bows as she passes.
Ah, if only he were here!
If only he could see me this way!
He would find me as beautiful
As a young lady!
Let's complete the metamorphosis!
I've put off trying on
the bracelet and this necklace!
[She puts on the necklace first, then the bracelet. Rising.]
God! It feels like a hand weighing down on me.

Ah! I laugh seeing myself &c.

TO HEAR THE BIG SCENE SUNG BY VALERIE MASTERSON,
GABRIELLA TUCCI, AND HILDE GUEDEN, CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics: In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta faces her second life-transforming event

Anna Moffo and Gino Bechi perform 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


TO CONTINUE WITH OUR TRAVERSAL OF THE
VIOLETTA-GERMONT SCENE, CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics preview: In "La Traviata," Violetta stands on the brink of life transformation

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:

courtesan n. 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:

demimonde n. 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

TO CONTINUE WITH OUR "AH, FORS'È LUI"
AND "SEMPRE LIBERA" PREVIEW, CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics preview: In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta's first life-transforming event

Valerie Masterson sings the torturous "Martern aller Artern" ("Tortures of all kinds") from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, at Glyndebourne, 1980, with Charles Mackerras conducting the London Philharmonic. Constanza, held captive in the Turkish Pasha Selim's harem, makes clear to the pasha that nothing he can do will be sufficient to make her yield voluntarily to his amorous wishes.

by Ken

If there's anything does supremely well, it's representing life-transforming events and experiences. I'm inclined to think that with its combination of music with all the rest of the theater's dramatic resources, it does this better than any other dramatic medium. I'd like to try to demonstrate what I mean this week and the week after next. (We have other business next week.)

For several weeks now we've been hearing Valerie Masterson in all manner of repertory, from G&S to Rodgers & Hammerstein by way of Handel, Verdi, and Wagner. Now we close in on her admirable (and admirably well-preserved phonographically) assumptions of two of the central roles in the core operatic literature: first, Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata; then, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust.

THE VALERIE MASTERSON FLASHBACK/PREVIEW POSTS

Part 1: We haven't quite finished with this lovely soprano
WAGNER: The Rhinegold: Opening Scene excerpts. G&S: Sorcerer: "Oh, happy young heart" (plus two other sopranos' versions); Incantation Scene (with John Reed et al.) Video: HANDEL: Julius Caesar: "V'adoro, pupille" (with Janet Baker; ENO, Mackerras)
Part 2: We STILL haven't finished with Valerie Masterson
G&S: Pirates of Penzance: "When the foeman bears his steel" . . . "Go, ye heroes"; Ah, leave me not to pine (with Robert Tear). Mikado: "Were you not to Ko-Ko plighted" (with Tear). VERDI: La Traviata: Prelude & Opening Scene; "I saw a vision ethereal"; Act II, Scene 1: "What's that?" . . . "Love me, Alfredo" (with John Brecknock; ENO, Mackerras). Video: HANDEL: Acis and Galatea: "Oh, happy we" (with Anthony Rolfe Johnson)
Part 3: Traveling with Valerie Masterson from 1994 to 1967
G&S: Pirates of Penzance: Poor wandering one (three versions). Yeomen of the Guard: "I have a song to sing, O" (with John Cartier). RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN: The King and I: "Getting to know you"; "When I think of Tom" . . . "Hello, young lovers"; March of the Siamese Children"

SO, THIS WEEK TRAVIATA

In the course of the opera's three acts Violetta experiences three of those transforming events. The first is a happy one, and that's the one we're going to concern ourselves with in tonight's and tomorrow night's previews. Tonight we hear the actual convulsions of that first event; tomorrow night, as Act I concludes, we hear what she makes of it. (The good news continues into the beginning of Act II, but unfortunately that's going to be the extent of the good news. On Sunday, Violetta and we will have our first encounter with Alfredo's father, and for her everything changes.)

But first, it has become something of a tradition here, when we're dealing with an opera, to hear how the thing starts, just to help set the mood. We've already heard the Prelude to Act I of Traviata, and for that matter we're going to hear it several more times in the click-through, as part of the opera's opening scene, but I don't see any reason why we shouldn't take a moment just to enjoy this remarkable little piece.

