The Complete Opera Book Part 41

In any event, her parents have become impoverished through the _Marquis de Boisfleury's_ disfavour, for at this moment her father, in the condition of a mendicant, comes in to beg the intercession in his behalf of the _Viscount de Sirval_ (Charles). Not recognizing _Linda_, he mistakes her for _Charles's_ wife. She bestows bounteous alms upon him, but hesitates to make herself known, until, when he bends over to kiss her hand she cannot refrain from disclosing herself. Her surroundings arouse his suspicions, which are confirmed by _Pierrot_, who comes running in with the news that he has learned of preparations for the marriage of _Charles_ to a lady of his mother's choice. In a scene (which a fine singer like Gala.s.si was able to invest with real power) _Antonio_ hurls the alms _Linda_ has given him at her feet, denounces her, and departs. _Pierrot_ seeks to comfort her. But alas!

her father's denunciation of her, and, above all, what she believes to be _Charles's_ desertion, have unseated her reason.

Act III. The village of Chamounix. The Savoyards are returning and are joyfully greeted. _Charles_, who has been able to persuade his mother to permit him to wed _Linda_, has come in search of her. Incidentally he has brought solace for _Antonio_ and _Madeline_. The De Sirvals are the real owners of the farm, the _Marquis_, _Charles's_ uncle, being only their representative. _Linda's_ parents are to remain in undisturbed possession of the farm;--but where is she?

_Pierrot_ is heard singing. Whenever he sings he is able to persuade _Linda_ to follow him. Thus her faithful friend gradually has led her back to Chamounix. And when _Charles_ chants for her a phrase of their first act duet, "O consolarmi affrettisi," her reason returns, and it is "Ah! di tue pene sparve il sogno" (Ah! the vision of my sorrow fades).

In this drama of navete, an artlessness which I mention again because I think it is not so much the music as the libretto that has become old-fas.h.i.+oned, even the _Marquis_ comes in for a good word. For when he too offers his congratulations, what does _Linda_ do but refer to the old libertine, who has sought her ruin, as "him who will be my uncle dear."

DON PASQUALE

Opera, in three acts, by Donizetti; words by Salvatore Cammarano, adapted from his earlier libretto, "Ser Marc'Antonio," which Stefano Pavesi had set to music in 1813. Produced, Paris, January 4, 1843, Theatre des Italiens. London, June 30, 1843. New York, March 9, 1846, in English; 1849, in Italian; revived for Bonci (with di Pasquali, Scotti, and Pini-Corsi) at the New Theatre, December 23, 1909; given also at the Metropolitan Opera House with Sembrich as _Norina_.

CHARACTERS

DON PASQUALE, an old bachelor _Ba.s.s_ DR. MALATESTA, his friend _Baritone_ ERNESTO, nephew of Don Pasquale _Tenor_ NORINA, a young widow, affianced to Ernesto _Soprano_ A NOTARY _Baritone_

Valets, chambermaids, majordomo, dress-makers, hairdresser.

_Time_--Early nineteenth century.

_Place_--Rome.

"Don Pasquale" concerns an old man about to marry. He also is wealthy.

Though determined himself to have a wife, on the other hand he is very angry with his nephew, _Ernesto_, for wis.h.i.+ng to marry, and threatens to disinherit him. _Ernesto_ is greatly disturbed by these threats. So is his lady-love, the sprightly young widow, _Norina_, when he reports them to her.

_Pasquale's_ friend, _Dr. Malatesta_, not being able to dissuade him from marriage, pretends to acquiesce in it. He proposes that his sister shall be the bride, and describes her as a timid, nave, ingenuous girl, brought up, he says, in a convent. She is, however, none other than _Norina_, the clever young widow, who is in no degree related to _Malatesta_. She quickly enters into the plot, which involves a mock marriage with _Don Pasquale_. An interview takes place. The modest graces of the supposed convent girl charm the old man. The marriage--a mock ceremony, of course--is hurriedly celebrated, so hurriedly that there is no time to inform the distracted _Ernesto_ that the proceedings are bogus.

