Sunday Classics snapshots: Verdi at peak power soars and slumps

Thomas Hampson as Germont at Covent Garden, 2009

GERMONT: No, you won't hear reproaches from me;
let's bury the past in forgetfulness.
The love that guided me
can pardon everything.
Come, see your loved ones
in joy with me again;
do not deny this joy
to one who has suffered long.
A father and a sister --
make haste to console them.
No, you won't hear reproaches from me, etc.
ALFREDO: A thousand serpents devour my breast!
GERMONT: Are you listening to me?
ALFREDO: No.
GERMONT: A father and a sister --
make haste to console them.
No, you won't hear reproaches from me, etc.
ALFREDO [arising and suddenly finding Flora's letter on the table]: Ah!
She's at the ball!
I must fly to avenge the offense.
[He rushes out.]


Thomas Hampson (b), Giorgio Germont; Rolando Villazon (t), Alfredo Germont; Vienna Philharmonic, Carlo Rizzi, cond. DG, recorded live, August 2005

by Ken

About a month ago I started what was intended to be the first part of a two-part series with a post called "The sound of aging, Verdi-style (1)," in which I suggested that the whole structure of "Di Provenza il mar, il suol," the elder Germont's celebrated aria in La Traviata, is built on fatigue -- or rather this father's struggle to overcome his fatigue in his enormous effort to not only console his boy but to lure him back to the comfort and wholesomeness of his native Provence. My suggestion was that Germont is not only fighting his fatigue but milking it, showing it off to Alfredo as he throws everything he can at the shell-shocked young man.

Our other example of "aging, Verdi-style," tidily enough, will involve a mother's exhaustion, an exhaustion that sounds to me not just physical but spiritual -- as if she's just barely on this side of. I admit that it's a case so extreme, and one that exerts such dreadful force on me, that I'm probably stalling a little. Nevertheless, I really would like to get to it, and regret that before we can get there, we have some gaps to plug, in part because we left a dangling end in our consideration of "Di Provenza": its usually missing cabaletta, which is hardly more welcome when it isn't omitted. And then, once we get into the baritone's cabaletta, how can we not broach the subject of the tenor's, an even feebler piece?

The "aria and cabaletta," which recent usage seems to prefer to call a "double aria," is a carry-over from the bel canto era, when it was common to arrange dramatic situations in which a character might sing an aria typically of moderate pace and temperament followed -- with some tweaking of the circumstances -- by a more excited second aria, or cabaletta, which by happy chance for the performer tends to lend itself to the character of a showpiece.


I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO GO THERE!

Partly, it didn't really seem germane to our consideration in that piece, and partly, I didn't fancy the idea of expending precious time on such a substandard piece. Add in the awful cabaletta Verdi had only recently composed for the Duke in Rigoletto, and it's hard not to feel that Verdi didn't have a lot of stock in the form, even though when the circumstances were right, he could rip off a roaring cabaletta. For that matter, if we think of the form as "double aria" rather than "aria and cabaletta," then Violetta's "Ah, fors'è lui" plus "Sempre libera" at the end of Act I of Traviata may be the supreme example of the format.

For now we're going to ponder two musical snapshots, both of a great composer an aria of prime quality chained to a cabaletta that seems merely to be going through the motions. It also becomes a performer issue. For a long time opera companies had no compunction about simply snipping these cabalettas out, but back in the 1960s an attitude of greater respect for a composer's text set in, which was welcome in many ways, but also led to burdening pieces like Traviata with "restored" material that does them no favor.

But don't take my word. Let's have our first musical snapshot. We're going to pick up at the same point in Act II, Scene 1 of Traviata where we started last month, and this time instead of stopping at the end of Germont's big aria, we're going to listen through the cabaletta and the brief remainder of the scene.

VERDI: La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, Diaglogue and aria, Alfredo, "Qualcuno è nel giardino" ("Someone's in the garden") . . . Germont, "Di Provenza il mar, il suol" ("Provence's sea and soil") . . . "No, non udrai rimproveri" ("No, you won't hear reproaches")

A salon in Violetta Valéry's country house, with a door leading to the garden. In a grueling scene with Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont, Violetta has promised to end her relationship with his son. Alfredo returned early, interrupting a highly emotional Violetta in the writing of a letter, which she refused to let him see. Supposedly in anticipation of an expected visit from Alfredo's father, Violetta rushed out of the house. The gardener Giuseppe then came in with the strange news that his mistress had gotten in a waiting coach that sped off for Paris, and left puzzled that Alfredo seemed to think this perfectly fine. Alfredo imagined that she had gone to sell off her possessions but was confident that her loyal maid Annina would prevent that.