Or two moments, actually, because we're going to hear two performances, featuring the same conductor (Herbert von Karajan) and orchestra (that of La Scala), recorded a week apart in December 1964. I think they're interestingly different, and will explain in the click-through the difference in circumstances that I think explains the differences.

VERDI: La Traviata: Prelude to Act I


Orchestra of the Teatro all Scala, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Both recorded live, December 1964


TO CONTINUE OUR EAVESDROPPING ON VIOLETTA'S
FIRST LIFE-TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE, CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics flashback/preview, part 3: Traveling with Valerie Masterson from 1994 to 1967

At the 5th International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton (England) in 1998, Valerie Masterson (left), lead soprano of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1964 to 1969, offered a morning of reminiscences about her career in opera as well as operetta, then posed for pictures with one of her most distinguished D'Oyly Carte predecessors, Jean Hindmarsh.

by Ken

Valerie Masterson -- whom we've been "flashback/preview"-ing for two Fridays now (first here, then here) -- was 61 when the above photo was taken. As I've mentioned, it was only four earlier, at age 57, that she recorded the role of Anna (with Christopher Lee as the King) in the Jay label's first-ever recording of the complete score of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I. We're going to hear a couple of excerpts from that recording, but first, just to register the life-distance traveled, we jump back more than 20 years, to 1972, when her career with the D'Oyly Carte company was already several years behind her, to hear one of her "calling card" numbers, Mabel's showpiece aria "Poor wandering one" from The Pirates of Penzance.

We're going to hear a fuller version of the sequence in the click-through, from Masterson's complete 1967 Pirates with the D'Oyly Carte company, but here we pick up as the beautiful young ex-pirate apprentice Frederic, encountering the bevy of beautiful daughters of Major-General Stanley on an outing to this rocky Cornwall beach, has asked whether for an outcast like himself there isn't, first, "one maiden breast which does not feel the moral beauty of making worldly interest subordinate to sense of duty" (answer: alas, no) and, second, whether there's "not one maiden here whose homely face and bad complexion have caused all hope to disappear of ever winning man's affection," which is the point at which we come in.

It turns out, to the astonishment, horror, and I dare say gnawing envy of her sisters, that there is one: the late-arriving Mabel, who gives her unfeeling sisters what-for for being "deaf to pity's name" (rhymes with "for shame!"). Note the interesting and strikingly contemporary-sounding point raised by the reproached sisters:

The question is, had he not been
a thing of beauty,
would she be swayed by quite as keen
a sense of duty?

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Pirates of Penzance: Act I, General Stanley's daughters, "Alas, there's not one maiden here" . . . Mabel, "O sisters deaf to pity's name" . . . "Poor wandering one"

Thomas Round (t), Frederic; Valerie Masterson (s), Mabel; Gilbert and Sullivan Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Peter Murray, arr. and cond. Pye/Everest, recorded 1972

Even in 1994 we can hear flickers of the perky young Valerie in the Schoolroom Scene of The King and I, as the widowed Englishwoman Anna Leonowens, newly arrived in Bangkok in 1862 to provide a proper Western education for the many children of the King of Siam, takes up her new duties. (For the record, where Major-General Stanley's daughters are all adopted, the King's offspring are all his, by his consortium of wives.)

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN: The King and I: Act I, Schoolroom Scene, Chorus of Royal Children, "We work and work from week to week" . . . Anna, "Getting to know you"

Valerie Masterson (s), Anna; children's chorus, National Symphony Orchestra, John Owen Edwards, cond. Jay, recorded July 1994

FOR THE RECORD, THE LINER NOTES REMIND
US THAT "GETTING TO KNOW YOU" . . .

was a relatively late addition to The King and I. The story goes that between the New Haven and Boston tryout runs, the creative team, having made huge cuts to the show, was looking for a way to lighten Anna's character, and star Gertrude Lawrence had suggested a song for her and the children. Mary Martin, the star of Rodgers and Hammerstein's previous show, South Pacific, had come up to see the show and reminded R&H of the song "Suddenly Lucky," which had finally been cut at a late stage, with reluctance, from South Pacific. She thought it might do the trick. With new lyrics and further tinkering, it did the trick very nicely.

