100 Great Operas and Their Stories

by Henry W. Simon

  But suddenly the sailors are heard singing, for land has been sighted, and the journey is over. Together the two lovers rush off, utterly unprepared to meet King Marke.

  ACT II

  There is a quick-moving introduction to Act II, clearly depicting impatience, before the curtain rises on Isolde’s garden, outside her chambers in the castle of King Marke. (Whether or not a wedding ceremony has taken place between Acts I and II Wagner never makes clear. It is sufficient that Isolde, like everyone else, regards herself as Marke’s bride.) The King has gone hunting, and at the beginning of the act, we may hear the hunting horns off-stage. But while the King hunts, Tristan and Isolde have planned to meet. By the side of the castle there is a burning torch, and when that torch is extinguished, it is the sign for Tristan to come to the garden.

  Brangaene, Isolde’s maid-in-waiting, fears a plot. She believes that Melot, a Cornish knight who is supposed to be Tristan’s particular friend, will betray them. She warns Isolde to keep the torch burning till the hunting horns can no longer be heard. But Isolde is impatient. She says she cannot hear the horns, and she refuses to believe that Melot may be treacherous. She extinguishes the torch, climbs some steps, and waves her bright scarf in the moonlight to give Tristan a second signal.

  As the orchestra mounts to a feverish climax, Tristan rushes in. “Isolde! Beloved!” he cries; and Isolde echoes him: “Beloved!” It is the beginning of the great love duet known as the Liebesnocht—a long, eloquent, moving expression of transfigured love—love that prefers night to day, and love that prefers death to life. At the end of the duet they are singing the familiar and beautiful melody of the Liebestod; and just as they reach the climax, Brangaene, who has stood watch, utters a piercing shriek. The King and his hunting party have unexpectedly returned. They have been brought back by Tristan’s supposed friend, Melot, who is himself secretly in love with Isolde and therefore acts from rather reprehensible motives. The noble King’s principal emotion is sorrow—sorrow that the honor of his dearly beloved nephew, Tristan, is besmirched. He sings of this in a very, very long monologue, while Isolde turns aside in deepest shame.

  At its close Tristan asks her whether she will follow him; and when she assents, he denounces Melot and in a brief fight deliberately permits himself to be wounded. Before Melot can kill him, King Marke thrust Melot aside. With Isolde throwing herself on the wounded hero’s breast, the long act closes.

  ACT III

  Tristan has been brought to his castle in Brittany by his faithful henchman, Kurwenal. There he lies, wounded and ill, before the castle. He is waiting for a ship—the ship that bears Isolde, who will come to heal him. Off-stage, a shepherd plays a very doleful tune on his pipe. He is to make it cheerful only when he sees the ship. The doleful tune, the fever of his illness, the tragedy of his life—these all combine to help confuse poor Tristan’s mind. It wanders over many things—his friendship for Kurwenal, his hatred of his enemies, his love for Isolde, the death of his parents. All these themes (and others too) go through his agonized brain as he lies there, while poor, simple Kurwenal tries in vain to comfort him.

  Suddenly the shepherd’s tune changes. It brightens in a major key. The ship has been sighted. It disappears again—and it reappears—and a few moments later, Isolde comes rushing in. She is almost too late to see her lover alive, for in his excitement he has pulled off his bandages. As he embraces his beloved Isolde, he falls and breathes his last.

  But another ship is seen. It is the ship bearing King Marke—and the villain, Melot, too. Marke has come to forgive the lovers, but Kurwenal does not know this. He rallies his few men, valiantly disputing the way with Marke’s followers, and he manages to kill Melot. But he himself also receives a mortal wound, and he falls, dying, at his hero’s feet. Then quietly, in the presence of King Marke and of Brangaene and the few survivors, Isolde takes the dead body of Tristan in her arms. Transfigured by her emotions, she sings the great Liebestod—the Love-death—and at its end she herself expires. Marke quietly blesses the dead, as the opera closes on two soft, long B-major chords.

