maria de rudenz - i
Transcript
maria de rudenz - i
Gaetano Donizetti MARIA DE RUDENZ ORC 16 in association with Box cover: The Bride, or Novice Taking the Veil, c. 1887 by Mattijs Maris (1839-1917). Bridgeman Art Library. Booklet cover: Caroline Ungher, Donizetti’s first Maria de Rudenz Opposite: Gaetano Donizetti commemorative medal –1– Gaetano Donizetti MARIA DE RUDENZ Dramma tragico in tre parti Libretto by Salvadore Cammarano Maria de Rudenz …………………......……………………Nelly Miricioiu Matilde di Wolff, her cousin…………......………………....Regina Nathan Corrado di Waldorf……………………….....………….Robert McFarland Enrico, his brother……………..…………….....………………Bruce Ford Rambaldo, an old retainer………..……………......….Matthew Hargreaves Il Cancelliere del Castello………………...……….......……..Nigel Douglas Knights, ladies, retainers, servants, nuns..................Geoffrey Mitchell Choir Geoffrey Mitchell, chorus master Philharmonia Orchestra Leader: Christopher Warren-Green Harp: Aline Brewer Bass clarinet: John Stenhouse David Parry, conductor –2– Producer and Artistic director: Patric Schmid Managing director: Stephen Revell Assistant conductors: William Lacey and Peter Selwyn Repetiteur: Fiona MacSherry Italian coach: Marco Impallomeni Notes and English libretto: Jeremy Commons Performing edition prepared by Robert Roberts and Patric Schmid Recording engineer: Robert Auger Assistant engineer and editing: Chris Braclik Recorded at All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London September 1997 Francesco Bagnara’s set designs for the original production in Venice are reproduced with kind permission of the Museo Correr, Venice –3– Napoleone Moriani (Enrico), Carolina Ungher (Maria) and Giorgio Ronconi (Corrado), the cast of the first performance of Maria de Rudenz at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice 1838 CONTENTS Maria de Rudenz by Jeremy Commons......................................Page 10 Performance history by Tom Kaufman......................................Page 69 The story..................................................................................Page 75 Argument.................................................................................Page 81 Die Handlung...........................................................................Page 86 Agromento...............................................................................Page 92 Libretto....................................................................................Page 97 –5– CD 1 57’49 PART ONE Prelude and chorus [1] ‘Laude all’ Eterno amor primiero Aria – Corrado [2] ‘Eglia ancora non giunge’ Duetto – Corrado, Enrico [3] ‘Fratello!’ [4] ‘Qui di mie pene un angelo’ [5] ‘Fratello! Enrico! Abbracciami’ Aria – Maria, Rambaldo [6] ‘Surse giorno fatal’ [7] Cavatina ‘Si, del chiostro penitente’ [8] Cabaletta ‘Sulla mia tomba gelida’ Scena e coro – Rambaldo [9] ‘Qui de’vassali move’ Finale primo [10] ‘Matilde!’… ‘(Chi vegg’io!)’ [11] Larghetto ‘Chiuse al dì per tel le ciglia’ [12] Stretta ‘Maria, di fidi sudditi’ -6- Time Page 4’45 99 5’38 100 3’13 5’16 3’52 101 105 109 5’10 4’04 4’14 111 115 116 5’04 118 4’54 6’18 5’11 121 125 127 CD 2 75’24 PART TWO Time [1] Preludio 3’55 Scena ed Aria – Enrico, Rambaldo, Maria [2] ‘Ebben, colei?’ 4’11 [3] Aria ‘Talor nel mio delirio’ 4’37 [4] Cabaletta ‘Al nuova dì? Ah!…’ 3’16 Duetto finale – Maria, Corrado, Rambaldo, Matilde, Chorus [5] ‘Che fu!… Son io!’ 5’51 [6] ‘Fonte d’amare lagrime’ 7’51 [7] ‘È d’altra il cor… Nè franger’ 4’03 Page 131 131 137 139 140 145 149 PART THREE Chorus [8] ‘Sì, quell’ombra sepolcrale’ Duetto – Enrico, Corrado, Rambaldo, Chorus [9] ‘Tardi, ah! Tardi giungesti’ [10] ‘A me cui financo’ [11] ‘Vengo… sì’ Chorus [12] ‘O giovinetta sposa’ –7– 4’29 151 3’41 4’10 3’07 155 158 162 3’00 164 Time Aria finale – Maria, Corrado, Rambaldo, Chorus [13] ‘Ah! fra gl’amplessi tuoi’ 2’14 [14] ‘Mostro iniquo, tremar tu dovei’ 3’59 [15] ‘Al misfatto enorme e rio’ 6’00 Page 164 166 169 APPENDIX Chorus [16] ‘Fu vista in arme sul far del giorno’ Aria – Enrico, Chorus [17] ‘Che pensi Enrico?.. Il pensar che per te peno’ –8– 2’10 172 7’54 173 Nelly Miricioiu MARIA DE RUDENZ Amor, vendetta, gelosia, furore: Chi vincerà? (Love, revenge, jealousy, fury: Which of you will triumph?) Maria de Rudenz, Part II Non ha legge, né confine Oltraggiato, immense amore. (When an immense love is outraged It knows neither law nor limit.) Maria de Rudenz, Part III ANY ART, it goes almost without saying, must always be changing and developing. If it is going to reflect the age that produced it, it must keep abreast of that age. That is to say, it must always be seeking new topics, or at least new and contemporary insights into topics, and new modes of expression. Its territory and its boundaries cannot remain fixed and immovable. Within an enormous landscape of initiative and experimentation, however, there will be some departures which prove more profitable than others. Some will excite the enthusiasm of the public, while others will provoke its wrath and indignation. History, too, will reveal that some new avenues led to fertile ground, while others ended in barren waste. Some new departures, we may –10– decide, would have been better not tried. Those of us who believe that art should be positive and constructive in its effect – should enlarge the human spirit and expand our sympathies and understanding – have only to look at many contemporary films and television programmes, with their emphasis upon crime and gratuitous and sadistic violence, to find ourselves asking not whether such films are well made, but whether indeed they ought ever to have been made at all. History may eventually endorse our doubts. But while it may be of great concern in the immediate present whether such films and programmes should be made and screened, it is perhaps equally right and necessary that we should find ourselves challenged, and our assumptions questioned. The arts can scarcely be said to be flourishing and developing unless they make us think and react – make us pause, reflect, and reformulate our ideas. It also follows that what seems provocative and perhaps shocking to one age may come to be regarded as acceptable, perhaps even tame, to the next. Yet it is equally possible, even as the provocative settles into its historical context, that it may retain something – some element or degree – of the extreme quality that affronted its original audience. Either way, the fascination to a later age is to try to rediscover the qualities that were found so provocative – and to re-imagine the indignation that greeted them. Maria de Rudenz is a work that demands just such an approach. It is an important opera, since it is the last Donizetti produced – before beginning to modify his concepts and his style under the influence of Nourrit – he wrote –11– Poliuto, and then, following the prohibition of that work, left Italy for Paris. Maria de Rudenz represents, therefore, the culmination of a long-developing stream of activity that had produced such operas as Anna Bolena, Parisina, Maria Stuarda and Lucia di Lammermoor. But at the same time it is a treatment of a subject that stirred up such a hornets’ nest of opposition that, roundly condemned by its first Venetian audiences, it received only two, or at the most three, performances. It was the most resounding fiasco of Donizetti’s career. As we trace its history, we must keep asking ourselves such questions as ‘What induced him to accept such a subject in the first place?’ and ‘Does the music he composed for it justify that choice?’ It is, fortunately, an opera for which much documentation survives, and since its genesis is of considerable interest in itself, we shall trace it in some detail. It begins in February 1837, when Donizetti was in Venice for the premiere of Pia de’Tolomei, an opera which was given, not at the Teatro La Fenice – which had burned down in December 1836 – but at the Teatro Apollo. Only two days after that premiere, on 20 February 1837, the composer signed a further contract with the impresario Alessandro Lanari, to write ‘una grande opera seria’ for the opening of the carnival of 1838 when, it was confidently expected, the Teatro La Fenice would be rebuilt and ready for reopening. Donizetti’s fee was to be 10,000 francs. And the librettist whose services both composer and impresario hoped to engage was Salvatore Cammarano. –12– The contract, it must be pointed out, was signed well before Lanari had any idea whether or not he would be successful in securing the management of the Fenice for its reopening season. Consequently he was at some pains to spell out his position when he wrote (from Bologna) to Donizetti in Naples on 22 May 1837: Before the end of this month it will be decided whether or not I am to have the management of the Fenice. If I am, I shall have no need to ask favours of you: let us wait, then, for the matter to be decided, and then we can agree on the subject, which, as you know, must be approved by the Presidency [the three-man directorate of the theatre]. In the meantime I can tell you that there will be two prima donnas, Ungher and Tadolini, as well as Moriani and Ronconi. Matters did not, however, work out either as quickly or as easily as Lanari hoped. At the beginning of the following month, on 2 June, he wrote further, reporting that the ‘Società’ – the controlling board of the theatre – had met on 28 May, but that doubts had arisen over whether the reconstruction could be completed in time for the traditional opening date of Carnival, 26 December. They had decided, therefore, to put back the reopening until the spring of 1838, when, moreover, it was hoped that ‘some Artist of European-wide fame’ might be available to lend extra brilliance to the occasion. Lanari found himself in considerable embarrassment. Earlier, in his confidence that the theatre would be ready for 26 December, he had gone –13– ahead and engaged his company of singers. He was, therefore, now faced with having them on his payroll but with nowhere for them to sing. His letter went on to explain that the ‘excellent’ Ungher had generously released him from his obligation, and then asked Donizetti if he would be willing to postpone the date on which his opera was to be produced: if Lanari gained the management of the Fenice for spring 1838, it could be given in the Carnival of 1839. Such an arrangement, he suggested, would leave Donizetti free to accept any advantageous offer that might come his way for the approaching Carnival of 1838. Donizetti’s reply, while appearing to be accommodating, in fact protected his position in every eventuality. Writing from Naples on 8 June he said: I do not wish to be a weight about your neck, just as you do not wish to be a cause of loss to me. You well know that I cannot accept engagements outside Naples for two seasons in succession, that is to say Carnival and spring, so that I could not serve someone else in the first and you in the second. Let us agree as follows. I shall not hold myself engaged with you for the Carnival… but shall write to Maestro Pedroni in Milan1, with the aim that, should he be able to find me another contract with the same terms (apart from the singers – I should have to hear who they were) for _______________________________________ 1 Pedroni was a member of the publishing house of Ricordi, and was clearly involved in the negotiation of contracts. –14– Carnival, or even for spring, I shall accept, and shall regard myself as released from my obligations to you. If, on the other hand, Lanari could make him a firm and immediate offer for spring 1838, he agreed to abandon any attempt to find an alternative contract for Carnival, and to regard himself as committed to Lanari. Fortunately all these speculations proved unnecessary, for by the time Lanari next wrote, on 23 June, the Società had determined that the Fenice must at all costs be ready to reopen on 26 December. They were, however, beginning to meddle in other areas. They sought, as Lanari explained, a variation in his Prospectus: This initially consisted of wishing to see either Pedrazzi substituted for Moriani, or Marini for Ronconi; now, however, they have restricted themselves exclusively to the first of these alternatives. Knowing how little the prospect of losing Moriani, at this time a young singer of very great promise, would please Donizetti, he added the postscript: See what kind of Directors I have to deal with. You know better than I, and without wronging Pedrazzi, how much preferable Moriani is; yet those gentlemen do not want him at any cost. If you could see your way to write the Presidency a letter pointing out the mistake they’re making, perhaps they might think again. If you do it, though, do it at once because there’s no time to be lost. –15– There was still worse to come. On 12 July Lanari wrote further, saying that he had just managed to gain provision for another bass in the company – he had in mind either Marini or Cosselli – when Count Boldù, the Mayor of Venice and president of the Società, had complicated matters by reverting to his idea of engaging an ‘Artist of European-wide fame’. The artist whom he had all along had in mind, to Lanari’s distress, was Giuditta Pasta, even though by this time she was in vocal decline and having increasing difficulty with pitch. By comparison with Carolina Ungher, the fiery German soprano who had already proved herself in Parisina and Belisario, Pasta could be regarded only as a liability. In high dudgeon, therefore, Lanari had withdrawn his application to assume the management, saying that he regarded himself as free and released from all obligation. This threat to withdraw entirely brought matters, as he had doubtless foreseen, to a crisis, and he found himself summoned to Venice – or, as it turned out, to Padua, since entering Venice would have entailed a two weeks’ quarantine2 – to try to resolve the situation. The resulting confrontation was, as he told Donizetti on 30 August, marked by ‘grandi contrasti’ – great disagreements – between himself and the representative of Count Boldù, who could not himself be present since he had fallen gravely ill. The Società was ______________________________________ 2 As a result of the cholera epidemic that had swept through Italy in 1836-1837, there were strict sanitary regulations in force in most of the states which made up pre-unification Italy. Any traveller wishing to pass from one part of Italy to another was likely to be detained in quarantine for several weeks at the frontier town or port of entry to any particular state. –16– apparently prepared to yield on the question of Moriani or Pedrazzi, but not upon that of Carolina Ungher or Giuditta Pasta. The result was a compromise. Pasta, it was proposed, should sing in 20 performances instead of 40, and Ungher in 30. Pasta should sing in an ‘old’ (ie: already produced elsewhere) opera – probably Mercadante’s Il Giuramento – and in a new opera, also by Mercadante (Le Due Illustri Rivali). Ungher, on the other hand, should launch the season with Rosmunda in Ravenna, an opera by the young Neapolitan composer Giuseppe Lillo, and should then appear in Donizetti’s opera. Donizetti’s opera, it will be noted, was no longer expected to open the season – at some point of the negotiations the proposed order had changed, and the risky honour of facing the public on St Stephen’s day had now passed to Lillo. Eventually this whole protracted argument regarding the preference to be given to Pasta or Ungher proved ‘a tale… full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’, for the ensuing negotiations with Pasta came to nothing: she did not participate in the 1837-38 season. Consequently Lanari’s company, as he had hoped from the start, consisted of Ungher, Tadolini, Moriani and Ronconi. Of these, the only one not to take part in Donizetti’s opera was Eugenia Tadolini, though he was offered her services and could have used her had he so wished. Even while these negotiations and manoeuvrings had been underway, consideration was also being given to the subject that Donizetti and Cammarano were to set. On 25 August, the day Lanari had set out to attend –17– GIACOMO ROPPA Enrico Ancona, 1841 GIUSEPPINA STREPPONI Maria Ancona, 1841 the meeting in Padua, he had written to the composer: In the meantime I hope that you will have thought about a subject for the opera you are to write, and that Camarano [sic] will have prepared two [scenarios] – that is to say, one for three characters, for Ungher, Moriani and Ronconi, and the other for four, or in other words Ungher, Tadolini, Moriani and Marini, according to the manner in which the Presidency will wish to be served. The first subject that Donizetti and Cammarano proposed was not that which eventually became Maria de Rudenz but a French melodrama, Un Duel sous le Cardinal de Richelieu, by Lockroy and Badon. As a dramatic plot suited to the temperaments of the singers at his disposal, it caught Donizetti’s imagination. As he wrote to his brother-in-law Antonio Vasselli on 19 September, ‘It is effective drama, I particularly see in it both comic and tragic, something that matters to me very much for both Roncorni and Ungher.’3 It was not a suggestion, however, which was destined to be adopted. Less than two weeks later, in some dismay, Donizetti informed Vasselli that: The poet finds the subject for Venice difficult, and yesterday told ___________________________________________ 3 An intriguing and not altogether explicable remark, since we nowadays remember both these singers as having specialised in serious opera. The reference to Roncorni, if not to Ungher, may, however, be partly explained by reference to the early years of his career. When he made his début, in Pavia in 1831, he attracted attention for a beautiful and flexible but, as yet, not very large baritone voice. Trained by his father, the tenor Domenico Ronconi, who monitored his career very carefully, he sang at first in smaller rather than larger theatres, and in roles that did not unduly tax his voice. These were often in semi-serious rather than serious operas – works –20– me… that I must set another. I have the pains of Purgatory in my body on account of such uncertainties… All day yesterday I read, but all subjects steeped in blood! God knows when the poet will come, and what I shall have to compose! If Un Duel sous le Cardinal de Richelien was thus set aside, we may note that it was later taken up again, and in 1843 became Maria di Rohan. In the immediate present, however, Vasselli, responding to his brother-in-law’s needs, sent down to Naples the three volumes of Bulwer Lytton’s Rienzi. This alternative proved no more satisfactory, for, as Donizetti commented on 5 October: As for Rienzi, it doesn’t seem to me suitable, at least so far (I’m at the third volume). What do you think? A man who seeks to establish free government? What is extraordinary is not that he should have abandoned or rejected these subjects, but that, given his earlier remark about ‘subjects steeped in blood’, he should have accepted Cammarano’s next suggestion: La Nonne Sanglante, a ______________________________________ such as Il Furioso all’Isola di San Domingo and Torquato Tasso, both given at the Teatro Valle in Rome 1833. Not only was the Teatro Valle a small theatre: these operas were also rather more intimate than fully serious operas, and did not call for quite such grandiloquent vocal histrionics. By the last years of the decade, Ronconi was graduating to fully serious work, but Donizetti may well still have thought of him as an artist who shone best in slightly less taxing operas. –21– French melodrama of 1835 by Anicet-Bourgeois and Mallian. Violent and corpse-strewn, La Nonne Sanglante, which in Cammarano’s hands duly became Maria de Rudenz, is an extreme example of sanguinary Gothic melodrama. In its own day many more conservative readers, as we shall see, found it in unacceptably bad taste; and there are still many of us today who would condemn it in similar manner. It is, in a word, the most extreme and extraordinary subject Donizetti ever set. But let us not anticipate its reception and our ultimate judgment. The programme of the proposed opera was sent to Lanari in the first days of October. This, it should be noted, was only a scenario – not a completed libretto. Consequently on 7 October Donizetti could still write to Vassellli: ‘Imagine how I stand, still not having a comma of the book for Venice, yet having to deliver the score in December!’ We may also note that in this first scenario which Cammarano drew up, all four principal characters died, for Maria slew Enrico, Matilde and Corrado, and then herself. Lanari’s reaction, dated 13 October, was to protest that too much blood was spilt, but tactfully he downplayed his adverse reaction by speaking first and last of more practical considerations: I have glanced at Cammarano’s programme Maria di Rudens [sic]. Among the different characters I find there, I see a Matilde, who must, it seems to me, have a fairly interesting part in the manner of that of Adalgisa [in Bellini’s Norma]. I don’t know if you have ever thought of giving this part to Tadolini: in this case I must remind you that –22– Tadolini is engaged as prima donna assoluta, just as Ungher is, so that both the size and interest of the part must be comparable. If, as I believe, I may have decided myself in supposing this, it is indispensable that you tell me at once whether a seconda donna is sufficient for Matilde, or whether you really want a so-called prima donna di spalla [a supplementary prima donna], for in this case I should have to look about me. Running through the programme, as I said, in haste, it seems to me that too much blood is spilt. But enough: both you and Cammarano are skilled in the art, and thus I rest tranquil. I imagine you will give the part of Carrado to Ronconi, and Enrico to Moriani. This last part seems to me rather cold, and I should be sorry if Moriani were not to have a role in the drama equal in interest to that of Ronconi. But if Lanari was prepared to depend upon the judgment of Donizetti and Cammarano, ‘skilled in the art’ as they were, the Presidency of the Fenice most emphatically was not. Giuseppe Berti, one of the three-man directorate, can scarcely have read the scenario before he brusquely returned it to Lanari’s agent in Venice, Angelo Coen. His covering letter, dated 16 October, read: I return to you the argument of the tragic drama Maria di Rudens, which the undersigned finds inadmissible both for its excessive atrocity and for its extraordinary length (if all the dialogue which is there described is to be versified), and also because it is one of those subjects which commonly form the basis of tragic operas and which are the –23– disgrace of the Italian Theatre. In returning it, I accompany it with a copy of the drama Gismonda di Mendrisio by the young Signore Pietro Beltrame, which could be substituted for it, and to much greater advantage, given that the poet would be willing to make any changes that the composer might wish… Since the principal passion of the leading lady is of the same kind, and is built on the same base, as that of Maria di Rudens, it is possible that Maestro Donizzetti [sic] might view it with equal favour… In reporting Berti’s reaction to Donizetti and in forwarding him a copy of the above letter, Lanari on 20 October was able to add that his agent, Angelo Coen, had immediately sought an interview, and had succeeded in seeing Berti on the very evening he had received the letter. Berti had reluctantly conceded that, if the composition of Maria de Rudenz were already far advanced, he would be willing to accept it, ‘always provided that it were rendered less tragic by sparing the death of at least one of the three victims, and especially provided that the part of Matilde were rendered more interesting’. This latter concern clearly stemmed from a supposition that the part of Matilde was intended for Tadolini. Lanari himself, in his covering letter, sought clarification on this point, since he had not yet received any reply to his enquiry of 13 October. As for Beltrame’s libretto, Lanari’s comments made it sufficiently clear that his own personal reaction was adverse, and that he expected Donizetti’s to be so, too: Berti has forwarded me a libretto with the express order to forward –24– TERESA BRAMBILLA Maria Rome, 1843 EUPHROSINE PAREPA Maria Barcelona, 1845 it to you to see if it pleases you. I forward it out of obedience, and so as not to act against his wishes. You, on the other hand, may return it to me, so that I may send it back to its author, and if you care to reply to me on the subject, I shall transmit your letter verbatim to Signore Berti. If you will give it a glance, you will see that Ronconi would have to play the part of a father, and that Tadolini would have to don, and don yet again, a man’s clothes, provided that she were to accept the part of Gabriella, which she would certainly find beneath her competence. At this point, letters clearly began to cross, and our following of the developing threads of contention is not helped by the fact that Donizetti’s side of the correspondence is for the most part lost. Writing on 24 October – a letter that no longer survives – he must have taken up the question of the kind of singer he required for Matilde, and to have requested a ‘seconda donna’ – but a seconda donna who was beautiful, young, and a good singer. Lanari, replying on 31 October, pointed out that the demand was not an easy one to meet. ‘Beautiful you might have her, so as to leave nothing to be desired, but a good singer – well, discreetly so.’ In the event, the part went to a Bolognese singer whose name would otherwise be totally forgotten today: Isabella Casali. Perhaps as a result of his experiences of working with two prima donnas in such operas as Maria Stuarda and Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, perhaps because he felt he had worked this particular vein hard enough, Donizetti on this occasion firmly ruled out the possibility of writing for both Ungher and Tadolini. On the same day that Lanari wrote or dictated this last letter – 31 October –27– – Donizetti also sat down at his desk and wrote, enclosing what must have been a vitriolic missive from a thin-skinned Cammarano, occasioned by the receipt of Beltrame’s Gismonda di Mendrisio. Lanari’s reaction, dated 6 November, was to pour as much oil as he could on troubled waters, but at the same time the tone of his letter made it plain that he was understandably hurt. ‘I am sorry,’ he began, ‘that Cammarano should have given a sinister interpretation to my having set you Beltrame’s libretto.’ Then, after repeating and emphasising that he was only obeying Berti’s orders, he went on: For the rest it is evident that Cammarano has read only the letter of the Presidency addressed to my agent Coen, which I sent you in copy: it is for this reason that he has taken such umbrage. If he had also read the relevant paragraph in my own letter he would have seen the matter in its true aspect and would not have written me a letter full of bitter reproofs… I have for him the greatest esteem, and it seems to me that I have clearly proved this to him in my actions. As so often in this correspondence, one is impressed by Lanari’s tact and patience, especially when, in a further note of 12 November, dealing primarily with the question of whether or not Donizetti would have to go into quarantine in Livorno on his way to Venice, he breaks off to send yet further conciliatory signals to the offended librettist: I hope that Cammarano, now that you have received my letter, will –28– once more feel towards me as he did before, and that he will have dismissed from his mind all thought that for a single moment I may have failed towards him in that esteem which, with good reason, I have always professed, and which I shall profess for him eternally... This high opinion of Cammarano was, of course, shared by Donizetti himself. Donizetti’s feelings towards him were dictated both by an appreciation of his abilities as a librettist, and by compassion for his personal difficulties. In a letter written less than a fortnight before the premiere of Maria de Rundenz – a letter in which he rejected a libretto by another author sent to him for possible composition and performance in Naples – he wrote: In Naples, moreover, I would not have the heart to take the bread out of the mouth of the good Cammarano, the father of five children who has only this to live on, and who is, besides, such an excellent fellow [sì buono e Galantuomo’] Donizetti’s surviving letters do not tell us exactly when he received Cammarano’s text and began composition, but he clearly worked on the score throughout November. In a letter to Vasselli of 21 November, he remarked gloomily: The opera for Venice is making progress, but does not please me one… So if you hear that they are massacring me, say: I knew it. On 3 December he left Naples and set out for Venice, where he arrived –29– before 20 December. One can only imagine that he travelled with heavy foreboding, knowing that he himself was not pleased with the opera, that the Presidency of the Fenice had accepted the subject with reluctance, and that it was, of its very nature, designed to shock rather than to delight. His correspondence tells us very little of the ordeal he must have endured in Venice in the period leading up to the first performance on 30 January 1838, and in the days immediately following. In a letter to Vasselli of 7 March, written after his return to Naples, he refers, without elaboration, to the ‘fiasco in Venice’; and in another, to another correspondent, of 9 March, he simply says: ‘Maria de Rudenz was unfortunate by half. – The first, yes, the second, no.’ This remark admits of two interpretations. It could mean that the first half of the opera was unsuccessful but that the second was not, or that the first performance was unsuccessful but that the second went better. We are, however, fortunate to have fascinating and revealing accounts from several people who were present in Venice at the time. The first comes from Adolphe Nourrit, the great French tenor who, having withdrawn from the Paris Opéra following the engagement of Duprez, was travelling in northern Italy in the company of the German composer Ferdinand Hiller. They reached Venice about 22 January, and attended a dress rehearsal of Parts II and III, the final dress rehearsal of the whole opera, and the first performance. On 23 January, after he had been to the rehearsal of the last two parts, Nourrit wrote home to his wife in Paris: Yesterday evening, after dinner, Hiller took me to see Madame –30– Ungher, the prima donna whom we had for a season in Paris (today the first among the first in Italy). Unnecessary to tell you that she extended me a warm welcome: in Paris she always evidenced much esteem and sympathy for my talent. Thanks to her, we were able to pass an agreeable evening. There was no performance taking place at the theatre, and she enabled us to be present at a dress rehearsal of the last two acts4 of Donizetti’s opera. This rehearsal held more attraction for me than all the performances in the world; and now I know one side more of the theatres in Italy. When he saw me, Donizetti threw himself about my neck, and introduced me, with fine compliments, to the principal performers, and to the director, who made me most welcome. Hiller and I took our places in the stalls, and we heard with interest this new opera of a composer who, scarcely 40 years old, is already at his 60th score. There is nothing very new in what we have heard; but it is music which must please, and I have no doubt but that it will have a great success. The company struck me as the best of all those I have yet encountered: there is a baritone, by the name of Ronconi, who has a delicious and sometimes powerful voice; he sings well, and should have intelligence as an actor. The tenor Moriani has a charming voice, and sings with expression; but he seemed to me to be inferior to Ronconi, both as an actor and as a singer. As for Ungher, she truly has very fine _______________________________________ 4 It will be noted that Nourrit speaks of ‘acts’. Cammarano in his libretto calls them ‘parts’. –31– SOPHIE CRUVELLI Maria Trieste, 1849 FELICE VARESI Corrado Florence, 1838 inspirations. Her voice is not good, but she finds powerful accents when impassioned, and despite her faults I can understand the public’s enthusiasm for her. I paid my compliments to everybody, trying in my Italian to say all the gracious things I could. On 30 January, on the morning after hearing the last dress rehearsal, he wrote much more briefly: In the evening we attended the last rehearsal of Donizetti’s opera, which goes on stage this evening. The first act satisfied me less than the last two I had already heard. But let us await this evening before passing judgment. His account of the first performance, written the following day, read as follows: Donizetti’s opera has not been happy. Right from the first act they began to stifle with protests of ‘chut!’ the rare burst of applause which tried to sustain the piece, and what was good in the last two acts was insufficient to avert the storm. It can only be called a complete fiasco, especially for Donizetti, who is very much loved here, and who had scored two great successes in the previous years; yet it seems that in Venice there has never been an example of a maestro who has succeeded three times running. My conscience prevents me from declaring the public wrong; for, apart from two or three pieces which –34– are good (but which, however, have nothing new to offer), the whole opera is extremely pallid. And then you cannot imagine the stupidity of the libretto: it is a loathsome bit of butchery, an imitation of the Nonne Sanglante, a frightful melodrama from the Porte-Saint-Martin. The second account, which is undated, comes from the pen of Mercadante, who, as already mentioned, was in Venice to supervise the first performances of Le Due Illustri Rivali. It is not an account which does its author any credit, though he does have the compunction to impress upon his correspondent, Francesco Florimo, the librarian of the Royal College of Music in Naples, that he writes in the strictest confidence. The relevant section, which is here quoted almost in its entirety, reads: I wish to oblige you by giving you the most sincere report of this Theatre, but I insist upon your honour that you make no use of it, since it is very bad for one Artist to spread ill news about his competitors. Donizetti’s opera was awaited with immense expectation on the part of the Impresario, who is his ally, and in consequence on the part of the Company, who are his fanatical flatterers. Never as on this occasion did the Cavalier Maestro make such use of his jack-hoist [bindell] and his title. Never as on this occasion did he so assiduously frequent all the cafés, the inns, the taverns, high society and low society, the public and private academies, the company of the paid claques, who were employed to extol his inexhaustible genius, his great and extraordinary facility, his practical knowledge of voices, of –35– Theatre, etc etc, adding that the profound and academic Mercadante (this by way of jest) would end up the victim of the Bergamasque Harlequin, who would chop him to pieces and send him packing back to Novara by dint of old cabalettas. Finally last week the awaited opera appeared: Maria Rudenz[sic]. It did not fall, rather it utterly collapsed and foundered. The fiasco was so complete that the Maestro did not remain at the harpsichord for the third act, but fled from the Theatre, and did not reappear at either the second or the third of the performances, which were given despite the public, to honour the contract, but with the promise to perform the opera no more. In fact this evening they’re giving I Puritani. The way they’re cursing the Maestro, the indignation against him, the things they’re saying about him – it’s all indescribable. There are those who say he’s emptied his sack of ideas; others who say that he’s grown insolent always repeating the same things; those who claim he had no intention of [writing a valid opera]; those who say he couldn’t, or didn’t know how to; yet others who say that he may have had it orchestrated by his pupils at the Naples Conservatorium. To sum up, it has been a serious – a very serious – affair. To put it in a nutshell for you, I would never have imagined that a Cavaliere could fall so. I have not heard the opera – I made it a scruple not to, since I do not wish to be quoted as the author of criticisms of a colleague, and I have no reason to repent of my decision. Now it’s my turn, at the worst to cut the same figure – certainly no worse can befall me… and even if we must make –36– every effort not to show ourselves inferior to these titled Charlatans… It will be noted that Mercadante here speaks of a total of three performances, whereas all biographies of Donizetti speak of only two. We are unable to decide this question one way or the other, but must note that at least two reviews that appeared at the time would seem to support Mercadante: Il Pirata (6 February 1838) spoke of ‘succeeding evenings’; and Il Corriere dei Teatri (7 March 1838) of ‘several performances’. A third witness comes in the form of Girolamo Viezzoli, a faithful friend and correspondent of the composer Vaccaj. He, too, sent news of the fiasco, although, like Mercadante, he had not actually seen the opera. Writing from his home in Treviso on 7 February, he not only reported the criticism and gossip that were circulating around Venice, but drew a telling comparison between Donizetti and Mercadante: I was in Venice a few days ago, but I didn’t hear Donizetti’s opera because they told me such bad things about it that I couldn’t summon up the heart to go and hear it. All accuse him of having dashed off his work carelessly, without taking the trouble to write a single piece that is studied and masterly. He trusts too much to his facility, and presumes that the notes that come from his pen are pearls and rubies, and goes charging ahead without further thought. Mercadante, on the other hand, is the man who studies and strives to produce something that is elaborated and worthy of him, so that, even if the result does not –37– please, one can say that he has spared no effort, and that he has produced the work of a Maestro, and that that is what all must do who have at heard their own honour. If these accounts are valuable because they give us personal ‘inside’ views, we must turn to the reviews that appeared in the press to savour the indignation and disgust that were felt by so many of the audience. The Gazzetta Privilegiata di Venezia (31 January 1838), for example, began its review with a resounding condemnation of the whole genre of sanguinary melodrama: I do not know where we will be led by the new school, which has made itself the tyrant of the stage, and which I would willingly dub the school of the evil death. The public is already weary, tired and exhausted by all these crimes committed for no reason in its dramas: always daggers, poisons, and tombs, and often multiple deaths, and funerals; in a word the most lugubrious and atrocious matters, of which polite company would forbid so much as a mention in conversation, and which are nevertheless, as a subject for pleasurable pastime and enjoyment, placed before the eyes of people who have come together to be entertained in the theatre. The aim is to seek novelty and the result is to end up in absurdity… Here is a drama in which matters are carried to such an extreme that it appears to be nothing but a parody, a caricature of the genre… Of five characters5 three die, and one – I don’t know if the concept is more –38– MME MARIOTTA Maria Smyrna, 1851 ROSINA MAZZARELLI Maria Madrid, 1841 new or ridiculous – dies twice, that is to say emerges half dead and half alive from the grave, delights in wandering about for some time in the garb and likeness of a ghost, in order to terrify folk and, in due course, to slay her rival… and then, when her vengeance is complete, and the errand thus accomplished for which she gave herself the trouble of leaving the tomb, returns there a second time as if she is going back to bed, tearing the bandages from her wound, as the libretto tells us… In the midst of all these horrors and crimes the generous muse of Maestro Donizzetti [sic] remained as if overwhelmed and lost – her inspiration was frozen – and she knew not where to turn to find a splendid garment with which to cover all that infinity of miseries, of horror, of blood, of hell, with which nearly every verse of the libretto is filled. And so let us make a courageous confession: [Donizetti’s] music as a whole did not please. Il Gondoliere (3 February) suggested that Cammarano had set himself a problem: ‘Given four characters, to extract six dead characters from them and one who survives – needless to say, the most evil of the lot’. Donizetti, the writer went on, had set himself a similar problem: ‘Given able and applauded singers, a comfortable and smiling theatre, and a favourably disposed public, to write an opera which exasperates and makes the public desire the return of _______________________________________ 5 The writer clearly includes Rambaldo among the principal characters, so swelling the more obvious count of four or five. –41– its predecessor [Lillo’s Rosmunda in Ravenna], the work of a novice and, according to some, a novice of little imagination.’ Both poet and maestro, we are told, ‘solved their problems in a manner which, if we cannot describe it as the most satisfying, was certainly the most conclusive.’ There seems no doubt that the opera was rather better received at its second performance than at the first. But when a Milanese journal, Il Pirata (6 February), dared to suggest that it ‘shone with a vivid light on the following evenings, and is now appreciated, applauded, and numbered among the best operas of Donizetti’, Il Gondoliere (17 February) retorted that the writer appeared to be speaking about another Teatro La Fenice in another Venice, where the same operas met with a totally different reception from that which befell them in the Teatro La Fenice he knew, in the Venice he lived in! Not surprisingly, Maria de Rudenz was the last opera Donizetti ever wrote for Venice: he left the city without being offered another contract. An association which had begun with his very first produced opera, Enrico di Borgogna, and which had included a brilliant triumph in Belisario and a worthy success in Pia de’Tolomei, thus ended on a note of galling defeat, embarrassment and humiliation. The fiasco was also unfortunate since the rumours and calumny that accompanied it brought to an end the amicable working relationship that had long existed between Carolina Ungher and the composer. As Donizetti –42– wrote to a friend on 10 April 1838: You must know that Ungher had the scant perception to believe that I spoke ill of her, or wrote ill of her, of her conduct, etc, and so ended our friendly relationship which has been cultivated for so many years. That grieved me, and not a little, since I believed I had given her sufficient proofs of attachment… Lanari and Donizetti, on the other hand, even if they were not to work together again, at least retained their respect for each other. In a letter of 8 May 1838 Donizetti remarked to a correspondent: I hear from Lanari that perhaps he will return to the Fenice, and oh that it may be so, for there is no impresario shrewder than he is or more dedicated to serving the public well. Despite its disastrous baptism in Venice, Maria de Rudenz enjoyed many productions in Italy in the years that followed. It was seen in Florence, Milan, Naples, Genoa, Turin, Palermo, Rome and elsewhere: Tom Kaufman’s complete chronology will be found on page 65. It is interesting to note, as John Black has pointed out, that at the time of a production in Naples in 1848, Cammarano, notwithstanding his having suggested the subject in the first place, sought to exonerate himself from responsibility by inserting the following prefatory note into the printed libretto: Reasons which it would be out of place for me to note here –43– compelled me, many years ago, to reduce a foreign play, La Nonne Sanglante, for the lyric stage. Those who know the tumultuous and murky situations in that drama will easily comprehend that I wished to temper its bizarre nature and its horrors; and if I did not succeed better in accomplishing my design - perhaps no man could - these brief words may serve to signify my abhorrence for a gory and northern genre. Violent and unsavoury though the subject was, it should not be assumed that all subsequent productions were ill-received and unsuccessful. The sensational and the shocking will always draw an audience. The opera proved particularly popular in Livorno in 1838, at the Teatro Valle in Rome in 1841, in Faenza and Ancona when Giuseppina Strepponi sang it in both towns that same year, and at the Teatro Apollo in Rome in 1843 with Teresa Brambilla. Yet Donizetti, when he heard how well Strepponi had fared with it in Ancona, could not help but lick old wounds: I read now of the success of Maria di [sic] Rudenz in Ancona, its very happy reception, and I still bleed for the severity with which they judged me in Venice. Outside Italy, Maria de Rudenz was seen in Madrid and Corfu (both 1841), Lisbon (1842), Malta (1843), Alexandria (1844), Barcelona (1845), and even as far afield as Rio de Janeiro (1851) and Buenos Aires (1854). We may, however, note the significant absence from this list of such capitals as Vienna, Paris and London. It never reached, therefore, the most important and –44– influential cities of Europe. Though the opera as a whole never reached Paris, it should be added that two of its pieces became familiar to audiences there, since Donizetti, following the initial fiasco in Venice, briefly resorted to a practice that he had used freely in his earlier years and that he was never entirely to abandon: that of using an unsuccessful score as a source from which to draw material for later works. If he resorted to this habit less frequently in his later years, it was probably because he found that the more consciously and closely he composed music to fit a particular context, the less easily and satisfactorily it would transfer to other situations. There were occasions, however, when it is clear that a particular piece still seemed suitable for recycling. In the initial months following the Venetian debacle, it must have seemed extremely unlikely that Maria de Rudenz would ever surface again. Consequently Donizetti transferred its most powerful section of all – the concertato of the finale to Part I – to his very next score, Poliuto, and, eventually, following the prohibition of that work in Naples, to its Parisian adaptation, Les Martyrs. Several sections were also borrowed for his second version of Gabriella di Vergy, probably put together in 1838 as a possible substitute for Poliuto in Naples, but not in fact produced. Then, after his arrival in Paris and his agreement to compose a piece for the Opéra-Comique, he lifted another item, the off-stage introductory prayer for Matilde and the women’s chorus, and inserted it, in rather modified form, into the introduction to his new opera, La Fille du Régiment. If the process stopped short at this point, it was perhaps because by this time the fortunes of Maria de Rudenz itself were improving, in Italy at least. The last 19th-century productions would appear to have been in Sinigaglia –45– ENRICO DELLE SEDIE Corrado Chieti, 1853 VIRGINIA DE BLASIS Maria Florence, 1838 (1867), Rieti (1867) and Macerata (1870). There then followed a silence of more than a century. It has been left to the second half of the 20th century, beginning with a concert performance by Opera Rara in London on 27 October 1974, to revive and re-evaluate this opera. And so we return to the two important questions with which we started: ‘What induced Donizetti to accept such a subject in the first place?’ and ‘Does the music he composed for it justify that choice?’ We do not, it must be emphasised, have more than the most tenuous direct evidence on which to draw to answer the first of these questions, and speculation, as a result, is liable to run riot. Was Donizetti, we may find ourselves asking, so frustrated and irritated by the seemingly endless and inconclusive negotiations between Lanari and the presidency of the Teatro La Fenice that his critical judgment deserted him? Or did he find himself so pressed for time that he simply reconciled himself to setting whatever Cammarano suggested? Or could it have been that, following the death of his wife Virginia in July 1837, his frame of mind was so black that he accepted this murky subject simply because its mood seemed to complement his own? While any or all these suggestions may have played a contributory role, there is at least a very little less speculatory evidence to put us on firmer ground. It is, however, perplexing, since it leaves us with a paradoxical picture of a composer who may well have found himself in two minds at once. On the one hand we have his rejection of other subjects on the grounds that they were cose –48– sanguinarie – ‘steeped in blood’. With this we may couple his knowledge that the Presidency of the Teatro La Fenice had no sympathy for the choice, and his own adverse reactions as he composed the score: it ‘does not please me one …’. On the other hand, we have a famous and much-quoted remark that he had made two years earlier, on 21 July 1835: ‘I want love, for without this [all] subjects are cold, and [let it be] violent love.’ Maria de Rudenz is, surely, the extreme example the ne plus ultra – of a subject inspired and fired by violent love, and may properly be seen as the culmination of a taste which had already manifested itself in such operas as Fausta, Ugo Conte di Parigi, Parisina and Rosmonda d’Inghilterra. A paradox? How else can we describe the action of a composer who accepts a subject presumably because he recognises it as an extreme example of the ‘violent love’ he seeks in a libretto; and yet who finds himself uneasy in the face of this very extremity – this exaggeration – which is part and parcel of the subject. From the start, therefore, he must have realised that he was embarked upon a risky undertaking: a project that was both an invitation and a challenge. And the music he brought to it? Fascinatingly, many of us have had to change our minds about this opera. Initially we have found ourselves repelled and offended by the subject, and have been adversely disposed as a result. Then, after hearing the music, we have had to admit that our preconceptions were over-hasty, and have had to reformulate our assessment in rather more –49– favourable terms. To give but one example among a number, William Ashbrook, in his first book on Donizetti, published in 1965, wrote: ‘While it is risky to write a final epitaph for any opera, it is difficult to believe that Maria di [sic] Rudenz will ever see the stage again.’ That, of course, was penned before any 20th-century revival had taken place. In his second book, published in 1982, by which time he had an opportunity to see and hear the opera, he found himself obliged to write: ‘Increased familiarity has altered my original dim impression of this three-act tragedy.’ One of the major reasons we are moved to make this reassessment is that, as Donizetti has treated them, neither Maria nor Corrado is the stark onedimensional pasteboard figure of popular melodrama that the plot leads us to expect. They are both complex characters, presented, surprisingly, in such a way that they capture our sympathy. Maria, it must be emphasised, is not merely a baleful figure of vengeance – though she is, of course, very much that; she is also, and just as importantly, a figure of love. She is sustained throughout the opera by her love for Corrado, and by the hope that he may once again extend his affections to her. Even as she reveals the most appalling truths – that he is, for example, the son of a notorious assassin – she pleads with him to give her back his love. It is a recognition of this overwhelming love that finally wins him over in the last bars of the opera. It follows that it would be a mistake to play the part of Maria simply as one of stark melodramatic gestures. Much of her music is written piano or pianissimo, and has an elegiac quality, almost as if she is standing outside –50– herself, conscious of the role that circumstances are forcing her to play, and regretting it. In her final cabaletta, for example, we may note that she begins with a detached, impersonal statement: ‘When an immense love is outraged / It knows no law or limits.’ Then, as she goes on to speak more directly of Corrado, she addresses herself to the bystanders, and refers to him in the third person. It is not until the second stanza that she confronts him directly, and then it is once again to balance his wrongs against her love, and to stress that she loves him despite his ‘depriving her of life and heaven’. Corrado is similarly complex. In Part III, even as Enrico taunts him to arms and declares that one of them must die, he feels himself filled with love for this man whom he has for so long regarded as his brother. He, too, at this point seems almost detached from the action, as if he exists in a larger and wiser dimension and can see – and regret – all the tragic mistakes he has been cast to commit. Nor is this the only point at which he is a larger and more complex figure than we might expect. Though his past conduct towards Maria has been despicable, he is humanised, right from the start of the opera, by his genuine love for Matilde. When we first see him, it is to hear him sing the romanza, ‘Ah! Non avea più lagrime’, one of Donizetti’s most suave and tender love songs, which moves from an account of his previous sufferings to a declaration of his present ecstatic happiness. Indeed, until the moment, some scenes later, when Maria interrupts his avowal of love – one of several effective coups de théâtre in the opera – he is a totally sympathetic man who is deeply in love, and who places himself wholly and devotedly at the service of his bride. If Enrico is a rather less interesting figure, it is surely not, as Lanari thought, –51– because he is ‘rather cold’, but because we do not feel that he has this element of large-souled generosity. His ruling passion is jealousy – jealousy of Corrado, since they are both in love with Matilde. But his is a more selfish passion, for we know that she has never reciprocated his love. He became infatuated with her at a time when she had withdrawn herself from the world in preparation for entering a convent. She did not encourage his passion and did not respond to his advances. When she did fall in love, as she eventually most genuinely did, it was with Corrado. Matilde, a secondary character by comparison with the other three, does not require such extended consideration. It should, however, be pointed out that, whereas each of the other characters is ‘larger than life’, Matilde is not. The love that she and Corrado feel for each other is the only ‘normal’ affection in the opera. Although the seeds of the complexity of character we have traced in Maria and Corrado are present in the libretto, it is in the music that they really grow and find expression. For this opera not only ranks among the more intense and dramatic of Donizetti’s scores, building upon the experience he had gained in such works as Lucrezia Borgia and Rosmonda d’Inghilterra and eventually put to good use in Maria di Rohan: it also impressed for its maturity. All the devices we associate with the later Donizetti are here in abundance: his liking for expressive moderato cabalettas; his use, in duets, of totally different melodic and rhythmic material for each voice; his constant and unerringly effective use of modulation for expressive purposes; and his sure mastery of –52– instrumentation, nowhere better illustrated than in the extended prelude for bass clarinet at the beginning of Part II. Let us expand just one of these topics: the use, in duets, of different material for each character. Earlier in his career, in cabaletta movements particularly, Donizetti would frequently allot the same melodic line first to one character, then to the other. In the operas of his maturity, this becomes increasingly rare. His new approach is to identify and pinpoint the emotional position of each character through the use of individual melodies that cannot possibly be interchanged. It is, of course, a richer and much more satisfying approach, but also a more challenging one, since he is forever faced with the problem of reconciling different melodies and even different rhythmic patterns when the two voices, after singing separately, join together. In Maria de Rudenz there are three duets: for Enrico and Corrado in Part I; for Maria and Corrado in Part II; and for Enrico and Corrado in Part III. All are extended two-part items, so that we are really talking about six movements, not to mention introductory scene and tempi di mezzo. And yet in only one – in the cabaletta of the Part III duet for Enrico and Corrado – do we find the characters singing the same melody. Even here Donizetti is thinking cogently. Enrico has succeeded in provoking Corrado to fight with him – each realises that one or the other must die – and they depart to do battle in a similar enmity of mind. The use of the same vigorous melody for each is fully justified. There is, therefore, a heightened awareness of psychological conflict in this –53– LUIGIA MATTHEY Maria Turin, 1841 TERESA DE GIULI-BORSI Maria Milan, 1842 opera. Yet this more ‘analytical’ approach in no way curbs Donizetti’s melodic flow. We are still definitely in his ‘middle’ period, before he left Italy and became an international composer, and, as in all the operas of his middle years, melody is exuberant and omnipresent. Several recent commentators have found Parts II and III inferior to Part I. Yet Nourrit was convinced that it was the other way about. We can only give our own opinion that both are wrong, for each act has its succession of highlights. In opera of this period the first act can often seem conventional, since it is necessarily an exposition, presenting the characters to us, at a time when the emotional and dramatic tension has yet to build. Yet here we are in the midst of heightened emotions from the start: Corrado’s love and happiness in his romanza, ‘Ah! Non avea più lagrime’; Enrico’s jealousy in the duet, ‘Qui di mie pene un angelo’; all Maria’s woes in her cavatina, ‘Sì, del chiostro penitente’. When, at the end of the act, she interrupts Corrado’s avowal of love for Matilde, all the characters’ emotions erupt in a finale of broad melodic sweep and immense power. Parts II and III are shorter in length, but in Part II we have both Enrico’s eloquent ‘Talor nel mio delirio’, and another finale of exceptional expressiveness and intensity, the duet for Maria and Corrado, ‘Fonte d’amare lagrime’. Not merely does this end, as we should expect, in heightened confrontation, but, as we should not expect, in another coup de théâtre: the murder, or at least the attempted murder, or Maria. Part III brings us not only a second effective duet for Enrico and Corrado, but the final culminating –56– scene which has already been mentioned: Maria’s aria finale. One of Donizetti’s finest essays in this genre, it is worthy to rank with the final arias of Parisina, of Lucrezia Borgia, and of Eleonora di Guienna, the revision of Rosmonda d’Inghilterra. This is, we would contend, a score in which the emotional level and the musical interest hardly ever slacken – a score which is prevented only by its story and its unfamiliarity from being recognised as one of Donizetti’s most fluent and effective. When he composed it, towards the end of the decade 1830-1840, he was at the height of his lyrical powers. At such a time, when virtually everything he wrote achieved a consistently high level of inspiration, it is impossible to suggest that this or that opera is ‘better’ than the others. Maria de Rudenz may start at a disadvantage because of its story, but in musical terms it is every bit as valid and as worthy as its companions. Throughout this account, it will have been apparent that the principal difficulty with this opera – but, paradoxically, also one of the principal reasons for its interest – is its story. It follows that no introduction would be complete without some consideration of the evolution of the plot from French melodrama to Italian opera, and we therefore end this introduction with a few brief words on this topic. The consideration is all the more important since it provides an intriguing insight into Cammarano’s methods as a librettist, and into Donizetti’s as a composer: into the way Cammarano rethought the material as he reduced it to operatic requirements, and into the manner in which Donizetti honoured – or abused – his librettist’s text. La Nonne Sanglante is a five-act play, and the action is therefore considerably –57– more extended and complicated than that of the opera. It begins in the catacombs of Rome, so that we actually see Conrad’s desertion of Marie (or Stella, to give her the name she has assumed at the start of the play), whereas we are merely told of it in the opera. There is an extensive subplot involving gypsies, one of whom is erroneously accused of stabbing Marie (the stabbing that occurs at the end of Part II of the opera). Perhaps most interesting of all, there is another principal character: the historical figure, Cagliostro6. Though prominent, Cagliostro’s part is strictly peripheral to the requirements of the plot: he shadows Conrad throughout the action, constantly extricating him from dangers, both because he has been blackmailed by Conrad’s mother into agreeing to watch over him, and because he is employed by Marie to spy upon him. Most of the main events of the plot – Conrad’s desertion of Marie in the __________________________ The self-styled Count Alessandro Cagliostro (1743-1795) was one of the most colourful and disreputable of 18th-century adventures and impostors. Born in Palermo, his true name was Giuseppe Balsamo. Forced to flee from Sicily to escape punishment for his crimes, he studied alchemy in Rhodes and then presented himself to the grand master of the Kings of Malta as Count Cagliostro. His travels, which took him to many parts of Europe, found him in 1771 in London and Paris, ‘selling love-philtres, elixirs of youth, mixtures for making ugly women beautiful, alchemistic powders, etc, and deriving large profits from his trade’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 14th edition). Much of the last ten years of his life was spend in prison, first in Paris, then in London, and finally in Rome, where he was condemned to death as a heretic, but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. He died in the fortress prison of San Leo, while his wife was immured in a convent. 