But the number from The King and I that I really want you to hear is . . . well, you'll find out in the click-through.


FOR MORE OF VALERIE AS ANNA IN THE KING
AND I AND MABEL IN PIRATES, CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics flashback/preview, part 2: We STILL haven't finished with Valerie Masterson

"Go to death and go to slaughter!" Major-General Stanley's intrepid daughter Mabel exhorts the scared-witless police, facing certain doom at the hands of the Pirates of Penzance, in the 1983 film version of Wilfred Leach's New York Shakespeare Festival production of The Pirates of Penzance with George Rose as the general, Rex Smith as Frederic, Tony Azito as the Sergent of Police, Linda Ronstadt as Mabel, and Louise Gold as Edith. Or, in a more "standard" performance, picking up at the entrance of the police:

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Pirates of Penzance: Act II, Ensemble with solos (Sergeant of Police, Mabel, and Edith), "When the foeman bares his steel" . . . "Go, ye heroes, go to glory"

Donald Adams (bs), Sergeant of Police; Valerie Masterson (s), Mabel; Ann Hood (ms), Edith; John Reed (b), Major-General Stanley; D'Oyly Carte Opera Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent, cond. Decca, recorded 1965

by Ken

We're still flashbacking to soprano Valerie Masterson's too-small contribution to our posts of two weeks ago concerning Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer, serving also as a preview to a full post of more general appreciation of Masterson's work. Last Friday in our first "flashback/preview" we heard her as Woglinde in Wagner's Rhinegold (yes, it was in English), as Cleopatra in Handel's Julius Caesar, and again as Aline in The Sorcerer. For this second flashback/preview I thought we'd focus on ensembles, from both her G&S repertory and her regular operatic one.

Party at Violetta's: Valerie Masterson as Violetta and Beniamino Prior as Alfredo in the opening scene of La Traviata in San Francisco, 1980.

That same year, 1980, Masterson recorded Violetta, in English, with English National Opera forces under Sir Charles Mackerras, in one of the early English-language recordings of complete operas made possible by the Peter Moores Foundation (which has now grown to comprise a hefty chunk of the operatic repertory, including both Alban Berg operas). Here's the opening of the opera.

VERDI: La Traviata: Prelude; Act I, Opening Scene and Brindisi

Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; John Brecknock (t), Alfredo Germont; Della Jones (ms), Flora Bervoix; Denis Dowling (b), Marquis d'Obigny; Geoffrey Pogson (t), Gastone; John Gibbs (b), Baron Douphol; English National Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI (now Chandos), recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980


WOULDN'T YOU THINK THAT'D BE ENOUGH FOR
ANY SELF-RESPECTING FLASHBACK/PREVIEW?

But no, we have more! More Pirates, more Traviata, more more more!

JUST CLICK HERE.

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Sunday Classics flashback/preview, part 1: We haven't quite finished with this lovely soprano

Alberich and the Rhinemaidens in the opening scene of Wagner's Das Rheingold

SCENE: At the bottom of the Rhine
[English translation by Andrew Porter]

Greenish half-light, turning brighter towards the top, darker below. The scene is filled with whirling waters that flow ceaselessly from right to left. Towards the bottom the tide is dispelled into an increasingly fine damp mist, so that a space as high as a man from the ground seems to be completely free of the water which flows, as if in cloud formation, over the dusky bed. Sheer rockfaces rise everywhere from the depths and mark the confines of the stage. The whole river bed is broken up into a mass of jagged rocks and is nowhere completely flat as a result; deep gorges are to be imagined in the dense darkness all around.

In the centre of the stage, round one rock, whose slender apex stretches up into the brighter area of densely swirling water, one of the Rhinemaidens is circling with graceful swimming strokes.

