The opera being on condition that night time was Andrea Chénier, a seemingly wonderful alternative. I had already written the primary a part of the next article and I’ve left it unchanged. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to inform what I used to be up towards…
Evaluate of Everett Helm in Musical America:
The generally held notion that opening night time on the Metropolitan Opera is extra of a social than a creative event would seem to have some foundation. This 12 months, at any charge, it definitely did. The earliest opening in Met historical past occurred on October 15. Mink, ermine, diamonds, emeralds and white ties have been strongly in proof.
The opera chosen to start out this season on its merry means is a main instance of a “car” for the luxurious voices which the Met has. Umberto Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier” isn’t any operatic masterpiece. The story itself has dramatic potentialities galore and is superficially dramatic even on this model. However Giordano’s music is just too weak and too unoriginal to make the drama actually credible. The discrepancy between the cliché-ridden rating and the horrible occasions of the French Revolution is obvious. And the Met’s staging, which dates again to 1954, did nothing to bridge this hole.
So “Andrea Chénier” remained a car for Franco Corelli within the title position, whose excessive notes introduced forth storms of “bravos” and who seldom sang under a forte throughout the complete night; Eileen Farrell as Maddalena, whose typically good efficiency was marred by frequent pushing of her voice; and Robert Merrill, who gave a superb accounting of himself as Gerard. In supporting roles, Jean Madeira (Madelon), Rosalind Elias (La Bersi), Lorenzo Alvary (Mathieu) and Mignon Dunn (Countess) contributed remoted bits of excellent singing and appearing to a efficiency with out profile. Fausto Cleva carried out energetically and did what he might to convey continuity into this random manufacturing, which no quantity of flogging can convey to creative life.
That overview was truly reprinted on the Met Archive web site. I’ve little doubt that Mr. Bing agreed with it, however why, then, did he select it for Opening Evening? I might enterprise to say as a result of he knew that it, and all the opposite performances, would promote out. My thought is that it certain was a extra acceptable alternative for a gap night time than this season’s glowing Useless Man Strolling. Sadly, it was by no means broadcast. There are, nonetheless, many performances of Chénier from the Met and elsewhere with Mr. Corelli, and there are two excerpts from later within the run simply discovered on-line of Eileen Farrell singing her aria and the ultimate duet (which accounts for significantly greater than half her position).
When requested to do considered one of my exposés for Andrea Chénier, my rapid thought was, “Gee, I can simply copy the Gioconda essay and alter the phrase ‘Gioconda’ to ‘Chénier.’” Consigned to the dumpster of operatic trash, like Gioconda, Chénier enters the pantheon of unjustly maligned operas thereby falling into the class of “Operas that Critics Like to Hate.” And like Gioconda, the opera is haunted by the ghosts of Zinka Milanov, Renata Tebaldi, and Maria Callas. And if you happen to learn my Gioconda, you recognize who the winner can be.
Although Chénier was composed 20 years later, like Gioconda, it was written in a method and in a interval that was looking for one thing new. In line with the theme of the French Revolution and the considerably just lately printed A Story of Two Cities, Umberto Giordano was trying to compose a far, much better factor than had ever been finished: Verismo disguised as Grand Opera. Apart from Cav & Pag and, after all, Puccini’s masterpieces, Andrea Chénier with its rhapsodic and sweeping rating is the preferred of the verismo operas. On the stage Andrea Chénier generally is a tremendously thrilling expertise with sturdy characterizations for its principals, considerable small roles, and a vigorous, diversified plot filled with ambiance and incident. Names of actual individuals, actual characters, actual places abound. Having produced many faculty reveals, Andrea Chénier at all times makes me consider choosing the proper present for a college, one with many components for a lot of college students… Hi there, Dolly! and Oliver! are excellent examples.
Undeniably, Chénier’s greatest moments are excellent and fairly particular person. The Act III tribunal scene could be riveting. However, when the motion is taken away and one is left alone with simply the music, there could be some note-spinning passages during which the orchestra runs on and on with out saying something in explicit. The ballet is as banal as Adriana Levouvreur’s. In opposition to the highlights, a number of the pseudo-pastiche 18th-century music, although charming as background, just isn’t in itself fairly as much as normal and stands proud by a mile.
Ah, however these highlights! As Gioconda and Adriana are prima donna automobiles, Chénier is undoubtedly the tenor’s opera. He has 4 arias, one per act, and no less than the primary one, the impassioned “Improvviso” is likely one of the nice arias of the tenor repertoire. Actually the identical could be stated for the soprano’s “La mamma morta” and the baritone’s “Nemico della patria.” And that last duet! Maybe it’s not the best duet ever written, however it certain is probably the most thrilling.
Andrea Chénier was first carried out at La Scala on March 28, 1896. That’s the similar 12 months as La Bohème premiered. The libretto for each was written by Luigi Illica who had already written the libretti for La Wally and Manon Lescaut with Iris, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and plenty of others nonetheless to return. His private life generally imitated his libretti … he misplaced his proper ear in a duel over a girl. 
