"Most opera is grand, but not all operas are grand operas." Thus we move from Puccini and Adams to the grandest of the grand master, Verdi. (The quote is from Dallas Opera's very useful Opera 101 site for newcomers, and Dallas can be our Opera House of the week: check out their digital resources here.)
Enough of that popular stuff and that modern stuff. We return to the grand traditions of opera, nineteenth century style, to finish our term with the great Verdi. Specifically with his Don Carlo, about as "grand" as they come, since it was his longest work. (At the final rehearsal they realised the audience would miss the last trains so Verdi made the first of very many rewrites to cut it.) And it's grand because it's all about Spanish grandees. Read all about them here and the current Don Carlos here. Here's a quick account of the ghastly story of the historical Carlos the opera is about. Spoiler alert: the opera is much more romantic if not jollier.
That "Grand Opera" label usually applies to a (19th century) segment of (European) opera history during which opera expressed in music (not spoken dialogue) and lavish costume and settings, the historical or mythological settings and stories of (usually) the upper class heroic characters. The French Grande Operas led the way, and Don Carlos (the 's' in French wasn't pronounced though it is in Spanish) was premiered at Paris Opera in 1867. Its French-language libretto was based on a play by Germany's classical playwright, Friedrich Schiller, who, like Verdi, was concerned with issues of human freedom and religious fanaticism. A mere couple of months later, it premiered in Italian at Covent Garden, and it's now most often performed in Italian translation, usually under the title Don Carlo (no 's').
Viva Verdi
Do you know much about Verdi? You doubtless know many of his arias. Lots to learn, but it's best to meet him through the marvelous music. Try this site for highlights, including a wonderful aria from Don Carlos. There's a brief introduction to the man and his life on the ENO site here. And of course a very long one on Wiki.
But why is Don Carlo not a top pops opera?
Don Carlo is one of the least performed of the Verdi operas, partly because of its monumental length and huge settings, and partly because of the many major roles requiring brilliant singers. Perhaps, too, partly because it's a complicated piece of history, not a clear dramatic story. "When the composer Ferdinand Hiller asked Verdi whether he preferred Aida or Don Carlos, Verdi replied that Aida had "more bite and (if you'll forgive the word), more theatricality".
But - why? Here's a guess.
With the obvious exception of Wagner’s Ring, there is no opera that is more endlessly fascinating – on many levels. Certainly Don Carlos is Verdi’s richest, most complex, and ambitious work as well as his longest. The composer was basically at the height of his powers even though Aïda, the Requiem, Otello, and Falstaff were still to come.
Yet, despite its magnificent music and what many consider to be his greatest opera, Don Carlos is not a “popular” opera and it remains his most problematic. It’s easy to see why and it’s not because it lacks “hit” tunes or the maze of the many versions. At the forefront of problems is the very equivocal, enigmatic, weak figure of the title character and at the other end is what could be the most unsatisfying ending of any opera.
But yes, it's now coming strongly into popularity - an interesting comment on modern audiences? "The complex characters and dark tone of Don Carlo may have kept it from being as immediately accessible as, say, Rigoletto. But those very qualities have proved appealing in the 20th and 21st centuries. Today, Don Carlo is often regarded as Verdi's greatest opera."
I wonder, too, if it's because it's about two strong women? The "hero" is indeed a weak figure - even when Domingo plays him. Just as the historic Carlo, he's unpredictable and frankly odd. Perhaps, as this commentator suggests, Schiller and Verdi alluded to the historic ailments and behaviour of the prince?
But like Shakespeare, Schiller and Verdi were more concerned with a dramatic or poetic truth and willing to forego mundane facts to achieve it. However, I strongly feel that Verdi and the librettists could not entirely ignore Carlos’s sanity, no matter how theatrically questionable it might be.
Otherwise how can one explain the character’s permanent state of vulnerability or the fact that he becomes utterly distraught at the slightest provocation? The indications in the score make this clear: “in a dying voice”, “in exaltation,” “in delirium,” “he falls in a swoon on the grass.” Carlo’s father calls him “insensato” – madman. Even his best friend Rodrigo refers to him to Eboli as delirious and mad.
La Scala last year produced Don Carlos with a dream cast (including Anna Netrebko as Elisabetta - listen here - and Elīna Garanča as Eboli - here's her "O don fatale") to rave reviews. Here's Bachtrack. And here's Seenandheard. The women and their fraught relationships are the focus of these productions. And the duets for soprano and mezzo are ravishing.
We are watching two of the greats - Freni and Brumby play these fascinating women. Here's Grace Brumby's Eboli with "O don fatale". (By the way it means 'o fatal gift' - nothing to do with Don C,)
History speaks
This is one of several operas in which Verdi dramatized his passion for liberty and especially liberty from religious fanaticism. (Aida's another statement about abuse of religious power.) Its complicated plot makes much more sense if you see it in that context.
Don Carlo is set fairly accurately during the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V (who was also father of King Phillip II and grandfather of Don C.) was clinging to Catholic power in the face of religious schisms. Suffering from health issues and stress, he abdicated from both thrones in 1556 and hid in a monastry, dying there. Now Philip (ably assisted by the Spanish Inquisition) is fanatically fighting Protestantism, especially in the Low Countries which Spain then held. People of Flanders are the victims portrayed in the opera, and here it leaves history: Carlos is encouraged by his friend Rodrigo, the Duke of Posa, to fight for Flanders as a distraction from his fury that his father has married his true and betrothed love Elizabeth. (And spoiler alert: defying history, Charles - or his ghost? - appears in the final act, saving Don Carlo from being executed, with all present recognizing him as the supposedly deceased Holy Roman Emperor.)
Entangled with this history is a much more operatic-memed triangular (or quadrilateral?) love story of fidelity, jealousy, misalliances, misinterpreted assignation letters etc. No historic justification - it's more like Marriage of Figaro done tragic - but in both those operas it makes for glorious, heartbreakingly superb duets. So this grandest of Verdi's operas holds some of his most intimate, beautiful music. "In this work, the personal and the political intersect in a uniquely convincing and powerful way." Check out this interesting discussion.
Listen to an example - the Act 1 duet of Carlo and Elisabetta, "Io vengo a domandar grazia alla Regina" - he's asking her for permission to go to Flanders to escape his infatuation for her, his (now) stepmother.
OK, do you still want the full synopsis? It's here.
and Wiki has the extraordinary story of the genesis and revisions of this huge opera - and a synopsis - here.
And for libretto-readers, here's the full amazing work.
Our production
The 1983 Met production was early in the Met's revival history for this opera, and the cast is wonderful : Plácido Domingo as Carlo, Mirella Freni as Elisabetta and Grace Bumbry as Princess Eboli, a role she 'owned' in later years.
Classical Music review of recordings has interesting comments: "This is another sumptuous cast, in a typically plush New York Metropolitan production, and equally plushly conducted by its music director James Levine. I must admit that I could do with a more athletic reading of the score, but the results are beautiful if less dark-hued than this sombre masterpiece ideally requires. Tenor Plácido Domingo is in fine voice, though as often one feels he offers a generalised account of his part – and Don Carlo needs to be built up by his performer, or he can seem merely wet. The lower voices, male and female, are impressive, with mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry an especially strong Princess Eboli, the kind-of villainess of the opera."
How Verdi loved the mezzo voice! On the right, Grace Bumbry as Eboli, (undated) and here, her coloratura performance 'Nel giardin del bello" to the ladies of the court. (Here's Garanca with that song in concert.)
And here's an obituary of Bumbry that tells you a little more about the woman with that wonderful mezzo voice.
Lyn 19/6/24
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