Now it gets intense. The challenge is to say something new about Rigoletto and Trovatore. The hits just keep on coming.
But
Stiffelio is not well known. There's a story to be told:
If you write an opera called
Stiffelio, you'd better be sure it's a good opera.
Giuseppe Verdi wrote a three act tragedy based on the play
Stiffelius
back in 1850. The story is the tale of a Protestant pastor who
forgives his wife her adultery. There is a very effective closing scene,
as Stiffelio preaches the gospel of the woman taken in adultery and
proclaims that Christ pardoned her. "Perdonate! Perdonate!" he cries as
his wife makes her way toward him down the church aisle. Handled
right, this is a simple and moving scene.
Stiffelio
has been called Verdi's forgotten opera. Until very recently it was
never performed. The 1850 premiere was ruined by the Austrian censors
active in Trieste. They demanded so many changes (a minister with a
cheating wife, indeed!) that Verdi lost interest and moved on.
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| Verdi's estate at Sant'Agata, near Milan |
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I'm here to tell you however, that
Stiffelio
is not forgotten, silly title and all. This writer sang in the chorus
of the American staged premiere. Sarah Caldwell directed and conducted
Stiffelio
with her Opera Co. of Boston in 1976. Sarah was one of those people who
could make a cheese souffle out of peanut butter, graham crackers and a
turnip. She never paid the bills. Her theater was a movie house in a
bad part of Boston. Porno on Tuesday, Opera on Wednesday. The dress
rooms were the stinking back alley. Never mind.
Such was Sarah's creativity that she attracted big name singers.
Stiffelio
was to star the Canadian tenor Jon Vickers. He was still at the height
of his powers in 1976. Soprano Anna Moffo would sing Lina. In 1976 she
remained the most beautiful and glamorous figure in opera. She had lost
her voice at least five years earlier, due to over work and poor
training.
Stiffelio was meant to be her big
comeback.
Jon
Vickers never came to Boston. He sent word from his estate in the
Bahamas that having studied the score he was convinced the part was too
difficult. No Vickers,
no opera. NOBODY sang this opera in 1976. Moffo arrived and everybody
else began to rehearse without the title character. She was on every talk show and this production had enormous pre-publicity.
Long story
short. Glamorous and diva like in public, Anna Moffo was warm and kind
and professional in rehearsal. It was clear to all of us she was still
in vocal difficulty. Remember there was no leading man. Eventually,
Sarah forced the role on a young tenor and he valiantly went on. He did
himself nor the audience any favors, poor guy. Miss Moffo sang one
performance. Her voice quit completely mid way of performance 2. A
chorister sang from the wings. Moffo went home to Fifth Avenue and RCA,
and Stiffelio limped on the understudies.
With all of that, it was
clear this was a wonderful opera. It's hard to cast. Still unfamiliar,
it demands accomplished singers-and they are expensive and you can't
bounce their cheeks as Sarah did to the rest of us. Nevertheless it was a
good-looking, well costumed production. The media who came for Moffo
stayed for Verdi. Bad luck with casting also plagued Verdi himself but
in 1976 it was okay for a pastor to have cheating wife onstage.
The Opera Co. of Boston closed its doors in 1991.
Stiffelio
arrived at the Metropolitan in 1993. I remember being annoyed that all
the press coverage ignored the 1976 Boston production. Phooey. We got
there first.
Rigoletto Venice 1851
Francesco Maria Piave, after Hugo's
Le roi s'amuse
Tito Gobbi, Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano. La Scala/Tullio Serafin
The censorship that crippled the inital run of
Stiffelio wreaked havoc with
Rigoletto. Victor Hugo was anathema to conservatives. Regicide on stage? Impossible. If the King (Duke of Mantua) has to live he'd better have terrific tunes:
Rigoletto endears itself to the public for the tenor's tunes. The scenes with Gilda and her father are gorgeous and heartbreaking. And the jester himself is a glorious acting role. And what a sing!
Verdi knew what he had. He didn't let a note of this score out of his sight until after the first perforamnce. He eknew every organ grinder in Venice would take up thersr melodies. Where ios there such a balance of tunes and true drama. The beautiful father-daughter dynamic is simple. That it is memorable here is due to Verdi's passion.
Il trovatore Rome 1853
Salvatore Cammarano and Leone Emmanuelle Bardare after
El Trobabor by Guiterrez
Jussi Bjorling, Zinka Milanov, Fedora Barbieri, Leonard Warren/Renato Cellini
Get in there and fight! Get in there and sing! The Marx brothers made fun of
Il trovatore and do many others. It is a stand up and sing (or get in there and fight) opera. You need superlative voices. If the singers aren't well matched the balance can annihilate those lest....sonorous. In
Trovatore, the forward momentum Verdi first demonstrated in
Nabucco is perfected. This is a swift moving show. One of the gems for me is the offstage nun's chorus in Act 2 sc. 2. The set up toward the battle between Manrico and di Luna and Leonora's rescue ("Donna, mi segui!") is thrilling.
Azucena becomes the pivotal character. A woman who murdered a child and becomes a craezd, pathetic figure has the most dramatic music.
The monks chanting the Miserere, Manrico sings from his prison and Leonora, hearing all this...di te scordarmi!
