The Complete Opera Book Part 56

_Barnaba_ is in love with the ballad singer, who has several times repulsed him. For she is in love with _Enzo_, a n.o.bleman, who has been proscribed by the Venetian authorities, but is in the city in the disguise of a sea captain. His s.h.i.+p lies in the Fusina Lagoon.

_Barnaba_ again presses his love upon the girl. She escapes from his grasp and runs away, leaving her mother seated by the church door.

_Barnaba_ is eager to get _La Cieca_ into his power in order to compel _Gioconda_ to yield to his sinister desires. Opportunity soon offers.

For, now the regatta is over, the crowd returns bearing in triumph the victor in the contest. With them enter _Zuane_, the defeated contestant, _Gioconda_, and _Enzo_. _Barnaba_ subtly insinuates to _Zuane_ that _La Cieca_ is a witch, who has caused his defeat by sorcery. The report quickly spreads among the defeated boatman's friends. The populace becomes excited. _La Cieca_ is seized and dragged from the church steps. _Enzo_ calls upon his sailors, who are in the crowd, to aid him in saving her.

At the moment of greatest commotion the palace doors swing open. From the head of the stairway where stand _Alvise_ and his wife, _Laura_, who is masked, _Alvise_ sternly commands an end to the rioting, then descends with _Laura_.

_Barnaba_, with the keenness that is his as chief spy of the Inquisition, is quick to observe that, through her mask, _Laura_ is gazing intently at _Enzo_, and that _Enzo_, in spite of _Laura's_ mask, appears to have recognized her and to be deeply affected by her presence. _Gioconda_ kneels before _Alvise_ and prays for mercy for her mother. When _Laura_ also intercedes for _La Cieca_, _Alvise_ immediately orders her freed. In one of the most expressive airs of the opera, "Voce di donna, o d'angelo" (Voice thine of woman, or angel fair), _La Cieca_ thanks _Laura_ and gives to her a rosary, at the same time extending her hands over her in blessing.

She also asks her name. _Alvise's_ wife, still masked, and looking significantly in the direction of _Enzo_, answers, "Laura!"

"'Tis she!" exclaims _Enzo_.

The episode has been observed by _Barnaba_, who, when all the others save _Enzo_ have entered the church, goes up to him and, despite his disguise as a sea captain, addresses him by his name and t.i.tle, "Enzo Grimaldo, Prince of Santa Fior."

The spy knows the whole story. _Enzo_ and _Laura_ were betrothed.

Although they were separated and she obliged to wed _Alvise_, and neither had seen the other since then, until the meeting a few moments before, their pa.s.sion still is as strong as ever. _Barnaba_, cynically explaining that, in order to obtain _Gioconda_ for himself, he wishes to show her how false _Enzo_ is, promises him that he will arrange for _Laura_, on that night, to be aboard _Enzo's_ vessel, ready to escape with him to sea.

_Enzo_ departs. _Barnaba_ summons one of his tools, _Isepo_, the public letter-writer, whose stand is near the Lion's Mouth. At that moment _Gioconda_ and _La Cieca_ emerge from the church, and _Gioconda_, seeing _Barnaba_, swiftly draws her mother behind a column, where they are hidden from view. The girl hears the spy dictate to _Isepo_ a letter, for whom intended she does not know, informing someone that his wife plans to elope that evening with _Enzo_. Having thus learned that _Enzo_ no longer loves her, she vanishes with her mother into the church. _Barnaba_ drops the letter into the Lion's Mouth. _Isepo_ goes. The spy, as keen in intellect as he is cruel and unrelenting in action, addresses in soliloquy the Doge's palace. "O monumento! Regia e bolgia dogale!" (O mighty monument, palace and den of the Doges).

The masquers and populace return. They are singing. They dance "La Furlana." In the church a monk and then the chorus chant. _Gioconda_ and her mother come out. _Gioconda_ laments that _Enzo_ should have forsaken her. _La Cieca_ seeks to comfort her. In the church the chanting continues.

Act II. "The Rosary." Night. A brigantine, showing its starboard side.

In front, the deserted bank of an uninhabited island in the Fusina Lagoon. In the farthest distance, the sky and the lagoon. A few stars visible. On the right, a cloud, above which the moon is rising. In front, a small altar of the Virgin, lighted by a red lamp. The name of the brigantine--"Hecate"--painted on the prow. Lanterns on the deck.