  IL TROVATORE

  (The Troubadour)

  Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi with

  libretto in Italian by Salvatore Cammarano

  based on a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez

  which was based, in turn, on some real

  happenings

  LEONORA, lady-in-waiting to Princess of Aragon Soprano

  AZUCENA, a Biscayan gypsy woman Mezzo-soprano

  MANRICO, a chieftain under tht Prince of Biscay and reputed son of Azucena Tenor

  COUNT DI LUNA, a young noble of Aragon Baritone

  FERRANDO, Di Luna’s Captain of the Guard Bass

  INEZ, confidante of Leonora Soprano

  RUIZ, a soldier in Manrico’s service Tenor

  Time: 15th century

  Place: Biscay and Aragon

  First performance at Rome, January 19, 1853

  Ever since it was first produced in Rome on an especially dark and stormy night more than a century ago, Il trovatore has been one of the most popular operas in the world. The reason for its popularity today must be, at least partly, that it has so many tunes that everyone has loved from childhood. The Miserere, Home to Our Mountains, The Anvil Chorus, The Tempest of the Heart—these are only a few of the wonderful melodies that form part of our folk culture, whether sung by school children or heard on barrel organs. It can hardly be the storytelling which makes this opera so popular, for it boasts one of the most puzzling plots that ever graced a stage. It is based on various events that actually happened in fifteenth-century Spain, but the scenes are so arranged that most of the pivotal actions occur before the opera begins or between the acts. Still, because the music is so eloquent, one can always tell whether the characters are happy or sad, or full of love or full of hate. And everyone in Il trovatore is full of some strong emotion all the time.

  ACT 1 (“THE DUEL”)

  Scene 1 The first act, which bears the subtitle The Duel, opens in the vestibule of the palace of Aliaferia, where our heroine Leonora lives. An old soldier named Ferrando tells some servants and soldiers of the Count di Luna (who is outside waiting to court Leonora) a bit of family history. It seems that an old witch had cast a spell on one of the two sons of the old Count. For this she was burned at the stake, but her daughter, another witch, named Azucena, in revenge had stolen the old Count’s other son and thrown him into the flames. Everyone wants to catch and burn this younger witch; but meantime the ghost of the older one is supposed to be still flying about in the shape of an owl and frightening people to death. Ferrando’s listeners become wildly excited over this tale, and as the midnight bell tolls vigorously, they all curse the witch.

  Scene 2 On a moonlight night, outside the castle, Leonora tells her confidante Inez of the mysterious knight she loves. Many years ago she had crowned him the winner of a tournament, but then he had completely disappeared. Suddenly, on a recent night (and here Leonora sings her lovely aria Tacea la notte) he serenaded her. Inez warns Leonora against such a love, but her mistress only swears eternal faith to the mysterious troubadour.

  When the two girls have returned to the castle, this mysterious singer is heard off-stage accompanying himself on a lute. Leonora rushes out and—mistakenly, of course—throws herself into the arms of Di Luna, who has been lying in wait for her. And when the singer, the troubadour, appears, the Count immediately challenges him to a duel. In a mighty trio Leonora pleads for the troubadour’s life, while the two men defy each other. Then, with swords drawn, they rush off to fight.

  ACT II (“THE GYPSY”)

  Scene 1 The gypsy Azucena is in the center of the stage as the curtain goes up, surrounded by other gypsies in their camp in the mountains of Biscay. They break at once into the famous Anvil Chorus. Immediately afterwards, in the aria Stride la vampa, Azucena describes the terrible day on which she had seen her mother burned at the stake; and as soon as the gypsies have melodiously gone o
ff in search of food, she gives her son Manrico (who is the troubadour of Act I) more details. With great intensity she tells how she had stolen the old Count di Luna’s younger son and how, intending to throw him into the flames, she had by error picked up her own child and destroyed him instead. Thus we learn that Manrico is really the brother of his rival, the present Count di Luna. As for Manrico’s questions as to who he really is, she insists that he is her son, for she has saved his life. Manrico, like the audience, remains puzzled. And now, in a lovely aria, Mal reggendo, he tells about his duel with Count di Luna. He had had Di Luna on the ground, defenseless, when some mysterious power held his victorious arm and spared Di Luna’s life. But the mother and son agree that he never again should show such mercy.

