Favourite Operas: La Fanciulla del West

[Derek McGovern]

I thought it would be good to start a series of threads devoted to
*specific* operas (and perhaps the great musicals as well?). This can
be an opportunity to discuss not only the memorable arias, duets, etc
in a particular opera, but also favourite recordings of that work or
performances that we've seen (either live or on video/DVD).

To start the ball rolling, I'd like to discuss one of my favourite
Puccini operas: La Fanciulla del West (1910). It's one that I've
mentioned several times in the past, so apologies to anyone who's
tired of reading my praise for it :-)

It used to be fashionable to sneer at this opera, mainly because of
its Wild West setting -- and the way in which its librettist throws in
English words here & there ("Hello!" "Goodbye!", etc) in an otherwise
all-Italian work. (I think Puccini at one stage actually considered
using an English libretto; now that could have been interesting!) A
hundred years of cowboy movies have also robbed the setting of what
must have originally seemed quite an exotic backdrop to audiences in
1910.

To the casual listener, the opera also lacks any recognisable "tunes"
-- the minstrel's "Che Faranno i Vecchi Miei" at the beginning (&
repeated by the chorus at the end) and Dick Johnson's Ch'ella Mi Creda
in Act III excepted. But, in fact, the opera's very melodic; it's just
that the arias and duets don't stand out because of their integration.

It's a very dramatic opera, with, as one critic puts it, "a dramatic
pulse barely below that of Tosca" -- and demanding vocally. The
soprano (Minnie) needs an almost-Wagnerian strength at times, and
great attack on the high notes. It's also a tough but very rewarding
role for the tenor (Johnson), who has two superb arias, a long
memorable scene at the end of Act I, a duet in Act II, and some
wonderful ensemble work in the moving conclusion to the work in Act
III. As far as I'm concerned, Domingo has made this role (which Caruso
created) his own in recent history. The baritone (Jack Rance) also
gets a short but wonderful aria in Act I, and plenty of opportunities
to flex his acting muscles in the dramatic poker game in Act II, as
well as having a fair amount of music in Act III. Tito Gobbi loved
singing this role.

It's also an opera in which no one dies! Now that's unusual,
particularly for Puccini (La Rondine being his only other mature opera
not to feature a death).

Here's Richard Tucker in a collection of memorable moments from the
opera, put together from a live performance by Ed Rosen of Premiere
Opera. Tucker's pretty good here for the most part (though less
subtle, it must be said, than Domingo!):

http://cdn3.libsyn.com/premiereopera/2006-03-26-11-13-02.mp3?nvb=20090125041353&nva=20090126042353&t=02b4b25831d8d3de339cf

In his introduction to the above, Ed Rosen mentions Lloyd Webber's
apparent plagiarising (in his "Music of the Night") of the music that
Tucker sings near the beginning (from "Quello che tacete" onwards).
Webber's music here is certainly suspiciously similar to that of
Puccini!

And here's Domingo in an excellent rendition of Ch'ella Mi Creda from
a 1991 La Scala performance:

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=JPEe1AXCkfY&feature=related

My favourite live performance on video of La Fanciulla is, however,
one that Domingo appeared in the following year at the Met, together
with Sherrill Milnes and Barbara Daniels. (The production was directed
by Mario Del Monaco's son Giancarlo!) Here's 57-year-old Milnes (still
sounding pretty good despite his recent vocal problems at the time)
singing the great aria "Minnie dalla Mia Casa":

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3W2yeGyfA&feature=related

Unfortunately, the extract above runs out before Daniels gets a chance
to soar in the memorable closing bars of her aria ("Laggiu' nel
Soledad"), which immediately follows Rance's aria.

Here's a link to the DVD of this production (highly recommended!):

http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-Daniels-Domingo-Metropolitan/dp/B000787X0A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1232907031&sr=1-1

[Shawn]

Nice topic!

My favorite overall opera is probably Andrea Chenier. I like the
historical backdrop, and the interesting twists involving the
character of "Gerard" who starts as the butler in an aristocratic
family but becomes very important and an interesting psychological
study as the story goes on. There's plenty of fine soaring music for
all concerned (especially the tenor of course.) The famous
"Improvviso" may be my single favorite aria. I also love the
delightful little bit of of music that the tenor sings in the first
act at the party when asked if his "muse" is silent- he responds "She
is shy and wishes to stay silent..... the muse of poetry is
capricious,. like love."

Also I like that the opera, although tragic, is not sickeningly
violent or disturbing as say "Tosca" or "Lammermoor!"

As far as performances, aside from Lanza's excellent renditions of the
2 big tenor arias- I thought this was
excellent (for a video performance:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUZaAOK6ggg

Normally I'm not overfond of Mario Del Monaco at all but here I think
he really shines. Plenty of excitement and his singing is more
beautiful than usual there. I got goosebumps from that particular
rendition, I must admit.

-The whole production can be purchased from belcantosociety.

Domingo also was in some fine productions of it which are available on
video and can be seen on youtube.

I'm also rather partial to "L'elisir d'amore" despite it's blatant
silliness. :-P

That's all for now! I'm interested to see the thoughts of others on
this.

> http://cdn3.libsyn.com/premiereopera/2006-03-26-11-13-02.mp3?nvb=2009...

>
> In his introduction to the above, Ed Rosen mentions Lloyd Webber's
> apparent plagiarising (in his "Music of the Night") of the music that
> Tucker sings near the beginning (from "Quello che tacete" onwards).
> Webber's music here is certainly suspiciously similar to that of
> Puccini!
>
> And here's Domingo in an excellent rendition of Ch'ella Mi Creda from
> a 1991 La Scala performance:
>
> http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=JPEe1AXCkfY&feature=related
>
> My favourite live performance on video of La Fanciulla is, however,
> one that Domingo appeared in the following year at the Met, together
> with Sherrill Milnes and Barbara Daniels. (The production was directed
> by Mario Del Monaco's son Giancarlo!) Here's 57-year-old Milnes (still
> sounding pretty good despite his recent vocal problems at the time)
> singing the great aria "Minnie dalla Mia Casa":
>
> http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3W2yeGyfA&feature=related
>
> Unfortunately, the extract above runs out before Daniels gets a chance
> to soar in the memorable closing bars of her aria ("Laggiu' nel
> Soledad"), which immediately follows Rance's aria.
>
> Here's a link to the DVD of this production (highly recommended!):
>

> http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-Daniels-Domingo-Metropolitan/...