[Some noise is heard outside.]
ALFREDO: Someone's in the garden. [About to go out] Who's there?
[A MESSENGER appears at the door.]
MESSENGER: Monsieur Germont?
ALFREDO: That's me.
MESSENGER: A lady, from a coach, for you,
not far from here, gave me this note.
[He gives ALFREDO a letter and leaves.]
ALFREDO: From Violetta! Why am I worked up?
Perhaps she's inviting me to rejoin her?
I'm trembling! O heavens! Courage!
[He tears the letter open and reads aloud.]
"Alfredo, by the time you receive this note --"
Ah!
[Turning, he finds himself face to face with his father. ALFREDO falls into his arms.]
My father!
GERMONT: My son! Oh, how you're suffering!
Dry, ah dry those tears!
Return to being your father's pride and joy!
[ALFREDO, in despair, sits down and buries his face in his hands.]
Aria, Germont
Provence's sea and soil,
who erased from your heart?
Who erased from your heart
Provence's sea and soil?
From the shining sun of your native land
what fate took you away?
What fate took you away
from the shining sun of your native land?
Oh, remember even in sorrow
that joy shone on you there,
and that peace, there alone,
can still bathe you,
and that peace, there alone,
can still bathe you.
God guides me! God guides me! God guides me!

Ah, your old parent,
you don't know how much he suffers!
You don't know how much he suffers,
your old parent!
With you away, with desolation
his roof is covered!
His roof is covered,
with desolation, desolation!
But if at last I find you again,
if hope wasn't in vain in me,
if the voice of honor
in you is no longer muted,
but if at last I find you again,
if hope wasn't in vain in me,
God granted it to me! God granted it to me!
God granted it to me! God granted it to me!

GERMONT [trying to rouse ALFREDO]: Won't you respond
to a father's affection?
ALFREDO [repulsing his father]: A thousand serpents devour my breast!
Leave me!
GERMONT: Leave you?
ALFREDO [to himself]: Oh, vengeance!
GERMONT: Delay no more. Let's leave, make haste.
ALFREDO [to himself]:: An, it was Douphol!
GERMONT: Are you listening to me?
ALFREDO: No.
GERMONT: Then I've come in vain to find you?

Cabaletta, Germont
No, you won't hear reproaches from me;
let's bury the past in forgetfulness.
The love that guided me
can pardon everything.
Come, see your loved ones
in joy with me again;
do not deny this joy
to one who has suffered long.
A father and a sister --
make haste to console them.
No, you won't hear reproaches from me, etc.
ALFREDO: A thousand serpents devour my breast!
GERMONT: Are you listening to me?
ALFREDO: No.
GERMONT: A father and a sister --
make haste to console them.
No, you won't hear reproaches from me, etc.
ALFREDO [arising and suddenly finding Flora's letter on the table]: Ah!
She's at the ball!
I must fly to avenge the offense.
[He rushes out.]
GERMONT [following ALFREDO]:
What are you saying? Ah, stop!

Carlo Bergonzi (t), Alfredo Germont; Franco Ruta (bs), Messenger; Sherrill Milnes (b), Giorgio Germont; RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. RCA, recorded 1967

Giacomo Aragall (t), Alfredo Germont; Virgilio Carbonari (b), Messenger; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Giorgio Germont; Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded 1968

Nicolai Gedda (t), Alfredo Germont; William Elvin (bs), Messenger; Rolando Panerai (b), Giorgio Germont; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Aldo Ceccato, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

Alfredo Kraus (t), Alfredo Germont; Christopher Keyte (bs), Messenger; Renato Bruson (b), Giorgio Germont; Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMI, recorded 1980

Sure, that high-strings intro to the cabaletta is striking, and suggests that maybe something is going to happen, but it doesn't, and I'm not incline to blame our Germonts above. I realize that if we simply chop the thing out, there's something not quite right about the way scene comes to an end, but I'd still rather hear it this way:


[in Russian] Ivan Kozlovsky (t), Alfredo Germont; Pavel Lisitsian (b), Giorgio Germont; USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Orlov, cond. Melodiya, recorded 1947

Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Alfredo Germont; Carlo Forti (bs), Messenger; Tito Gobbi (b), Giorgio Germont; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, cond. EMI, recorded 1955