_Norina_ now displays toward _Don Pasquale_ an ungovernable temper.

Moreover she spends money like water, and devotes all her energies to nearly driving the old man crazy. When he protests, she boxes his ears. He is on the point of suicide. Then at last _Malatesta_ lets him know that he has been duped. _Notary_ and contract are fict.i.tious. He is free. With joy he transfers to _Ernesto_ his conjugal burden--and an income.

Act I plays in a room in _Don Pasquale's_ house and later in a room in _Norina's_, where she is reading a romance. She is singing "Quel guardo" (Glances so soft) and "So anch'io la virtu magica" (I, too, thy magic virtues know) in which she appears to be echoing in thought what she has been reading about in the book.

[Music:

So anch'io la virtu magica D'un guardo a tempo e loco]

The duet, in which she and _Malatesta_ agree upon the plot--the "duet of the rehearsal"--is one of the sprightly numbers of the score.

Act II is in a richly furnished salon of _Don Pasquale's_ house. This is the scene of the mock marriage, of _Norina's_ a.s.sumed display of temper and extravagance, _Don Pasquale's_ distraction, _Ernesto's_ amazement and enlightenment, and _Malatesta's_ amused co-operation. In this act occur the duet of the box on the ears, and the quartet, which begins with _Pasquale's_ "Son ardito" [Transcriber's Note: should be 'Son tradito'] (I am betrayed). It is the finale of the act and considered a masterpiece.

Act III is in two scenes, the first in _Don Pasquale's_ house, where everything is in confusion; the second in his garden, where _Ernesto_ sings to _Norina_ the beautiful serenade, "Com'e gentil" (Soft beams the light).

[Music: Com'e gentil, la notte a mezzo April,]

_Don Pasquale_, who has suspected _Norina_ of having a rendezvous in the garden, rushes out of concealment with _Malatesta_. But _Ernesto_ is quick to hide, and _Norina_ pretends no one has been with her. This is too much for _Don Pasquale_, and _Malatesta_ now makes it the occasion for bringing about the denouement, and secures the old man's most willing consent to the marriage between _Ernesto_ and _Norina_.

When the opera had its original production in Paris, Lablache was _Don Pasquale_, Mario _Ernesto_, Tamburini _Malatesta_, and Grisi _Norina_.

Notwithstanding this brilliant cast, the work did not seem to be going well at the rehearsals. After one of these, Donizetti asked the music publisher, Dormoy, to go with him to his lodgings. There he rummaged among a lot of ma.n.u.scripts until, finding what he was looking for, he handed it to Dormoy.

"There," he said, "give this to Mario and tell him to sing it in the last scene in the garden as a serenade to _Norina_."

When the opera was performed Mario sang it, while Lablache, behind the scenes, played an accompaniment on the lute. It was the serenade. Thus was there introduced into the opera that air to which, more than any other feature of the work, it owes its occasional resuscitation.

A one-act comedy opera by Donizetti, "Il Campanello di Notte" (The Night Bell) was produced in Naples in 1836. It would hardly be worth referring to but for the fact that it is in the repertoire of the Society of American Singers, who gave it, in an English version by Sydney Rosenfeld, at the Lyceum Theatre, New York, May 7, 1917. This little work turns on the attempts of a lover, who has been thrown over, to prevent his successful rival, an apothecary, from going to bed on the night of his marriage. He succeeds by adopting various disguises, ringing the night bell, and asking for medicine. In the American first performance David Bispham was the apothecary, called in the adaptation, _Don Hannibal Pistacchio_. Miss Gates, the _Serafina_, interpolated "O luce di quest'anima," from "Linda di Chamounix." Mr.

Reiss was _Enrico_, the lover.

Giuseppe Verdi

(1813-1901)

Verdi ranks as the greatest Italian composer of opera. There is a marked distinction between his career and those of Bellini and Donizetti. The two earlier composers, after reaching a certain point of development, failed to advance. No later opera by Bellini equals "La Sonnambula"; none other by Donizetti ranks with "Lucia di Lammermoor."