[Derek McGovern]

Nice post, Shawn. Andrea Chenier is one of my favourite operas as
well.

Just to keep this thread on its original topic (La Fanciulla del
West), I've created a separate thread for anyone who would like to
discuss Andrea Chenier. (I know I'd like to when I have more time.)

> >http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-Daniels-Domingo-Metropolitan/...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[gary from N.S.]

Hi, Derek and Shawn,

Okay, I have been caught..Derek I must "fess" up. I am not really
familiar with this opera,and have not really taken the time to listen
to several of the arias from this opera that you have so kindly
listed.

I was most interested in the information relating to Webbers >Music Of
The Night". I shall try to spend time with these selections this
weekend.I generally totally enjoy Puccini, so I am sure this shall not
disappoint.

Cheers
Gary

> > >http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-Daniels-Domingo-Metropolitan/...Hide quoted text -

[Derek McGovern]

Happy listening, Gary! I'll be interested in your comments.

Here's Domingo in 1977 singing the beautiful "Quello che Tacete" part
in Act I that Lloyd Webber supposedly plagiarised in Music of the
Night:

http://www.4shared.com/file/83441613/e1c51ca7/Quello_che_Tacete.html

Quello che tacete
me l'ha detto il cor,
quando il braccio v'offersi
alla danza con me:
contro il mio petto vi sentii tremar;
e provai una gioia strana,
una nuova pace che dir non so!

Note the melody on the line "e provai una gioia strana", in
particular!

Cheers
Derek

[Shawn]

Yes I was amused by the similarity to "Phantom." Apparently he was
sued for it and the "Puccini estate" now get's 1% of all "Phantom"
profits!!

Lovely music throughout though, thanks for reminding us. It's a pity
Lanza didn't record "Ch'ella mi creda" when he was a little older than
19!! :-D

Fine singing from Tucker there too.

[Ann-Mai]

Hi Derek. The Met production of La Fanciulla is wonderful. I bought
the DVD this summer when I was in London. I have watched it a couple
of times now, but I instantly liked the music. Maybe it hasn’t got a
lot of memorable tunes like La Bohéme or Tosca, but I too think it has
plenty of melodic moments. I also believe I hear some resemblance to
Butterfly here and there. For example the music leading up to Minnie’s
Bible reading has some Butterfly sounds to it.

Daniels is a very charming and convincing Minnie; she has got the
authority to handle all the guys and also the sweetness of a woman in
love. There was however some high notes here and there I didn’t like
much, but that’s a minor ting.

Domingo is wonderful as always. I especially enjoyed the sequence in
the second act when he explains to Minnie why he is a bandit. And I
just love the way Domingo puts up an innocent face in the first act
when Rance accuses him of being the wanted bandit. He looks just like
he would say "Who? Me?"

Milnes does a very good figure as Rance – real villain-ish. Come to
think of it, there is a bit of Scarpia to this character, isn’t there?
They both seem to have a weird desire for women who are in love with
someone else, and the more they enquire about this love, the more
determined they are to get her. :-D They also both use the same dirty
trick of falsely promising to save their rival.

The first time I saw La Fanciulla, I must confess, I did think the
"Hallos" and "Hoorays" were a bit silly, not to mention the "Ugh" from
the Native American characters in act 2. But then again, most operas
have some silly moments in them, right? :-D

The link you gave to the bars that resembles "Music of the Night" is
quite interesting. It’s very recognisable although I didn’t notice it
until you mentioned it. Did Webber really get sued for it??? It seems
to me he didn’t ‘loan’ more bars than John Williams did from Manon
Lescaut for Star Wars, and I don’t suppose he got sued, did he?

> http://cdn3.libsyn.com/premiereopera/2006-03-26-11-13-02.mp3?nvb=2009...

>
> In his introduction to the above, Ed Rosen mentions Lloyd Webber's
> apparent plagiarising (in his "Music of the Night") of the music that
> Tucker sings near the beginning (from "Quello che tacete" onwards).
> Webber's music here is certainly suspiciously similar to that of
> Puccini!
>
> And here's Domingo in an excellent rendition of Ch'ella Mi Creda from
> a 1991 La Scala performance:
>
> http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=JPEe1AXCkfY&feature=related
>
> My favourite live performance on video of La Fanciulla is, however,
> one that Domingo appeared in the following year at the Met, together
> with Sherrill Milnes and Barbara Daniels. (The production was directed
> by Mario Del Monaco's son Giancarlo!) Here's 57-year-old Milnes (still
> sounding pretty good despite his recent vocal problems at the time)
> singing the great aria "Minnie dalla Mia Casa":
>
> http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=MC3W2yeGyfA&feature=related
>
> Unfortunately, the extract above runs out before Daniels gets a chance
> to soar in the memorable closing bars of her aria ("Laggiu' nel
> Soledad"), which immediately follows Rance's aria.
>
> Here's a link to the DVD of this production (highly recommended!):
>

> http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-Daniels-Domingo-Metropolitan/...

[Derek McGovern]

While I was staying with Armando recently, we watched several productions of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, all of them featuring Domingo (Covent Garden, 1982; La Scala, 1991; the Met, 1992). We both agreed that La Fanciulla is a wonderful opera -- and that Domingo is superb in it. 

