21 May 2006
DONIZETTI: Poliuto
Poliuto, Tragedia lirica in three acts.
Music composed by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano, after the tragedy Polyeucte (1640) by Pierre Corneille.
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ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954
Guglielmo Tell: Melodramma tragico in four acts
BOITO: Mefistofele
Mefistofele, Opera in un prologo, quattro atti e un epilogo
Music and libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), based on Faust: Eine Tragödie by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
VERDI: La Forza del Destino
La Forza del Destino, a melodramma in quattro atti
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the drama Don Alvaro o La fuerza del sino by Angel Perez de Saavedra
FLOTOW: Martha — Berlin 1944
Martha, an opera in four acts.
Music composed by Friedrich von Flotow. Libretto by Wilhelm Friedrich.
First performance: 25 November 1847 at Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
PERGOLESI: La serva padrona
La serva padrona, intermezzo in two parts
Music composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Libretto by Gennar'antonio Frederico.
First performance: 28 August 1733, Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples.
BEETHOVEN: Fidelio — Munich 1978
Fidelio, an opera in two acts
Maria Callas Performs Lady Macbeth
Here we offer three selections from Macbeth with Maria Callas performing the role of Lady Macbeth. These are from a live performance given on 7 December 1952 at La Scala. Victor de Sabata conducts the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Milano.
VERDI: Macbeth
VERDI: Macbeth, melodramma in quattro parti.
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play by William Shakespeare.
STRAUSS: Die Fledermaus
Music composed by Johann Strauss II.
Libretto by Richard Genée based on Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy/Karl Haffner.
First performance: 5 April 1874 at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance.
GIORDANO: Fedora
Fedora, a melodrama in three acts.
Umberto Giordano, composer. Arturo Colautti, librettist, based on the play with the same name by Victorien Sardou
First performance: 17 November 1898 at Teatro Lirico Internazionale, Milan
PUCCINI: Tosca
Tosca, a melodrama in three acts
Giacomo Puccini, composer. Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou.
First performance: 14 January 1900 at Teatro Costanzi, Rome
Victorien Sardou — A Tale of Two Operas
Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) was a popular French dramatist during the later half of the 19th Century. He, along with Eugène Scribe, combined melodrama and realism to a produce a more serious form of drama that emphasized careful plot construction.
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A few years ago, I had the rare experience of attending a performance of Tosca in a small farm community where opera was a fairly new commodity. After the second act ended, with Scarpia's corpse lying center stage, I happened to overhear a young, wide-eyed woman say to her companion, "I knew she was upset, but I didn't think she'd KILL him!"
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Mozart and Salieri
Mozart and Salieri, an opera in one act consisting of two scenes.
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer. Libretto derived from Alexander Puskhin's play of the same name.
First performance: 7 December 1898 in Moscow.
MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue
Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin's History of the Russian Empire
First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
TCHAIKOVSKY: Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin, lyrical scenes in three acts and seven tableaux.
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on the verse novel by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin.
First performance: 29 March 1879 at the Maliy Theatre, Moscow.
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TCHAIKOVSKY: The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame), an opera in three acts.
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, composer. Modest Tchaikovsky and composer, librettists.
First performance: 19 December 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.
PUCCINI: Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut, dramma lirico in quattro atti
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), composer. Luigi Illica and Domenico Oliva, librettists.
First performance: 1 February 1893 at Teatro Regio, Turin.
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First Performance: 30 November 1848, Teatro San Carlo, Naples.
Principal Characters:
| Poliuto | Tenor |
| Paolina, his wife and daughter of Felice | Soprano |
| Severo, proconsole | Baritone |
| Callistene, high priest of Jove | Bass |
| Nearco, head of the Armenian Christians | Tenor |
| Felice, governor of Mitilene | Tenor |
Time and Place: Mitilene, capital of Armenia, circa 257.
Synopsis:
Act I
Poliuto has converted to the Christian faith, which is a forbidden cult. During the night, Poliuto goes to join his brothers in faith at a secret cavern. He is met by Nearco, to whom he alludes to his jealousy toward Paolina. Poliuto enters the cavern where he receives the sacrament of baptism. Unbeknownst to Poliuto, Paolina has followed him to the cavern. Nearco confirms her fears that Poliuto has converted. He exhorts Paolina not to disclose his secret. Felice, the governor and father of Paolina, has decreed that those who embrace the Christian religion shall suffer death. But, Paolina is also anxious because her former lover, Severo, is arriving as the Roman proconsole. She had believed Severo had died in battle and thus married Paolina. The act concludes with Severo's entrance and his learning of Paolina's marriage.
Act II
At the home of Felice, Callistene, the high priest of Jove and rejected lover of Paolina, has arranged a meeting between Paolina and Severo. He has also arranged to bring Poliuto who sees them together just as Severo declares his love for Paolina. His honor stained, Poliuto vows revenge but then learns that Nearco has been arrested. He immediately go to the temple where Nearco is questioned by Callistene and Severo. He is asked to identify the person baptized the night before. Nearco refuses to answer. Poliuto, however, comes forward to confess. Paolina intervenes, beggin Felice, Callistene and Severo to save her husband. In a fit of pride, Poliuto curses Jove as a false god and rejects his wife. Poliuto and Nearco are dragged away.
Act III
In the sacred wood near the temple of Jove, Callistene is irate. He announces to the other priests that the Christians have decided to follow Poliuto's example and to seek martyrdom. Confined in a cell, Poliuto dreams of Paolina transfigured by a strange light. He awakes and finds his wife before him. She implores him to save himself and to reject the Christian faith. He refuses. Suspecting Callistene's treachery, he tells Paolina of Callistene's behavior. Paolina clarifies the situation. Poliuto explains that his first obligation is to save his soul. Paolina decides to embrace Christianity and asks to die with her husband. Poliuto and Paolina are then sent to their execution.