6 –58– catacombs; his stabbing her; and the murder of Mathilde – are present in the play, just as they are in the opera, though the third, as will soon be mentioned, is differently handled. One of the characters, on the other hand, is markedly different. Henri is not, like Enrico in the opera, the supposed brother of Conrad, and he is not in love with Mathilde. He is a distant relative of the family of Rudenz, and it is he, rather than Mathilde, who inherits the castle when Marie fails to appear to claim her rights. When she eventually returns, he unsympathetically rejects her, and tries to withhold the small portion of her father’s legacy to which she still has a claim. He himself is in monetary difficulties, and sells the castle to Mathilde’s father, thus bringing about the situation where Mathilde and Conrad can expect to live there. The duel that he fights in the opera also features in the play, but he is poisoned by Marie before ever he can take part in it. Apart from Cagliostro, every one of the principal characters perishes. Henri, as just mentioned, is poisoned by Marie. Mathilde is stabbed, but the incident is more contrived and convoluted than in the opera. Here Marie enters Mathilde’s bedroom and administers her a sleeping potion, then taunts Conrad, and at the critical moment extinguishes the only light. Conrad, lunging out in the dark, thinks he is killing Marie, but stabs Mathilde by mistake. As for Marie herself, she sets fire to the castle, but still hopes to win back Conrad’s love and escape with him to happiness. He, however, bars her escape route through a secret panel, and they are consumed in the flames together. Cammarano’s task in reducing such an amorphous mass of melodramatic –59– MARIETTA ALBINI Maria Rome. 1841 PIETRO BALZAR Corrado Rome, 1841 incidents to the proportions of a three-part libretto was a formidable one, and it says much for his dramatic instinct and constructional ability that he managed it so well. He began by stripping away all the inessentials, including Cagliostro and the gypsy subplot. He then entirely rethought the character and role of Henri/Enrico, integrating him into the central plot by making him the supposed brother of Conrad/Corrado, and his secret and jealous rival for the love of Mathilde/Matilde. And then, by beginning the action in medias res and merely narrating the events that had transpired in the catacombs in Rome, he cut down the quantity of action that had to be shown. He also modified a number of small but significant details. In the play, following her survival of her ordeal in the catacombs, Stella/Marie takes the veil and becomes Mother Superior of the Convent of Aarau (Arau in the libretto). Since the censorship of the day would not allow the presentation upon the public stage of persons in holy orders, Cammarano had no alternative but to suppress this detail. Following her stabbing by Conrad, moreover, she wanders about, mistaken in the play as in the opera for a ghost, but with the blood-stained dagger still embedded in her side. Cammarano spares us this unrealistic and gothic detail. He also modified – and in some cases simplified – the deaths of the characters. Enrico now fights his duel with Corrado, and meets his death as a result. Matilde is still stabbed, but now it is Maria who deliberately strikes the –62– blow – not Corrado who strikes blindly in the dark. As already mentioned, Cammarano originally intended that Maria should also slay Corrado, and then herself. But at the urging of the presidency of the Teatro la Fenice, he was obliged to allow one character – Corrado – to survive. Maria commits suicide by tearing the bandages from her still unhealed stab wounds. What is particularly interesting is that, omitting earlier parts of the plot by turning them into a pre-action that has transpired before the curtain rises, Cammarano was nevertheless scrupulous to provide all the information the audience required to follow the action. With Lucia di Lammermoor and Il Trovatore in mind, most of us think of him as the author of fast-moving plots that leap from one passionate situation to another, and in which the connecting links of plot-information, relegated to recitatives, frequently get lost down the cracks. In Maria de Rudenz the same thing happens but fascinatingly, it is Donizetti rather than Cammarano who is responsible. Let us elaborate. Cammarano was careful to provide passages of explanation. At a very early stage, for example, we learn that there is a ‘mystery’ surrounding Corrado’s birth, and that he himself is ignorant of his true origins. Cammarano, in the scena preceding Maria’s cavatina in Part I – is careful to explain: Egli nacque da tal, che morte infame Sul partibolo avea (He was born of a father who suffered –63– An ignominious death upon the scaffold) As befits information of such importance, it is repeated in Part II, in the scena preceding the duetto-finale: Ma, ben lo sai, di vili, atroci colpe Costui macchiato, sul germano lido Fu spento dal carnefice (But he, as well you know, stained With vile and atrocious crimes, met his death At the executioner’s hands on the German coast) Donizetti, as will be shown by the virgolati in our libretto – the double quotation-marks which are traditionally used to enclose sections of a text that a composer omitted – chose not to set the earlier of these lines. We are therefore left in the dark right up until the ending of Part II, aware that there is some mystery surrounding Corrado but ignorant of its exact nature. Nor is this an isolated example. We may also find ourselves asking: ‘Why, if Corrado loved Maria and eloped with her, did he come to regard her with such intense hatred?’ ‘Why did he inveigle her down into the catacombs of Rome, and – at least as he acted initially – leave her there to die?’ Once again Cammarano is careful to provide us with the answer: in Venice he saw her descending furtively into the garden to keep an assignation with an unknown –64– man; he consequently leaped to the conclusion that she was betraying him. But was this so? A few moments later Cammarano also informs us that the unknown man was no lover, but the elderly family retainer Rambaldo, come as a secret messenger from her father. Cammarano, as always, conveyed the information as briefly and as concisely as he could. But Donizetti, with what we may well wish to condemn as a cavalier disregard for his audience’s comprehension, in this instance omitted all the lines in question. When one takes all this into consideration – Cammarano’s habitual concision and Donizetti’s further omission of many lines – it comes as no surprise to learn that Maria de Rudenz is one of the shortest full-length operas in the Donizetti canon, possibly the briefest of all. Giuseppe Berti, when he first received Cammarano’s synopsis in Venice, had anticipated ‘extraordinary length (if all the dialogue which is there described is to be versified)’; but he was mistaken, misled by the way Cammarano had laid out his synopsis. For the finished opera is concise and swift-moving. We have sought to give this present recording extra interest by including two items that did not form part of the original text: a chorus believed to have been composed for a production in Milan, and a cavatina for Enrico that was composed for Moriani in Venice but apparently not sung. Since, however, they are given in an appendix rather than in the body of the opera, the opera itself is heard in its original form, sparse and fast-moving. Let us sum up. When we see Maria de Rudenz in the theatre, it is a fast–65– moving opera in which the intricacies of the plot are difficult, not to say impossible, to follow. A recording, accompanied by a libretto in which the virgolati passages are included, makes for easier understanding. In either context – in the theatre or on record – it is also an opera in which the characters – monstres sacrés, if ever characters deserved the description, but monstres sacrés with a fascinating degree of human complexity – are driven, we may not always fully comprehend why, by towering and turbulent passions. This, of course, only serves to place it fairly and squarely in the mainstream development of Italian opera. As a work we may find it repellent and fascinating at the same time: an opera which begins by provoking our scepticism and perhaps our scorn, but which ends up by enthralling us for the power and passion of its music. It is, above all, the supreme embodiment and illustration of Donizetti’s artistic credo: ‘I want love, for without this all subjects are cold, and let it be violent love.’ © Jeremy Commons –66– LUIGIA BOCCABADATIGAZZUOLI Maria Lisbon, 1842 LUIGI FERRARI-STELLA Enrico Bologna, 1845 A PERFORMANCE HISTORY OF MARIA DE RUDENZ Date City Theatre Maria Enrico Corrado 30.01.1838 - -.03.1838 14.07.1838 26.10.1839 10.02.1840 17.04.1841 24.04.1841 01.06.1841 03.10.1841 23.10.1841 Aut. 1841 27.02.1842 10.10.1842 26.12.1842 26.12.1842 03.10.1843 10.10.1843 07.11.1843 Carn. 1844 -- .03.1844 28.12.1844 05.11.1845 Venice Florence Livorno Florence Verona Ancona Madrid Faenza Rome Turin Corfu Lisbon Milan Genoa Ferrara Malta Rome Foggia Terni Catania Alexandria Lisbon La Fenice Pergola Avvalorati Pergola Filarmonico Muse De La Cruz Comunale Valle Carignano San Giacomo Sao Carlos La Scala Carlo Felice Comunale Manoel Apollo Dauno Nobili Comunale Europeo Sao Carlos Ungher Blasis Strepponi Strepponi Strepponi Strepponi Mazzarelli Strepponi Albini Matthey Ercolani L. Boccabadati De Giuli-Borsi Schieroni-Nulli Mattioli Ruggeri T. Brambilla Servoli Polidori Parepa Sedelmayer Ranzi Moriani Zoboli Morini Corelli Corelli Roppa Ojeda Roppa Morini Severi Del Riccio Ferretti Severi Roppa Montanari Carli Roppa Pompejano Pozzolini Nerozzi Ronconi Varesi Ronconi Ronconi Ronconi Ronconi Miral Ronconi Balzar Alberti Raimondi Antoldi Ferlotti Colini Pellegrini Palchetti Ronconi Cammarano Taddei Capelli Severi Salandri –69– Date City Theatre Maria Enrico Corrado 22.11.1845 27.12.1845 1845-46 25.07.1847 20.11.1847 26.12.1847? 15.08.1848 10.01.1848 18.10.1849 04.03.1849 28.07.1849 -- .08.1849 Barcelona Bologna Trani Florence Bitonto Livorno Naples Palermo Fabriano Trieste Naples Lucca Nuevo Comunale Parepa Mascarich Schinardi Parodi Lusignani Basseggio Del Fante Parodi Vitali-Vergari Cruvelli Siesta Assoni Torre/Zucchini 24.11.1849 03.11.1850 26.12.1850 1850-51 30.05.1851 11.10.1851 02.12.1851 27.12.1851 01.04.1852 Carn. 1853 -- .05?1853 20.05.1853 Cefalonia Italiano Barletta Reggio Emilia Comunale Trani Naples San Carlo Smyrna Cammarano Rio de Janeiro San Januario Ferrara Comunale Rio de Janeiro Provisorio Macerata Chieti San Fernado Arezzo Petrarca Solieri Ferrari-Stella Cimini Brunacci Vergari Bianchi Agresti Vitali Vergari Alzamora Rinaldi StecchiBottardi Aducci Apice Bocioni Nuovo Avvalorati Nuovo Carolini Grande Partenope Pantera Evangelista Lusignani Vaccaro Bendazzi-Secchi Mariotti Zecchibu Evangelista Zecchini Armandi Stanghi –70– Labocetta Aducci Labocetta Mariotti Labocetta Terenzi Banti Bettazzi Cresci Tucci Cresci F. Lablache Bencich Zacconi Cresci Durante Colini Coliva Amodio Coliva Gnone Ricci Mazzio Vitali Squarcia Delle Sedie Giotti Date City -- .05.1853 28.08.1853 26.12.1853? Carn. 1854 -- .05.1854 25.10.1854 06.01.1855 27.03.1856 -- .01?1857 -- .02.1857 -- .01.1858 -- .12.1858 Carn. 1859 01.01.1859 15.05.1860 07.06.1860 -- .08.1860 Carn. 1861 -- .04.1861 -- .01.1862 -- .01.1863 -- .02.1864 -- .09.1864 -- .07.1865 Cingoli Lima Rimini Spoleto Oporto Buenos Aires Foligno Florence Ancona Athens Tolentino Ajaccio Treia Gubbio Florence Forli Livorno Siena Rijeka Perugia Assisi Bari Lanciano Vicenza Theatre Principal Sao Joao Argentino Apollo Leopoldo Muse Royal Comunale Pergola Comunale Rossini Rinnovati Civico Verzaro Matastasio Piccinni Pamato Maria Enrico Corrado Zudoli Lorini Armandi Tilli Giordani Edelvira Ercolani Mori-Spallazzi Rinaldi D.Lorini Conti Perozzi Dall’Armi Guglielmini Gennari Sergardi Rinaldini Avignone Staffolini Antico Gorin Rivas Giacomelli Giori Ortolani-Brignole Tarsi Quadrio Martelli Colli Fricci Fricci Fricci Cajanti-Bianchi Witthy Colli Ercolani Bellatti Faleni Bedetti Liverani Ferri Bichielli Mugniai Lombardi Limberti Limberti Limberti Colombini Ciarlini Sergardi Muscardini Concordia Baffetti Giorgetti Crivelli –71– Vieri Pascolani Balderi Cresci Cresci Cresci Brabdini Vitti Vieri Peppolini Sansone Corti Sacchetti Date City Theatre Maria Carn. 1867 Sinigaglia 26.01.1867 Rieti -- .06.1870 Macerata Comunale 27.01.1974 23.12.1980 06.03.1981 04.09.1981 23.05.1982 28.05.1982 Opera Rara La Fenice ORTF La Fenice Staats Semper Colleoni-Corti Parmizini Morea-Concordia Picconi Morea-Concordia RampiniBoncori Andrew Greager Ricciarelli Cupido Castro-Alberty Cupido Sovilla Cupido Castro-Alberty Terranova London Venice Paris Venice Wiesbaden Dresden Concordia –72– Enrico Corrado Camins Quintili Leoni De Plessis Nucci Martin Martin Padovan LUIGIA SCHIERONI-NULLI Maria Genoa, 1842 Christian du Plessis and Ludmilla Andrew as Corrado and Maria in the first 20th-Century performance of Maria de Rudenz, given by Opera Rara in 1974 THE STORY PART ONE The Testament Scene 1 It is early morning in an inn on the banks of the River Aar. Through the windows can be seen part of the Convent of Arau and, on the other side of the river, the castle of Rudenz. Matilde and the nuns of the convent are heard at their morning prayers. Corrado awaits the arrival of his brother Enrico, impatient since he is eager to join Matilde at the castle. When Enrico appears, the two brothers greet each other warmly. In answer to Enrico’s enquiry, Corrado confirms that he has deserted Maria, the daughter of the last, recently deceased Count of Rudenz. He tells how, after eloping with her to Venice, he had come to believe her faithless, so had taken her to Rome and abandoned her during a visit to the catacombs. His initial intention had been that she should perish, lost in the labyrinth of subterranean passages, but he had subsequently relented and sent a guide to rescue her. Since then he has been wandering from country to country, ever changing his name to prevent her from tracing him. Now, however, this wretched and fugitive existence has been replaced by a new happiness, for he has fallen in love with an orphaned heiress, Maria’s cousin Matilde di Wolff. He has wooed her, without revealing his true identity or past history, and they are about to be married. Enrico, as soon as he hears Matilde’s name, is consumed by jealousy, for he, too, it seems, is desperately in love with her. –75– Corrado explains that the Count of Rudenz, in his last testament, decreed that, should Maria not reappear within a year, his estate should go to Matilde, who, instead of entering a convent, be free to choose a husband. The year has now passed. In eager anticipation of his approaching happiness, Corrado urges Enrico to accompany him to the castle. Scene 2 In the castle. Rambaldo, an elderly retainer of the house of Rudenz, is surprised to find a woman weeping before the portrait of his late master. It is Maria, who has found her way here by a secret underground passage. Rambaldo tells her of Matilde’s imminent inheritance and choice of a husband, and Maria initially – for at this stage she is unaware of the identity of the intended husband – wishes her cousin well: she herself has no further worldly ambitions, for she intends to take the veil and enter the convent of Arau. As Maria withdraws, the retainers of the household gather to greet Matilde. But their mood is one of mourning for Maria, whom they believe dead – not joy at the prospect of bending the knee before a new master, Matilde’s future bridegroom. Matilde enters and presents Corrado as her chosen husband and their new lord. The testament of the Count of Rudenz is read, and Corrado is in the middle of swearing his love and undying fidelity when, summoned by Rambaldo, Maria appears. A major confrontation ensues, during which Maria succeeds in separating Corrado and Matilde. The retainers declare their allegiance to Maria, rather than to Matilde and Corrado, and Corrado is forcibly ejected. –76– PART TWO A Crime Enrico returns to the castle to plead with Maria to show leniency towards Matilde. He remarks that, by keeping her cousin a prisoner and forcing her to take the veil, she may be pretending to fulfil her father’s wishes, but really she is perverting them to her own ends. Never, he declares, will Matilde enter a convent: he himself will prevent it, for he, too loves her. Maria’s reaction is to reveal that she has information that will enable him, rather than Corrado, to become Matilde’s husband – but before divulging it, she insists that she must see Corrado once more. This interview – this confrontation – promptly ensues. Maria informs Corrado that she intends that Matilde should marry Enrico. Corrado is incredulous and protests that Enrico, his own brother, would never be his rival. But Maria proceeds to disillusion him: Enrico is indeed the true son of their father, but she has proofs that Corrado was taken in as a foundling when his own father, a notorious criminal called Ugo di Berna, who has since been ignominiously put to death on the scaffold, fled the country. Corrado is shattered. Maria, taking advantage of his humiliation, pleads her own cause: if Corrado will give her back his love, she will willingly destroy the proofs of his birth. But although he can find it in his heart to pity her, Corrado is unable to love her. Her wish for revenge now begins to gain the upper hand. By pressing a secret spring, she makes the stones that form the threshold of Matilde’s room sink out of sight, leaving a gaping pit. She has only to call Matilde, and Corrado will see his hoped-for bride fall to her –77– death as she answers the summons. She will be spared only if Corrado renounces her and instead swears eternal fidelity to Maria. As she begins to call, Corrado, driven to desperation, draws his dagger and plunges it into her breast. She falls, apparently fatally wounded. Rambaldo and the retainers come running. But Maria declares Corrado’s innocence, claiming that she stabbed herself. PART THREE The Spectre Scene 1 An atrium, adjoining the castle chapel where the marriage of Corrado and Matilde is being celebrated. All the retainers are in a state of consternation and dismay, for they regard this match as guilty and illomened. Their disquietude is increased by the fact that the ghost of Maria, swathed in a dark mantle and with streaming hair, has been seen hovering near the bridal chamber. Enrico arrives, breathless and dust-covered, but Rambaldo tells him that he comes too late: by this time the marriage vows will have been exchanged. At this moment, indeed, the wedding procession returns and mounts a staircase to the apartments where the wedding banquet is to be held. Enrico waylays Corrado. He taunts him over his shameful birth, and challenges