 

Since then, a few more clips taken from various performances with Domingo have appeared on YouTube. If you don't know this opera, or have never warmed to it, then I highly recommend the following clips. If you hadn't already guessed, I'm passionate about this opera, and I rate it right up there with the best of Puccini.

 

The first extract is from the 1982 Covent Garden production with Domingo and Carol Neblett. (I saw Domingo on two nights in this production.) This clip is from Act I, and begins with Neblett (Minnie)'s "Su...su...su...come le stelle" and continues with Domingo's response ("Quello che Tacete" -- the piece mentioned earlier in this thread that Lloyd Webber later "borrowed" for his Music of the Night). Domingo is in terrific vocal shape here, and the music is quintessential Puccini: 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg6T5A4HClM&feature=PlayList&p=C4CA7BA70E0215D6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2

 

The second is the very dramatic scene from Act II in which Minnie (sung here by my favourite interpreter of the role, Barbara Daniels) has just discovered that her boyfriend Dick Johnson is really the notorious bandit Ramirez. "Vieni fuori!!" (Come out!) she demands, before damning him. Domingo (as Johnson) responds with one of the great dramatic Puccini tenor arias (and one that I would have paid anything to have heard Lanza sing): "Or Son Sei Mesi." In it, he tries to explain why he was forced to become a criminal. This is from the 1992 Met production, and is arguably the best La Fanciulla on DVD:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAnWO_OIqWc&feature=PlayList&p=2102A7B9390216E4&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=14

[Vince Di Placido]

Andrew Lloyd webber is a very successful plagerist, he is very good at
it & reworks this extremely well, I hear Puccini (& bit of Gershwin
too) all over the place in his shows. But the moment lifted from
"Quello che Tacete" is very telling, I always thought "Come to me,
Bend to me" from Brigadoon had shades of "Music of the night as well"
but so many songs have echoes of other songs, there are only so many
notes...
But anyway Puccini & "La Fanciulla del west" I love this opera, I
watched that 1982 broadcast from Covent garden, it was a simulcast
with BBC radio 2 & we set up the hi-fi speakers either side of the tv
& it was stunning! It would have been a great role for Mario!

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Vince: If you liked the Covent Garden production, do check out the
1992 Met version for a comparison if you get the chance. Domingo's
just as good in both productions (though, not surprisingly, he sounds
a little fresher at 41 than at 51), but the advantage with the later
production is that the sound is much better, the orchestra's superior
(faster tempo too), the direction is excellent (by Del Monaco's son
Giancarlo), and Daniels is a great Minnie. My second choice would be
the atmospheric La Scala production with Domingo, Pons, and Zampieri
(though I'm not keen on Zampieri's voice).

Beware of faulty DVDs of the Met production, though! Armando's disc
had a fault in the second act, and according to reviews on Amazon,
this has happened to others as well. Very surprising for Deutsch
Gramophon!

Just changing the subject for a second: you mentioned Come to Me, Bend
to Me from Brigadoon. Coincidentally, when we spoke the other day, I
was going to suggest that you learn this song (if you don't already
have it in your repertoire). I think it'd be perfect for you. I was
just listening to Adam Lambert's beautiful live version, and I can
certainly hear you singing this song equally well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37VmRs6OylQ&feature=PlayList&p=22B7D0A54D30A966&index=0&playnext=1)

Cheers
Derek

On Oct 10, 9:30 pm, Vince Di Placido <vincent.diplac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Vince Di Placido]

Actually I played Charlie in a local production back in 2000 (I
think...) it's a lovely song, I had a very sore throat the week of the
show, I was so disapointed but I got through it...
Lambert's version is very good!

[Lou]

Lambert's version of Come to Me, Bend to Me is very good indeed, and
the exquisite ending, starting from "...kiss me good day," takes my
breath away. Thank you, Derek, for the link. I, too, can hear Vince
singing this song, but his voice, to my untrained ears, is closer in
heft and color to that of the English tenor John Mark Ainsley than
that of Lambert. Here's Ainsley's equally gorgeous version of this
beautiful song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCQccqnVt4c



On Oct 10, 8:29 pm, Vince Di Placido <vincent.diplac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: John Mark Ainsley is a very stylish singer, but I much prefer
Vince's voice!

Thanks for the link, though; listening to it, it immediately became
obvious that Adam Lambert had used Ainsley's recording as his model.
(But again I prefer Lambert's voice.)

[Derek McGovern]

Bringing this thread back to La Fanciulla del West, I see there's a DVD of a recent (2005) production available from amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-West-Daniela-Dessi/dp/B0031O7UUU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1288186300&sr=1-1

Has anyone seen this? I'm not familiar with any of the singers, but I'm very tempted to order it.

Do check out the very interesting review of the disc on the link above from the eminently readable Albert Innaurato.

[Armando]

Hi Derek: Dessi and Armiliato ( husband and wife) are pretty good
singers with spinto voices and should be ideally suited to Fanciulla.
I don’t know either Gallo or conductor Veronesi but I’m more than
happy to accept Innaurato’s verdict of the two of them as well as his
assessment of the entire performance.

Incidentally, I heard Dessi in Bologna in 2000 in the less demanding
role of Nedda in Pagliacci and was suitably impressed by both her
singing and acting.
The tenor on that occasion was a very throaty and disappointing Cura.

On Oct 28, 12:38 am, Derek McGovern <derek.mcgov...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Bringing this thread back to La Fanciulla del West, I see there's a DVD of a
> recent (2005) production available from amazon.com:
>

> http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-West-Daniela-Dessi/dp/B0031O7...

[Derek McGovern]

Thanks, Armando: I'll definitely order it soon. You know how much I
love this opera, and it'll be interesting to see a production that for
once doesn't feature Domingo!

As for Jose' Cura, he does absolutely nothing for me vocally, but I'll
concede he's an arresting actor.