Franco Bonisolli (t), Alfredo Germont; Sesto Bruscantini (b), Giorgio Germont; Berlin State Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli, cond. Acanta-MHS, recorded 1973

[from "From Violetta"] Fritz Wunderlich (t), Alfredo Germont; Hermann Prey (b), Giorgio Germont; Bavarian State Orchestra, Giuseppe Patané, cond. Orfeo, recorded live, Mar. 28, 1965


RETURNING TO THE TOP OF THE SCENE --

At that, Germont's cabaletta at least has some possibilities, making it a notch above Alfredo's at the top of the act. The orchestral introduction, recitative, and aria are all top-drawer, and paint a wonderful picture of the life Germont is so determined to extricate him from. And Alfredo's sudden discovery that Violetta has been selling off her possessions to pay for their life together could conceivably provide a cabaletta opportunity. But again, Verdi doesn't seem to have believed in it.

Rehearing the efforts of our four tenors, in addition to rising rather nicely to the challenge of the aria (Bergonzi with his typical lyrical elegance, Aragall bringing to it a manfully weightier heft of tone, Gedda offering some intelligent pointing, Kraus as usual phrasing with smart directness), they all seem to me to have made valiant attempts at the cabaletta. Bergonzi in particular really gives it his all; as it happens, four years earlier Bergonzi had been the first tenor to record the aria with the cabaletta and now he became the second as well. Really, I don't know what else these poor guys could do. (In the Maazel-Decca recording, Aragall like Fischer-Dieskau only has to deal with half of his cabaletta.)

VERDI: La Traviata, Act II, Scene 1 opening, Recitative, Alfredo, "Lunge da lei per me non v'ha diletto" ("Away from her I have no pleasure") . . . Aria, "De' miei bollenti spiriti" ("Of my fiery spirits") . . . Cabaletta, "Oh, mio rimorso! Oh, infamia!" ("Oh, my remorse! Oh, infamy!")

A country house near Paris. A drawing room on the ground floor. In the background, facing the audience, there is a fireplace; on the mantelpiece a clock, and above it a mirror. On either side of the fireplace French doors opening on a garden. On the floor above, two other doors, facing each other. Chairs, tables, books, writing materials. ALFREDO enters in hunting clothes.

Recitative, Alfredo
[Putting down his shotgun]
Away from her I have no pleasure!
Three months have passed
since my Violetta
forsook riches, honors,
and lavish entertainments,
where she was accustomed to homage,
and saw each one a slave to her beauty.
And now, in this pleasant place
she lives for me alone.
Here, near her, I feel reborn,
and, renewed by the breath of love,
I forget, through joy, all the past.
Aria
Of my fiery spirits
the youthful ardor --
she has quenched
with the gentle smile of love!
Since the day she said,
"I want to live faithful to you,"
forgetful of the universe
I live as if in heaven.
[As ANNINA enters in traveling clothes]
Annina, where are you coming from?
ANNINA: From Paris.
ALFREDO: Who sent you there?
ANNINA: It was my lady.
ALFREDO: Why?
ANNINA: To dispose of her horses,
coaches, and whatever she still possesses.
ALFREDO: What am I hearing?
ANNINA: It's very expensive for the two of you living here.
ALFREDO: And you kept silent?
ANNINA: I was ordered to keep silent.
ALFREDO: Ordered? And how much is needed?
ANNINA: A thousand louis.
ALFREDO: Go now. I'll go to Paris.
Don't tell your lady about this conversation;
I'll take care of this whole affair.
Go, go!
Cabaletta [as ANNINA leaves]
Oh, my remorse!
Oh, infamy!
Have I lived in such error?
But this vile sleep has been broken
by the flash of truth.
Lie quiet for a while in my breast,
o shout of honor!
You'll have sure vindication from me;
I'll wash away this shame.
Ah yes, I'll wash away this shame, etc.
Oh, my remorse! Oh, infamy! etc.

Carlo Bergonzi (t), Alfredo Germont; Nancy Stokes (s), Annina; RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. RCA, recorded 1967

Giacomo Aragall (t), Alfredo Germont; Mirella Fiorentini (s), Annina; Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded 1968

Nicolai Gedda (t), Alfredo Germont; Mirella Fiorentini (s), Annina; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Aldo Ceccato, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

Alfredo Kraus (t), Alfredo Germont; Cynthia Buchan (ms), Annina; Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, cond. EMI, recorded 1980

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