him, vowing that he will never allow him to enjoy Matilde’s love. Corrado, who still feels a brotherly affection for Enrico, tries to avoid a quarrel, but Enrico tears the insignia of the Counts of Rudenz from Corrado’s chest and tramples them underfoot. Provoked beyond endurance, Corrado accepts the challenge, and the two depart to fight a duel. –78– Scene 2 A gallery in the castle. While the wedding guests celebrate the marriage of the as-yet-absent Corrado and an apprehensive Matilde, a masked female figure furtively crosses the stage and enters the nuptial chamber. In due course Matilde retires, attended by her ladies. Corrado returns, conscience-stricken, since he has killed Enrico, and wishing only to forget what he has done in Matilde’s embraces. But at this moment a suffocated scream comes from the bridal chamber. Corrado hastens to investigate, but before he can cross the threshold he is confronted by what he takes to be the ghost of Maria. But Maria is very much alive. She throws open the chamber door and bids him enter. He returns ashy-pale, for he has found Matilde murdered. He rounds on Maria and goes to draw his sword, only to find that he is unarmed. But, as Maria tells him, he has no need to slay her: she is dying already, for her unhealed stab-wound has reopened. Even as she reproaches him, she continues to declare her unquenchable love, and at last he begins to appreciate the immensity of the love that has driven her to such frightful lengths. Filled with remorse, he goes to embrace her, declaring that it is his punishment to have to continue to live. But even in this last act of remorse and contrition he is thwarted, for Maria tears the bandages from her wound and falls dead at his feet. –79– Katia Ricciarelli sang Maria in the first modern production of Maria de Rudenz, given at La Fenice in 198080 ARGUMENT PREMIERE PARTIE Le Testament Scène 1 Au petit jour dans une auberge sur la rive de l’Aar. Par les fenêtres, on aperçoit une partie du couvent d’Arau et, sur la rive opposée, le château de Rudenz. On entend la voix de Matilde et des nonnes en train d’entonner les prières du matin. Corrado attend avec impatience la venue de son frère Enrico car il brûle de rejoindre Matilde au château. Lorsqu’Enrico arrive, les deux frères se saluent chaleureusement. En réponse aux questions d’Enrico, Corrado confirme qu’il a quitté Maria, la fille du dernier Comte de Rudenz récemment décédé. Il raconte qu’après s’être enfui avec elle à Venise, il en est venu à douter de sa fidélité; il l’a alors emmenée à Rome et l’a abandonnée au cours d’une visite des catacombes. Il voulait d’abord qu’elle se perde dans le labyrinthe souterrain et y périsse, mais il s’était radouci par la suite et avait envoyé un guide à son secours. Il avait ensuite erré de pays en pays, en changeant constamment de nom pour empêcher la jeune femme de retrouver sa trace. Cette misérable existence de fugitif a toutefois fait place à un bonheur nouveau depuis qu’il s’est épris de la cousine de Maria, Matilde di Wolff, héritière orpheline. Il l’a courtisée sans lui révéler sa véritable identité ou son passé, et ils sont sur le point de se marier. Dès qu’il entend son frère prononcer le nom de Matilde, Enrico est fou de jalousie car lui aussi est éperdument amoureux d’elle. –81– Corrado explique que dans son dernier testament le Comte de Rudenz a décrété que si Maria ne s’était pas manifestée au bout d’un an ses biens iraient à Matilde qui, au lieu d’entrer au couvent, serait libre de se choisir un époux. L’année est écoulée. Manifestement impatient de voir ses vœux se réaliser, Corrado presse Enrico de l’accompagner au château. Scène 2 À l’intérieur du château. Rambaldo, vieux serviteur de la maison de Rudenz, est surpris de découvrir une femme en larmes devant le portrait de feu son maître. C’est Maria, qui est parvenue jusqu’ici par un passage souterrain secret. Rambaldo lui révèle l’imminence de l’héritage de Matilde ainsi que le nom de son futur époux, et Maria – qui ignore encore tout de l’identité de celui-ci – se réjouit du bonheur de sa cousine car elle a l’intention de prendre le voile et d’entrer au couvent d’Arau. Tandis que Maria se retire, les serviteurs du château se rassemblent pour accueillir Matilde. Ils sont remplis de tristesse à la pensée de Maria qu’ils croient morte, et non de joie à la perspective de devoir s’incliner devant un nouveau maître, le futur époux de Matilde. Matilde entre et leur présente Corrado, son promis et leur nouveau seigneur. Après lecture du testament du Comte de Rudenz, Corrado est en train de jurer amour et fidélité éternels à Matilde lorsque, à l’appel de Rambaldo, Maria apparaît. Il s’ensuit une confrontation majeure au cours de laquelle Maria parvient à séparer Corrado de Matilde. Les serviteurs font serment d’allégeance à Maria plutôt qu’à Matilde et Corrado, lequel est chassé par la force. –82– DEUXIEME PARTIE Un crime Enrico retourne au château pour supplier Maria de faire preuve de clémence envers Matilde. Il lui fait remarquer qu’en gardant sa cousine prisonnière et en l’obligeant à prendre le voile, elle peut prétendre exaucer les vœux de son père, mais qu’en fait, elle est en train de servir ses propres fins. Jamais, déclare-t-il, Matilde n’entrera au couvent: il l’en empêchera car il est, lui aussi, amoureux d’elle. Maria répond en lui dévoilant qu’elle possède des informations qui permettront à Enrico d’épouser Matilde à la place de Corrado – mais avant de tout révéler, elle insiste pour revoir, une fois de plus, Corrado. Cet entretien – cette confrontation – a lieu sans tarder. Maria déclare à Corrado que sur ses instances Matilde épousera Enrico. Corrado refuse de la croire et affirme qu’Enrico, son propre frère, ne se comportera jamais en rival. Mais Maria s’empresse de lui ôter ses illusions: Enrico est bien le fils de son père, mais elle a la preuve que lui, Corrado, est un enfant abandonné par son propre père – criminel notoire du nom d’Ugo di Berna, mort depuis sur l’échafaud – et recueilli après que celui-ci a fui le pays. Corrado est anéanti. Profitant de son humiliation, Maria plaide sa propre cause: si Corrado consent à lui rendre son amour, elle détruira volontiers les preuves de sa naissance. Malgré toute la pitié qu’elle lui inspire, Corrado est incapable d’aimer Maria. La soif de vengeance est alors plus forte qu’elle. En appuyant sur un ressort secret, elle déplace les dalles formant le seuil de la chambre de Matilde, révélant ainsi une fosse béante. Il lui suffira d’appeler Matilde pour que celle-ci, venant à elle, périsse en se précipitant dans le vide sous le regard de Corrado. S’il veut –83– qu’elle soit épargnée, Corrado doit renoncer à sa bien-aimée et jurer, au contraire, fidélité éternelle à Maria. Lorsque celle-ci se met à appeler Matilde, Corrado au désespoir sort un poignard et le plonge dans son sein. Elle s’effondre apparemment blessée à mort. Rambaldo et les autres serviteurs s’approchent précipitamment, mais Maria innocente Corrado en prétendant s’être poignardée elle-même. TROISIEME PARTIE Le spectre Scène 1 La cour intérieure qui jouxte la chapelle du château où se déroule la cérémonie de mariage de Corrado et Matilde. Tous les serviteurs sont dans la consternation et le désarroi, car ils considèrent cette union illégitime de mauvais présage. Ils sont d’autant plus inquiets que le spectre de Maria, revêtue d’un manteau sombre et les cheveux dénoués, a été aperçu flottant au-dessus de la chambre nuptiale. Enrico arrive hors d’haleine et couvert de poussière, mais Rambaldo lui dit qu’il arrive trop tard: les vœux de mariage auront déjà été prononcés. À cet instant précis, la procession nuptiale sort en effet de la chapelle pour gravir les marches menant aux appartements où va se dérouler le banquet. Enrico arrête Corrado au passage. Il raille sa naissance honteuse et le provoque en jurant qu’il ne lui permettra jamais de jouir de l’amour de Matilde. Corrado, qui a une affection fraternelle pour Enrico, tente d’éviter la querelle, mais Enrico lui arrache de la poitrine l’insigne des comtes de Rudenz et le piétine. Excédé, Corrado accepte la provocation et ils partent ensemble se battre en duel. –84– Scène 2 Une galerie à l’intérieur du château. Tandis que les invités fêtent les noces d’un Corrado qui se fait attendre et d’une Matilde pleine d’appréhension, une silhouette de femme masquée traverse furtivement la scène et entre dans la chambre nuptiale. Matilde finit par se retirer avec ses dames de compagnie à ses côtés. Corrado réapparaît. Bien que la mort d’Enrico lui pèse sur la conscience, il est déterminé à tout oublier dans les bras de Matilde. Un cri étouffé venant de la chambre nuptiale se fait alors entendre. Corrado se précipite pour voir ce qui se passe, mais à peine atteint-il le seuil qu’il se trouve face à face avec ce qu’il croit être le fantôme de Maria. Maria est toutefois bien vivante. Elle ouvre en grand la porte de la chambre et l’invite à y pénétrer. Il en ressort livide, car il y a découvert Matilde assassinée. Il s’en prend alors à Maria et va pour sortir son épée lorsqu’il s’aperçoit qu’il est sans arme. Maria lui dit alors qu’il n’a nul besoin de la tuer: sa blessure non cicatrisée s’est rouverte et elle agonise déjà. Tout en lui adressant des reproches, elle continue à lui déclarer son amour inextinguible, et il commence enfin à mesurer l’immensité de l’amour qui l’a poussée à une si terrible vengeance. Pris de remords, il va pour la prendre dans ses bras en lui affirmant que son châtiment sera d’être resté vivant, mais Maria le prive de ce dernier acte de repentir et de contrition : elle arrache les bandages qui recouvrent sa plaie puis s’effondre morte à ses pieds. –85– DIE HANDLUNG ERSTER TEIL Das Testament 1. Szene Früher Morgen in einem Gasthaus am Ufer der Aar. Durch die Fenster sind Teile des Klosters Arau zu sehen, auf dem gegenüberliegenden Ufer das Schloss Rudenz. Matilde und die Nonnen des Klosters sind bei der Morgenandacht. Mit Ungeduld erwartet Corrado die Ankunft seines Bruders Enrico, da es ihn drängt, zu Matilde ins Schloss zu eilen. Als Enrico erscheint, begrüßen die Brüder sich herzlich. Als Antwort auf Enricos Frage bestätigt Corrado, dass er Maria, die Tochter des letzten, kürzlich verstorbenen Herzogs von Rudenz verlassen hat. Er erzählt, dass er zunächst mit ihr nach Venedig durchgebrannt sei, dort aber von ihrer Treulosigkeit überzeugt wurde; deshalb sei er mit ihr nach Rom gefahren, wo er sie bei einer Besichtigung der Katakomben in den unterirdischen Gängen zurückgelassen habe. Zunächst habe er beabsichtigt, sie dort dem sicheren Tod zu überlassen, doch dann seien ihm Bedenken gekommen, und er schickte einen Führer aus, der sie sicher ins Freie geleitete. Seitdem zieht er von Land zu Land, ständig unter anderen Namen, damit sie ihn nicht aufspüren kann. Jetzt aber hat dieses elende Flüchtlingslos ein Ende: Er hat sich in eine verwaiste Erbin, Maria Cousine Matilde di Wolff, verliebt. Er hat um sie geworben, ohne ihr seine wahre Identität oder seine Vergangenheit zu offenbaren, und sie werden in Kürze vermählt –86– werden. Kaum hört Enrico Matildes Namen, wird er von Eifersucht übermannt, denn auch er ist in Liebe zu ihr entbrannt. Corrado erklärt, dass der Graf von Rudenz in seinem letzten Testament verfügte, sein Vermögen solle, wenn Maria nicht innerhalb eines Jahres wieder erscheine, an Matilde übergehen, die aus dem Kloster austreten und sich einen Gemahl erwählen soll. Dieses Jahr ist nun vorüber. In Vorfreude auf sein kommendes Glück bittet Corrado seinen Bruder, ihn ins Schloss zu begleiten. 2. Szene Im Schloss. Rambaldo, ein Faktotum des Haushalts von Rudenz, entdeckt überrascht eine weinende Frau vor dem Bild seines verstorbenen Herrn stehen. Es ist Maria, die durch einen geheimen unterirdischen Gang ins Schloss zurückgekehrt ist. Rambaldo berichtet ihr, dass Matilde in Kürze das Erbe antreten und heiraten wird. Zunächst ist Maria ihrer Cousine durchaus wohl gesonnen, denn noch weiß sie nicht, um wen es sich bei diesem Gemahl handelt; überdies will sie ohnehin dem weltlichen Leben entsagen und ins Kloster von Arau eintreten. Als Maria sich zurückzieht, versammelt sich der Haushalt zu Matildes Empfang. Doch die Aussicht, bald einem neuen Herrn, Matildes künftigem Gemahl, die Ehre erweisen müssen, stimmt sie nicht froh; vielmehr trauern alle um Maria, die sie tot wähnen. Matilde tritt ein und stellt Corrado als ihren erwählten Gemahl und künftigen Schlossherrn vor. Das Testament des Grafen von Rudenz wird verlesen, soeben schwört Corrado Matilde ewige Liebe und Treue, als Maria, von Rambaldo herbeigerufen, erscheint. Es kommt zu einer –87– heftigen Auseinandersetzung, in deren Verlauf es Maria gelingt, Corrado und Matilde zu trennen. Der Haushalt erklärt Maria seine Treue, nicht Matilde und Corrado, der mit Gewalt entfernt wird. ZWEITER TEIL Ein Verbrechen Enrico kehrt ins Schloss zurück und bittet Maria, Matilde gegenüber Nachsicht walten zu lassen. Er erklärt, indem sie ihre Cousine gefangen setze und sie zwinge, den Schleier zu nehmen, erfülle sie vielleicht dem Anschein nach die Wünsche ihres Vaters, in Wirklichkeit aber missbrauche sie sie zu ihrem eigenen Vorteil. Nie, schwört er, werde Matilde ins Kloster eintreten, er selbst werde sie davon abhalten, denn auch er liebe sie. Daraufhin enthüllt Maria, dass sie Beweise besitzt, aufgrund derer er und nicht Corrado Matildes Gemahl werden kann – doch bevor sie diese Beweise preisgibt, besteht sie auf einem Gespräch unter vier Augen mit Corrado. Diese Auseinandersetzung findet sogleich statt. Maria teilt Corrado mit, dass sie eine Vermählung Matildes mit Enrico betreibt. Ungläubig beteuert Corrado, dass sein Bruder nie in Rivalität zu ihm treten werde. Doch Maria raubt ihm alle Illusionen: Nur Enrico sei der wahre Sohn seines Vaters, sie, Maria, könne beweisen, dass Corrado lediglich als Findelkind aufgenommen wurde, als sein eigener Vater, ein berüchtigter Schurke namens Ugo di Berno, der mittlerweile einen schmachvollen Tod am Galgen gefunden habe, des Landes floh. Corrado ist vor den Kopf gestoßen. Angesichts seiner Verzweiflung fleht Maria ihn an, ihr wieder seine Liebe zu schenken, dann –88– werde sie die Beweise seiner niederen Geburt eigenhändig vernichten. Corrado jedoch kann nur Mitgefühl für sie empfinden, nicht Liebe. Da gewinnt bei Maria die Rachsucht die Oberhand. Sie betätigt eine geheime Feder, woraufhin die Steine, die die Schwelle vor Matildes Zimmer bilden, im Boden versinken und sich ein Abgrund vor ihrer Tür auftut. Sie brauche nur nach Matilde zu rufen, dann müsse Corrado mitansehen, wie seine Braut in den Tod stürze. Maria erklärt, ihre Cousine nur dann zu schonen, wenn Corrado von ihr abschwört und Maria ewige Treue gelobt. Als sie Matildes Namen rufen will, greift Corrado verzweifelt zum Dolch und stößt ihn ihr in die Brust. Scheinbar tödlich verwundet bricht sie zusammen. Rambaldo und der Haushalt kommen herbeigelaufen, aber Maria erklärt, dass Corrado unschuldig sei, sie selbst habe sich erdolcht. DRITTER TEIL Das Gespenst 1. Szene Ein Atrium neben der Schlosskapelle, in der die Hochzeit von Corrado und Matilde stattfindet. Der Haushalt ist bestürzt und unruhig, denn in ihren Augen ist diese Verbindung mit Schuld beladen. Ihre Erregung steigt noch, als in der Nähe des Brautgemachs das Gespenst Marias, in einen dunklen Umhang gehüllt und mit wallendem Haar, gesehen wird. Enrico trifft atemlos und staubig ein, aber zu spät, wie Rambaldo ihm erklärt: Die Trauung habe bereits stattgefunden. Und in der Tat kehrt in diesem Augenblick die Hochzeitsprozession zurück und steigt die Treppe zu den Gemächern empor, in denen das Bankett abgehalten wird. Enrico fängt –89– Corrado ab, verhöhnt ihn mit seiner schändlichen Herkunft, fordert ihn zum Duell heraus und gelobt, er, Enrico, werde verhindern, dass sein Bruder sich je Matildes Liebe erfreuen kann. Corrado, der sich seinem Bruder noch immer verbunden fühlt, will einen Streit vermeiden, aber Enrico reißt ihm die Insignien des Grafen von Rudenz von der Brust und trampelt sie in den Boden. Zur Weißglut getrieben, willigt Corrado in das Duell ein, und die beiden treten ab, um es auszufechten. 2. Szene Eine Galerie im Schloss Während die Gäste die Hochzeit des noch abwesenden Corrado mit der beunruhigten Matilde feiern, schleicht eine maskierte weibliche Gestalt über die Bühne und betritt das Brautgemacht. Eine Weile später zieht Matilde sich im Kreis ihrer Damen zurück. Corrado kehrt zurück. Er ist zutiefst gequält, denn er hat Enrico getötet und möchte nun in Matildes Armen Vergessen suchen. In diesem Augenblick erklingt aus dem Brautgemach ein erstickter Schrei. Corrado eilt hinzu, doch bereits an der Schwelle wird er von etwas aufgehalten, das er für das Gespenst Marias hält. Doch Maria steht in Fleisch und Blut vor ihm. Sie wirft die Türen des Gemachs auf und bittet ihn einzutreten. Er wird aschfahl, als er Matilde ermordet vor sich sieht. Verbittert will er das Schwert ziehen und Rache üben, muss aber feststellen, dass er keine Waffe bei sich trägt. Maria jedoch erklärt, er brauche sie gar nicht zu töten – die Wunde, die sie von seinem Dolchstoß –90– erhalten habe, sei nie verheilt und habe sich nun wieder geöffnet. Zwar überhäuft sie ihn mit Vorwürfen, beteuert ihm aber auch ihre unstillbare Liebe, und nun endlich beginnt er die Größe ihrer Liebe zu begreifen, die sie zu diesem Racheakt trieb. Von Reue übermannt, will er sie in die Arme schließen und ihr erklären, seine Strafe bestehe darin, weiterleben zu müssen. Doch selbst diese späte Reue wird ihm verwehrt, denn Maria reißt die Binden von ihrer Wunde und fällt ihm zu Füßen tot zu Boden. –91– ARGOMENTO PARTE PRIMA Il Testamento Scena 1 È mattina presto in una locanda sulle rive del fiume Aar. Dalle finestre si può scorgere l’eremo di Arau e, sull’altra sponda del fiume, il castello di Rudenz. Dal convento giunge l’eco delle preghiere di Matilde e delle suore. Corrado attende con impazienza l’arrivo di suo fratello Enrico, perché ha fretta di raggiungere Matilde al castello. All’arrivo di Enrico, i due fratelli si salutano con affetto e Corrado racconta quanto gli è accaduto negli ultimi anni. Dopo essere fuggito a Venezia con Maria, figlia dell’ultimo Conte di Rudenz, recentemente defunto, aveva scoperto che la donna gli era infedele. L’aveva quindi condotta a Roma e poi abbandonata durante una visita alle catacombe. Inizialmente aveva sperato che lei morisse, sperduta nel labirinto dei corridoi sotterranei, ma poi si era impietosito e aveva inviato una guida al suo soccorso. Da allora era stato costretto a vagare da un paese all’altro, cambiando continuamente nome per impedirle di rintracciarlo. Adesso però la sua triste esistenza di esule è stata illuminata da una nuova felicità: si è innamorato di un’ereditiera orfana, Matilde di Wolff, cugina di Maria. L’ha corteggiata senza rivelarle la sua vera identità o il suo passato e stanno per sposarsi. A sentir nominare Matilde, Enrico è preso dalla gelosia: apparentemente anche lui ne è disperatamente innamorato. –92– Corrado spiega che, secondo il testamento del Conte di Rudenz, se Maria non fosse ricomparsa entro un anno, i suoi beni sarebbero andati a Matilde e la giovane, anziché entrare in convento, sarebbe stata libera di scegliere un marito. L’anno è ormai trascorso. Pregustando la sua prossima felicità, Corrado chiede a Enrico di accompagnarlo al castello. Scena 2 Nel castello. Rambaldo, anziano servitore della casa di Rudenz, rimane sorpreso nel trovare una donna in lacrime davanti al ritratto del suo defunto padrone. Si tratta di Maria, che è riuscita ad arrivare fin qui attraverso un corridoio sotterraneo segreto. Rambaldo le parla dell’imminente eredità di Matilde e del consorte scelto dalla cugina. Inizialmente ignara dell’identità del promesso sposo, Maria augura ogni bene alla cugina: lei non ha più ambizioni terrene perché intende prendere il velo ed entrare nel convento di Arau. Maria si ritira mentre i vassalli si riuniscono per accogliere Matilde. Lo stato d’animo generale però non è gioioso: tutti pensano che Maria sia morta e la prospettiva di dover obbedire a un nuovo signore, il futuro sposo di Matilde, non è gradita a nessuno. Entra Matilde e presenta Corrado, lo sposo che ha scelto e il futuro signore del castello. Dopo la lettura del testamento del conte di Rudenz, Corrado sta pronunciando il suo giuramento di amore ed eterna fedeltà quando entra Maria, chiamata da Rambaldo. Durante il successivo confronto, Maria riesce a separare Corrado e Matilde. I servitori dichiarano fedeltà a Maria anziché a Matilde e Corrado e