At the rising of the curtain sailors are discovered; some seated on the deck, others standing in groups, each with a speaking trumpet.

Several cabin boys are seen, some clinging to the shrouds, some seated. Remaining thus grouped, they sing a _Marinaresca_, in part a sailors' "chanty," in part a regular melody.

In a boat _Barnaba_ appears with _Isepo_. They are disguised as fishermen. _Barnaba_ sings a fisherman's ballad, "Ah! Pescator, affonda l'esca" (Fisher-boy, thy net now lower).

[Music]

He has set his net for _Enzo_ and _Laura_, as well as for _Gioconda_, as his words, "Some sweet siren, while you're drifting, in your net will coyly hide," imply. The song falls weirdly upon the night. The scene is full of "atmosphere."

_Enzo_ comes up on deck, gives a few orders; the crew go below. He then sings the famous "Cielo e mar!" (O sky, and sea)--an impa.s.sioned voicing of his love for her whom he awaits. The scene, the moon having emerged from behind a bank of clouds, is of great beauty.

[Music]

A boat approaches. In it _Barnaba_ brings _Laura_ to _Enzo_. There is a rapturous greeting. They are to sail away as soon as the setting of the moon will enable the s.h.i.+p to depart undetected. There is distant singing. _Enzo_ goes below. _Laura_ kneels before the shrine and prays, "Stella del marinar! Vergine santa!" (Star of the mariner!

Virgin most holy).

_Gioconda_ steals on board and confronts her rival. The duet between the two women, who love _Enzo_, and in which each defies the other, "L'amo come il fulgor del creato" (I adore him as the light of creation), is the most dramatic number in the score.

[Music]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Dupont

Caruso as Enzo in "La Gioconda"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Dupont

Louise Homer as Laura in "La Gioconda"]

_Gioconda_ is about to stab _Laura_, but stops suddenly and, seizing her with one hand, points with the other out over the lagoon, where a boat bearing _Alvise_ and his armed followers is seen approaching.

_Laura_ implores the Virgin for aid. In doing so she lifts up the rosary given to her by _La Cieca_. Through it _Gioconda_ recognizes in _Laura_ the masked lady who saved her mother from the vengeance of the mob. Swiftly the girl summons the boat of two friendly boatmen who have brought her thither, and bids _Laura_ make good her escape. When _Barnaba_ enters, his prey has evaded him. _Gioconda_ has saved her.

_Barnaba_ hurries back to _Alvise's_ galley, and, pointing to the fugitive boat in the distance, bids the galley start in pursuit.

_Enzo_ comes on deck. Instead of _Laura_ he finds _Gioconda_. There is a dramatic scene between them. Venetian galleys are seen approaching.

Rather than that his vessel shall be captured by them, _Enzo_ sets fire to it.

Act III. "The House of Gold." A room in _Alvise's_ house. _Alvise_ sings of the vengeance he will wreak upon _Laura_ for her betrayal of his honour. "S! morir ella de'" (Yes, to die is her doom).

He summons _Laura_. Nocturnal serenaders are heard singing without, as they wend their way in gondolas along the ca.n.a.l. _Alvise_ draws the curtains from before a doorway and points to a funeral bier erected in the chamber beyond. To _Laura_ he hands a vial of swift poison. She must drain it before the last note of the serenade they now hear has died away. He will leave her. The chorus ended, he will return to find her dead.

When he has gone, _Gioconda_, who, antic.i.p.ating the fate that might befall the woman who has saved her mother, has been in hiding in the palace, hastens to _Laura_, and hands her a flask containing a narcotic that will create the semblance of death. _Laura_ drinks it, and disappears through the curtains into the funeral chamber.

_Gioconda_ pours the poison from the vial into her own flask, and leaves the empty vial on the table.

The serenade ceases. _Alvise_ re-entering, sees the empty vial on the table. He enters the funeral apartment for a brief moment. _Laura_ is lying as one dead upon the bier. He believes that he has been obeyed and that _Laura_ has drained the vial of poison.

The scene changes to a great hall in _Alvise's_ house, where he is receiving his guests. Here occurs the "Dance of the Hours," a ballet suite which, in costume changes, light effects and ch.o.r.eography represents the hours of dawn, day, evening, and night. It is also intended to symbolize, in its mimic action, the eternal struggle between the powers of darkness and light.

_Barnaba_ enters, dragging in with him _La Cieca_, whom he has found concealed in the house. _Enzo_ also has managed to gain admittance.

