What are your favourite Verdi operas?

[Derek McGovern]

I've always found Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) a fascinating character among operatic composers. In a memorable chapter in his Lives of the Great Composers, Harold C. Schonberg (long-time music critic for the New York Times) describes Verdi as "an independent, strong, scrappy, and unconventional spirit"---and the composer himself proved it time and again with his disregard for critics's opinions, the public's opinion ("I accept their criticisms and jeers only on condition that I do not have to be grateful for their applause") and prudes who objected to his living with a woman to whom he was not married ("My nature shrieks against submitting to the prejudices of other people"). Verdi was also frank about his musical erudition:

 

There is hardly any music in my house. I have never gone to a music library . . . to examine a piece. I keep abreast of some of the better contemporary works not by studying them, but through hearing them occasionally in the theater. . . . I repeat, therefore, that I am the least erudite among past and present composers.

 

But what of Verdi's operas? Was the composer Bizet right when he wrote that Verdi "has marvellous bursts of passion. His passion is brutal, true, but it is betterto be passionate that way than ot at all. His music is sometimes exasperating but never boring"?    

 

What strikes me when I look at the complete list below of Verdi's operas (uplifted here from Wikipedia) is that, apart from Rigoletto and, possibly, Nabucco, none of the composer's most popular works appeared before 1853---his fortieth year. This makes me wonder: what if he had only lived to Lanza's age? What would his place in musical history then be? (Jumping from musical genres, I guess the same question could be asked of someone like Frank Sinatra, whose critical and popular reputation largely rests on what he did from the age of 38 onwards.)

 

My favourite Verdi opera is his penultimate work, Otello. It's the one Verdi opera I love without reservation from beginning to end. My biggest complaints about Verdi are the librettos he set his wonderful music to: those convoluted and sometimes absurd plots with their one-dimensional characters. Well, neither of those charges can be levelled at Otello! Elsewhere in his output, I've been moved by one of his lesser-known works, Stiffelio (Carreras did a wonderful job in one of the revivals of this opera in the early 1990s), and Simon Boccanegra, which contains some very beautiful passages. Don Carlo(s) contains a lot of memorable music as well. And who can resist the amazing love duet in Un Ballo in Maschera? In fact, generally with Verdi, I find his most popular works---Trovatore, Rigoletto, Traviata and Aida---less interesting in their entirety than his less familiar works. But that's just me.

 

So what are your favourite Verdi operas---or favourite musical pasages in his works?                       

 

• Oberto, 17 November 1839
• Un giorno di regno, 5 September 1840
• Nabucco, 9 March 1842
• I Lombardi alla prima crociata, 11 February 1843
• Ernani, 9 March 1844
• I due Foscari, 3 November 1844
• Giovanna d'Arco, 15 February 1845
• Alzira, 12 August 1845
• Attila, 17 March 1846
• Macbeth, 14 March 1847
• I masnadieri, 22 July 1847
• Jérusalem (a revision and translation of I Lombardi alla prima crociata) 26 November 1847
• Il corsaro, 25 October 1848
• La battaglia di Legnano, 27 January 1849
• Luisa Miller, 8 December 1849
• Stiffelio, 16 November 1850
• Rigoletto, 11 March 1851
• Il trovatore, 19 January 1853
• La traviata, 6 March 1853
• Les vêpres siciliennes, 13 June 1855
• Simon Boccanegra, (Original Version), 12 March 1857
• Aroldo (A major revision of Stiffelio), 16 August 1857
• Un ballo in maschera, 17 February 1859
• La forza del destino, 10 November 1862
• Don Carlos, 11 March 1867
• Aida, 24 December 1871
• Simon Boccanegra, (Revised Version), 24 March 1881
• Otello, 5 February 1887
• Falstaff, 9 February 1893

[Derek McGovern]

Here are a few photos of Verdi to accompany the above (and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth this year).

What a striking face he had! 

   

[Armando]

Favourite Verdi operas, Derek? That’s easy.

First and foremost Otello –his dramatic masterpiece.

Followed by Flastaff- his comic masterpiece.

Then come: Don Carlos, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata ( like Puccini’s La Boheme this is an opera I can really identify with) and La Forza del Destino.

There’s wonderful music in many of the others but the librettos, as you pointed out, are truly bad and in the case of Trovatore confused and even laughable.

Nevertheless, a musical genius!     

[Barnabas Nemeth]

Musically, my favourite opera of Verdi is the AIDA, along with many high quality performances as well (I prefer the Bjoerling-Milanov version).