quest’ultimo viene fatto uscire con la forza. –93– PARTE SECONDA Un delitto Enrico ritorna al castello per supplicare Maria di mostrare clemenza nei confronti di Matilde. Tenendo prigioniera sua cugina e obbligandola a prendere il velo, forse può illudersi di esaudire i desideri di suo padre, ma in realtà li sovverte in base ai suoi fini personali. Dichiara che Matilde non entrerà in convento: lo impedirà lui stesso, perché anche lui l’ama. Maria reagisce rivelando di avere in suo possesso alcune informazioni che consentiranno a lui piuttosto che a Corrado di sposare Matilde. Prima, però, vuole vedere ancora una volta Corrado. Il tempestoso colloquio si svolge immediatamente. Maria comunica a Corrado il proprio desiderio che Matilde sposi Enrico. Incredulo, Corrado protesta che suo fratello non sarà mai suo rivale e a questo punto Maria lo disillude: solo Enrico è il vero figlio di suo padre. Corrado è stato accolto e allevato dalla famiglia, ma il suo vero genitore era un famigerato criminale in fuga, di nome Ugo di Berna, che in seguito era stato ignominiosamente giustiziato. Corrado è sconvolto. Approfittando della sua umiliazione, Maria perora la propria causa: se Corrado le promette di tornare ad amarla, è disposta a distruggere le prove della sua origine. Ma, per quanto mosso a compassione, Corrado non può accontentarla. A questo punto la donna comincia a essere sopraffatta dal desiderio di vendicarsi. Premendo una molla segreta, fa scomparire le pietre della soglia della stanza, lasciando un pozzo aperto. Le basterà chiamare la cugina e Corrado vedrà la sua amata sposa precipitarvi e –94– morire. Matilde sarà risparmiata solo se Corrado rinuncerà a lei e giurerà eterna fedeltà a Maria. Mentre la donna inizia a chiamare, Corrado, disperato, estrae la spada e gliela immerge in petto. La donna cade, apparentemente ferita a morte. Entrano di corsa Rambaldo e i servitori. Maria però dichiara che Corrado è innocente e sostiene di essersi pugnalata da sola. PARTE TERZA Lo spettro Scena 1 Un atrio adiacente alla cappella del castello dove si celebrano le nozze tra Corrado e Matilde. Tutti i servitori sono costernati e sgomenti, perché considerano l’unione colpevole e infausta. La loro inquietudine è accresciuta dal fatto che lo spettro di Maria, avvolto in un mantello nero e con i capelli sciolti, è stato visto aggirarsi nei pressi della camera nuziale. Arriva Enrico, senza fiato e coperto di polvere, ma Rambaldo gli dice che è troppo tardi: ormai i voti nuziali sono stati pronunciati. In questo momento, appunto, ritorna il corteo nuziale e sale per la scalinata che porta alle sale in cui si svolgerà il banchetto nuziale. Enrico riesce a trattenere Corrado, lo provoca parlandogli dell’onta della sua nascita e lo sfida, giurando che gli impedirà di avere l’amore di Matilde. Corrado, che prova ancora un affetto fraterno per Enrico, cerca di evitare un litigio, ma Enrico gli strappa dal petto l’ordine dei conti di Rudenz e lo calpesta. Davanti a quest’ultimo insulto, Corrado accetta la sfida e i due si allontanano per combattersi a duello. –95– Scena 2 Una galleria nel castello. Mentre gli ospiti celebrano le nozze di Corrado, ancora assente, e della preoccupata Matilde, una figura femminile mascherata attraversa furtivamente la scena ed entra nella camera nuziale. Alla fine Matilde si ritira, con il suo seguito. Rientra Corrado, pieno di rimorso: ha ucciso Enrico e desidera soltanto dimenticare ciò che ha fatto tra le braccia di Matilde. Ma a questo punto dalla camera nuziale arriva un grido soffocato. Corrado si precipita a vedere quanto è accaduto, ma prima di poter attraversare la soglia si trova davanti a quello che pensa sia lo spettro di Maria. Maria è però viva. Spalanca la porta della camera e gli ordina di entrare. L’uomo ritorna pallidissimo perché ha trovato Matilde assassinata. Assale Maria e fa per sguainare la spada, ma si accorge di essere disarmato. Maria però lo rassicura: non c’è bisogno di ucciderla. La sua ferita non si è mai rimarginata e adesso si è riaperta. Pur rimproverandolo, continua a dichiarare il suo amore inestinguibile e alla fine Corrado comincia a rendersi conto dell’immensità del sentimento che l’ha spinta ad azioni così spaventose. Pieno di rimorso, si avvicina per abbracciarla, dichiarando che il suo castigo è la condanna a sopravvivere. Ma anche quest’ultimo atto di rimorso e contrizione gli viene impedito: Maria si strappa le bende che avvolgono la ferita e cade morta ai suoi piedi. –96– FIRST PERFORMANCE 30 January 1838, Teatro La Fenice, Venice Maria de Rudenz………………………..............………….Carolina Ungher Matilde de Wolff, her cousin………………...........................Isabella Casali Corrado di Waldorf…………………………....…………Giorgio Ronconi Enrico, his brother……………………………....……..Napoleone Moriani Rambaldo, an old retainer………………………...............Domenico Raffaeli Il Cancelliere del Castello………………………….......Alessandro Giachini The action takes place in 15th-century Switzerland * * * * The following libretto contains all the text of Cammarano’s original libretto. Those lines not set by Donizetti are preceded by double quotation marks. –97– CD 1 57’52 PART ONE Il Testamento The Will [1] SCENE I A room in an inn. Through large windows may be seen part of the convent of Arau, on the banks of the Aar, and on the further shore the castle of Rudenz. Dawn is breaking. From a distance may be heard a religious canticle. MATILDE & CHORUS Laude all’Eterno, amor primiero, Praise to the first and everlasting Love, Fonte di luce, somma virtù, The fountain of light, the highest virtue, Che disse appena in suo pensiero Who scarce uttered in his thought – Il mondo fia – e il mondo fu. Let the world be – than the world was. Te dei celesti cantan le schiere The ranks of the blessed sing Thy praise, Santo de’santi, e re de’re. Holy of holies, king of kings. Il tuono, i venti, il mar, le sfere, The thunder, the winds, the sea, the spheres, La terre e il cielo parlan di te. The earth and the sky give witness of Thee. –99– SCENE II Corrado opens a window and looks anxiously along the road leading to the inn. [2] CORRADO Eglia ancora non giunge, e tu Still he comes not, and you await me, m’attendi, Adorata Matilde My adored Matilde – Spirto sceso dai cieli a consolarmi!… A spirit come down from the heavens to console me!… L’ira placar del mio God granted that you might calm the Destin perverso a te concesse Iddio! anger of my perverse destiny! Ah! Non avea più lagrime Il ciglio inaridito, Mancò la speme all’anima, La pace al cor ferito… Il ciel di fosco ammanto Per me si circondò: Ah! Valle d’amaro pianto La terra a me sembrò. Ti vidi, o cara, e in estasi D’amor che l’alma invase: M’ami? ti dissi, e tacito Il labbro tuo rimase, Ma il guardo lusinghiero Mi favellò d’amore… Ah! L’universo intero Mi parve un riso allor! Ah! My dried-up eyes Were incapable of further tears, No hope was left in my soul, No peace win my wounded heart… For me the sky girt itself In a dark and gloomy mantle: Ah! To me the earth seemed A vale of bitter tears. I saw you, my dear, and in an ecstasy Of love that filled my soul, Do you love me? I asked, and though Your lips remained silent, Your winsome glance Spoke to me of love… Ah! The entire universe Seemed to smile upon me then! –100– SCENE III Enrico and Corrado [3] Fratello!… ENRICO Brother!... CORRADO Enrico!… Enrico!… They embrace each other in brotherly love ENRICO Appena Scarcely Il foglio tuo mi giunse, Had your letter reached me, Volai dal campo ad abbracciarti… Then I flew from the camp to embrace Un lustro you… Five years Volge che più non ti rividi! Have passed since last I saw you! CORRADO Oh, quante Oh, how many Il viver mio turbaro Stormy circumstances Procellose vicende! Have unsettled my life! ENRICO Qui la fama Here rumour had it Rapitor di Maria ti disse. That you had abducted Maria. CORRADO Il vero Rumour told Disse. “La chiesi al padre: Ah! pria, True. “I asked her father for her: Ah! l’altero the haughty count replied, “Conte rispose, pria svenarla. “I would rather see her dead. –101– Nelly Miricioiu (Maria) ENRICO “And she?…” CORRADO Meco fuggì… L’italo suol ne accolse… Fled with me… Italian soil received us… O veneta laguna, O Venetian lagoon, “Stupor del mondo, ed incantato “The wonder of the world, the specchio enchanted mirror “Del tuo ciel di zaffiro,” me felice “Of your sapphire sky,” you saw me Vedesti!… Ahi, breve sogno Happy!… But alas! my joys Furo i contenti miei! Were a fleeting dream! ENRICO Come? How come? CORRADO Tradito I was betrayed Dall’infedel… By the treacherous woman… ENRICO Che sento!… What do I hear? CORRADO “Era vestito “The world was invested “Di fosca notte il mondo, e “With gloomy night, and I saw my la spergiura perjured mistress “Calar vidi furtiva entro il solingo “Furtively descend into the unfrequented garden “Domestico giardin… Lo crederesti? “Of the house… Would you believe it? “Ivi un uom l’attendea! “A man awaited her there! ENRICO “Cielo! E che festi?” “Heavens! And what did you do?” “Ed essa?…” –103– CORRADO In my secret heart I swallowed my wrath… Sul Tebro la condussi, ed ambo scesi I took her to the Tiber, and when we A visitar le catacombe… had gone Down together to visit the catacombs… suspending his narrative, as if horrified by the memory ENRICO Oh! Segui. Oh! Go on. CORRADO Nel sotterraneo labirinto ascoso In the hidden subterranean labyrinth Di quell’orride volte: a morte Of those horrid vaults I said to her: in braccio Qui sei, dissi; e rinfacciai l’iniqua Here you are in the embrace of death: and I threw Del turpe inganno. Mendicata scusa Her shameless deception in her face: Ella movea, che dal terrore a mezzo She fabricated an excuse which died on her lips Fu tronca: e svenne… For terror; then she fainted… ENRICO E tu?… And you?… CORRADO Viva sepolta I abandoned her, L’abbandonai. Buried alive. ENRICO Gelo d’orror! I freeze with horror! Nel cor segreto divorai lo sdegno… –104– CORRADO Ma colta But then, my soul L’anima mia da subito rimorso, Seized by sudden remorse, La guida rintracciai, “che secondato I sought out the guide “who had been Il mio disegno avea”. my accomplice in my design”. Premio novello I offered him a fresh reward to gold, and D’oro gli posi, e giuramento ottenni, extracted his oath Ch’egli a morte la vittima ritolta That he would pluck back my victim Avrebbe. From death ENRICO Quindi! And then! CORRADO La romana piaggia I quit the precincts Lasciai, “di terra in terra Of Rome, “wandering from country to Vagando ognor” sotto mentiti nomi, Country” ever under false names, Onde di me colei So that she should lose Smarrisse ogn’orma. All trace of me. ENRICO Sventurato! Eppure Unhappy man! And yet Di tua letizia in seno You summoned me to share Tu m’appellasti! Your joy! CORRADO Ed or son lieto appieno, For now my cup of joy is full, [4] Qui di mie pene un angelo Consolator trovai: Here I found an angel To console me for my sufferings: –105– Robert McFarland (Corrado) Qui del passato immemore Un’ altra volta amai… Torna, si torna a splendere De’ giorni miei la stella! Sarà mia sposa l’orfana Di Wolff… Here, forgetful of the past, I fell in love again… The star that rules my days returns, Yes, returns to shine once more! For I shall wed the orphan Of the house of Wolff… ENRICO (Oh, colpo!) (Oh, what a blow!) L’orfana di Wolff! (Io moro!) The orphan of Wolff! (I could die!) Ed ella t’ama?… And she loves you?… CORRADO Se m’ama!… “Quant’io l’adoro.” Does she love me!… “As much as I love her.” ENRICO Si… “(Matilde!… Oh, rio martir!… Yes… “(Matilde!… Oh, fearsome torture!… “Io l’ho perduta!… Io moro… “I’ve lost her… I feel I’m dying… “Moro, e nol posso dir!)” “I’m dying, yet I cannot say so!)” CORRADO Ah! Non esprime il detto Ah! Words cannot express L’ardor che in noi s’apprese! The passion that took hold of us! Così potente affetto Never did such overpowering Non mai due cori accese! Affection set two hearts alight! Il suo pensiero è il mio… Her thought is my thought… Abbiamo un sol desio… We share but a single desire… Vivo per lei soltanto, I live for her alone, Ella respira in me. She breathes but in me. –107– ENRICO (Was ever anyone destined to endure More terrible torment!…) CORRADO Matilde!… Matilde!… ENRICO (Il core ho lacerato (My heart is pierced Da cento colpi, e cento!… By a hundred wounds, and a hundred more!… Ed, ahi! Qual man brandisce And, alas! What hand is it that L’acciar che mi ferisce!… Brandishes the sword that wounds me!… Per consumarla in pianto Heaven gave me my life La vita il ciel mi die!) Only that I should consume it in grief!) CORRADO indicating the castle of Rudenz Vieni… In quel soggiorno Come… Within those walls Essa mi attende. She awaits me. ENRICO In quello!… Within those walls!… CORRADO Matilde al nuovo giorno As this new days breaks, Matilde Signora è del castello, Becomes mistress of the castle Del padre di Maria Such was the last decree Tal fu la legge estrema… Of Maria’s father… Ah! Non tardiam la mia Ah! Let us not delay Felicità suprema… My crowning happiness… Donna, fia tolto il velo Lady, let us tear away the veil (Chi mai, chi fu serbato A più crudel tormento!…) –108– Che mi nascose a te, Quindi all’altare… (Oh, cielo!) Vieni… (Son fuor di me!…) [5] Fratello!… Enrico! Abbracciami, Dividi il mio contento… Ah! tu non puoi comprendere Il ben d’un tal momento!… Già col desio d’amore, Vola a Matilde il core… Tutto il piacere io godo Che Dio del ciel creò! Appien comprendo il giubilo Di tua beata sorte!… Divido teco i palpiti, Invidio a tue ritorte: (Son troppo sventurato… M’astringe orrendo fato A maledir quel nodo That has concealed my identity from you, And so to the altar… ENRICO (Oh, Heavens!) CORRADO Come… ENRICO (I am beside myself!…) CORRADO Brother!… Enrico! Embrace me, Share my happiness with me… Ah! you cannot conceive The blessing of such a moment!… Already my heart flies to Matilde Fired with the desires of love… And I enjoy all the pleasure That God created for Heaven! ENRICO I can fully conceive your delight At your happy fate!… I share the throbbings of your heart, I envy the knot you are about to tie: (I am too unfortunate… An awful fate obliges me To curse the bond –109– Bruce Ford (Enrico) Che il Ciel/Dio tra noi formò!) That Heaven/God established between us!) They leave SCENE IV A gallery in the castle of Rudenz with many doors on either side, and one at the back, with a curtain lowered over it. Upon one wall there is a portrait of the last Count of Rudenz. Rambaldo, and then Maria. [6] RAMBALDO advancing lost in gloomy thought Surse il giorno fatal, né di Maria The fatal day has dawned, and still Novella giunge! An, non mentì la voce No news of Maria! Ah, the report that Che in Roma estinta la dicea!… She had died in Rome was not mistaken!… The course of his thoughts is interrupted by a sound of weeping. He turns and is surprised to see a woman prostrated before the portrait. She is crying most bitterly. Chi piange Who is this who weeps Innanzi a quell’imago Before the portrait Del mio spendo signor? Donna, Of my last master? Lady, raise your la fronte face. Solleva. Che!… What! MARIA T’acqueta… Calm yourself… Non appellarmi. Per la via segreta, Name me not. I found my way here Che sotterranea del castello aggiunge By the secret passage that, running underground, –111– Ogni recesso, io qui traea. Si taccia Reaches every recess of the castle. Pronounce not Un nome d’onta ricoperto. Ahi, padre! A name which is covered in shame. Alas, father! Il tuo rigor dischiuse Your severity opened A me un abisso, a te la tomba! An abyss for me, for you your tomb! RAMBALDO Inguisto His severity Il suo rigor non fu! Vive Corrado Was not unjustified! Corrado lives A se medesmo ignoto: In ignorance of his true identity: “Egli nacque da tal, che morte infame “He was born of a father who suffered “Sul patibolo avea." “An ignominious death upon the scaffold." MARIA Ciel!… E fia vero!… Heavens!… Can this be true!… RAMBALDO L’orribile mistero The Count revealed the horrible mystery Presso a morir mi disvelava il Conte. To me as he lay dying. Ma dimmi, ov’è colui? “Dopo la notte But tell me, where is Corrado? “After that night “Che messaggero del padre m’accoglievi “When I came as your father’s messenger, and you “Nel veneto giardino, ambo spariste! “Received me in the garden in Venice, you both disappeared! MARIA “La mia crudel ferita “Why do you seek to probe “Perché ricerchi? Ahi, notte! “My cruel wound? Alas, that night! “Cagion tremenda, o forse “It was the terrible cause, or perhaps –113– “Prestesto vil d’atrocità sì nera, “Che in rimembrarla ancor di morte “The vile pretext, for an atrocity so black “That still, when I recall it, the icy cold of death “Tutta m’agghiaccia!… “Freezes me all over!… seized with horror “Un velo “Let a veil… “Sovr’essa… un velo.” Abbandonata “A veil be drawn over that night.” I was io fui, abandoned, E del barbaro invan cercai sinora And in vain till now have I sought to trace Investigar le ascose tracce! The hidden tracks of the brutal man! RAMBALDO Ancora Yet even now In tempo riedi. Un cenno You have returned in time. An instruction Del pedre tuo… From your father… MARIA Ne corse I heard La fama. Tell of it. RAMBALDO Giunge di Matilde in breve Matilde’s husband Lo sposo… Will soon be here… MARIA E giunga. Me desio non tragge And let him come. I am not drawn Di terrena grandezza. By wish of earthly grandeur. Nel domestico tetto a gemer vengo I return to my family home to weep Sul paterno sepolcro, indi m’aspetta Upon my father’s tomb, then Il convento d’Arau. the convent of Arau awaits me. –114– RAMBALDO Heavens!… What are you saying! Within those walls you wish… MARIA La vergogna celar di mia… sciagura. To conceal the shame of my… downfall. [7] Sì, del chiostro penitente Yes, I shall assume forever the veil Cingerò per sempre il velo: Of the penitent cloister: Del mio cor la smania ardente Heaven alone can calm Può calmar soltanto il cielo. The burning frenzy of my heart. Chiederò gemente a Dio With groans of remorse I shall beseech God Il perdono dell’ error… To forgive me my error… Sarà tutto il viver mio My whole life will be spent Un sol pianto di dolor. In shedding tears of grief. A sound of joyful music is heard RAMBALDO Vien lo sposo!… Matilde’s husband approaches!… MARIA Dell’Eterno May Eternal God Splenda un riso a questi nodi. Smile upon these nuptials. Ove giace il fral paterno I shall betake myself where the remains Io mi traggo, e poscia… m’odi: Of my father lie, and then… hear me: Quando avrà la notte oscura When dark night has unfurled La sua veste in ciel spiegata, Her vestment over the sky, Ciel!… Che dicesti!… E vuoi fra quelle mura?… Del convento fra le mura, Vieni a trarmi inosservata. Come and escort me unobserved Within the convent walls. She is about to depart –115– RAMBALDO Deh! Ti cangia… Deh! M’ascolta… Ah! Change your mind… Ah! Hear me… MARIA in a resolute tone Non conosci ancor Maria? Do you still not know Maria? RAMBALDO E vivrai colà sepolta And you will live out your life La tua vita? Buried in yonder convent? MARIA La mia vita? Oh, breve fia. My life? Oh, it will not last long. RAMBALDO Ah! Ah! MARIA Sì, breve fia la mia vita. Yes, my life will not last long. [8] Sulla mia tomba gelida Too late, and in useless compassion, Tardi, ed invan pietoso, Corrado will sometimes come to weep Nel suo rimorso a piangere In his remorse Egli verrà talor… Upon my cold tomb… Al suono di quei gemiti At the sound of those groans Dall’ultimo riposo My ashes will be roused Fian deste le miei ceneri, From their last sleep E sentiranno amor! And they will feel love! RAMBALDO Ove ti tragge, o misera, Where, poor woman, is this insane love Un forsennato amor! Leading you! MARIA Se quel crudo rivedrai Should you see again that villain –116– Matthew Hargreaves (Rambaldo) Che l’avello m’apprestò: Ella è spenta, gli dirai, Ma fedele a te spirò. Who sought to prepare my grave: Tell him, she is dead, But she died faithful to you. Sulla mia tomba gelida ecc. Too late, and in useless compassion, etc. Maria departs [9] RAMBALDO Qui de’vassalli move All the vassals of Rudenz approach La schiera. Oh, come lenta In this direction. O, how slowly Procede! Oh, come lo girar degli occhi They advance! O, how gravely they look È grave! Mal diresti About them! You scarce would guess Esser festivo la cagion che aduna They were gathered together Tal gente! For any festive cause! SCENE V The gallery fills with armed retainers and vassals of Rudenz. Innazi a sconosciuto sire Chinar dovrem le fronti? Ah! sì: de’nostri conti Tutta mancò la stirpe! Dunque spenta è Maria? Voi lo diceste. RETAINERS Must we bend the knee Before an unknown lord? RAMBALDO Ah! yes: the line of our counts Is quite extinct! RETAINERS Maria is dead, then? RAMBALDO As you say. –118– Oh, certezza fatal! (Spenta pur troppo È l’infelice al mondo. Sta nel volto a ciascun dolor profondo!) Ah! Che di pianto è questo, Non è di gioia il dì! Orrido vel funesto Il sol per noi coprì! In sen del freddo avello Anche Maria dimora! L’ultima speme ancora La morte a noi rapì!