[leeann]

Hi, Derek, There's a nice article in the new Opera News about the
Met's centennial production of La Fanciulla del West in December--
particularly interesting since Marcello Giordano appears among the
top five current tenors lists here on the forum, and he takes on the
role of Johnson. It's a revival of Giancarlo del Monaco's 1991
production mentioned earlier in this thread, and there will be adjunct
events focusing on the work as well.

Here's the article and Giordani talks a bit about Puccini, the opera
and the role--including the difficult Act II. Puccini, he says,
"brings to the listener the sentimental essence of life..." and ...the
circumstances of the characters urge the listeners to reflect about
their own existence."

http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=17734

And don't miss the Italian cowboy anecdote at the end.

Best, Lee Ann

[Mike McAdam]

Thanks to all the talk about this opera here (Derek resurrected it and
highly recommends) I've booked a seat for the Met performance on
January 8th. No, I'm far from the 'Big Apple' but the Halifax
Cineplex, in their Dolby/DLP cinema shows the "Live From the Met in
HD" series and gets a great turnout apparently. I'm trying to talk my
musically-open-minded granddaughter into attending with me but....3
1/2 hrs plus for a 13-year old? H-m-m-m-m.
Would it were Andrea Chenier they were presenting. This wild west
Puccini opera is the only one of those listed for 2010-2011 that
appeals to me. Naturally, I've been watching all the various scenes
(most with Domingo) available on YouTube to get a feel for the music
before I attend.

[Derek McGovern]

Here's a link to a very interesting review from today's New York Times
of the Marcello Giordani-Deborah Voight La Fanciulla that's on at the
Met right now:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/arts/music/08west.html?_r=1

I couldn't agree more with reviewer Anthony Tomassini when he
describes the score as "Puccini’s most subtly written and boldly
modern music." He even singles out my own favourite moment in the
opera (in Act I):

"Ms. Voigt moved me deeply during my favorite passage in the opera,
the moment in the love duet when Minnie, thinking about what she has
accomplished (after all, she does run a business and is beloved by the
campers) confesses to the worldly Johnson that she has had only “30
dollars’ worth” of education. Then, in a tender phrase that Ms. Voigt
sang disarmingly, Minnie says, 'If I had had more learning, who knows
what I might have been?'"

Mike: You're in for a treat when you see this production next month!

[leeann]

Dear Derek, thank you for the link to this review. I'm ticketed for
this performance in the Washington, DC, area next month and very much
looking forward to it. This discussion thread created the interest,
and I appreciate it.

Although I still haven't listened to the opera in its entirety, the
backstory the Times article brings out is among its fascinations: an
"American opera" set in a mythical old West (which actually wasn't
all that old in 1910) written, sung and conducted by Europeans--at a
time when America seemed a particularly adolescent country, going
through a major identity crisis in the early 1900s.

And so, I gather, was opera in America. Musicians and critics were
decrying the fact that at the turn of the century, America was
dependent on Europe for opera and for its major operatic voices and
that there really wasn't homegrown American opera, written by American
composers on American subjects--and here comes Puccini with this
splendid, contradictory, and confusing curiousity.

A hundred years ago, one critic in the New York Times said that
Puccini didn't do a very good job in representing America musically or
in his presentation of the story (despite audience response) in La
Fanciulla--unlike his success in creating an atmospheric Japan in
Madame Butterfly. And that, I think, must have been part of the
fascination with Fanciulla in some circles. It highlighted a great
many issues that concerned a great many people at that particular
time.

Best, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lee Ann (and Mike): If by any chance you can get your hands on a
complete recording of La Fanciulla del West before you see it next
month, I'm sure it would enhance your appreciation of this opera. One
of the videos we've discussed would probably be your best bet, as the
audio recordings I've heard (including Domingo's 1977 effort with
Carol Neblett) don't really do the opera justice.

Melodically and dramatically, La Fanciulla does take a little while to
work its magic (as Brian Kellow pointed out in that excellent Opera
News article you linked to a few posts back), and it doesn't help that
it has what seems at first glance a rather slow beginning. Unlike,
say, Tosca, which is dramatic (some say *cinematic*) from the get-go,
Puccini takes his time establishing the characters and setting, and
the tenor -- Dick Johnson -- doesn't appear for quite a while. It's
all for very good reason, though, as the relationship between Minnie
and the miners (as well as Sheriff Jack Rance's obsession with Minnie)
is crucial to the credibility of the plot in the latter part of Act
II, and (especially) in Act III.

I love what Brian Kellow wrote here:

"When I first encountered Fanciulla, nearly thirty years ago, like a
lot of people, I could see only what I thought were its ridiculous
excesses. Over the years, I spent some more time with it, and when the
Met's handsome del Monaco production bowed in 1991, with Barbara
Daniels in a richly satisfying performance, I had surrendered to the
piece. (I told my then partner, one of the most sophisticated
musicians I'd ever met, 'You know, I really love Fanciulla.' 'No, you
don't,' he replied.) Now, almost twenty years later, the opera seems
to me an even more moving expression of the quest for something called
home."

And another excerpt from that Opera News article that is right on the
money:

"Deborah Burton, an assistant professor of music, composition and
theory at Boston University, would like more people to pay attention
to Fanciulla. 'No season goes by without a Tosca, Bohème or Butterfly.
But many people have simply not heard Fanciulla,' she says. . . . 'I
always loved Puccini,' Burton says. 'My University of Michigan
dissertation was on Tosca, but I wrote about it in relationship to a
number of his other operas, one of which was Fanciulla. It's fantastic
music — so sophisticated and so surprising, compared to what you would
have expected after Butterfly. Very modernistic — he strikes out in a
whole new way, and yet you know it's Puccini.'"

http://www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=17734

It's interesting that Prof. Burton also feels that academic snobbery
toward Puccini has lessened in recent years. I can certainly vouch for
the huffy attitudes toward him when I first attended university in the
1980s! He was always being damned with faint praise by the type of
people that Tito Gobbi once memorably described as "certain anaemic
gentlemen of the theatre." But Puccini has not only survived -- he's
positively flourished. (Not unlike Lanza, I'd say!)