The other one in the line is the Rigoletto. Unfortunately, no one is able to approach the main four arias (especially the Questa Quella) sung by Mario. He could have been by far the best Duke...Barnabas

2013/3/13 Derek McGovern <derek.m...@gmail.com>

Here are a few photos of Verdi to accompany the above (and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth this year).

What a striking face he had! 

   

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mario Lanza, Tenor" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mariolanza+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

[Barnabas Nemeth]

I agree that dramatically the Otello is the best choice, but musically, for me at least, it is not balanced enough. The duett, of course, is extraordinary...Barnabas

2013/3/13 Armando <acesa...@gmail.com>

--

[Lou]

As indicated by the number of videos I own of each Verdi opera, my favorites are Otello (10 videos), La Traviata (9),  Don Carlos/Don Carlo (3), La Forza del Destino (3), and Stiffelio (2).

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: I'm curious: who sings the title role on your two videos of Stiffelio, and which tenor do you prefer in the part? (I'm presuming you have both Carreras and Domingo singing the role.) 

 

I've only seen the 1993 Covent Garden production with Carreras, but I thought he was perfectly cast, and in surprisingly good form vocally. (Lovely middle register.) He also acted very well (as did the other two leads).

 

The opera itself intrigues me, and it certainly was a daring choice for Verdi---the story of a married priest who forgives his wife's infidelity. I can understand why it didn't go down too well in Italy in 1850! But I'm delighted that it seems to be gaining an audience. To me, it's a much more interesting opera than, say, Rigoletto---with its flesh and blood characters who feel real.   

 

Cheers

Derek     

[Derek McGovern]

A P.S. to the above: Carreras also took part in a recording of Stiffelio back in 1979. (In fact, he recorded a surprising number of early Verdi roles throughout the 1970s, when he was at his absolute peak.) Has anyone heard this recording? I'd love to know how it compares with his 1993 version.  

[Steff]

Hi Derek,

 

My favourite Verdi opera? Definitely "Otello"  (on the very top along with Puccini's Tosca") and I see I am not

the only one who gave it a first ranking. I would call it Verdi's masterpiece in any respect. Imagine that Verdi already was 74 of age when the opera premiered! It's certainly not a typical Verdi opera, as it is not consistantly melodious and has not  so many "popular" arias. But it is very balanced as it is a good mixture of both, highly dramatic on the one side, and beautifully romantic (love duet first act) on the other side. The incredibly touching "bacio" theme, which also concludes the opera, gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it. It is no easy-listening opera (such as Traviata), in my opinion, and no opera to just "hear alongside."

 

I am surprised how fast I fell in love with this opera (this was when I was about 18) after I had seen the Zefirelli movie (Maazel,Domingo, Ricciarelli, Diaz) (the movie left out some music, which I only realized later when having gotten hold of the -complete- soundtrack recording). I knew and loved this opera long before I became a Lanza afficionado (which only happened 5 years ago).

 

I have always been fascinated by the followings lyrics from "Otello":

 

Tale è il gaudio dell'anima che temo,
Temo che più non mi sarà concesso
Quest'attimo divino
Nell'ignoto avvenir del mio destino.

 

Such is my soul's joy that I am afraid.
I fear that I will never again be granted
This divine moment
In the unknown future of my destiny.

 

As for other favourite Verdi operas, I think "La Traviata" is truly great and an opera that can be very impressive on stage with all the colourful costumes and an opulent stage design. And it is an opera with a very fast tempo, only slowing down at the dramtic end when Violetta dies.

Then there's "Nabucco" (too little work for the tenor, LOL). It's a wonderful opera that you just can listen to; no need to see it performed on stage....It has wonderful choral numbers (not only "Va pensiero"), and once I start listening to it, I can't get tired of the "S'appressan gl'istanti, d'un'ira fatale" quartet, and always hit the reply-button several times.

And last but not least, "Un ballo in maschera," which I think is an impressive opera too. Very opulent, very dramatic (can there be anything more dramatic then the final "Notte d'horror?"). I would have loved Mario to sing the role of King Gustavo (imagine him singing "E scherzo od e follia," Much better then "La donna 'e mobile"). 

Honestly, I have never been keen of watching operas on TV, as the small screen just takes away all effects. But "Un ballo.." was one, that fascinated me very much, when it was broadcast on German TV. It was a performance from the Salzburg festival from 1989, with Domingo, Nucci, Sumi Jo, Florence Quivar). Solti was conducting. He was the one to replace Karajan that night as Karajan had passed away shortly before.                                                                             On an additional note, the day Karajan passed away, my mother and I were sitting in the "Arnea di Verona." The perfomance had not started yet, when they announced over the loudspeakers that Karajan had passed away. All people in the arena stood up and started applauding to pay tribute to the great conductor. A very moving moment!