WOGLINDE: Weia! Waga!
Wandering waters,
lulling our cradle!
Wagala weia!
Wallala, weiala weia!
WELLGUNDE [singing from higher up]: Woglinde, watching alone?
WOGLINDE: Till Wellgunde joins me down here.
WELLGUNDE [dives down from the waters onto the rock] Let's see how you watch!
WOGLINDE: Safe from your grasp!
[They tease and try to catch one another.]
FLOSSHILDE: Heiala weia!
Careful my sisters!
WELLGUNDE: Flosshilde, swim!
Woglinde flies!
Hurry and help me
to catch her!
FLOSSHILDE: The sleeping gold
calls for your care!
Back to your task of guarding its bed
or else you'll pay
for your games!
[With cheerful cries the other two swim apart: Flosshilde tries to catch first one, then the other; they evade her and finally combine in joint pursuit of Flosshilde; in this way they dart like fishes from rock to rock, joking and laughing.]

by Ken

My original intention was to start the above audio clip at the track 2, the first bit of singing, to introduce, or reintroduce, a singer we've heard recently but haven't given a fair reckoning. Gradually, though, I realized that you can't just skip over the actual opening of Das Rheingold (or The Rhinegold, as it's presented to us here). So if you want to just hear the soprano I don't feel we've done proper justice, you can just click ahead to the second track -- and skip over one of the most prodigious feats of musical imagination to have sprung from the mind of man. Your choice.

One of these days we're going to come back to this scene, and hear the likes of Joan Sutherland and Erna Berger as the "lead" Rhinemaiden, Woglinde -- oh yes, it's the Woglinde of this performance we're interested in. My point here is that it is, yes, in a sense a "small" role, but the Rhinemaidens actually do a fair amount of singing, and if it isn't done well, that can go a long way toward killing a performance of the Ring cycle before it's had a chance to get started.

With regard to our "mystery" Woglinde, in the unlikely event that you haven't already figured out who she is, here's a selection that's a bit closer to home, at least as we've known her so far. The thing is, it's so close to home that for the benefit of those of you who are playing along, I can't identify it till the click-through.

My kindly friends, I thank you for this greeting
And as you wish me every earthly joy,
I trust your wishes may have quick fulfillment!

Oh, happy young heart!
Comes thy young lord a-wooing
With joy in his eyes,
And pride in his breast --
Make much of thy prize,
For he is the best
That ever came a-suing.
Yet -- yet we must part,
Young heart!
Yet -- yet we must part!

Oh, merry young heart,
Bright are the days of thy wooing!
But happier far
The days untried --
No sorrow can mar,
When love has tied
The knot there's no undoing.
Then, never to part,
Young heart!
Then, never to part!

TO LEARN THE IDENTITY OF OUR MYSTERY SOPRANO,
AND HEAR HER SING A LITTLE MORE, CLICK HERE.

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[2/19/2011] Preview: Méphisto's masterstroke is slipping that mirror in with the jewels for Marguerite (continued)

Now it's Mirella Freni's turn to discover those fabulous jewels left for her as a trap by the Devil.


OF COURSE WE STILL HAVE TO HEAR
THE OPERA'S ORCHESTRAL INTRO AGAIN

And tonight we're going to hear it conducted by an old friend of Sunday Classics, Pierre Monteux, from one of his three Met broadcasts of Faust, and by the conductor of our 1966 Met Faust, though not from that performance but from his 1976 Erato studio recording of the opera. Note that the Monteux performance isn't as broad as the timing might suggest: The CD editor has tacked the orchestral introduction to the opening scene, almost up to Faust's first word ("Rien!" -- "Nothing!"), onto the Orchestral Introduction. The Lombard performance, however, is as broad as the very lengthy timing would indicate.

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, cond. Live performance, Feb. 19, 1955
Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Alain Lombard, cond. Erato, recorded 1976


NOW TO MARGUERITE'S BIG SCENE

We're going to start off with Valerie Masterson as Marguerite. Then, from the same 1966 broadcast as the John Alexander "Salut, demeure" we had last night, we hear the underappreciated Gabriella Tucci (born 1929), whose full-bodied lyric soprano possessed just about every vocal excellence except an instantly recognizable sound. Finally we hear the lovely Viennese lyric-coloratura soprano Hilde Gueden (1917-1988).

