(Note: I've coined SN@TO as shorthand for Saturday night at the Opera. Although I briefly entertained an ambition to post weekly, it proved to be a commitment I wasn't ready for. Previous entries:
I hope to publish another next week after the show I'm describing here.)
The next Met HD transmission is a week from today, Verdi's Don Carlo, Saturday December 11th at 12:30 pm EDT in movie theaters around the country.
Though long a neglected work, Don Carlo is now firmly established among enthusiasts as a leading favorite and is arguably Verdi's greatest opera. The composer was at the height of his powers, with only Aïda and the two Boïto Shakespeare collaborations Otello and Falstaff coming later.
Origins
It is far and away the most interesting scenario Verdi ever set if not the outright best libretto. It is also his longest opera achieving full Wagnerian length if (as is rarely done) the ballet music is included. And it is a much grander opera than Aïda. In fact it was written for that fons et origo of grand opera, the Paris Opéra and premiered on March 11, 1867. Here's Wikipedia:
Over the following twenty years, cuts and additions were made to the opera, resulting in a number of versions being available to directors and conductors. No other Verdi opera exists in so many versions. At its full-length (including the ballet and the cuts made before the first performance), it contains about four hours of music, and is Verdi's longest opera.
The opera is originally in French but can very nearly be considered bilingual as an Italian text was prepared with Verdi's cooperation before the French premiere. And though the revisions were generally made for Italian houses, Verdi always insisted that a parallel French text be prepared for any new material. The Met in this production is following the common practice of presenting the work in Italian. And though I'm something of a purist myself, I also prefer it that way. It just feels more in character with Verdi's music.
Textual variants
The original is in five acts, but the work has been more commonly known on the stage in a four-act version prepared by Verdi in 1883 that omits all of Act I and the ballet music as well as introducing a number of smaller alterations. In fact, this four act version is perhaps still the most widely performed.
In the last half century or so a composite five-act version has made considerable headway, joining the original first act to the revised four-act version and eliminating the redundancy of Carlo's first-act aria that was interpolated into the original second act.
This is the version employed for the admirable recordings by Giulini and Solti. Sometime in the late 70's scholars (particularly Ursula Günther and Andrew Porter) got to work unraveling all the textual variants. Their labors were made accessible to the general public in Claudio Abbado's magisterial recording that presents a 'mainline' recording of the same composite five-act version, but in French with a first-rate international cast and with all variant passages (including the ballet) in appendices! This recording though less incandescent than the other two is indispensable for all serious enthusiasts of the work.
The previous Met production restored Verdi's original opening passage ('L'inverno è lungo') showing Elisabetta dispensing charity to woodcutters suffering the ravages of the war between France and Spain. I'm not sure whether this new production uses that opening or the more familiar ('Su, cacciator. Pronti o la belva').
The characters
The libretto is based on a play by Schiller, Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien and is fascinating for its interweaving of the political and the personal. The Met provides a useful synopsis for those unfamiliar with the story.
The political themes include the relationship between church and state, and the repression of individual liberty in an authoritarian regime-- issues close to Verdi's heart.
But the opera is above all fascinating for its character studies and the complexity of their inter-relationships. The opera has five leading roles, each in a different voice range and each one a monument of the repertory for that range:
- Don Carlo (tenor)- heir to the Spanish throne
- Elisabeth of Valois (soprano)- daughter of King Henry II of France and later Queen of Spain
- Rodrigo (baritone)- The Marquess of Posa, a Spanish nobleman
- Philip II (bass)- King of Spain
- Princess Eboli (mezzo-soprano)
There's also a second bass role that's only slightly less important- the Grand Inquisitor.
At the personal level the drama is driven by conflict and rivalry between King Philip and his son Carlo. The other characters mirror and amplify these conflicts:
- Elisabeth is first betrothed to Carlo and meets and falls in love with him, but agreed under pressure to become the wife of Philip
- Rodrigo is a close personal friend and mentor to Carlo, but Philip taps him as his chief confidant
- Eboli is in love with Carlo but the mistress of Philip, both secretly
- Rodrigo and Eboli are rivals in influence with the king
- Eboli admires the Queen but stirs up marital discord when her love for Carlo is scorned
The music
The music is stunning throughout. But for me the very heart of the piece is the duet for Philip and Rodrigo at the end of Act II. In the first part of the duet, Philip presses Rodrigo to tell the King what he most desires. When Rodrigo denounces Philip's oppression of the people of Flanders, Philip graciously agrees not to have heard him but warns him to beware the Grand Inquisitor. In the second half, Philip then opens his heart to Rodrigo about his suspicions of the relationship between his wife and his son.
Here's the first half of that duet in a performance from Salzburg under Karajan with Ferruccio Furlanetto (who will be singing the same role at the Met) and Piero Cappuccilli:
In a parallel scene at the beginning of Act IV, we have a duet between the two basses. The King asks for permission to execute his son, which the Inquisitor grants. Then the Inquisitor requires Philip to assent to the assassination of Rodrigo, showing him the limits of his own power. Here's that passage from the same performance, with Matti Salminen as the Inquisitor:
The first Act is an exquisite love duet for Carlo and Elisabeth. And throughout the opera Verdi demonstrates formal mastery at an unprecedented level. I could say much more, but time is short.
I leave you with one final delicacy. It will be just a month ago tomorrow that the great American mezzo-soprano Shirley Verret (accent on the second syllable, though Milton Cross himself pronounced it to rhyme with ferret) died at the age of 79. Not only was Eboli one of her greatest roles, but she was perhaps the greatest Eboli of the last half century or more. Here she is singing the bravura Veil Song, from Act II, Scene 2 (from Giulini's recording):
I intend to post another diary next week around this time where we can share our reactions to the show.