Cheers
Derek

[Michael McAdam]

I enjoyed the Met's production of "La Fanciulla del West" on the "Live From the Met In HD" loop this past Saturday but, sad to say, I never got to see the end of the last act. Just before the leadup to the hanging and "Ch'ella mi Creda" the Satcom link went out from NY. They blamed it on the wet snow we had had all day.

 

I enjoyed Luisotti's conducting and the orchestra was excellent with soloists standing out at appropriate times. There was no surround sound in this live HiDef television transmission to the digitally-equipped cinema 1 our 12-cinema complex in Dartmouth Crossing (a 50 mile drive in the snow, I might add). The orchestra was very 'up front' as if you were sitting about 20 rows back at the Met. Close your eyes and were there....well, almost!

 

The singers? I liked Debbie Voigt's soprano and her acting, to me, was first rate. However, tenor Marcello Giordani does not move me I'm afraid. He's an okay, workaday singer but has no lower register to speak of (listen to any of his Nessun Dorma's....p-f-t-t-t-t!) These two principals certainly don't cut the attractive figures of the Gheorgiu/Alagna "terrible" twosome for sure but they acquitted themselves quite well. I also thought Lucio Gallo did a credible job as Sheriff Jack Rance, singing-wise. His acting was a little stilted, however. The supporting cast (chorus), staging and sets were first rate, I might add.  

 

You know what I liked best? Where the HD camera crew focused on the backstage work of the technicians and prop people during the L-O-N-G intermissions. Canadian soprano Sondra Radvanovsky handled the on-camera banter and the interviews with the singers and sundry production staff  with an aplomb and ease which made me wonder if she had done some TV news work back in her earlier days in Chicago? She was great.

 

Technically, while the sound was quite good I was a little disappointed in the video quality. Not the screen resolution but the lack of contrast; smoky greys in shadow areas instead of the blacks the DLP process is well known for.

(Note: that may have been due to my seat location being off-axis with the projection angle).

 

All in all, Puccini's music in this Opera didn't move me as the soaring melodies in Madama Butterfly or La boheme can do but, it had some great moments (shame on you, A.L. Webber!)  I'd go again to a live cinema Opera (I think I'm getting a free ticket to another production because of the tech problems we had). I believe I'll pick Strauss's Capriccio as Renée Fleming is starring and I do like her.

 

Cheers, Mike

 

[leeann]

Dear Mike, I'm so sorry you missed the end of Act III, but glad you were at least on air long enough to take in the staging--which all-in-all I'd put on the list of remarkable things about this version of La Fanciulla. The intricacies of the sets and props--all of which Sondra Radvanovsky explored during those long entr'actes were fascinating. I agree--those intermissions were fabulous. (Of course--she's CANADIAN :-)) One of the many memorable points were questions to both Giordano and Gallo about their comfortability as Italians playing men of the American old west.  Both referred to childhoods in Italy with toy six shooters and cowboy hats and great exposure to the movies of Sergio Leone.

I'd have to say, though, I never felt Gallo was quite comfortable in the physicality of his role--particularly in the first act set in the main room of a large saloon full of "cowboys" who were brawling, singing, and generally carousing. But he pointed to that as a challenge of this role in this setting where singers had to pay attention to their use of props--guns, alcohol, decks of cards--and to their body language and stated (liberally paraphrased), "We are singers, not actors." In his case, that seemed pretty clear--except in the poker game where he was seated; and his face, his hands his dramatic presentation, his interaction with Minnie--what an amazing scene.

To me, though Mike, Giordani and Voigt were compelling both together and individually as they created their characters and the dynamics between them, and I thought Giordani stole the show--despite some wobbles on lower notes which I probably caught because you'd mentioned earlier your sense of his lower register. Individually, I thought he and Voigt wonderfully depicted the conflicts in each of their characters--he, the bad guy gone good; she the strong, independent women who becomes vulnerable.

Ironically, later during the weekend I ran across an historic film of Dorothy Kirsten in the poker scene--after this weekend's production, and regardless of Kirsten's fame in that role, the scene was terribly static and anticlimactic.

What I missed? I really wanted the grand aria, the musical showstopper. Do I agree with Puccini--that this was his best work?  I don't know. The opera itself is a whole other discussion, although already well-introduced in earlier threads, I do believe.

I don't know what I'm likely to see next among the future HD broadcasts--but Il Trovatore has an amazing cast, including Radvanovsky, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.  Best, Lee Ann

PS Here's an article on your fellow Canadian's work on those interviews:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/01/dispatch-from-new-york-.html

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Mike: How frustrating for you that you never got to see most of the third act and then had to drive 50 miles home! Johnson's aria and Minnie's return (with her plea to the miners to forgive Johnson) provide a very touching conclusion to the opera.

Like you, my first impression of La Fanciulla (when I saw it at Covent Garden in 1982) was that it had "great moments." I'd never listened to the score in its entirety before, and I didn't much care for the soprano (Carol Neblett). The second night I attended, however, it was with a different soprano (Marilyn Zshau), whom I thought acted and sang beautifully, and it was then that the opera started to weave its magic on me. I was lucky too that Domingo and Silvano Carroli gave terrific performances as Johnson and Sheriff Jack Rance. (I've yet to see an unconvincing Rance, having been spoiled by Milnes and Pons as well in this crucial role.) By the third time I'd seen the opera, it had completely won me over to the point that I now prefer it to Madama Butterfly, and rank it right up there with Tosca and Boheme.

Thanks for the report, Mike.