  Just then Manrico receives a message from his Prince, urging him to help defend the castle of Castellor against the forces of Di Luna. He also learns that Leonora, thinking him slain, is about to take her vows as a nun in the convent at Castellor. Thrusting aside Azucena and her protestations, Manrico wildly rushes off to the rescue of his Prince and his beloved.

  Scene 2 takes us outside the convent. Here we find the Count with his followers ready to abduct Leonora just as she is about to take her vows. While waiting, he sings of the tempest that is raging in his heart in the familiar aria Il balen. An off-stage chorus of nuns tells us the ceremony is about to take place, and when the women come on, Count di Luna attempts to lead Leonora off. As if by magic, Manrico suddenly appears, to Leonora’s great joy and surprise, for she had thought him dead. A moment later Manrico’s followers also come on the stage. The Count di Luna is overcome, and the act ends with a great ensemble, led by the voice of Leonora expressing her happiness.

  ACT III (“THE GYPSY’S SON”)

  Scene 1 The third act leads us to the military camp of Count di Luna, who is laying siege to Castellor, where Manrico has taken Leonora, expecting to marry her. The soldiers sing a stirring march tune (Squilli, e cheggi), and presently Azucena, who has been found wandering near the camp, is brought in. She denies her identity, but the old soldier, Ferrando, recognizes her as the mysterious woman who had burned the Count’s younger brother many years before. Desperately she calls on Manrico for help; and the Count, who now has two reasons for hating the old woman, swears a dire vengeance. The soldiers drag her off as the scene ends.

  Scene 2 The brief second scene takes place inside the castle, where Manrico is preparing for two great events—the coming attack by Di Luna’s forces and his marriage to Leonora. In a soothing aria, he quiets his beloved’s fear. A moment later, just after the sound of the organ is heard, Ruiz bursts in. He is Manrico’s lieutenant, and he reports that the pyre on which Azucena is to be burned to death is already lighted. Immediately Manrico orders a sortie to rescue his mother, and he sings the stirring aria Di quella pira, usually translated, though not very accurately, as “Tremble, ye tyrants!”

  ACT IV (“THE ORDEAL”)

  Scene 1 Outside the prison tower of the palace of Aliaferia comes Leonora to bewail the loss of Manrico, who has been taken prisoner in battle and is soon to be beheaded. A chorus of monks inside the prison tower intones the Miserere, a prayer for those about to depart this earth. Manrico sings his own farewell to life and Leonora, accompanying himself on his lute, and Leonora gives voice to her terror over the dreadful event about to take place. It is one of the most memorable—as well as one of the most hackneyed—numbers in all opera.

  The Count now enters, and Leonora pleads for the life of her lover, even offering herself as a sacrifice for him. Overjoyed, the Count agrees to this bargain, but Leonora secretly takes poison from her ring so that she will not fall into the hands of the man she hates.

  Scene 2 Inside the prison we find Azucena resting on a pallet of straw, while Manrico tries to comfort her, singing of the mountain home to which they shall return. This is the melodious duet Ai nostri monti—“Home to Our Mountains.” Now Leonora comes and urges him to flee by himself. Fearing that Leonora has made a dishonorable bargain with the Count, Manrico is at first terribly angry; but as the poison begins to take effect, he understands what has happened. During their duet, Azucena lies quietly on her pallet, half out of her mind, and continues to sing of their old mountain home.

  Just as Leonora dies, the Count enters and sees at once that he has been tricked. He orders Manrico’s immediate execution and then pulls Azucena to the window to see the death of her supposed son. Turning violently on him, she now cries: Egli era tuo fratello!—“He was your brother!” And as she adds a triumphant cry of vengeance, the curtain descends to the crashing of tragic orchestral chords.

