17 May 2009
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Maid of Orléans — Moscow 1971
The Maid of Orléans: [Orleanskaya deva]: Opera in four acts
Recently in Repertoire
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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Repertoire
Music composed by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky to his own libretto after Friedrich von Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orleans (1801), tragedy translated by Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky, Jules Barbier’s Jeanne d’Arc and Auguste Mermet’s libretto for his own opera, after Barbier (1876), with various details adapted from Henri Wallon’s biography of Joan of Arc.
First Performance: 13/25 February 1881, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
| Principal Roles: | |
| Joan of Arc | Soprano/Mezzo-Soprano |
| King Charles VII | Tenor |
| Agnès Sorel | Soprano |
| Dunois, French knight | Baritone |
| Lionel, Burgundian knight | Baritone |
| Archbishop (Cardinal in first production) | Bass |
| Raymond, Joan’s betrothed | Tenor |
| Thibaut d’Arc, Joan’s father | Bass |
| Bertrand, a peasant | Bass |
| Lauret | Bass |
| A Soldier | Bass |
| Voice from the Angelic Choir | Soprano |
Setting: France, 1431
Synopsis:
Act I
A forest near Domrémy
Thibaut, father of Joan, wants her to marry Raymond. Joan refuses, declaring that she must follow her divine destiny. Enraged, her father accuses her to be in league with the devil. News arrives that the English are devastating nearby villages. Joan inspires all to hope because Salisbury, the English commander, is destined to perish. When a soldier brings news of the death of Salisbury; all sing hanks to the Lord. Joan bids farewell to save France.
Act II
At the Castle of Chinon
The minstrels sing and gypsies dance to amuse King Charles VII and his mistress Agnès Sorel. The vassal Dunois informs the King that the royal treasure is exhausted. He urges the King to take arms. To the disdain of Dunois, Agnès offers him to contribute her own money to finance the war. The archbishop receives a report of a miracle — the French have won thanks to troops led by a young girl. Joan presents herself to the King, telling him her story. The King gives her command of the army.
Act III
Near Reims
Giovanna engages in a duel with Lionel, a Burgundian allied with the English. But when she is about to strike the deadly blow, Joan sees his face, evoking tender pity. They immediately fall in love. Lionel swears allegiance to the French cause. At the cathedral of Reims a great crowd forms to celebrate Charles’ coronation. Thibaut publicly accuses Joan of witchcraft. Dunois defends her and the archbishop questions her. Feeling guilty of her love for Lionel, Joan remains silent. Lionel implores her to run away; but she accuses him that his love has caused her downfall.
Act IV
In the forest
Lionel and Joan embrace. A choir of angels sings a warning to the girl: she has betrayed her divine mission She must therefore suffer before she receives salvation. An English contingent arrives, killing Lionel and capturing Joan.
At the old market of Rouen
The English condemn Joan to the stake for being a witch. Joan asks Dunois for a cross, which he gives her. As the fire consumes her, the celestial voices promise her a place next to God.
Click here for the complete libretto (Russian).
Click here for the complete text of Die Jungfrau von Orleans.