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

Armando was praising Italian soprano Daniela Dessì further back in this thread, and I've just watched two wonderful clips of her in La Fanciulla (which reminds me that I must order the DVD of this production). She has the best Minnie voice I've heard since Tebaldi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSyOcLVFin4&feature=related

Goosebump moment? When she sings "S'amavan tanto" (They loved each other so much) at the 1:53 mark. Fantastic stuff.

[Derek McGovern]

Thanks for a fascinating review, Lee Ann.

Yes, Puccini did say La Fanciulla was his best work, but then again he had a habit of saying that with every new opera that he composed! He also insisted that Suor Angelica was the best of the three one-act operas that comprise his marvellous Il Trittico (1918), when almost everyone agrees that it's the weak link of the trio.

La Fanciulla is not as instantly melodic as, say, Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, but I've found that once its melodies entered my head, they stayed there :) Often they're in the quieter moments of the opera. And although you felt that it lacked a true "musical showstopper," for me Johnson's aria in the second act (at least dramatically) is one of those moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-3IpY_--FY

I'd have paid a fortune to hear Lanza singing the lines that Domingo performs magnificently here from 1:48 onwards. That climax! "Non sappia mai la mia vergogna!...(May she never know my shame) Ahime!..." It gives me chills every time.

Cheers
Derek

[gary from NS]

Hi Derek, and all.

I am about to re-read this entire thread,but wanted to say I enjoyed the clip Danliela Dessi. She has been one of my favourites for a while now,and she just keeps getting better as she gets older.
I love her  "Vissi d'arte", and she pleases my ear with this piece, as does Callas and Tebaldi.
I will also get more familiar with La Fanciulla del West.I think I will get to see the encore to be shown in Halifax in Feb.

Cheers
Gary  

[leeann]

Dear Derek, thanks for the clip referrals you've posted.. I think, in retrospect--part of the beauty of La Fanciulla is that it is a sweeping melodrama full of subtle dramatic moments. They are not showstoppers, perhaps, but they are  heartstoppers, and they appear throughout the various acts and scenes. The review you cited above points to two of those moments: Minnie's line that she has $30 worth of education; the dialog between Rance and Minnies re "why do you love him? and "What do you see in me?"  And yes, Johnson's second act aria was incredibly dramatically compelling. And there's consistent and unfolding character development throughout the opera as our principal players are gradually revealed. It was a tense viewing experience the first time to be certain not to miss anything.  Best, Lee Ann

[leeann]

Dear Mike, I see that your not-favorite tenor, Marcello Giordani, has released a new album (which he'll be autographing at the Met this Sunday, in case either of us wants to hop a train).  It's billed as an album of Italian love songs and takes one of them as its titlle,  Ti Voglio Tanto Bene, and it's replete with familiar standbys.

Here's the Amazon link in full:
http://www.amazon.com/Ti-Voglio-Tanto-Bene/dp/B004GY3DZK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1298684013&sr=8-2-spell

I wonder if you'd give him higher ratings for these pieces than for La Fanciulla? Best, Leeann

[Derek McGovern]

I've finally gotten around to ordering a DVD of the 2005 production of La Fanciulla del West (mentioned upthread) with Daniela Dessi and Fabio Armiliato:

http://www.amazon.com/Puccini-Fanciulla-West-Daniela-Dessi/dp/B0031O7UUU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1288186300&sr=1-1

Has anyone else bought this? As I mentioned much earlier on this thread, there's an excellent review of the disc (at the link above) by the reliable Albert Innaurato.

I'm really looking forward to watching this production (which I'll be doing back in NZ with my father, who---like me---is a great admirer of this opera). Certainly, the clips I've seen on YouTube are very promising.  And like Gary, I love Dessi's voice!

Cheers
Derek

[Derek McGovern]

Last night I got around to watching the La Fanciulla del West DVD mentioned in my previous post, and I'm very happy to report that it's an excellent production. My opera-loving parents, who watched it with me, both gave it the thumbs up as well. 

 

(Just one slight caveat, though: I'm currently suffering from blocked ears---a side effect of the agonizing earache I experienced during my flight back to NZ three days ago---so my opinion of the singers may not be 100% reliable!)

 

Negatives first: I had reservations about the sets, especially in Acts I and III. They're a little on the bizarre side---e.g., two giant (dinosaur?!) bones in the Californian forest setting of Act III. Still, anything is preferable to the sterile minimalism of the Met's production of Eugene Onegin (with Fleming and Hvorostovsky) a few years back! I'd call these La Fanciulla sets quirky :)

 

Vocally, tenor Fabio Armiliato (whom I'd never heard before) was initially a tad disappointing as Dick Johnson. Under pressure, his voice had a tendency to turn hard, and he was no equal, vocally, to Domingo's three DVD-captured versions (Covent Garden, 1982; La Scala, 1991; the Met, 1992) in Act I. Disappointing upper register---even in comparison with Domingo, who, let's face it, isn't exactly renowned for high notes. 

 

But in Act II, Armiliato's voice became freer, and he did a fine job of the thrilling aria "Or Son Sei Mesi." (And good, ringing B-flats in Act III's famous "Ch'Ella Mi Creda.") Armiliato doesn't possess a truly memorable timbre, but I'd happily listen to him any day over someone like Del Monaco. He's a stylish singer too, and added many beautiful, unexpected touches to his vocal characterization. He's also a fine, if understated, actor---no whiff of ham here!---and looked the part of Ramerrez/Johnson. (Incidentally, Armiliato is 49 here, but appeared younger.)  

 

Armiliato's real-life partner, Daniela Dessi, as Minnie (the "La Fanciulla") was impressive. Although I didn't feel she was quite as good an actress as Barbara Daniels in the 1992 Met  production with Domingo---and was a slightly long-in-the-tooth Minnie---she was certainly no slouch in the acting department. In any event, vocally, she's the best Minnie on DVD for my money. This is a very challenging role---almost Wagnerian at times in its vocal demands---and Dessi was more than up to the task. Great charisma between her and Armiliato (as you might expect!).

