01 Mar 2009
BELLINI: La sonnambula — La Scala 1957
La sonnambula, Melodramma in due atti
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NICOLAI: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor — Berlin 1943
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor), a comical-fantastical opera in three acts with dance.
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.
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.
The twists and trysts of Tosca
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.
The Operatic Pushkin
Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is generally considered Russia’s greatest poet. According to Andrew Kahn, his contemporaries held him “above all the master of the lyric poem, verse that is famous for its formal perfection and its reticent lyric persona, and infamous for its resistance to translation.” [Alexander Pushkin, The Queen of Spades and Other Stories, trans. Alan Myers, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997]
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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Music composed by Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835). Libretto by Felice Romani, based on La Sonnambule ou L’arrivée d’un nouveau Seigneur (1827) by Eugène Scribe.
First Performance: 6 March 1831 at Teatro Carcano, Milan.
Principal Characters:
| Il Conte Rodolfo, Signore del Villaggio | Bass |
| Teresa, Molinara | Mezzo-Soprano |
| Amina, Orfanella raccolta da Teresa, fidanzata ad Elvino | Soprano |
| Elvino, ricco possidente del Villaggio | Tenor |
| Lisa, Ostessa amante di Elvino | Soprano |
| Alessio, Contadino, amante di Lisa | Bass |
| Un Notaro | Tenor |
The Scene: A village in Switzerland.
Synopsis:
Act I
A village with a mill on one side and an inn on the other.
It is a festive occasion in the village square. That afternoon Elvino and Amina, an orphan raised by Teresa, are to sign a marriage contract. All but Lisa, the innkeeper’s daughter, celebrate. Lisa is in love with Elvino. She is consoled by Alessio, a villager who wants to marry Lisa. The notary arrives, followed by Elvino. Elvino has visted his mother’s tomb to pray for her blessing of the marriage. He gives Amina his mother’s ring, together with a bouquet of violets.
A stranger arrives. He is traveling to the castle. As he looks about, he recognizes the mill, the fountain, the wood and the farm. As night begins to fall, the villagers become fearful. Teresa explains to the stranger that a strange ghost wanders through the village wrapped in a white sheet, spreading terror everywhere. Incredulous, the stranger nevertheless accepts Lisa’s invitation to stay at the inn. The stranger greets Amina and tells her that he hopes her husband will love her “as I would love you,” much to the annoyance of Elvino.
A room in the inn.
Lisa comes to the stranger’s room. She addresses him as Count, for he is Count Rodolfo, the son of the deceased lord of the castle. Lisa makes it clear to the Count that she is available, of which the Count is quite willing to take advantage. There is a sudden noise. Lisa runs out of the room, dropping her handkerchief in the process. Amina comes in through the window. Wrapped in a white sheet, she is walking in her sleep. She is dreaming of tomorrow’s wedding ceremony and speaks to the Count as if he were Elvino.
As the entire village gathers to give the Count a hearty welcome, the Count escapes through the window to avoid being caught with a woman in his room. Everyone is surprised to find Amina sleeping on the sofa. Elvino, having been informed by Lisa, becomes extremely jealous. Amina awakes. She cannot explain her presence in the Count’s room and, despite her pleas, Elvino calls off the wedding. Dismayed, Teresa picks up the handkerchief dropped by Lisa.
Act II
A shadowy valley between the village and the Castle.
A group of villagers is enroute to the Castle to ask the Count to exonerate Amina. Amina and Teresa, who are among them, and stop at Elvino’s estate, where they find Elvino venting his grief. Amina again expresses her innocence, which Elvino refuses to accept. When the villagers return, they proclaim that the Count has exonerated Amina completely. Elvino will have none of it. Furious, he tears the ring from Amina’s finger.
The village square.
As Alessio tries to convice Lisa that Elvino will never marry her, others announce that Lisa is his chosen bride. The Count confirms Amina’s innocence, explaining that she is a sleepwalker. No one believes him. Realizing that Elvino is about to marry Lisa, she produces the handkerchief that she found in the Count’s room. Lisa blushes, much to the despair of Elvino. Just then, Amina, who is sleepwalking again, comes out the window of the mill and walks along the edge of the roof above the revolving wheel. Seeing that she is in grave danger, the Count orders everyone to be silent. Amina awakens unscathed and in the arms of Elvino. He realizes that she is innocent. The entire village celebrates.