GOUNOD: Faust: Act III, Marguerite, Recitative, "Je voudrais bien savoir" . . . Aria, "Il était un roi de Thulé" . . . Recitative, "Les grands seigneurs ont seuls des airs si résolus" . . . Aria, "Ah! je ris de me voir"

MARGUERITE
Recitative
I would really like to know who this young man was,
if he's a great lord, and what his name is.
Aria
“There once was a king of Thulé,
who, faithful unto the grave,
kept in memory of his beloved.
A cup of chiseled gold -- “
[She interrupts her song.]
He bore himself well, it seemed to me.
[She resumes her song.]
“No treasure had so many charms!
On great occasions he used it,
and every time he drank from it
his eyes filled with tears!

"When he felt Death coming,
stretched out on his cold bed,
to carry it up to his mouth
his hand made a supreme effort!”
[Again she interrupts her song.]
I hardly knew what to say, and I blushed at first.
She resumes her song.[
“And then, in honor of his lady,
he drank one last time;
the cup trembled in his fingers,
and gently he gave up his soul."
Recitative
None but great lords have such a resolute air
with that gentleness.
Come, let's not think about it anymore!
Dear Valentin, if God hears me,
I shall see you again.
Here I am quite alone!
[At the moment of entering the pavillon, she notices the bouquet hanging on the door.]
A bouquet?
[She picks up the bouquet.]
From Siebel, no doubt. Poor boy!
[Noticing the casket.]
What do I see there?
Where could this rich casket have come from?
I don't dare touch it, and yet . . .
Here's the key, I think!
If I were to open it? My hand trembles! Why?
I'm not, in opening it, doing anything wrong, I think.
[She opens the casket, and lets the bouquet fall.]
O God! What jewels!
Is it a lovely dream
that blows me away, or am I awake?
My eyes have never seen such riches.
[She places the open casket on a chair and kneels.]
If only I dared
Adorn myself, for a moment,
With these earrings!
[She takes a pair of earrings out of the casket.]
Ah! here indeed
at the bottom of the casket,
a mirror! How
not to be a coquette?
[She puts on the earrings, stands, and looks at herself in the mirror.]
Aria (Jewel Song)
Ah! I laugh seeing myself
so pretty in this mirror!
Is it you, Marguerite?
Answer me, answer quickly!
No, no, it's no longer you,
It's no longer your face!
This is the daughter of a king,
To whom everyone bows as she passes.
Ah, if only he were here!
If only he could see me this way!
He would find me as beautiful
As a young lady!
Let's complete the metamorphosis!
I've put off trying on
the bracelet and this necklace!
[She puts on the necklace first, then the bracelet. Rising.]
God! It feels like a hand weighing down on me.

Ah! I laugh seeing myself &c.

Valerie Masterson (s), Marguerite; Orchestra of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Serge Baudo, cond. Ponto, recorded live, 1985
Gabriella Tucci (s), Marguerite; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Alain Lombard, cond.
Live performance, Dec. 24, 1966
[Note: Sorry about those couple of technical glitches in the opening line of the "Roi de Thulé" in what's generally a pretty good source.]
Hilde Gueden (s), Marguerite; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Jean Morel, cond. Live performance, Jan. 4, 1958


IN TOMORROW'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

Finally Faust and Marguerite are left alone together. Is it the most beautiful love duet ever written? Maybe not, or maybe. It is, more than anything, supremely what it is, and tomorrow we try to get a handle on what it is.


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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[2/6/2011] In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta faces her second life-transforming event (continued}

"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


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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[2/5/2011] In "La Traviata," Violetta stands on the brink of life transformation (continued)

Callas as Violetta

BEFORE WE CONTINUE WITH VIOLETTA'S SOLO
SCENE, WE HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Around here we don't like to jump into operas without reminding ourselves of how they started. Last night we heard the two performances of the Traviata Act I Prelude by Herbert von Karajan and the La Scala orchestra. Tonight I think we'll go with Carlo Maria Giulini and the Covent Garden orchestra.

La Traviata: Prelude to Act I

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. Live performance, May 5, 1967


BACK TO VIOLETTA, LEFT HOME ALONE
AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF HER GUESTS

First, here's Valerie Masterson, singing in English from the English National Opera studio recording. One textual note: Masterson sings only one stanza of the first aria, "Ah, fors'è lui"; there's a second stanza that was routinely cut in the bad old days of textual infidelity but in more recent times has sometimes been restored. In fairness, there's nothing to heard in the second stanza that we haven't heard in the first, and there's a case to be made that the dramatic progression of the scene is spoiled by having Violetta go back over musical ground she's already covered.