… Ah! Che di pianto è questo, Non è di gioia il dì! Giunge il signor novello, Pianger nessuno ardisca… Si taccia, e s’obbedisca… Volle il destin così! Olrrido vel funesto Il sol per noi coprì! Ah! Che di pianto è questo, Non è di gioia il dì! RETAINERS Oh, fatal certainty! RAMBALDO (Alas, the unhappy woman Is dead to this world. In the faces of all I read profound grief!) RETAINERS Ah! But this is a day of grief It is not a day of joy! An awful ill-omened veil Has obscured our sight of the sun! And Maria is laid In the depths of the cold tomb! Death has deprived us Even of this last hope!… Ah! But this is a day of grief, It is not a day of joy! RAMBALDO Our new lord approaches, Let no one dare to weep… Let all be silent and obey… Destiny has wished it thus! RETAINERS An awful ill-omened veil Has obscured our sight of the sun! Ah! But this is a day of grief, It is not a day of joy! –119– Regina Nathan (Matilde) SCENE VI Matilde, surrounded by her pages, goes towards Corrado, who comes forward followed by Enrico. [10] Matilde… CORRADO Matilde… MATILDE (Chi vegg’io!) (Who do I see!) RAMBALDO & RETAINERS (Corrado!…) (Corrado!…) Rambaldo, unobserved, departs ENRICO (Ah! sembra (Ah! in my eyes Celeste immago aglì occhi miei!…) She seems a heavenly vision!…) CORRADO Felice I am happy Oltre ogni dir son io! Beyond all telling! Quanto per me rinserra All that the earth contains Di più caro la terra That is most dear to me Mi sta dappresso! Stands here beside me! presenting Enrico to Matilde Mio fratello è questi. This is my brother. MATILDE Egli!… Enrico! Tu dunque sei? He?… Enrico! Then you are…? CORRADO Corrado di Waldorf. Una possente Corrado di Waldorf. A weighty reason Ragion m’astrinse di celar sinora Obliged me to conceal until now Qual fossi! My identity! –121– to Enrico Matilde Was not unknown to you! ENRICO Da tremenda pugna When my troop Reduce la mia schiera, Returned from a terrible battle, Dimorò nel villaggio, in cui romiti It was stationed in the village in which Giorni traea Matilde. Il suo pensiero Matilde passed her days in seclusion. At that time Allor fuggìa da mondani affetti! Her thoughts shunned earthly affections! MATILDE È vero… It is true… Allor non m’appellava ad altre sorti At that time the Count’s last testament Del Conte il cenno estremo. Did not call me to a different destiny. CORRADO Ognun lo ascolti. Let all hear the Count’s last wishes. A te, Matilde Non era ignota! IL CANCELLIERE DEL CASTELLO reading aloud the will Del retaggio avito Maria is the mistress È l’arbitra Maria. Of her ancestral inheritance. A lei Matilde raccomando, e sia I recommend Matilde to her – Primo de’suoi doveri That she should make it her first duty Secondarne la brama, e qual s’addice To second my wish, and place her nobly, A patrizia donzella, e mia nepote, As becomes a high-bred maiden Locarla nobilmente And my niece, in the cloister of Arau. D’Arau nel chiostro. Pur, se volge And yet, should a year go by l’anno –122– E mia figlia non riede, And my daughter not return, Scelga uno sposo, e del mio stato erede Let Matilde choose a husband, and I invest her Matilde investo. Il Conte As heiress to my estates. Count Piero di Rudenz. Piero di Rudenz. CORRADO Oggi Today marks the end Compie l’anno prefisso. Of the prescribed year. RETAINERS (Ahi, dura legge!…) (Alas, harsh decree!…) ENRICO (Ho sotto il piè l’abisso!) (The abyss opens beneath my feet!) MATILDE Di Matilde lo sposo adorato Let everyone recognise in Corrado In Corrado ciascuno rimiri. My adored husband. Ah! Giungesti momento beato Che affrettai con sì lunghi sospiri! (Io mi perdo!… Fatal gelosia Le mie luci ricopre d’un vel!…) Al signor che vi dono giurate, O vassalli, obbedienza e rispetto CORRADO Ah! You have arrived, blessed moment, Whose approach I hastened with such drawn-out sighs! ENRICO (I am lost!… Fatal jealousy Covers my eyes with a veil!…) MATILDE My vassals, swear to obey and respect The lord I give you. –123– David Parry (conductor) and Bruce Ford (Enrico) Com’io giuro, e voi tutti ascoltate, La mia fede, il mio tenero affetto… CORRADO Just as I swear, and call you all to witness My faith and my tender affection… SCENE VII The door at the back of the stage opens. Maria appears, followed by Rambaldo . MARIA Empio, cessa, che t’ode Maria. Stop, wicked man – you are overheard by Maria. There is general surprise CORRADO Non vaneggio!… Surely I’m not delirious!… ENRICO & RETAINERS Maria!… Maria!… MATILDE Giusto ciel!… Good heavens! MARIA Si… Maria. Yes… Maria. She comes forward, casting a terrible look upon Matilde as she does so. Then she turns to Corrado and in a tone of concentrated anger says: [11] Chiuse al dì per te le ciglia You were the cause that here, all alone, Qui deserto il genitore! My father closed his eyes to the light of day! E tradirne qui la figlia And yet here, black-hearted man, you thought –125– Tu volevi, atroce core! Nè l’Eterno ancor punisce L’alma rea che tanto ardisce?… Pena forsa Iddio non trova Che pareggi il tuo fallir. To betray his daughter. And does Eternal God still not punish A guilty soul who dared so much?… Perhaps God finds no punishment To equal your crime. CORRADO Se di Dio la man suprema If I have provoked the almighty hand A punirmi ho provocata… Of God to punish me… MARIA Oh Corrado! Oh Corrado! CORRADO Già mi coglie pena estrema, Already extreme punishment overtakes me Rivederti, o sciagurata. In seeing you again, wretched woman. Ma talvolta un fine arcano But sometimes a secret purpose Tien sospessa quella mano! Keeps the hand of God suspended! Se non fosse, al mio cospetto If it were not so, here before my eyes Ti dovrebbe incenerir. He should burn you to ashes. MARIA Sciagurato! Empio!… Va! Wretch! Villain!… Begone! ENRICO (Io son pari ad uom cui scende (I am like a man who already sees Già la scure sulla testa… The axe descending on his head… Ed un grido, un cenno intende And who hears a cry, an order Che di morte il colpo arresta! That arrests the blow of death! Ah! Ne’palpiti che provo Ah! In the throbbings I feel Al mio duolo conforto io trovo!… I find comfort for my grief!… –126– Ed un raggio di speranza Mi colora l’avvenir!) And a ray of hope Colours my future!) MATILDE (Quello sguardo, e quello sdegno (That look, and her anger Ah! Mi fè rabbrividir! Ah! They have set me shuddering! Ahi! Che sguardi…) Alas! what glances…) RAMBALDO & RETAINERS Al voler dello straniero We shall no longer have to submit Non dovremo più servir. To a stranger’s will. [12] RETAINERS Maria, di fidi sudditi Maria, receive the homage Ricevi or tu l’omaggio, Of your faithful subjects, E tremi il temerario And let the rash man tremble Che farti osasse oltraggio! Who dared to do you such an outrage! MARIA to Corrado Udisti? Or va, mi libera You’ve heard? Now go, from this moment Di tua presenza omai… Rid me of your presence… Furo da te quest’aure You have contaminated this air Contaminate assai! Va! Quite sufficiently! Go! drawing Matilde to her side Te poi, modesta vergine, As for you, modest virgin, Aspetta il sacro velo: The sacred veil awaits you: Restar non puoi fra gli uomini, You cannot remain among men, Cosa tu sei del cielo! You belong to heaven! ENRICO protesting, and quivering with passion, to Maria Donna!… Lady!… –127– CORRADO rushing forward to regain possession of Matilde E schernirla, o perfida, And do you dare to deride her, Osi?… Matilde è mia… Perfidious woman?… Matilde is mine… RETAINERS Che ardisci!… Va! What is this you dare?… Go! MARIA Allontanatelo… Drive him away… Respinto a forza ci sia… Eject him by force… CORRADO Sciagurata! Cursed woman! MATILDE to Corrado Ah! cedi… Ah! yield… ENRICO Per poco almeno… At least for a little… MARIA Esci… Begone… MATILDE as if she is about to faint Ho la morte in cor!… Death grips my heart!… MARIA Io trionfo appieno!… My triumph is complete!… CORRADO Son ebbro di furor!… I am drunk with fury!… MARIA Respinto sia… Let him be thrown out… –128– CORRADO Throw me out? Maria! MARIA Il tuo core a me togliesti, You deprived me of your heart. Tolgo a te la donna amata… I deprive you of the woman you love… Infelice mi volesti? You wished me unhappy? Io lo son… ma vendicata. So I am… but revenged. Va, se il ciel che a te contrasta, Go, if the opposition of heaven Se a dividervi non basta, Is not sufficient to separate you, Sogerà tra voi l’inferno… Hell will rise up between you… E l’inferno sento in me! The same hell that I feel inside me! CORRADO Va… ti disprezzo! Go… I despise you! MATILDE Volse un guardo a me sì fiero She turned such a ferocious look upon me Che me fè rabbrividire; That she has set me shuddering; Mi separa, ed in eterno, O Corrado, heaven divides me O Corrado, il ciel da te!… From you, and for all eternity!… ENRICO (Fra la speme ed il timore (Between hope and fear Ardo e gelo in un momento!… I burn and freeze in one and the same moment!… Del fratello a questo core The grievous torment of my brother Quasi è gioia il rio tormento!… Comes almost as joy to my heart!… Ahi! Qual era, più non sono!… Alas! I am no longer the man I was!… Non m’intendo!… Non ragiono!… I don’t understand myself… I cannot think clearly!… Io respinto? Maria! –129– Altro amor, l’amor fraterno Ha pur troppo estinto in me!) Love for another has unfortunately Stifled my love for my brother!) CORRADO to Maria Godi pur… Godrai per poco!… Exult then… You will not exult for long!… La tua gioia è fuggitiva… Your joy will be fleeting… ENRICO Oh! Speme… Oh! Hope… MARIA to Matilde Tu vieni… You, come with me… ENRICO to Corrado Fratello… Brother… MARIA to Corrado Sciagurato… Wretch… CORRADO Matilde è mia! Matilda is mine! MARIA Sì dal cielo… Yes, from heaven… CORRADO No!… mai! No… never! MARIA … respinto a forza ei sia! … let him be forcibly ejected! ENRICO to Maria and Corrado No!… Fermatevi… No! No!… Stop… No! –130– CORRADO to Maria Stolta! Apprendi che il mio foco Foolish woman! Learn that my fire Per ostacoli si avviva. Is fanned by obstacles Riedo in breve, riedo in armi I’ll return in brief, I’ll return under arms La mia sposa a ripigliarmi… To retake possession of my bride… E vedrem se poi l’inferno, And then we shall see if hell, Se può Dio negarla a me. If God can deny her to me. RAMBALDO & RETAINERS Va! T’allontana… ed in eterno, Go! Be gone… and for all eternity, Se la vita è cara a te. If you value your life. They force back Corrado, who departs, dragged away by Enrico. Maria pulls Matilde away in the other direction CD2 75’24 PART TWO Un Delitto A Crime [1] Preludio SCENE I A room in the castle, the ceiling of which is supported by thick columns. There are two side entrances and a door at the back. Maria enters by one of the side doors, Rambaldo from the door at the back. [2] Ebben, colei?… MARIA Well, how is she? –131– RAMBALDO Tuttora Always La stessa! Tace nel suo duolo immersa, The same! Immersed in her grief, E piange. She keeps silent and weeps. MARIA “Udì l’irrevocabile cenno? “Did she hear the irrevocable order? “Il cenno di Maria? “The order of Maria? RAMBALDO “L’udi. “She heard it. MARIA “Che mai “And whatever “Risponde? “Does she reply? RAMBALDO “Piange”. “She weeps”. MARIA Un lustro io piansi! Ormai I wept for five years! Now Fremo soltanto! Va, qui traggi Enrico; I only quiver with fury! Go, bring Enrico here; “Ed il geloso incarco “And remember your zealous duty “D’assecurar gli spaldi, ed ogni varco “To secure the flanks and every entrance “Del castello, rammenta.” Il sai, fu “To the castle.” You know that armed vista men have been seen Gente in armi dappresso! In the vicinity! Rambaldo goes out through one of the side doors Avvi Corrado istesso Corrado himself is certainly Certo fra quella!… Ma la preda invano Part of that band!… But he will try in vain Si tenterà strapparmi. To seize my prey from me. –132– SCENE II Enrico and Maria MARIA Approach. You asked to speak To me, Enrico: speak, What brings you here? ENRICO Pietà dell’infelice Pity for unhappy Matilde. Matilde. MARIA Io servo alla paterna legge. I am obeying my father’s order. ENRICO Ed osi un cenno ricordar, Maria. And do you dare refer, Maria, to an order Che pervertisti, e che annullato fia Whose intent you have deliberately twisted In breve dal Senato? And which will soon be annulled by the Senate? MARIA Ma tardi! L’ombre sorgeranno, tratta But too late! The shades will have gathered, Matilde a viva forza Matilde will have been lodged by force Sarà nel vicin chiostro. In the neighbouring cloister. ENRICO Il rio disegno You will not complete Non compirai… La vittima strappata Your evil design… Your victim will be torn T’avanza. Favellarmi Chiedesti, Enrico: parla, Che ti guida? –134– Nigel Douglas (Il Cancelliere) and Matthew Hargreaves (Rambaldo) Presso all’ara ti fira, dinanzi al nume, From you at the foot of the altar, before the God Di crudeltà nemico… Who is the enemy of the cruelty… MARIA E chi tanto ardirà? Corrado? And who will be so bold? Corrado? ENRICO Enrico. Enrico. Sappilo, in core avvampo, Know that in my heart I am aflame, Mi struggo per Matilde… I am beside myself with love for Matilde… MARIA L’ami? You love her? ENRICO D’immenso amor! With a love that knows no bounds. “Se morir cento volte in sua difesa “If I could die a hundred times “Potessi, cento volte “In her defence, a hundred times “Morrei, benedicendo “I’d die, blessing “Il mio destin. “My fate. MARIA “Che intendo!” “What do I hear!” L’ami, e la cedi You love her, yet you give her up Al tuo rivale? To your rival? ENRICO Al mio fratello. “Io vidi To my brother. “I saw “Matilde, allor che orbata “Matilde when, bereft of both “D’ambo i parenti, e derelitta in terra “Her parents, and left alone upon earth, “Volgea lo sguardo al cielo… E il ciel “She turned her gaze to heaven… And sembrava heaven seemed “Di sua beltade innamorata! Il core “To have fallen in love with her beauty. –136– Ne chiesi...indarno! Piansi... ...al pianger mio Ella rispose! …La pietà sovente “È foriera d’amore! Squillò repente “La tromba… Io mossi al campo… e venne meco “Dolce lusinga!…”Un fulmine colpito I asked her for her heart...in vain! I wept ...and she responded to my tears!... … Pity is so often “The forerunner of love! Then suddenly “The trumpet called… I reported to camp … and carried with me “A sweet hope!…”Would that a thunderbolt had stuck me M’avesse, pria che intender da Matilde Before ever I knew that Matilde returned Riamato il fratel!… D’ogni conforto, My brother’s love!… Deprived of all comfort, D’ogni speranza privo Bereft of all hope, Tremenda vita a lui dapresso io vivo! I lead an unspeakable life at his side! [3] Talor nel mio delirio Non veggio che il rivale… E corre involontaria La destra sul pugnale… Ed un pensier terribile Vien dall’inferno a me! Inorridita l’anima Tal segreto in petto io celo, Da temprar le tue sciagure. Sometimes in my raving I see in my brother only a rival… And, despite myself, my hand Races to my dagger… And a terrible thought Arises from hell to possess me! My soul in horror MARIA in a mysterious tone But in my heart I conceal such a secret As will temper your misfortunes. –137– Che di’tu!… S’io lo rivelo Senza offender la natura, Stringer puoi l’ambita mano Di colei che sì t’accese. Ah! fia ver!… Ma il gran arcano Far non posso ad uom palese, Olve pria l’infido amante Non ritorni al mio cospetto Ei mi segue… In breve istante Io condurlo a te prometto… Riveder potrò l’ingrato!… Rivederlo!… In breve!… Ah! Sì. Ma l’arcan?… Ti fia svelato: ENRICO What are you saying!… MARIA If I reveal it Without offending the claims of nature, You may clasp the hand you covet – The hand of she who has set your heart afire. ENRICO Ah! may it be true!… MARIA But I cannot reveal The great mystery to anyone Before I have once again seen My faithless lover. ENRICO He follows me… In a moment I promise to bring him to you… MARIA Shall I be able to behold the thankless rogue once more?… See him again?… And soon?… ENRICO Ah! Yes. But the mystery?… MARIA Will be revealed to you. –138– Quando? Quando? Al nuovo dì. [4] Al nuova dì? Ah!… Tu la speme a me ritorni!… Tu la vita in me ridesti!… La parola che dicesti Dalla tomba mi chiamò! Come all’angel de’miei giorni Grato sempre il cor ti fia, Se Matilde sarà mia… Se di gioia non morrò. Va… Che tardi?… A me l’invia… Vado, sì… (Ove son!… Che mai farò!…) Ah! Tu la speme a me ritorni, ecc. ENRICO When? MARIA When? Tomorrow morn. ENRICO Tomorrow morn? Ah!… You restore my hope!… You have given me back my life!… The word you have spoken Has called me back from the grave! If Matilde shall be mine… If I do not die of joy, My heart will forever be grateful to you, Acknowledging you as the angel who watches over me. MARIA Go… What are you waiting for?… Send him to me… ENRICO Yes, I go… MARIA (Where am I!… Whatever am I about to do?…) ENRICO Ah! You restore my hope!… etc. –139– Enrico leaves MARIA “Olà! “Ho there! Several armed retainers appear “Corrado a me venir si lasci.” “Let Corrado come to me.” The armed retainers go out. Maria now walks rapidly up and down, now stops, a prey to the greatest agitation. [5] Che fu!… Son io!… Me stessa What has happened!… This is I… yet I do not In me non trovo! Il senno fugge, il core Recognise myself! My senses desert me, Palpita più frequente!… My heart increases its beat!… Ogni stilla di sangue è fiamma ardente! Every drop of blood is a burning flame! “Questa piena d’affetti e di pensieri “Let me try to calm this excess of emotions “Calmar si cerchi… “And thoughts… She sits De’bollenti spirti The power of my seething spirits “Scemò la possa… non è ver. Più lieve “has subsided… No, that’s not true. It would be “Saria frenar de’venti, “Easier to harness the winds, “Della folgore il corso!” “Than rein back the course of the thunderbolt!” After a long pause, she rises Amor, vendetta, gelosia, furore: Love, revenge, jealousy, fury: Chi vincerà?… Which of you will triumph?… As she sees Corrado approaching, she says in impassioned tones: Corrado! Ha vinto amore! Corrado! It is love that has won! –140– SCENE III Corrado and Maria. Corrado, when he stands before Maria, stops in silence, fixing a terrible look upon her. MARIA Quel fero sguardo nel pensier mi desta That baleful look reminds me Le caverne di Roma! Oh, quale Of the catacombs of Rome! Oh, what a ingiusto causeless Furor geloso t’avvampò! Scolparmi And jealous fury burns in your glance! Deggio, e posso. I must exculpate myself, and I can. CORRADO Inutil cura e tarda! A useless and tardy undertaking! Per te non vengo. It is not for you that I come here. MARIA restraining herself and indicating the door at the back Intesi! I understand! Di lei favellerò. Colà Matilde Let me speak of her. There, Matilde Aspetta i cenni miei! Sposa d’un nume, Awaits my orders! She will be the bride O d’un mortale andrà, che più Either of God, or of a mortal who la merta, deserves her Né men l’ama di te. More than you, and who loves her no less. CORRADO scornfully Questo mortale The name Chiamasi?… Of this mortal?… MARIA Enrico. Enrico. –141– CORRADO My brother! MARIA No, tale No, that Egli non è. He is not. CORRADO Deliri! You’re raving! MARIA M’odi. Proscritto Hear me. Outlawed In un co’suoi congiunti, Ugo di Berna Together with his accomplices, Ugo di Berna Il pargoletto figlio, At his departure left his infant son, “Che mal regger potea nell’aspro “Whom he could ill support in his bitter esiglio,” exile,” Lasciò partendo all pietosa cura In the tender care D’un amico fedel: questi sua prole Of a faithful friend: this friend made the boy Creder fece il bambin: ma presso a Believe himself his son: but, when death morte, approached, “E già corsi due lustri,” “Ten years ago now,” L’arcan dischiuse al padre mio, He disclosed the mystery to my father, lasciando leaving Secure prove, onde potesse un giorno Sure proofs, to enable Ugo one day Ugo suo figlio ravvisar To recognise his son. CORRADO in awful anxiety Finisci. Finish your account. Mio fratel! –142– Robert McFarland (Corrado), Bruce Ford (Enrico) with the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir MARIA But Ugo, as well you know, stained With vile and atrocious crimes, met Costui macchiato, sul germano lido his death Fu spento dal carnefice. At the executioner’s hand on the German coast. CORRADO Quel figlio And that son D’Ugo?