Opera in the Twentieth Century – Part II
(1940-1970)
Gian Carlo Menotti: The Medium (1945) Cedille
Records CDR 90000 034, Joyce Castle,
Patrice Michaels Bedi: Chicago Opera Theater, Lawrence Rapchak cond.
Gian Carlo Menotti was born in Italy on July 7, 1911. There he studied at the Milan Conservatory before moving to the United States in 1927 to study composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. He splits his time now between the U.S. and Scotland where he is resident at the Yester House. He celebrated his 90th birthday last year.
The Medium is Menotti’s fourth opera (of a total 22 in 1992). Menotti’s earlier works are his most popular. The Medium won considerable praise despite criticisms that it lacked true musical innovation. Menotti’s operas are his strongest work; he shows a strong ability to write interesting vocal lines. This follows a lengthy Italian tradition of strong operatic composition. Here, the work is written in English. Interestingly, Menotti’s compositions from his earliest period are considered his strongest. His earlier works, in particular The Medium are often performed.
Of the opera, Menotti writes:
Although the opera was not composed until 1945, the idea… first occurred to
me in 1936 in the little Austrian town of St. Wolfgang near Salzburg. I had
been invited by my neighbors to attend a séance in their house. I readily accepted their invitation but, I must confess with my tongue in my cheek. However, as the séance unfolded, I began to be somewhat troubled. Although I was unaware of anything unusual it gradually became clear to me that my hosts, in their pathetic desire it believe actually saw and heard their dead daughter, Doodly (a name which I retained in the opera). It was I, not they who felt cheated. The creative power of their faith and conviction made me examine my own cynicism and led me to wonder at the multiple texture of reality.
Here we will listen to the séance scene where Doodly is called forward, ending in a beautiful aria from the dead daughter.
Sergei Prokofiev: War and Peace (1948) Erato 2292-45331-2 Visnevskaya, Miller, Ochman, Gedda, Ghiuselev, Orchestre National de France, Choeurs
de Radio France, Rostropovich cond.
Tr. 2-6, CD 3 “Tableau Eight
– first half”
Prokofiev’s majestic and epic opera is based on the famous novel by Tolstoy, itself a marvel of writing. The book has over five hundred characters so it should come as no surprise that the opera lasts over four hours! Prokofiev began work on the opera in April of 1941, and from therein worked on it, with only some brief interruptions, for twelve years until he passed away in 1953. On his deathbed Prokofiev asked that Rostropovich have the work performed and champion the opera in the world of classical music. In 1970, the famous Russian cellist led a performance of the work at the Bolshoi and finally recorded the work on 4 CD’s in 1988 for Erato.
The work is divided into thirteen tableaux. The shear weight of the original text provided countless challenges to Prokofiev. He tried to reduce the score to make it more performable in one evening. In terms of musical style, there is a clear relationship between the music of Russia’s foremost operatic composer, Mussorgsky. Indeed there are striking harmonic parallels between War and Peace and Boris Goudonov. The style of Mussorgsky and Prokofiev is however so original that the work remains fresh and inspired.
I thought it important to give such a long work proper play, so we will listen to half of an entire tableau from the Opera. I have chosen the eighth and I’m wary of tackling the plot of the opera just because of its shear complexity. But, this scene takes place on the battlefield. I am always amazed at the Russian emphasis and beautiful writing for lower voices. Here, the soldier’s singing is just fantastic. Prokofiev was criticized that his orchestration was too complex, too in a way, superbly done for the Opera, but I found it is quite majestic.
Hans Werner Henze: Boulevard Solitude (1952) Cascavelle VEL 1006
Vassilieva, Pruett, Falkman, Orchestre des Rencontres Musicales,
Anguelov cond.
Tr. 1 – “First
Tableau”
Hans Werner Henze was born in Germany in 1926. During the war he worked for the Germans as a propaganda producer before being arrested by the British and interned in a prisoner camp until the end of the war. After, he continued his musical studies at the Theatre in Cologne. During the fifties he visited Paris where he met Milhaud and Leibovitz. Here, he became interested in the story of Manon Lescaut and wrote Boulevard Solitude as a loose arrangement of the story. Henze writes about his work that:
In those years young people like myself were fascinated by classical ballet.
Many young German artists were impressed by the choreographies and the
scenery of the “Ballets de Paris” which were touring Germany in 1949. In my opera, one certainly feels this influence as well as that of Jean Cocteau, of jazz, of modern opera from Weill to Milhaud, and of all the beautiful and interesting works which we had been deprived of under the fascist regime.