_La Cieca_, questioned as to her purpose in the House of Gold, answers, "For her, just dead, I prayed." A hush falls upon the fete.

The pa.s.sing bell for the dead is heard slowly tolling. "For whom?"

asks _Enzo_ of _Barnaba_. "For Laura," is the reply. The guests shudder. "D'un vampiro fatal l'ala fredda pa.s.s" (As if over our brows a vampire's wing had pa.s.sed), chants the chorus. "Gia ti vedo immota e smorta" (I behold thee motionless and pallid), sings _Enzo_.

_Barnaba_, _Gioconda_, _La Cieca_, and _Alvise_ add their voices to an ensemble of great power. _Alvise_ draws back the curtains of the funeral chamber, which also gives upon the festival hall. He points to _Laura_ extended upon the bier. _Enzo_, brandis.h.i.+ng a poniard, rushes upon _Alvise_, but is seized by guards.

Act IV. "The Orfano Ca.n.a.l." The vestibule of a ruined palace on the island of Giudecca. In the right-hand corner an opened screen, behind which is a bed. Large porch at back, through which are seen the lagoon, and, in the distance, the square of Saint Mark, brilliantly illuminated. A picture of the Virgin and a crucifix hang against the wall. Table and couch; on the table a lamp and a lighted lantern; the flask of poison and a dagger. On a couch are various articles of mock jewelry belonging to _Gioconda_.

On the right of the scene a long, dimly lighted street. From the end two men advance, carrying in their arms _Laura_, who is enveloped in a black cloak. The two _cantori_ (street singers) knock at the door. It is opened by _Gioconda_, who motions them to place their burden upon the couch behind the screen. As they go, she pleads with them to search for her mother, whom she has not been able to find since the scene in the House of Gold.

She is alone. Her love for _Enzo_, greater than her jealousy of _Laura_, has prompted her to promise _Barnaba_ that she will give herself to him, if he will aid _Enzo_ to escape from prison and guide him to the Orfano Ca.n.a.l. Now, however, despair seizes her. In a dramatic soliloquy--a "terrible song," it has been called--she invokes suicide. "Suicidio! ... in questi fieri momenti tu sol mi resti" (Aye, suicide, the sole resource now left me). For a moment she even thinks of carrying out _Alvise's_ vengeance by stabbing _Laura_ and throwing her body into the water--"for deep is yon lagoon."

Through the night a gondolier's voice calls in the distance over the water: "Ho! gondolier! hast thou any fresh tidings?" Another voice, also distant: "In the Orfano Ca.n.a.l there are corpses."

In despair _Gioconda_ throws herself down weeping near the table.

_Enzo_ enters. In a tense scene _Gioconda_ excites his rage by telling him that she has had _Laura's_ body removed from the burial vault and that he will not find it there. He seizes her. His poniard already is poised for the thrust. Hers--so she hopes--is to be the ecstacy of dying by his hand!

At that moment, however, the voice of _Laura_, who is coming out of the narcotic, calls, "Enzo!" He rushes to her, and embraces her. In the distance is heard a chorus singing a serenade. It is the same song, before the end of which _Alvise_ had bidden _Laura_ drain the poison. Both _Laura_ and _Enzo_ now pour out words of grat.i.tude to _Gioconda_. The girl has provided everything for flight. A boat, propelled by two of her friends, is ready to convey them to a barque, which awaits them. What a blessing, after all, the rosary, bestowed upon the queenly _Laura_ by an old blind woman has proved to be. "Che vedo la! Il rosario!" (What see I there! 'Tis the rosary!) Thus sings _Gioconda_, while _Enzo_ and _Laura_ voice their thanks: "Sulle tue mani l'anima tutta stempriamo in pianto" (Upon thy hands thy generous tears of sympathy are falling). The scene works up to a powerful climax.

Once more _Gioconda_ is alone. The thought of her compact with _Barnaba_ comes over her. She starts to flee the spot, when the spy himself appears in the doorway. Pretending that she wishes to adorn herself for him, she begins putting on the mock jewelry, and, utilizing the opportunity that brings her near the table, seizes the dagger that is lying on it.

"Gioconda is thine!" she cries, facing _Barnaba_, then stabs herself to the heart.

Bending over the prostrate form, the spy furiously shouts into her ear, "Last night thy mother did offend me. I have strangled her!" But no one hears him. _La Gioconda_ is dead. With a cry of rage, he rushes down the street.