One Verdi Opera a Day: Giovanna d'arco, Alzira, Attila

To celebrate Giuseppe Verdi's 200th birthday I am listening to one of his operas every day, in chronological order. This is becoming a fascinating journey! Not every opera is a masterpiece, but Verdi was already different than his peers and immediate predecessors with his first opera, Oberto. He had a forward momentum mixed with drama that made a long opera blaze on. Later his characters became more reflective and more interesting.

Continuing in chronological order:

Giovanna d'Arco  Joan of Arc   1845  La Scala, Milan
 Temitocle Solera

 Susan Dunn, Vincenzo LoScola, Renato Bruson/Riccardo Chailly  Bologna 1989

This opera is neglected for a reason. It is minor-league Verdi. It would be a hit had it been written by a minor
league composer. This is not history's Maid of Orleans but Schiller's. No bad thing that, but Joan's flirtation with the dauphin and death in battle are unconvincing. Verdi was probably attracted by a battle field demise  in Austria controlled Milan., rather than the historical burning at the stake. The duet between Joan and her father-one of the most annoying characters in any opera-sounds downright jolly, totally divorced from the words. The aria Sempre all' alba is gorgeous. The rest sounds pasted together in a hurry.




Alzira    Salvatore Cammarano  1845  Naples

Marina Mescheriakova, Ramon Vargas, Paolo Gavanelli.  Fabio Luisi.  Geneve 2001

Teatro San Carlo Naples

Verdi in his old age called Alzira "really ugly". I don't agree. There are sillier opera plots than this one: wars between the Incas and the invading Spanish in Peru. Alzira herself is not an compelling character and has dull music. So does the tenor. The baritone role is terrific if there are any real Verdi baritones around (Cornell MacNeil sang it) The first act has a magnificent sextet. Alzira's not great but is by no means "ugly" 







Attila    1846  Venice
Salvatore Cammarano  Francesco Maria Piave

Samuel Ramey, Cheryl Studer, Neil Schicoff, Giogio Zancanaro. Riccardo Muti. La Scala 1989

This is an old fashioned thrilling Italian opera. There's no subtlety. All of the music is "in your face". There's
even  quasi mad scene for the title character.  Odabella is a fiery dramatic soprano-a sister to Nabucco's Abigaille. There's lovely 'dawn' music in the prologue and a great duet for bass and baritone in Act I. The tenor role is dull but Attila is a vocal joy ride for the bass and for the audience. My generation is completely spoiled by Samuel Ramey in this role. Bravo.

One Verdi Opera a Day: Lombardi, Ernani, Foscari

  
 
Continuing the One a Day thread honoring Giuseppe Verdi's bi

La Scala, Milan

centennial. I listened to these operas over the past ten days. I'm hoping to go through all of them in chronological order. I'm, only offering a few gut reaction comments. I'm not a musicologist. Join in!

I Lombardi all prima crociata The Lombards in the First Crusade  1843
Temistocle Solera  La Scala, Milan 1843

Aprile Millo, Carlo Bergonzi, Paul Plishka. Opera Orch of New York/Eve Queler, January 1986

Another hit on the heels of Nabucco, I've always enjoyed I Lombardi without being moved my much of it. The plot is so convoluted, I have to close my eyes and listen. Lombardi has Verdi's first wonderful tenor aria, Le mie letizie infondere. The great trio Qual volutta trascorere had an extended violin solo, an innovation for such a young composer. The finale withs its musical glimpses of Jerusalem is theatrical and effective. Verdi was quickly becoming a real theater geek. I Lombardi is an opera for artists, not only singers.







 
Ernani  1844

Francesco Maria Piave  Teatro Fenice Veince 1844

Leontyne Price, Carlo Bergonzi, Cornell MacNeil, Giorgio Tozzi/Thomas Schippers. Metropolitan Opera broadcast, April 1962

It's taken me a while to savor Ernani. The distillation of Victor Hugo's massive Hernani seems clumsy. Verdi himself admonished librettist Piave: "Brevity!" Listening again and paying attention I realize Ernani is the first Verdi opera to create believable characters. The situations may be bizzare, but Carlo's torment is convincing, as is Ernani's nobility and Elvira's grandeur. Don Silva actually moves  us with Infelice! E tu credevi? Who is the real villain in this piece? Not easy to say. Rosa Ponselle called this "the baritone's opera". He is absent for the Act IV trio which to me is the most exciting part of the score.








I due Foscari  The Two Foscari    
Francesco Maria Piave  Teatro Argentina, Rome  1844

Katia Ricciarelli, Jose Carreras, Piero Cappucilli, Samuel Ramey/Lamberto Gardelli

Francesco Maria Piave

When this recording was released over thirty years ago it was the first time most people  had heard of I due Foscari. It's a compact opera, meaning a lot happens in a brief performance time (less than 2 hours) The bel canto model of aria/cabaletta is followed. There is less distinguished music than Lombardi or Ernani. But there's a momentum that's hard to resist. The characters are opaque, but the rum tum clang is fun and exciting. 

I should stop reading the obituaries

Really.
Irishman I am , I seem to be addicted.
I note the passing of Kevin H. White, Mayor of Boston in my youth-and a little after/

And we've had several losses in music in the past week:

RITA GORR the great Belgian mezzo soprano. She's Amneris on Leontyne Price's first recording of Aida-said recording the first such I ever heard, in third grade (1964? 1965?)

MARTIN ISEPP musical staff at Glyndebourne, pianist, accompanist, conductor , coach-often worked with Dame Janet Baker.

PATRICIA NEWAY died at 92. She put Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul on the map. She was also the first Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. She was Tosca in Paris and Italy-and recorded Gluck's Iphigenia with Giulini. She did it all. Wonderful.

CAMILLA WILLIAMS One of the first African American artists allowed to make a big career in opera. Her Madame Butterfly was greatly admired by Geraldine Farrar, who created the opera at the Met in 1907!

And late in 2011:

SALVATORE LICITRA 43 Italian tenor died of injuries sustained in a motorbike accident

SENA JURINAC Soprano had a huge career in Vienna and London-and was a regular in San Franciso. Butterfly, Tosca, Ariadne-she was the first I ever heard do the Komponist. Marschallin, Jenufa.

CORNELL MCNEIL The great American baritone-a big man with a big voice-Rigoletto, Ernani--all the big Verdi roles-and frightening as Scarpia.

MARGARET PRICE-Welsh soprano-gorgeous, rich voiced with plenty of 'gleam'. I head her in recital at Carnegie where she pissed some people off by singing the whole program with scores. Not me. Her voice was sensational. Also saw her as Desdemona w. Domingo

..and The New York City Opera has been beaten all out of recognition, and Paul Plishka retired, and.....