We started tonight’s show with a classic recording of Gaetano Donizetti‘s Lucia di Lammermoor. The opera was written in 1835, and loosely based on Sir Walter Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor, which itself was loosely based on real-life events that occurred (or may have occurred – the events themselves are shrouded in mystery) in 1669, involving the Scottish Lord Stairs and his Dalrymple family. In Donizetti’s time, Scottish lore and folklore was quite popular, rife as it was with at times violent melodrama. This, along with the various Scottish stereotypical characters that were popular at the time, were the ideal formula for an opera, and Donizetti’s opera became a opera house staple, a showpiece for coloratura sopranos and lyric tenors.
This is especially the case with Lucia’s “mad scene” (Spargi d’amaro pianto) that takes place near the end of the opera, where she sings solo, in some instances without orchestral accompaniment. The “bel canto” tradition (of which Donizetti was a leading proponent) called for performers to augment the written parts with ornamentation so as to demonstrate their technical abilities, and this is usually the case with the “mad scene”. But it is not just a piece dominated by the sopranos – there are significant parts for lyric tenors, and a baritone-bass part is quite prominent as well.
Donizetti actually wrote the opera in Italian and French versions, with the French version being premiered in 1839. French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay famously participated in a well-received revival of the French version in 1998 at the Opéra National de Lyon, a 2002 recording of which is available through EMI (Dessay actually made two recordings of the French version that year). Chandos Records has also released a recording of the Italian version performed in English.
Image via Wikipedia
Tonight’s performance is a classic from 1972, with the following cast:
- Joan Sutherland – Australian who was possibly one of the greatest coloratura sopranos of the 20th century. Although she was not known for the correctness of her diction, her singing technique was legendary, and her upper range was superlative, almost supernatural. She was best known for her bel canto roles, and Lucia di Lammermoor was her breakthrough role. Her technical demonstration during the aforementioned “mad scene” is quite spectacular. The vast majority of her recordings were made under the baton of her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge.
- Luciano Pavarotti – Pavarotti made his American debut in 1965 in Lucia di Lammermoor, opposite Sutherland, and it was his bel canto singing that helped drive his success. In particular, Pavarotti credited Sutherland with teaching him the breathing technique that he felt sustained him over the course of his career. So this proves to be an important recording document in Pavarotti’s catalog.
- Sherrill Milnes – a Downer’s Grove, Illinois native who studied music education at Drake and Northwestern (he pledged with the Alpha Beta chapter of the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha at Drake in 1954). He was well known for his performances in various Verdi operas, and was one of the more prominent Verdi baritones during the ’70s and ’80s. He is currently a professor emeritus in voice at Northwestern.
- Nicolai Ghiaurov – a Bulgarian bass who was considered the most prominent bass of the post-WWII period. He was often associated with Verdi roles, and at some point we have an excellent recording of him doing the title role in Moussorgsky’s Boris Godunov that will be featured in a future WDBX Opera Overnight broadcast.
- Ryland Davies – lyric tenor from Britain who is known for a variety of roles. In addition to his performance schedule, he currently teaches voice at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
- Huguette Tourangeau – a 1964 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, the French-Canadian mezzo-soprano became a frequent collaborator of Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. She was featured in a recent article in OperaNews, where she credits Bonynge for helping her understand and improve her technique and range.
- Pier Francesco Poli
Richard Bonynge, Sutherland’s husband, conducts the Royal Opera House Orchestra & Chorus.
Kirsten Flagstad as Aida (Image via Wikipedia)
Our second opera of the evening is Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, sometimes spelled Aïda. Verdi was commissioned to write the opera in 1871 by Is’mail Pasha, then the Khedive (term for viceroy used by the then-ruling Ottoman Empire) of Egypt, who paid him 150,000 francs. Verdi used a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni based on an idea by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. The opera was premiered on December 24, 1871 in Cairo, but Verdi was irritated when he discovered that the attendance was limited to special invited guests of the Khedive. So he considered its European premiere, at La Scala in Milan on February 8, 1872, to be the true premiere, and involved himself extensively in the production. Verdi purposefully wrote the opera without an opening overture, using a brief prelude instead. Eventually he did write an overture, but was quite dissatisfied with the outcome (he disliked its “pretentious insipidity”), and declined to have it performed; the overture is rarely performed today.
The aforementioned Milan performance was vastly successful, and major opera houses across Europe and the rest of the world quickly moved to include the opera in the repertoire. Its dynamic and demanding roles for soprano and tenor often attract the best talent. Aida is now ranked as the 13th most performed opera, and has been performed more than 1,100 times at the Met. It was also the first opera to be televised (with Arturo Toscanini conducting, in 1949), and the story was recently used by Elton John and Tim Rice as the basis for a Broadway musical.
Leontyne Price in 2008 (Image via Wikipedia)
Tonight’s recording is a 1962 performance featuring:
- Leontyne Price – One of the first African American singers to regularly take leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera. She is officially considered a “lyrico spinto”, a “pushed lyric” soprano – one that can easily achieve the high notes of a lyric soprano, yet who can also handle dramatic climaxes; lyrico spintos usually have a darker timbre than lyric sopranos, and can handle heavier roles that would potentially damage lyric soprano voices; Verdi wrote many roles for spintos, as did Puccini, and there are a number of roles in Wagnerian pieces that attract spintos. Her vocal type meant that she was considered ideal for Verdi roles.
- Jon Vickers – Canadian heldentenor who was highly regarded for his vocal quality and acting technique. His presence is an excellent indicator of the frequency at which Wagnerians will cross over to do Aida.
- Robert Merrill – born Moishe Miller to Polish immigrants, Merrill was a widely admired baritone who made more than 700 appearances at the Met in 21 different roles. He made at least 23 recordings of complete operas.
- Rita Gorr – Belgian mezzo-soprano who was especially noted for her portrayal of Amneris in Aida. Her other roles ranged from Ortrud in Lohengrin to Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, and sang the role of the Countess in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades in 2007, at age 81. She passed away Sunday, January 22nd (indeed, yesterday), a fact that was completely unknown to me until I was actively composing this blog entry (I’m still having difficulty finding info on this fact).
- Franco Riccardi.
Sir Georg Solti conducted the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro del’Opera di Roma.
