English Opera

…an unkind voice might say, ‘is there any?’ Well, there wasn’t much after Henry Purcell (1659-1695) whose ‘Dido and Aeneas’ is the first English opera and is still performed and recorded. He composed in the Italian baroque style; together with his church and state music, there are five masques- more theatre music than opera. The log gap that followed his short life extends right down to the twentieth century, unless we include the operas of George Frederic Handel whom we have met, but though living in England, was German by birth. There has been a marked revival of many of his operas in the last fifty years, and many of them have been recorded. (His ‘Alceste’ is presently part of the English Touring Opera programme).

But then Benjamin Britten burst onto the scene . His first opera, Paul Bunyan, was written in 1941 during his years in the U.S.A, but it was the first performance of ‘Peter Grimes’ in 1945 which ushered in a new era of English music for the stage. (I have had the original recording conducted by Britten and own the Colin Davies performance which I saw at Covent Garden). It was a enormous success that was never exceeded by any of the many operas that were to follow - chamber operas such as ‘The Turn of the Screw’, and others on the same scale as ‘Peter Grimes’; ‘Billy Budd’ is now enjoying rave revues at English National Opera, with Simon Keenlyside in the name part. I have seen the Opera North’s production of ‘Gloriana’ several times and although its first performance at the time of the Queen’s Coronation confused an audience who had come to praise royalty rather than be faced by its fallibility, years afterwards it has come into its own.

Although Britten was criticised for a fluency that some felt was superficial – and certainly works in various genres poured out of him without pause until his tragic stroke that shortened his life – he remains the most significant and distinctive British composer of his generation. A complicated man, his long relationship with Peter Pears was an inspiration for much of his music. Micheal Tippett (1905-1998) had an uneasy friendship with Britten (as did many others). His house, now part of a university, is near to where we presently live. I find his music difficult and his operas are not helped by the fact that he wrote his own (sometimes obscure) librettos. But there is a quite unique and stirring energy about his compositions that I find highly emotional. Hear the Ritual Dances from his first opera ‘The Midsummer Marriage’, and you will see what I mean.

B.R.

Italian composers Verdi and Puccini

The operas of Verdi and Puccini form the basic repertoire of every opera house in the world. But the two composers are very different. Giuseppe Verdi was born in 1813 and settled in Milan in 1839, despite the fact that the conservatory there had refused him a place seven years earlier. Despite disappointments and then having to face the tragic death of his daughters in infancy and then of his wife, his ‘Nabucco’ was a great success. A distinctive and innovative series of operas followed in swift succession and were performed far beyond Italy, despite their special appeal to his country as it struggled for unity and freedom.

Verdi continued and built on the style of his immediate predecessors and carefully chose librettos with which he had political sympathies. His music became richer in harmony and orchestration in his middle and late works. First performances of some of these were given in Paris, St Petersburg and ‘Aida’ in Cairo marking the opening of the Suez Canal. His final operas were the darkly dramatic ‘Othello’ and the gorgeous ‘Falstaff’. He spent his last years in Milan, rich, respected and visited by the famous.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was born in the lovely city of Lucca and I have visited his home there. He was so moved by a performance of Aida in 1880 that he vowed to become an operatic composer himself. He studied in the conservatory in Milan. His first success was ‘Manon Lescaut’ and made him known outside Italy. ‘La Boheme now his most popular work, was poorly received at its first performance in Turin, unlike ‘Tosca’ which Rome loved. ‘Madame Butterfly’ in its revised form became a great favourite. The cowboy opera ‘La faniculla del West’ was given first at the Metropolitan in New York. ‘La Rodine’ regarded by many as his weakest work – I thought it delightful when I saw it a few years ago – was unveiled in Monte Carlo. ‘Il trittico’ his three one-act operas were his next published works, of which the amusing ‘Gianni Schicchi’ is the best known. Finally, ‘Turandot’ not quite finished by his death, and the most extraordinary of his operas. (I long to see it).There is the well known story of Toscanini ending the first performance, and turning to the audience in tears as he said ‘and here the master laid down his pen’.

Despite the sentimentality there is no music quite like Puccini’s, its soaring melodies, sensitive orchestration and memorable arias and duets make him perhaps the best introduction to the genre for people who come to opera for the first time.

B.R.

Italian Opera

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was the first Italian composer to win international fame, although his contemporaries Bellini and Donizetti come a close second. His comic operas were performed to great acclaim in the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, where he was musical and artistic director. A similar post in the Theatre-Italian in Paris saw first performances of further operas in which the chorus took an increasing part and a large orchestra was given greater prominence. His more than thirty operas were loved for their spirit, wit and grace. ‘Il barbiere di Seville’ remains a firm favourite as do the more serious ‘La Cenerentola’ and Guillaume Tell’. He visited Vienna in 1822 and met Beethoven. At 37 he retired from opera composition and for the rest of his life wrote little else and, remaining in Paris, became there a centre of artistic and musical life.

Vincenzo Bellini(1801-1835) was a Sicilian who although studying in Naples triumphed in Milan and in London where four of his operas were produced at Covent Garden and the King’s Theatre. He travelled to Paris during Rossini’s time there, was very much influenced by him, and the two composers became friends. His operas have broad sweeping melodies and strong story lines. I have seen ‘I Puritani’ performed in Amsterdam and ‘Norma’ in Covent Garden. There is a simple beauty about his music which is very appealing.

Gaetano Donizetti(1797-1848) born of a poor family in Lombard also had a base in Naples where his flow of operas were performed ( he composed two to five every year) and some of which he conducted. As N.G.D.M. says, his rather florid operas survive through their ‘spontaneous melodies, their effortless dramatic pace, their fiery climaxes and their …romantic vitality’. I was present at a performance of ‘Maria Stuarda’ recently and there is a prestigious recording of ‘La fille du regiment’ , Joan Sutherland’s finest performance on disc some say with the young Pavarotti’s famous repeated high C (on band 13 of the first disc!). Verdi whom we meet next time, acknowledged his influence.

All three composers responded to the Romantic spirit prevalent in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century, represented more in England and France by literature rather than by music. They also had the advantage of a generation of superb singers who relished the elaborate scores written for them, challenging the flexibility and range of their voices.

B.R.