 

Baritone Lucio Gallo as Sheriff Jack Rance was excellent. Vocally, a little stretched here and there (though the same could be said for every Rance I've heard on DVD), but it simply didn't matter. He has a good voice, and his was a perfect, three-dimensional characterization of Rance (no stock villain here!). The poker scene with Dessi at the end of Act II was very well done (by both singers).

 

Although this is an open-air production from the 2005 Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago, the sound quality is excellent. In fact, I came away with an even greater love of Puccini's magnificent score; there is so much additional orchestral detail to be heard here. This 1910 score is so daringly modern! The conducting by Puccini specialist Alberto Veronesi (of the unknown-to-me Orchestra Citta' Lirica) was top-notch. 

 

I'll be watching the DVD again before I leave New Zealand on February 17th, so I may have more to say :) But, yes, highly recommended---and much better, according to my parents, than the recent Met HD broadcast with Voight and Giordani.

 

Cheers

Derek  

[Lanzafan]

Hi
I recently came across a singer named giuseppe giocomini on youtube singing this. If you like dramatic tenor voices please listen to him he is awsome.

[Derek McGovern]

Hi (Steve, isn't it?): Giacomini has actually come up several times in discussion here---most recently on the "Nessun Dorma" thread:

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mariolanza/TK_ElzI8LY8/Drb--nrdwRQJ

He seems to divide opinion like no other tenor we've talked about on this forum!

Cheers
Derek

[Lou]

Hi Derek: For over a decade, I’ve enjoyed via VHS the 1992 Met La Fanciulla del West with Barbara Daniels, Placido Domingo, and Sherrill Milnes. I was in no hurry to view other versions as, in my opinion, the stellar cast of that production could hardly be bettered. However, I couldn’t resist your recommendation of the 2005 DVD with Daniella Dessi, Fabio Armiliato, and Lucio Gallo. I ordered a copy, which I received and viewed last week. It does not disappoint.  

By and large, I agree with your comments on the production and the three principals, but I’d like to weigh in with a few of my own.

Fabio Armiliato has a disconcerting tendency to make small facial movements at inopportune moments. Are those tics or simply part of his physical method of voice production? By the way, his “No, Minnie, non piangete” has been playing in my mind since I heard it last week.

You wrote that Dessi was a slightly long-in-the-tooth Minnie. How old is Minnie anyway? The libretto doesn’t say, but years ago I found this description of her by New York critic Anthony Tommasini:  “Minnie is a self-made woman who espouses feminist sentiments…she has settled in California, started her own successful business [a gambling-house and tavern] and devoted herself to the miners.” From this I infer that the gun-toting, poker-playing, Bible-quoting Minnie, though proudly virginal and romantically idealistic, is no ingenue. The clincher is Barbara Daniels’s statement in an interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2epHp050vyo) that she sees Minnie as a woman no longer young, and that stage director Giancarlo Del Monaco thinks she could be in her mid-thirties or mid-forties.

By contrast, Ramerrez/Johnson, for all his fearsome reputation and worldly-wise persona, has been described by Placido Domingo as “a young boy.” Just how young may be gleaned, I think, from Johnson’s aria “Or son sei mesi”, which translates in part:

            My father died just six months ago,

            And then I knew!

            The only heritage for my mother,

For my brothers, to face the future,

The only thing he left us,

Was a gang of road-agents and robbers!

Based on this, I’d put Johnson’s age at late teens or early twenties when his father died. It’s conceivable that he was then away at school in the East, where he had acquired the polish and sophistication that Minnie now intensely admires in him. Any older, especially if he lived at home, and he would have to be pretty dense not to know where his family’s income was coming from. If my interpretation is correct, it is Armiliato, rather than Dessi, who is a bit too long in the tooth for his role. Ah, but this is opera! If one can suspend disbelief watching Montserrat Caballe dance the dance of the seven veils as the teenage antiheroine in Salome, one can easily overlook the matter of age in Armiliato’s (and Domingo’s as well as Giordani’s) portrayal of Dick Johnson.

I wish the baritone playing the miner Sonora had a more imposing stage presence. It is Sonora who, ignoring Rance and dominating the crowd by sheer force of will, defends Johnson’s right to speak when the bandit’s request to speak of Minnie before he dies is met with angry refusal by the lynch-mob. Later, when Minnie pleads with the miners to forgive Johnson and spare his life, Sonora is the first, and for a time the only, miner to come around to her side. Minnie’s pleas polarize the miners, and even when she starts calling in the favors they owe her, they remain divided. It is Sonora who finally sways the decision by talking to the men individually and then appealing to them as a group, not only for Minnie’s sake but also for his own: “Per lei, per me, lo fate!’ A masterstroke of leadership! For me, the most poignant moment in the opera is when Sonora, transcending his own overwhelming desire to marry Minnie, cuts the rope binding Johnson’s hands and tearfully turns him over to her with the words, “In nome di tutti, io te lo dono (In the name of all, I give him to you).”  There are several lump-in-the-throat moments in the opera, but this is the one that brings tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, the low-key performance of the Sonora in this Torre del Lago La Fanciulla fails to do justice to the character’s nobility and his pivotal role in bringing about the happy ending. Ditto for the Sonora in the 1992 Met production. When the 2010 Met production with Giordani and Voight is released in DVD format, I plan to get a copy to see what leading American baritone Dwayne Croft does with the role.

Funny, but critics and reviewers writing about La Fanciulla del West, including the respected Anthony Tommasini, almost invariably have Minnie and Johnson riding/walking off into the sunset at the end of the opera, despite the fact that the productions they are reviewing set the last scene in the early dawn as specified in the libretto. This just goes to show how indelibly clichéd images from Western movies are etched in people’s minds.