Dodecaphony also appeared to us like deliverance and hope. It seemed to give us the possibility of expressing human feelings in a new and deeper way. We thought (not so wrongly) that free tuning would blend with todays world like other new acquisitions of our century, such as psychoanalysis and free poetry, with its objective way.
There is a fine “present” brilliance to Henze’s work. I particularly like the first scene with the train station speakers setting the work in the twentieth century. I’m probably way off base here, but I like the idea of a romantic link between the train station idea and the radical electronic experiments of Pierre Schaeffer at the time, particularly his Chemins de Fer.
Sort
of like Weill’s early work Der Zar lässt sich photographieren, Boulevard Solitude is set in Paris
but sung in German.
Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (1957, filmed
in 1961) Original Cast Recording,
available on Sony
What’s
there to say about probably one of the most famous Broadway musicals ever
written. I’ve actually had
the opportunity to play the work and it is a wonderful experience. Bernstein’s crazy meeting of jazz
and modern music is outstanding.
Unfortunately, later recordings by famous operatic singers have led poor
West Side Story down
the wrong track. If you fall over the
terrible operatic recording, run for your life! It’s probably the most disgusting piece of trash ever
done, luckily it seems to be out of print. But… be afraid!
Performed
at McGill some years back, the composition doesn’t cut it as opera, but
then again it changed the way we view operatic performance from this day
forward. Here
we’ll listen to two parts the Meeting Scene followed by Cool.
Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (1961 rev.)
London 417 428-2 Peter Glossop, Peter Pears, Michael
Langdon, Ambrosian Opera Chorus,
LSO, Britten cond.
Tr. 19-20 CD 3
Benjamin Britten needs little introduction. Without a doubt one of the most important composers of the twentieth century his music, along with Elgar, Holst and Vaughan-Williams, helped solidify the return of English music to the foreground of classical music. Britten was particularly adept at composing for opera. His long romantic partnership with the tenor Peter Pears may have helped but his ability to evoke geographical environments is almost bewildering.
I have chosen to present Billy Budd a work first composed in 1951 for the Festival of Britain but subsequently revised in 1961. It is the revised version that has become an operatic standard. Like most of his works, Billy Budd is a composition centred on social problems. The libretto is based on Herman Melville’s last novel, Billy Budd, Foretopman which was completed in 1891 but not published until 1924. The story revolves around the navy, here again allowing Britten to compose music of the sea, which he evokes so beautifully. Billy Budd is a young recruit to the Royal Navy, he quickly wins over the crew but the officers are wary because of the stammer he gets when he’s nervous. This mistrust leads to the officers spying on him and the eventual conflict between the superior officer Claggart and Budd. Claggart, unjustly accuses Budd of treason, which the captain doesn’t believe. But Budd, bewildered and stammering lunges at Claggart, punches him and kills him. The Captain of the ship, Vere, afraid of disorder and mutiny under his command ignores the obvious innocence of Budd and orders him executed.
We will listen to the fourth scene of Act Two in which Budd is executed and where the crew threatens mutiny. And finally, the Epilogue where the captain racked with guilt recalls Budd’s final words “ Starry Vere, God bless you”.
Britten’s
pacifist stand here shines through in this work. Britten’s musical language is not particularly
contemporary but the sheer power in his music is outstanding.
Sir Michael Tippett: King Priam (1961) Chandos 9406/7 Soloists/ London Sinfonietta/ Atherton
Tr. 1 – 6
The English composer Sir Michael Tippet was born in 1905 and died in 1998. Tippet is better known inside the United Kingdom than outside. Like Britten, Tippet shows a strong interest in humanism. Tippet’s second opera, King Priam was composed in 1961 and represented a break from his previous stylistic traits. Here he explores a kind of mosaic style of composition. The opera is divided into three acts and is based on Greek mythology. Priam explores the concept of devotion between family and the world around us. Following the opening brilliant prelude, Hecuba, Queen to Priam reveals a dream in which her baby will be the cause of the death of Priam, her husband and his father. Priam is torn, should he kill the child or not.