La Traviata: "I wonder, I wonder!" . . . "Is he the one I dream about?" . . . "It can't be, it can't be!" . . . "Give me the freedom to be happy"

Valerie Masterson (s), John Brecknock (t); English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980

Now we hear the scene in Italian, sung first by another of the Violettas we heard last night, Maria Callas, plus the lovely Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani. Masterson, Callas, and Zeani will be our Violettas tomorrow for the Act II scene with Alfredo's father.

We've got one asterisk here: Callas is double-represented. I might note that while Violetta is a role for which Callas's fans adore her, it's not one I often turn to her for. I fixed on her 1958 Lisbon performance because we're headed for the high drama of the Act II scene -- and also because we need a decent Germont père. However, for the Act I solo scene I've also slipped in the performance from her 1953 Cetra recording, where the vocal problems are present but don't yet entail quite the degree of "tradeoff" they would by 1958. Not that Zeani's voice is ideally steady in the upper range either, a useful reminder of just how difficult this music is to sing -- by composer's intention, I have to assume. (There is, by the way, an audio-only YouTube clip of Zeani singing this scene quite beautifully at a Hamburg concert in 1956, age 29.)

La Traviata: Act I, Violetta, Recitative, "È stranno, è stranno!" . . . Aria, "Ah, fors'è lui che l'anima" . . . Recitative, "Follie, follie!" . . . Aria, "Sempre libera degg'io folleggiare"

Recitative, "È stranno, è stranno!"
It's strange, it's strange!
Those words are carved upon my heart!
Would a true love bring me misfortune?
What do you think, o my troubled spirit?
No man before kindled a flame like this.
Oh, joy . . .
I never knew . . .
To love and to be loved!
Can I disdain this
For a life of sterile pleasure?
Aria, "Ah, fors'è lui che l'anima"
Was this the man my heart,
Alone in the crowd,
Delighted many times to paint
In vague, mysterious colors?
This man, so watchful yet retiring,
Who haunted my sickbed
And turned my fever
Into the burning flame of love!
That love,
The pulse of the whole world,
Mysterious, unattainable,
The torment and delight of my heart.
[2nd stanza, as noted, omitted in all of our performances]
Recitative, "Follie, follie!"
It's madness, it's madness!
A poor, lonely woman
Abandoned in this teeming desert
They call Paris!
What can I hope? What should I do?
Enjoy myself! Plurge into the vortex
Of pleasure and drown there!
Enjoy myself!
Aria, "Sempre libera degg'io folleggiare"
Free and aimless I must flutter
From pleasure to pleasure,
Skimming the surface
Of life's primrose path.
As each day dawns,
As each day dies,
Gaily I turn to the new delights
That make my spirit soar.
ALFREDO [outside the window]: Love is the pulse . . .
VIOLETTA: Oh!
ALFREDO: . . . of the whole world . . .
VIOLETTA: Yes! Love!
ALFREDO: Mysterious, unattainable,
The torment and delight of my heart.
VIOLETTA: It's madness!
Pleasure!
Free and aimless, I must flutter … etc.

Maria Callas (s), Violetta; Francesco Albanese (t), Alfredo; RAI Turin Symphony Orchestra, Gabriele Santini, cond. Cetra/EMI, recorded September 1953

Maria Callas (s), Violetta; Alfredo Kraus (t), Alfredo; Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional (Lisbon), Franco Ghione, cond. Myto, recorded live at the Teatro São Carlos, Mar. 27, 1958

Virginia Zeani (s), Violetta; Ion Buzea (t), Alfredo; Romanian National Opera (Bucharest) Orchestra, Jean Bobescu, cond. Electrecord/Vox, recorded 1968
["Ah, fors'è lui" at 1:19, "Follie, follie!" at 4:19, "Sempre libera" at 5:23]


IN TOMORROW'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

So how do things work out for Violetta and Alfredo? Tomorrow we'll venture into Act II in pursuit of that second life-transforming event.


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