Cheers,

Lou  

[Derek McGovern]

Great post, Lou.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the Dessi/Armiliato performance. Now that you mention it, the singer portraying Sonora didn't make a big impression on me; in fact, I can't remember anything about him. Not a good sign! And, yes, I agree that it's an important part, especially in Act III. I quite like the Sonora in the 1982 Covent Garden production, though he's the only supporting character in that production whom I did enjoy! (As Albert Innaurato wrote in his Amazon review, the supporting cast in that version all seem to think they're in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. And their Italian pronunciation is often pretty awful, as he also points out.)

How old are Minnie and Johnson? I'd always assumed that they were around the same age---whatever that was---so I find it a bit disconcerting to imagine Johnson/Ramirrez being 15 to 25 years younger than Minnie. David Belasco himself, in his 1911 novel version of his play, describes them both as young. Certainly, this description of Minnie doesn't sound like a woman soomewhere between her mid-30s and mid-40s: "With a little cry of vexation, scarcely audible, the young woman flung herself back on the seat. She was only a girl with all a girl's ways, and like most of her sex, however practical her life thus far, she was not without dreams of a romance."

Could the fact that Barbara Daniels felt that Minnie was no longer in the first flush of youth have had something to do with her own age at the time---46---I wonder? :)

Thanks again for a most enjoyable review! (I think I'm torn, by the way, between the 1992 Met version and this production. I definitely prefer Domingo in Act I, and I'm rather fond of Barbara Daniels, but Dessi and Armiliato certainly have a lot going for them as well. Set-wise, though, I much prefer the 1992 production.)

Cheers
Derek

[Vincent Di Placido]

I have spent the last while watching various Youtube clips of "La
Fanciulla" it is a great opera, anyway I found this 1990 Milano
performance that I really liked, I played it back several times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AY_AK3MF-g

[Vincent Di Placido]

I've just realised, Derek, that you posted a link to this performance
already in the first post, I thought I had discovered something... I'm
such a dope!

[Lou]

Hi All: I found two complete versions of La Fanciulla del West on Youtube: the 1983 Covent Garden with Domingo, Neblett, and Carroli and the 1992 Met with Domingo, Daniels, and Milnes. Here are the respective links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1CL4GuKJ4c&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHupIm9bT94

If you love opera and is unfamiliar with La Fanciulla, do yourself a favor and check out the above links. Puccini’s underappreciated “spaghetti Western” may surprise you with its power to stir and  thrill as surely as any opera warhorse.

Derek:  Thanks to the passage you quoted from Belasco’s novel (I subsequently read the whole novel online), I need no further proof that Minnie is a young woman -- I’d say middle twenties, tops. What a relief to find confirmation that “the Girl” is not a female cradle snatcher! Apparently neither Barbara Daniels nor Giancarlo del Monaco had read the above passage, let alone the novel.

Like you, I agonize between the 1992 Met version and the Dessi/Armiliato production. The former has held sway over my taste for so long that it’s hard to nudge it aside. On the one hand, Armiliato has taste and style and his interplay with Dessi is so believable. On the other hand, Daniels is such a natural for the role, dramatically speaking, and Armiliato has nothing on Domingo’s virile charisma, which is so palpable from the moment he makes his knockout grand entrance. I think I’ll just leave it at that for now. As for the sets, I'm with you there 100%. I think the designer went over the edge with those dinosaurian bones.

Albert Innaurato’s comment that the supporting cast of the 1983 Covent Garden seem to think that they’re in a G&S operetta made me smile. The way they move does suggest that to some extent. But I can also see how, as another seasoned critic observes, the “collection of sharp-featured bewhiskered British faces in the Polka Saloon gives the opera a distinctly Dickensian flavor.” 

Cheers,

Lou

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: Thanks for alerting us to those complete downloads of two La Fanciullas. They won't stay up long, I'd say, so to anyone who's pressed for time, I'd suggest giving priority to watching the 1992 Met version with Domingo/Daniels/Milnes.

I do like some aspects of the 1982 Covent Garden production (it's not 1983, by the way; YouTube has that wrong, just as the 1990 La Scala production Vince mentioned above is actually from 1991). For a start, Jack Rance is very well sung and acted by Silvano Carroli, whom I later saw at the Rome Opera as Escamillo (opposite Carreras' Don Jose'). It's also Domingo's best version of the long scene with Minnie that ends Act I. Some beautiful, even tingling vocal moments---which is not something I say every day about him :) But I'm much less attached to Carol Neblett as Minnie, and I'm positively irritated by some of the supporting singers!

The sound quality is much better too on the Met version :)

Cheers
Derek

[Lou]

Correction:  In the second paragraph of my last post, "If you love opera and is unfamiliar with La Fanciulla..."  should read: "If you love opera and are unfamiliar with La Fanciulla..."

[Barnabas Nemeth]

I love opera but I can't prefer "La Fanciulla" at all. I'll try to listen to it by another ears again but I'm afraid it won't be my favourite further on.

Barnabas

2012/4/17 Lou <loua...@yahoo.com>

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Barnabas: La Fanciulla is not for everybody. Unlike, say, Tosca, it takes its time establishing its characters (though for good reason), and apart from the tenor's aria "Ch'Ella Mi Creda" in Act III, and, to a lesser extent, the baritone's brief "Minnie dalla Mia Casa" in Act I, there's precious little "typical" Puccini in the sense of Obvious Tunes. It's bracing stuff, and really is his most modern score.

I didn't immediately take to it. But this is definitely an opera that with the right cast rewards patience, and I do understand why Domingo has singled it out as one of his favourite works.

As I've said in the past, I'm convinced that Lanza would have made a great Johnson/Ramerrez. It's ironic in a way that he never recorded anything from it commercially---and yet "Ch'Ella Mi Creda" was among those first private recordings that he did in 1940.

Cheers
Derek

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Probably, you're right, I won't give up studying it.

2012/4/18 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>