Steff 

[Lou]

Hi Derek: I hasten to send my delayed reply  to your post before the forum closes down.

Yes, I have both the 1993 Covent Garden Stiffelio with Carreras and the 1993 Met version with Domingo. I've been trying without success to find a video, even a bootleg,  of the 2007 Covent Garden or the 2010 Met Stiffelio, both of which has Jose Cura singing the title role. I understand Cura is not everyone’s cup of tea (for all sorts of reasons, not always related to vocal performance), but I'm interested in his interpretation of this angst-ridden role as he is known for his intelligent and original characterizations. If his take on Otello in the  2006 Willy Decker production (watched it on DVD) is anything to go by, he is also a compelling actor.

The above Carreras video captures his 1993 Covent Garden performance that you’ve seen, and in general, I agree with your eyewitness assessment of his singing and acting. The years and his battle with leukemia have added heft to his voice but taken away some of its bloom. To my ears, it sounds a bit strained under pressure, but in the middle of his range, it is still a wonderful voice: beautiful, agile and strong. As the vocal writing in Stiffelio keeps most of his lines in the middle, the role is ideal for Carreras.  He does act very well, as you noted, doing a good job of vocally and facially projecting Stiffelio’s inner demons when he suspects and finally confronts the reality of his wife’s infidelity. . My only reservation – nit-picking, actually  – is Carreras’s distracting tendency to spread his arms as if he were a concert performer. On the other hand, Domingo in the Met video keeps his arms where they should be, but I find the intensity of his performance too Otelloesque for the role of the sanctimonious, cuckolded man of the cloth. I could have done with a tad less forte singing, and a few soft touches a la Carreras wouldn’t go amiss. .

The opera itself intrigues me, too. One thing that bugs me is that for a love story (it is a love story, isn’t it?), it is most unromantic. In both videos, before Stiffelio even suspects his wife’s infidelity, the physical and emotional distance between the couple already sticks out like a sore thumb. Stiffelio has just returned from a successful evangelical mission, but there is no sense that either missed the other. And not once in the opera does Stiffelio talk about love, only honor. (I read the libretto translation just to be sure.)

Another thing that intrigues me is the ending, which I find ambiguous. From the pulpit, Stiffelio the minister publicly forgives his wife by reading a passage he has picked randomly from the Bible about an adulterous woman forgiven by Jesus. “Forgiven…forgiven…God has spoken it!” Stiffelio sings to the approving congregation. Yet, to my mind, Carreras’s stony face and glassy eyed stare give no assurance that Stiffelio the husband has forgiven his wife. Neither does Domingo’s agonized body language as he climbs down from the pulpit and leans against a wall, his forehead resting on his forearms. What say you?

Cheers,

Lou

[Derek McGovern]

Hi Lou: Many thanks for sharing your thoughts on those two productions of Stiffelio. It's a long time since I last watched the Carreras version (which I only have on video back in NZ), though I've just caught up with some extracts on YouTube, including the moving final scene.    

 

My interpretation of Carreras' stony face at the end is that it's partly a look of defiance to anyone in the congregation who might challenge his right to forgive his wife, but also an acknowledgement of his wounded pride. This hasn't been easy for him! Do he and his wife still have a romantic future together? That's definitely up in the air, I'd say!

 

Yes, Carreras is pushing a bit at times, but he sounds much better here than in the some of the other live stuff I've heard from this period. This is basically how he sounded when I heard him in concert in NZ in late 1994---still singing expressively with that beautiful middle register of his.

 

Cheers

Derek     

 

[leeann]

Il Trovatore doesn't seem to be a favorite here with it's Confused and even laughable," libretto! [Armando.]

A few years ago, The Opera Quarterly published an article about the opera, entitled "Anatomy of a Warhorse:Il trovatore from A to Z." In the author quotes reviews over time--and it's worth a smile to note that when the opera opened in 1853, critics and audience were enamoured because "the music transported us, and of a truth it cold not be otherwise because this is, without exaggeration, heavenly music."

After that, critical opinion certainly has waxed and waned! George Bernard Shaw thought it a heroic work IF heroically performed--but if not, it was vulgar, trivial, tedious. 