But Verdi, despite the great success of "Ernani," showed seven years later, with "Rigoletto," an amazing progress in dramatic expression and skill in ensemble work. "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" were other works of the period ushered in by "Rigoletto." Eighteen years later the composer, then fifty-eight years old, gave evidence of another and even more notable advance by producing "Ada," a work which marks the beginning of a new period in Italian opera. Still not satisfied, Verdi brought forward "Otello" (1887) and "Falstaff"

(1893), scores which more nearly resemble music-drama than opera.

Thus the steady forging ahead of Verdi, the unhalting development of his genius, is the really great feature of his career. In fact no Italian composer since Verdi has caught up with "Falstaff," which may be as profitably studied as "Le Nozze di Figaro," "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," "Die Meistersinger," and "Der Rosenkavalier." Insert "Falstaff" in this list, in its proper place between "Meistersinger"

and "Rosenkavalier," and you have the succession of great operas conceived in the divine spirit of comedy, from 1786 to 1911.

In the article on "Un Ballo in Maschera," the political use made of the letters of Verdi's name is pointed out. See p. 428.

Verdi was born at Roncole, near Busseto, October 9, 1813. He died at Rome, January 27, 1901. There remains to be said that, at eighteen, he was refused admission to the Milan Conservatory "on the score of lack of musical talent."

What fools these mortals be!

ERNANI

Opera, in four acts, by Verdi; words by Francesco Maria Piave, after Victor Hugo's drama, "Hernani." Produced, Fenice Theatre, Venice, March 9, 1844; London, Her Majesty's Theatre, March 8, 1845; New York, 1846, at the Astor Place Theatre. Patti, at the Academy of Music, Sembrich at the Metropolitan Opera House, have been notable interpreters of the role of _Elvira_.

CHARACTERS

DON CARLOS, King of Castile _Baritone_ DON RUY GOMEZ DI SILVA, Grandee of Spain _Ba.s.s_ ERNANI, or JOHN OF ARAGON, a bandit chief _Tenor_ DON RICCARDO, esquire to the King _Tenor_ JAGO, esquire to SILVA _Ba.s.s_ ELVIRA, kinswoman to SILVA _Soprano_ GIOVANNA, in ELVIRA'S service _Soprano_

Mountaineers and bandits, followers of _Silva_, ladies of _Elvira_, followers of _Don Carlos_, electors and pages.

_Time_--Early sixteenth century.

_Place_--Spain.

_John of Aragon_ has become a bandit. His father, the Duke of Segovia, had been slain by order of _Don Carlos's_ father. _John_, proscribed and pursued by the emissaries of the King, has taken refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains of Aragon, where, under the name of _Ernani_, he has become leader of a large band of rebel mountaineers.

_Ernani_ is in love with _Donna Elvira_, who, although she is about to be united to her relative, the aged _Ruy Gomez di Silva_, a grandee of Spain, is deeply enamoured of the handsome, chivalrous bandit chief.

_Don Carlos_, afterwards Emperor Charles V., also has fallen violently in love with _Elvira_. By watching her windows he has discovered that at dead of night a young cavalier (_Ernani_) gains admission to her apartments. He imitates her lover's signal, gains admission to her chamber, and declares his pa.s.sion. Being repulsed, he is about to drag her off by force, when a secret panel opens, and he finds himself confronted by _Ernani_. In the midst of a violent scene _Silva_ enters. To allay his jealousy and anger, naturally aroused by finding two men, apparently rival suitors, in the apartment of his affianced, the _King_, whom _Silva_ has not recognized, reveals himself, and pretends to have come in disguise to consult him about his approaching election to the empire, and a conspiracy that is on foot against his life. Then the _King_, pointing to _Ernani_, says to _Silva_, "It doth please us that this, our follower, depart," thus insuring _Ernani's_ temporary safety--for a Spaniard does not hand an enemy over to the vengeance of another.