  LES TROYENS

  (The Trojans)

  Opera in two parts and six acts (though sometimes

  divided into seven or even eight) by Hector

  Berlioz with libretto in French by the composer

  based on Books I, II, and IV of Virgil’s

  Aeneid

  PART I The Capture of Troy

  PRIAM, King of Troy Bass

  HECUBA, his wife Mezzo-soprano

  their children

  AENEAS Tenor

  HELENUS

  CASSANDRA Bass

  Mezzo-soprano

  POLYXENA Soprano

  ASCANIUS, son of Aeneas Soprano

  COROEBUS, fiancé of Cassandra Baritone

  PANTHUS, a Trojan priest Bass

  ANDROMACHE, widow of Hector Mime

  ASTYANAX, her son Mime

  GHOST OF HECTOR Bass

  A GREEK OFFICER Bass

  PART II—The Trojans at Carthage

  DIDO, Queen of Carthage Mezzo-soprano

  NARBAL, her minister Bass

  ANNA, her sister Contralto

  AENEAS, leader of the Trojans Tenor

  ASCANIUS, his son Soprano

  IOPAS, a Carthaginian poet Tenor

  HYLAS, a young Trojan sailor Tenor

  THE GHOST OF CASSANDRA Mezzo-soprano

  THE GHOST OF COROEBUS Baritone

  THE GHOST OF HECTOR Bass

  THE GHOST OF PRIAM Bass

  THE GOD MERCURY Bass

  FIRST TROJAN SOLDIER Baritone

  SECOND TROJAN SOLDIER Bass

  Time: Ancient Troy and Carthage

  Places: Troy and Carthage

  First performance, of Part II only, at Paris, November 4, 1863

  First performance of both parts at Karlsruhe (in German) December 5 and 6, 1890

  One of the great enthusiasms of the French nineteenth-century romanticists was classical literature; and one of the greatest enthusiasms of Hector Berlioz, most romantic of the romanticists, was Virgil, the laureate of Augustan Rome. Accordingly, when the Princess Wittgenstein, mistress of his great and good friend Franz Liszt, suggested the Aeneid as the subject of an opera to Berlioz, he embraced it with all the enthusiasm of his romantic heart.

  With infinite labor and affection he wrote a vast libretto based on Books I, II, and IV of the epic (with a telling passage from The Merchant of Venice thrown in for good measure) and composed a score of imposing dimensions. Then began the still more heartbreaking business of trying to wangle a production. That took five whole years; and even then he might not have succeeded had he accepted an invitation to visit the United States. He turned it down partly because the Civil War was going on, partly because he hated Americans, whom he knew only as tourists. We have—quite foolishly, I feel, but also quite unconsciously—evened the score, for so far as I know, the work has never been staged here in its entirety although concert versions have been given.

  The French, however, were not a great deal more perspicacious. When the work was finally given in 1863, only the second half reached the stage-and that was remorselessly cut after a while. Berlioz never lived to see the entire work done anywhere. He wrote bitterly about this defeat; and when, twenty-one years after his death, a complete performance of Les troyens was staged, it took place in Germany and in the German language.

  When the entire work is given, two even
ings must be devoted to it; and as the first part is comparatively static, it has become customary in France to give only the second part, under the title of The Trojans at Carthage. The first part is called, then, The Capture of Troy and the whole simply The Trojans.

  Despite its comparatively few productions it is generally regarded as one of the few really great French operas. Even Donald Francis Tovey, one of the great critics of the twentieth century who had, generally, little good to say of Berlioz, wrote: “It is one of the most gigantic and convincing masterpieces of music-drama.”

  PART I: LA PRISE DE TROIE

  (The Capture of Troy)

  ACT I

  Scene 1 The Greeks have apparently abandoned the siege of Troy, and outside the walls of that fabled city, before the empty tent of the once-dreaded Achilles, the people of Troy are celebrating. News comes that the departed enemy has left behind, on the shore, a huge wooden horse as an offering to the goddess Pallas Athene, and they rush off to see the wonder. Only Cassandra is left behind—that beautiful daughter of King Priam who has been cursed by Apollo with the gift of uttering true prophecies which are never to be believed. She has seen the ghost of her brother Hector looking fearfully across the sea, and she knows that Priam is doomed. Yet no one will believe her, and even Coroebus, to whom she is engaged, believes her to be mad. Coroebus comes to her and tenderly asks her to rejoice with the others, but she is still full of gloomy prophecies: the streets of Troy will be running with blood; its virgins will be violated; and Coroebus himself will be killed by a Grecian spear. She implores him to flee the place; but Coroebus is a hero, and in the duet that follows, she speaks lovingly and comfortingly to him. The gloomy girl promises to marry him, but adds that death is already preparing their bridal bed.