And another critic took an inscrutable middle road, agreeing that Il trovatore IS vulgar--but it's the vulgarity of greatness, vitality and passion!  Go figure.

Anyhow, the Metropolitan Opera opened its season of Live in HD Summer Encore broadcasts with Verdi's Il Trovatore, repeating its April 2011 live transmission. Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Alvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky fill the four principal roles. Marco Armiliato conducted. When it opened, New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe gave a tepid review, calling the company "gamely energetic, effective if unglamorous, it gets the job done."

I think they were a great deal better than that. None are new to their roles, and they'd sung Trovatore together before in ensemble and in various combinations. Anthony Tommasini gives a more insightful perspective in a review of this particular production when the Met first staged it in 2009--only with a different orchestra conductor.

It's difficult to single out highlights or moments of greatest musicality or drama amid the relentless intensity and complications of Verdi's score and the speed with which the plotline unfolds in Il Trovatore--at least seeing this particular production for the first time. But the staging is stupendous--a backdrop of stone walls and caves set on a revolving stage, and the consistency of the sets and the rapidity with which scenes change give continuity as the plot leaps across time. Mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick IS the Gypsy Azucena. She's sung the role for a quarter of a century, and sings and acts as if the character is an extension of herself.

An unexpected moment, at least for a nanosecond came at the end of "Di quella pira!"  Alvarez doesn't take a high C. Of course, Verdi didn't write it with the C, and it's apparently not unusual for even the most seasoned Verdi tenors to choose not to take it amid the rigor of this musical score, and Armando and Derek have pointed out in discussions on this forum that Lanza should've done a retake of his rendition in Serenade--but it's easy to expect it after listening to the selection as a single track, not as part of the entire opera.

Vulgar or not, it was a nice way to spend a summer evening in the middle of torrential rain!


 Cheers, Lee Ann

[Derek McGovern]

Many thanks for this post, Lee Ann. You've inspired me to dig out my DVD of a Covent Garden production of Il Trovatore from 2002. I bought that DVD purely because baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky was in the cast---I certainly didn't buy it for its tenor, Jose' Cura, whom I don't like at all!  

As a Hvorostovsky admirer, I'm curious to know what you thought of him in this latest production. Did he sound a bit constricted, as Woolfe in the New York Times was complaining? To be honest, I don't feel that Verdi is right for him at all---he doesn't have a particularly big or weighty voice, and his singing is hardly Italianate. Where I've always felt that Hvorostovsky has excelled is in Russian opera and, in particular, Russian song (although he's sometimes criticized for loading up his recitals with gloomy, little-known musings on death and despair).

At his best, he's a wonderfully intense singer, and it's nice to know that he was inspired by one of the best.

Cheers

Derek

[leeann]

Hi, Derek, Whether Hvorostovsky is suited for Verdi seems to be debated rather frequently!  According to an interview in Opera News in 2012, however, he considers himself to be just that, and he's worked hard to become a "Verdi baritone in an eminently lyrical vein." In that interview, Gianandrea Noseda, who conducted Hovorstovsky in the 2009 performaces of Il Trovatore says Hvorstovsky mixes and matches styles when he sings some Verdi roles, and that it works in his role as Count di Luna:

I have to say Dima convinced me a hundred percent, if not more, because he was able to treat it not anymore as bel canto but not yet as a dramatic Verdian baritone. Just to find that very difficult limbo — it's not here, it's not there,...I think the way was to sing extremely legato, so the connection between notes was still in the bel canto line, but the color of the voice is lyrical but darker, without losing the linearity, the beauty of the sound. That is incredible.

Was he constricted in this performance as Count di Luna? I have the feeling that when Woolfe reviewed the performance, either he or the cast was just having an off-night.

As a non-musical-expert member of the audience, I'd consider Hvorostovsky's voice and his musical interpretation intense and compelling. What seems constrictive--and appropriately so, is his body language--restrained, almost measured, he moves in limited spaces--even during duels and battles. Those constrained physical movements convey beautifully the isolation of the Count. He's the opposition figure in a three-against-one situation where he's everybody's villain. By contrast, Leonora, Azucena, and Manrico are bound to each other--the women, to Manrico by their love for him; Manrico likewise to each of them, and all three unite in their enmity toward the Count.

Somehow, the constraints of his body language  seemed just right for the darkness and separation of the Count di Luna role.

For those of us in the US, Hvorstovsky's coming up on July 17 in another Metropolitan Opera Summer Encore performance and in another Verdi role. It's La Traviata with the spare, modern staging of Willie Decker.  Cheers, Lee Ann