Giordano was born in Foggia within the southern a part of Italy on August 28, 1867. Attention-grabbing trivia: his center identify was Menotti. He studied on the conservatory in Naples. Because the youngest entrant, he managed to position sixth (out of 70) in an 1889 contest that was famously gained by Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana; he so impressed the writer, Casa Sonzogno, that he was given a contract. Mediocre if not outright failures ensued and he was dwelling the life worthy of the primary act of La bohème. He was profitable sufficient, although, and Sonzogno had sufficient religion in him to have an opera produced at La Scala in 1896. This was Andrea Chénier and proved to be his solely main success. Fedora, starring the then upcoming Enrico Caruso, adopted two years later. In 1915 his Madame Sans-Gêne premiered on the Metropolitan Opera. He died in Milan on November 12, 1948 on the age of 81never once more having achieved the success of Chénier.
Of the operas about which I’ve written, Don Carlo(s) has me probably the most because the characters and conditions have been primarily based on actual historic figures and occasions. Whereas Andrea Chénier is hardly as profound as Don Carlos, it has been thought-provoking to delve into the historical past and lifetime of the actual André Chénier.
A listener with some data of the French Revolution and the personalities behind it should most likely discover the opera extra colourful and fascinating than one with out that historic background. Set in Paris, the primary act shortly follows the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, although that’s by no means talked about and ignored by the aristocrats. The later acts happen 5 years later in the course of the 1794 Reign of Terror, the identical 12 months because the occasions in The Dialogues of the Carmelites happen. Giordano’s Chénier bears scant resemblance to the historic one. André Chénier was born in Constantinople (which is definitely talked about within the opera) on October 30, 1762, the high-born third son of Louis de Chénier, an officer on the French embassy. He spent most of his childhood in southern France with an aunt however in his teenagers moved to Paris along with his Greek mom. He turned a fervent admirer of every little thing associated to the traditional Greek language and civilization. He was stimulated by the artists and intellectuals he met at his mom’s la belle Grecque weekly soirées. Inside him was a delicate artist with a wealthy internal life, one which allowed him to specific himself with poetic inspiration. He rediscovered Greek traditional literature and gave it renewed magnificence in his personal highly effective verses restoring lyricism to French poetry. His poetry was emotive and sensual and pointed in the direction of the Romantic Motion.
Enchantment of the final victims of terror within the jail of St. Lazarus. Chénier seems seated on the foreground’s heart.
Portray by Charles Louis Müller, (Musée de la Révolution française).
With the storming of the Bastille, Chénier subsequently began a brief profession as a political journalist, preventing eloquently towards anarchy, injustice, and tyranny. In 1794, mistaken for his brother, he was arrested and despatched to St. Lazare Jail – often called “one of many guillotine’s most plentiful pantries” and the place he spent the final 4 and a half months of his life. There he met the poet Jean-Antoine Roucher (his buddy within the opera) who turned his confidant, and Aimée de Coigny, Duchess of Fleury. Chénier was attracted by her magnificence and allure and impressed by Roucher to compose his greatest verses, these of “The Younger Captive.” The poems he wrote in St. Lazare have been hid in a basket of laundry and despatched past the jail partitions to posterity. This contributed to the legend of Chénier and Aimée’s tragic love affair, which by no means did happen in actual life. Hardly the tragic muse, Aimée has a succession of husbands and lovers. She was let out with a bribe to the jail guard. In her memoirs, there is no such thing as a point out of Chénier and almost certainly she didn’t know she had been immortalized in verse and music.
André Chénier wrote his greatest poetry whereas within the jail of St. Lazare.
On July 24, 1794, Chénier was taken earlier than the Revolutionary Tribunal, the place he was accused with trumped-up fees of writing towards freedom in favor of tyranny. The sentence: rapid demise. On July 28, he was taken together with 37 different prisoners to what’s now the Place de la Concorde; a poet till his final minute, Chénier along with his buddy Roucher, each began reciting verses on their strategy to the guillotine.
Ten days earlier than Chénier’s demise, the painter Joseph-Benoît Suvée accomplished this portrait of him – not precisely the romantic determine we’d forged.
On the suitable Aimée de Coigny, La Jeune Captive
After we meet Chénier the character within the opera, it’s at a soirée on the property of the Countess de Coigny. The Countess is the superficial embodiment of a decadent society completely oblivious to the poverty round her and as Carlo Gérard, her footman, expresses, she represents those that are deaf to the voice of pity. Her daughter is Maddalena de Coigny; once we meet her, as anticipated, she is a naïve, spoiled teenager. Her agony is within the issue of deciding which frock to put on to make herself lovely.