Bernd Alois Zimmerman: Die Soldaten (1965) Teldec (sorry I’ve lost the serial number) Stuttgart State Opera
Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten is probably forgotten not because it should be, but because the shear size and scope of the work makes it a difficult opera to perform. Like Prokofiev’s War and Peace the infrastructural demands means it is rarely performed. Zimmerman’s opera is a tragic love story where the idea of class structure is discussed. We’ll listen to scene II of Act IV where the lead takes his revenge on the officer who has stolen his love by slipping rat poison into his soup. The offensive officer is disgustingly brutal in language speaking of the woman as a whore and loose. The shear hatred here is so brilliantly expressed in Zimmerman’s musical language. The shrill, high tone of the officer is just great. It’s a quite complicated opera in terms of plot so I’m leaving an awful lot out here, but let’s just say the officer deserves it. His friend, who is also in the scene, then turns and kills the poisoning lead, but he is happy with his revenge and it doesn’t particularly matter to him. He embraces the sword. I find a striking similarity between Zimmerman’s work and Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu. Altogether, Zimmerman’s atonal language works well here and provides excellent balance to this terrible scene of vengeance and violent triumph.
Samuel Barber: Antony and Cleopatra (1966) Gamut CD
535 Cambridge University Chamber
Choir, cond. Timothy Brown
Tr. 8-9
Samuel Barber, is in my opinion, America’s most neglected and forgotten composer. Most people when they think of Barber, they think of his Adagio for Strings but Barber was a prolific composer who wrote wonderful and beautiful music. True enough, Barber’s music is not always terribly progressive; and I really hate that word! But compared to composers like Copland or Bernstein there is more honesty, more truth in his music. All of this of course is my personal opinion so let’s get to music.
In 1966, Barber composed Antony and Cleopatra for the Metropolitan Opera. The production was a complete disaster. The elaborate stage machinery broke down and there was outrage over the production. The resulting controversy tragically ended Barber’s career and he completed but a few works following the opera. In 1975, Menotti reworked the opera and this version achieved more considerable success.
Criticized for his lack of innovation, something that never beset Copland or Bernstein, Barber was neglected. Lately this seems to have been reversed. His violin concerto, certainly one of the marvels of the twentieth century violin repertoire has become quite popular. Barber’s strength lies in melody. Unfortunately, Antony and Cleopatra, based on the Shakespeare play, remains largely forgotten. There is only one recording of the work presently available on CD. This recording is an arrangement for three part female chorus and piano of two of the choruses. Let’s listen to both. The first, is Cleopatra’s lament on Antony’s death and the final is Caesar’s words on the death of Cleopatra. Both, though not particularly progressive show Barber’s brilliant use of tonal colour. The work is far too beautiful, in my opinion, to be forgotten.
Harry Somers: Louis Riel (1967) Centrediscs (LP) code worn out! Roxolana Roslak, soprano
Side 1, band 1
Isn’t it terribly ironic and a bit pathetic in a Chaikovski sort of way that what has been called Canada’s National Opera has been only staged twice and is not available on a recording. Harry Somers Louis Riel was produced in 1967 on the 100th anniversary of Canada’s birth. It celebrates the life of the métis leader Louis Riel, a true Canadian hero. First performed by the Canadian Opera Company it later travelled to Washington where it was performed in 1970.
The libretto is set in English and French, along with some Cree and Latin. In terms of musical style, Somers seems to have run the full length here: everything from serialism and counterpoint to the use of folk melody and electronics. Of course, without a recording I’m only able to play a small clip from the opera. Here Roxolana Roslak, a Ukrainian-born Canadian singer performs a part of the opera entitled Kuyas. Roslak played Riel’s wife Marguerite in the original 1967 performance. Suzanne Shulman is the flautist and Alan Beard plays percussion.
Penderecki: Die Teufel von Loudun (1969) Philips 446 328-2 Chor
und Orchester der Hamburgischen Staatsoper, cond. Marek Janowski.
Tr. 1
Penderecki is one of the granddaddy’s of twentieth century music. Poland, though a soviet bloc nation allowed a greater freedom of composition than any other communist nation. Penderecki’s most famous work, Threnody for the Victims of Hioshima was written in 1960, a work that Gorecki, here in Montreal, criticized for its untraditional performance practice. In 1956, Penderecki, who up to that point had been largely banned by the authorities, was allowed greater flexibility, as were all other composers in the so-called “October Revolt”. Progressive trends were encouraged.
The Devils of London is based on a work by Aldous Huxley. Boy, do people ever love executions. Well, I’ve decided to play another execution scene. This is from the beginning of Act III, when people arrive from the town to watch the protagonist’s execution for a crime he did not commit. Penderecki’s musical language is so haunting. It’s apocalyptic, unnerving in its dark foreboding. The clusters, groups of notes strung together, in Penderecki’s writing are almost suffocating. This scene takes place on stage in three separate areas. Here, each character performs his or her part, unaware of the other’s presence.