As quickly as we meet Chénier, each the Countess unsuccessfully and Maddalena efficiently problem him to recite some verses. When he suggests love, Maddalena usually giggles (or cackles relying on the singer). However Chénier’s love is for that of nation. In his nice soliloquy, the Improvviso, he deftly constructs poetry to sound like a spontaneous and impassioned improvisation. Chénier is a thinker with beliefs of humanity and the way individuals ought to be handled; a poet obsessed by beliefs of magnificence, liberty, and honor. In his improvviso, he champions the downtrodden whereas denouncing the excesses of his hosts. It’s his dedication that originally shakes Maddalena however finally permits him to guide her jubilantly to demise.
Although Maddalena’s half is small in comparison with Chénier’s (two duets and one aria), it’s her development as a personality that gives the actual plot of the opera. In her aria, “La mamma morta,” Maddalena tells Gérard in regards to the demise of her mom within the flames as her house was burned by a mob. She tells of her companion Bersi promoting herself on the streets to supply for her (why Bersi is combined race is rarely defined). Throughout her distress, love got here to her and gave her the kiss of demise. She finishes by telling Gérard to take her physique for Chénier’s life. For a greater clarification, see Tom Hanks’s Oscar-winning narration of the aria within the film Philadelphia. Extra on that later.
The third principal, Carlo Gérard, is partly primarily based on Jean-Lambert Tallien, a number one determine within the Revolution. Although initially an lively agent of the Reign of Terror, he finally clashed with its chief, Maximilien Robespierre, which finally led to Robespierre’s downfall and the top of the Terror. As an opera determine, Gérard would possibly virtually be one other lecherous baritone apart from he begins and ends with good intentions. It’s in-between the place the issue arises: his lust for Maddalena. [With the current Trial of the Century happening as I write this, I can’t help but think that when that opera is written, the ex-President will have to be a baritone.] Anyway, the curiosity of the character is that he has finer emotions and a conscience as he admits ruefully within the final part of his monologue, “Nemico della patria,” one of many nice Italian baritone arias. It’s a distinctive depiction of a personality caught between lust and civility betraying his personal beliefs. Its richness of vitality and emotion and its riches of melodic creativeness not often fail to maneuver.
The primary act of Andrea Chénier is like a late 18th century model of La traviata’s early nineteenth century soirées. Title-dropping is rampant. Among the many fictional friends on the Countess’s soirée are Fléville a novelist, Filandro Fiorinelli, a musician who performs the harpsichord, and one other poet, The Abbé, apart from Chénier. Many names abound within the following acts, whether or not they’re in them or not, that aren’t fictional. Essential to know is that the king Louis XVI and his spouse Marie Antoinette have been each executed in 1793. What adopted was often called the Reign of Terror, from September 5, 1793 to July 27, 1794. Acts II, III, and IV happen close to the top of that interval. The Revolutionary Tribunal and the Committee for Public Security, underneath which Chénier was tried, have been established and through which over 15,000 have been guillotined in France. Jean-Paul Marat was a doctor turned journalist. He was immensely fashionable and have become often called “l’Ami du Peuple.” To the jealous Robespierre’s disgust, he turned a heroic martyr and shrines have been erected to his reminiscence after he had been famously killed in his bathtub by a revolutionist, Charlotte Corday. This was additional immortalized within the play Marat/Sade. Maximilien Robespierre (not within the opera) was probably the most influential and most feared member of the Public Security Committee. Antoine Fouqier-Tinville was the general public prosecutor of the Tribunal. He was nicknamed the Supplier of the Guillotine. René Dumas (no relation that I do know of to the better-known Dumas-père and Dumas-fils) was the President of the Tribunal. Charles-Henri Sanson (not within the opera) was the general public executioner. François Chabot (additionally not within the opera) was a former friar identified to have been concerned in dishonest monetary offers. When Gérard assaults Chénier on the finish of Act 2, he cries “I shall steal you from Sanson!” to which Chénier replies, “You battle like a monk. Am I preventing Chabot?” I suppose it made sense to them. One of many accusations made towards Chénier within the third act is that he fought alongside Charles François Dumouriez, the French Minister for Europe and International Affairs. He had been a basic who gained sign victories for the French Revolution in 1792–93 after which traitorously abandoned to the Austrians.
To assist make a little bit extra sense, clothes referred to within the opera contains “sans-culottes,” which means, “with out breeches.” As a result of they donned staff’ lengthy trousers as a substitute of the knee-breeches of aristocratic costume, those that wore them have been the rabid revolutionaries largely of the decrease class. The Incroyables and their feminine counterparts, the Merveilleuses, have been members of a modern aristocratic subculture who adopted exaggerated modes of costume. The incroyable was the dandy of this era affecting a big hat tilted at a rakish angle. The merveilleuse wore an extended, free generally revealingly-cut costume, sandals or naked toes, and a unbelievable bonnet.
Ever marvel why Mario del Monaco’s hat is tipped?
The Incroyables and the Merveilleuses have been members of a modern aristocratic subculture in Paris whereas the sans-culotte undoubtedly weren’t.
Subsequent time, I’ll be discussing the singers that made this opera so thrilling. I wager you’ll be able to guess who they could be…