… Of Ugo? MARIA Tu sei. You are that son. CORRADO Mio padre… My father… Un assassin! An assassin! MARIA T’accheta… Calm yourself… CORRADO Orrido gelo A terrible spasm of ice Mi ricerca ogni fibra! Penetrates my every fibre! MARIA Eterno velo Let an eternal veil Covra l’arcan: distrutte Be drawn over the mystery: I myself Ne fian de me la prove. Shall destroy the proofs. Sempre lo stesso innanzi al mondo, Ever the same in the eyes of the world, Ah! Riedi Ah! Be once again Pur con Maria qual fosti. What you were to Maria. Ma, ben lo sai, di vili, atroci colpe –144– CORRADO What? MARIA Rimembra, infedel, quanto mi costi! Remember, faithless man, how much you cost me! [6] Fonte d’amare lagrime You turned my eyes Apristi agli occi miei… To fountains of bitter tears… La fama, il padre, ahi, misera Alas, poor wretch that I am, through you Per te crudel perdei… I lost my reputation, my father… Ma t’amo ancora, e supplice But I love you yet, and a supplicant Alle tue piante io cado… I fall at your feet… Tutto m’hai tolto… Ah! Rendimi, You have taken everything from me… Ah! Give me back, Rendimi almen Corrado… At least give me back Corrado… E come il ciel s’adora, And as one worships heaven, Giuro adorarti ognor. I swear to love you forever. CORRADO (Ah! chi sopisce l’odio, (Ah! who mollifies my hatred? Chi l’ire in sen mi smorza? Who assuages the anger in my breast? Qual mai potere insolito Whatever unfamiliar power is this A lagrimar mi sforza! That moves me to tears! Quell’angoscioso gemito That anguished groan tests Le vie del cor mi tenta! The motions of my heart! Provo un arcano palpito I feel a strange heartbeat Che un’altra età rammenta!… That reminds me of bygone times!… Così l’intesi allora I felt it like this in the days Che m’arse il primo amor!) When first I fell in love!) Che? –145– Moved in the extreme, Corrado makes a rapid movement in an attempt to leave, but Maria seizes his hand and holds him back. MARIA Parti?… Are you going? CORRADO (Corribili momenti!…) (Dreadful moment!…) MARIA E pieta di me non senti?… And feel you no pity for me?… CORRADO Sol pieta… Pity, but no more… MARIA Colei mi priva Matilde steals my chance D’altro affetto!… E questa mano?… Of any other affection… and this hand?… CORRADO Fia… Will be given… MARIA Non dirlo. Sin ch’io viva, Say no more. Traitor, while I live Traditor, lo speri invano… Your hopes are in vain… Or che tardi? Avventa omai Now what are you waiting for? Wretch, Quell’acciaro in me, spietato… Bury your sword in my bosom… Ma risorger mi vedrai But you will see me rise again, Truce spettro, insanguinato… A fearsome spectre, dripping blood… Di tue nozze il giorno, il rito I shall crown your marriage day, Di spavento colmerò… Your wedding ceremony with terror… E del talamo abborrito I shall cut short the evil joys L’empie gioje troncherò. Of your hateful nuptial chamber. –146– CORRADO Empty fury, foolish words!… A threat does not change my purpose. Before the sky becomes dark Matilde will be in my arms. MARIA “Ah!… Di rabbia son furente!… “Ah!… I am raging with anger!… “Me tu sfidi!… Separati “You defy me!… I can separate you “Da Matilde eternamente “From Matilde for all eternity, “Posso, iniquo, e pria che parti. “Wicked man, and before you leave this spot. CORRADO “(Ciel!…)” “(Heavens!…)” MARIA Non pensi, sciagurato, Have you no heed, wretched man, In qual tetto il piè mattesti! Of the roof under which you have ventured! Qui l’oltraggio invendicato Here no outrage ever went Mai non fu! Unrevenged! CORRADO Che dir vorresti?… What do you mean? MARIA De’ terribili avi miei I shall follow the example Seguirò l’esempio. Of my fearsome ancestors. She presses a spring, and the stones that form the threshold of the door at the back disappear. Mira. Behold. Furor vano, stolti accenti!… Me non cangia una minaccia. Pria che fosco il ciel diventi Fia Matilde in queste braccia. –147– CORRADO What an abyss! As Maria presses the spring once more, the stones reappear. MARIA Di colei It will be Fia la tomba. Her tomb. CORRADO No! No! MARIA “Quest’ira “Would you extinguish “Che m’avvampa spegner vuoi?” “The anger that flares within me?” Vuoi salvarla? Do you want to save her? CORRADO Sì… Che imponi? Yes… What must I do? MARIA “Morirà sugli occhi tuoi “She will die before your eyes “Se vacilli, se t’opponi!… “If you hesitate, if you offer any opposition!… CORRADO “Parla, parla.” “Speak, speak.” MARIA Dei giurarmi You must swear me Fede eternal, eterno amor. Eternal faith, eternal love. CORRADO Ah! Ah! MARIA Resisti!… E provocarmi, Do you resist?… Do you dare, Scellerato, ardisci ancor! Scoundrel, still to provoke me? Quale abisso! –148– Corrado has reached the state of a man in the last stages of desperation. CORRADO Io giurar? Ah! Must I swear? Ah! [7] È d’altra il cor… Nè franger My heart belongs to another… It is not M’è dato i lacci suoi… In my power to break those bonds… Barriera insuperabil Destiny places an insuperable barrier Pose il destin fra noi… Between us… Desisti… Non astringermi Desist… Do not compel me A rio misfatto estremo… To commit the most evil deed of all… Più che per lei non tremo, Even more than I tremble for her, Tremar tu dei per te! You must tremble for yourself! MARIA Giura, o l’istante orribile Swear, or the horrible moment Della vendetta è giunto!… Of vengeance has come!… Distruggerà la vittima A sign, a word, a touch Un cenno, un detto, un punto!… And my victim’s destroyed!… Fu mio quel cor, dev’essere That heart of yours was mine – it must Eternamente mio… Be mine for ever… Ora il destin son io: Now I play the part of destiny: Fuggir non puoi da me. You cannot escape me. Giura! Swear! CORRADO Non mai… Never… MARIA Non mai? Matilde! Never? Matilde! calling towards the door at the back, and placing her right hand on the spring –149– CORRADO Ah! Be silent! Stop… Do not call her! MARIA Giura!… Giura! Swear!… Swear! CORRADO No, no, no. No, no, no. È d’altra il cor… Nè franger My heart belongs to another… ecc. etc. MARIA Matilde! Matilde! CORRADO Tu lo vuoi! Mori… You will it! Then die… He plunges the dagger in her breast. MARIA uttering a piercing cry as she falls Ah!… Ah! Ah! Taci! Ah! Cessa… Taci! SCENE IV Matilde, Rambaldo and the armed retainers all come running, Matilde from the door at the back, Rambaldo and the retainers from the doors on either side. “Oh, ciel!…” Maria trafitta!… RAMBALDO & RETAINERS “Oh heavens!…” MATILDE Maria stabbed!… –150– RAMBALDO indicating Corrado, who has remained motionless, as if stupefied by the horror of what he has done Ed ecco l’assassin!… And here stands the assassin!… CORRADO Che feci!… What have I done!… RAMBALDO & RETAINERS raising their swords and pointing them toward his head Mostro, paventa… Monster, fear… MARIA Fermate… Io mi svenai… Ch’ei viva… Stop… I killed myself… Let him live… MATILDE, RAMBALDO & RETAINERS Spenta! She is dead! PART THREE Lo Spettro The Spectre SCENE I An atrium in the castle. To one side the castle chapel, lit up within. At the back a view, through a colonnade, of the park lapped by the river. The moon is shining. Armed retainers and vassals of the family of Rudenz are standing in groups at some distance from the door of the chapel [8] ARMED RETAINERS Sì, quell’ ombra sepolcrale Yes, that ghost from the tomb, Scarmigliata, in bruno ammanto, With streaming hair, in a dark mantle, –151– Marco Impallomeni (Italian coach) and Nelly Miricioiu (Maria) Alla soglia nuziale Fu veduta erra d’accanto. Was seen wandering near the threshold Of the nuptial chamber. VASSALS Qual presagio! E ancor vi fia What an evil omen! And are there still those Quell’ ardito, quel demente, Who are so rash or so demented Che lo spettro di Maria As to maintain the spectre of Maria Creda un sogno della mente? A figment of the imagination? ARMED RETAINERS Oh! se v’ha, non è Corrado, Ah! if there are, they do not include Corrado, Che all’udirne ammutolisce, Who is struck dumb to hear of it, E si turba, e suo malgrado And who is troubled, despite himself. Trema tutto, e impallidisce. Who trembles all over and grows pale. VASSALS Non oblia però l’amore Yet he cannot forget his love, Cagion rea di lutto e pianto! The guilty cause of this grief and mourning! Ma nel tempio il mancatore But even now in the chapel, false to his vows, Tristi nodi forma intanto. He enters into unpropitious marriage bonds. ARMED RETAINERS Ad Enrico tale imene To Enrico such a marriage Parve ancor sì sciagurato, Seemed so ill-omened Che fuggendo questo arene That, flying from these parts, Ha il fratello abbandonato!… He has abandoned his brother!… Religious music is heard –154– Dileguiam… Si ceda il campo Alla gioja d’empio amor... Sarà breve come lampo, Se v’è un Dio vendicator! ALL Let us disperse… Let us surrender the field To the celebration of guilty love… If there is a God of vengeance, It will be brief as a flash of lightening! All depart SCENE II Enrico, breathless and covered with dust, enters from the back, and Rambaldo from the chapel. [9] Tardi, ah! tardi giungesti!… RAMBALDO Too late, ah! you arrive too late!… ENRICO E che!… What do you mean?… RAMBALDO Fu sciolto The vows D’Imene il voto. Of marriage have been exchanged. ENRICO producing several sheets of paper Iniqua sorte!… Oh! Dimmi, Evil destiny!… Oh! Tell me, Tu forse?… You perhaps?… RAMBALDO Riede il nuzial corteggio!… The wedding procession is returning!… Va… T’allontana… Io deggio Go… Withdraw… I am due Recarmi altrove… (Ahi misera! Che fia, Elsewhere… (Alas, unhappy Maria! Che fia di te!…) What, what will become of you!…) He leaves hastily –155– ENRICO Was it Rambaldo, then, who sent The unknown messenger to me? Those fatal proofs. D’alto mistero, ah! Perché mai non Of the great mystery, ah! Why did I not v’ebbi receive them Un di soltanto, un’ora pria? A single day, even an hour earlier? “M’avverte “The attached “Il foglio annesso, che l’arcan sapea “Sheet informs me that Corrado knew of “Corrado, e quella face the mystery, and of the passion “Che m’arde in sen…” Tacesti, o vil, “That burns in my breast…” You kept tacesti silent, vile man, you kept silent Onde rapirmi l’adorata donna So that you could tear the woman I love from me Impunemente! With impunity! The nuptial procession crosses the atrium Orrida notte è questa!… What a horrible night this is!… Benda feral mi copre i lumi!… A fatal blindfold covers my eyes!… L’ignoto messo dunque Rambaldo a me spedia? Prove fatali SCENE III Corrado, Matilde, pages with lighted torches, ladies, knights and Enrico. ENRICO to Corrado, intercepting him and holding him back. Everyone else continues to accompany the bride, mounting a staircase that leads to the apartments where the festivity is to take place Arresta! Stop! –156– CORRADO Where have you come from? Whatever do you want? ENRICO Il tuo sangue! Your blood! CORRADO Il sangue mio?… My blood?… Ah! fratel!… Ah! brother!… ENRICO Fratel mi chiami? Do you call me brother? Nacqui forse, nacqui anchi’io Was I, too, perhaps, born of that knave Dal ribaldo, a cui la scure Whose wicked head Fe’cader l’iniqua testa? Fell to the axe? CORRADO Oh! Che intendo!… Sai tu pure Oh! What do I hear!… So you, too, Verità cosi funesta! Know this fatal truth! ENRICO showing him the papers N’ho le prove. I hold the proofs. Un altro arcano But there’s another mystery Tu sapesti! Quell’amor, You knew of! That love Che sì m’infiamma… Which so inflames me… CORRADO E ardisci… And do you dare… ENRICO Lo sapesti! Quell’amor..Io..Io You were aware of it! That love..I..I Onde riedi? Che mai brami? –157– CORRADO Madman! Stop… Be silent; or my fury… ENRICO Io lo sfido. I scorn your fury. Both have their hands on the pommels of their swords, but Corrado suddenly stops himself CORRADO No… T’amai No… I loved you Qual fratello… e t’amo ancor. As a brother… and I love you still. Vivi… e fuggi. Live… and fly this place. ENRICO Tu non sai You do not know Di qual tempra è questo cor! Of what temper his heart is made! [10] A me, cui financo la speme togliesti For me, whom you robbed even of hope, Sarebbe la vita supplizio di morte!… Life would be the torture of death!… Tu lieto frarranto i giorni trarresti You, meanwhile, a husband blessed in marriage, In sen di Matilde, beato consorte!… Would joyfully pass your days in Matilde’s arms!… No: fin che una stilla di sangue No: while a drop of blood is left me, mi resta, Indarno lo speri… Oppormi saprò… You hope in vain for such happiness I am here to thwart you… Fu scritta nel cielo condanna funesta: A fatal sentence has been signed in heaven: Ed uno fra noi più viver non può! And one of us can live no longer! Insano! Cessa…Taci; o il mio furor… –158– David Parry, conductor CORRADO Ah! Il primo de’beni ancora t’avanza, Ah! The most important treasure of all is still yours, Un cor innocente!… Di perderlo An innocent heart!… Be fearful of losing trema!… it!… Non sai del rimorso quant’ è grave la You do not know how heavy weighs possanza! remorse! Non sai quante è grave la mano You do not know how heavy weighs the suprema! hand of the Almighty! Ahi! Misero l’uomo di colpe bruttato, Alas! Wretched the man, besmirched with crimes, Che al cenno dell’ira il ferro vibrò! Who has been moved by anger to smite with the sword! Eterna è la maccia del sangue versato… The stain of spilt blood last forever… Un fiume di pianto lavarla non può! A river of tears cannot wash it away SCENE I Several knights, Corrado and Enrico KNIGHTS to Corrado Te, signor, Matilde appella. Matilde calls you, sir. CORRADO softly to Enrico Vanne, e scorda un folle amore. Go, and forget your mad love. ENRICO stopping Corrado as he is about to depart Ferma, indegno… Stop, coward… –160– KNIGHTS What language!… ENRICO Siam rivali… We are rivals… KNIGHTS Oh ciel… Che orrore! Oh heavens… What horror! ENRICO Mio fratel, non è costui… This fellow is no brother of mine… The knights express surprise Un infame, un assassino His father was a notorious criminal, Fu suo padre… Più di lui A murderer… And he is even more vile Egli è vile. Than his father. He throws himself upon Corrado, tears from him the insignia of the Counts of Rudenz, and tramples them underfoot KNIGHTS Ah! Che orror! Ah! What horror! CORRADO shaking with anger Rio destino! Evil destiny! Tu colpevole mi rendi! It is you who makes me guilty! KNIGHTS (Egli d’onta lo copri!…) (Enrico has steeped him in shame!…) ENRICO Snuda il ferro. Ebben, che attendi? Unsheath your sword. Well, what are you waiting for? Vieni. Come. He gestures towards the park. Qual favella!… –161– Ah! pensa… Vieni. [11] Vengo… sì. Un di noi più viver non può! Un di noi più viver non può! O tremenda gelosia Che m’aresti, e m’ardi ancora, O furor dell’alma mia, Di sfogarvi è giunta l’ora! Se a Matilde rieder vuoi Nel mio sangue dèi bagnarti… Sommo ben mi fia svenarti, Sommo ben mi fia morir. Ch’ei snudar mi fe’la spada, Terra e cielo, io voi ne attesto. Ah! L’orror su lui ricada Della pugna ch’io detesto. KNIGHTS Ah! consider… ENRICO Come. CORRADO Yes… I’m coming. ENRICO One of us can live no longer! CORRADO One of us can live no longer! ENRICO O fearful jealousy That set me afire, and burns me still, O fury, that fills my soul, The time has come to give you vent! to Corrado If you wish to return to Matilde, You must first bathe yourself in my blood… My greatest good fortune would be to kill you, My greatest good fortune would be to die. CORRADO Heaven and earth, I call you to witness: It was he who made me draw my sword. Ah! May the horror of this duel, Which I deplore, fall upon him, –162– Note, addensa i veli tuoi, Copri tu sì tristo evento… Ah! Di vincere pavento… Non pavento di morir! Night, thicken your mantle, Conceal such an evil event… Ah! I fear to win… But I do not fear to die! KNIGHTS (Ah! Di morte i detti suoi (Ah! His words were a bitter Furo acerba e ria disfida! And impious defiance of death! Tanto oltraggio sangue grida! Such outrage calls for blood! Sprona all’armi tanto ardir!) Such boldness spurs to arms!) ENRICO & CORRADO Vieni! Come! ENRICO All’armi! To arms! CORRADO Andiam… all’armi! Let us go… To arms! They enter the park SCENE V A magnificent gallery. A staircase at the back, leading to other apartments. To one side the door leading to the nuptial chamber; on the other side a balcony. The walls are hung with garlands of flowers, and everywhere torches are burning brightly. The orchestras have already struck up in festive sound, and the dances are already underway. In every direction there is an animated coming and going of pages, ladies and knights. Matilde is seated in the middle of a joyful throng, but every few moments looks about her in disquiet, as if she is searching for Corrado. During the dances, the ladies sing as follows: –163– [12] O giovinetta sposa, Soave sei, gentile! Gentil come la rosa LADIES Oh young bride, You are sweet and fair to the eye! As fair as the rose D’un bel mattin d’aprile, Upon a fine April morn, Soave al par di candido As sweet as modest Modesto gelsomin: White jasmine: Sei grata più dell’aura You are more welcome than the breeze Che spira dal giardin. That blows from the garden. Meanwhile a masked woman crosses the back of the stage, and while the attention of all is occupied with the dancing, rapidly and furtively enters the nuptial chamber. A page approaches Matilde, and speaks to her in a low voice. She rises, and, accompanied by some of the ladies, retires to the nuptial chamber. After some moments Corrado appears at the head of the staircase, surrounded by the knights who were in attendance on him in the previous scene. The ladies come forth from Matilde’s chamber. All take their leave of the bridegroom, and he is left alone. SCENE VI Corrado. After a moment spent in gloomy silence he opens the casement window in the balcony, and throws away his sword. [13] CORRADO Ah! Fra gli amplessi tuoi scordar Ah! In your embraces, Matilde, Matilde A me fia dato, qual orrendo prezzo Let me forget the terrible price Essi costaro!… At which I had to buy them!… A suffocated cry issues from Matilde’s chamber –164– Acuto mi feria That was a cry of agony Grido gemente!… That loudly assailed my ear!… He runs towards the chamber door, but then falls back in horror. Ah!… L’ombra di Maria!… Ah!… The ghost of Maria!… SCENE VII Maria and Corrado. Maria is enveloped in a long mantle, and stands motionless upon the threshold of the nuptial chamber. MARIA Tel dissi che risorta I told you I should rise again Dalla tomba sarei! Che riveduta From the tomb! That you would see me again M’avresti accanto al nuzial tuo letto! Beside your nuptial bed! Eccomi. Tremi? Here I am. Do you tremble? CORRADO Ho il gel… di… morte… in petto!… I feel the ice… of death… in my heart!… MARIA Eccomi! Behold me! [14] Mostro iniquo, tremar tu dovevi Vile monster, you should have trembled In quel fero, in quell’orrido istante, In that frightful, in that horrible moment, Che a Matilde sull’ara porgevi When at the altar, you gave Matilde Del mio sangue la mano stillante, That hand still dripping with my blood, Quando irato l’Eterno ascoltava When an angered Almighty God heard Empio voto d’amore e di fé… Your wicked vow of love and faith… Oh! Se il tempio in quel punto crollava, Oh! If the chapel in that moment had crumbled, –166– Scellerato, era meglio per te! It would have been better for you, you scoundrel! CORRADO Ah! Di lei… di Matilde, che festi? Ah! What have you done to her… to Matilde? MARIA Entra… e vedi. Enter… and see. Mostro iniquo! Vile monster! She throws open the door. Corrado rushes in, but immediately returns, his face ashy-pale, and his hair erect upon his head CORRADO Gran Dio!… Trucidata!… Good God!… Butchered to death!… O mia sposa!… Ah! O my bride!… Ah! SCENE THE LAST Rambaldo, pages, servants, armed retainers, Maria and Corrado. RETAINERS, SERVANTS, ETC still off-stage Quai gridi son questi!… What shouts are these?… CORRADO Fu svenata Matilde!… Matilde has been slain!… RETAINERS, SERVANTS, ETC entering Svenata!… Slain!… Ahi! lo spettro!… Alas the spectre!… in fright, and about to flee –167– MARIA Spenta non son… I am not dead… Respiro! I breathe! She lets fall her veil. All stop. She holds her right hand over the spot where Corrado stabbed her, and speaks with difficulty. Little by little her speech become more clear and more emotional “Quest’uomo pietoso “This man of mercy indicating Rambaldo “Fe’recar la mia spoglia mortale “Had my mortal remains carried “Ove dormono eterno riposo “To where my forebears sleep “Gli avimiei… già la pietra funesta “Their eternal sleep… Already he was tearfully “Sul mio capo ei piangendo chiudea… “Lowering the fatal stone over my head “Quando un gemer sommesso lo “When a low groan stops him arresta… “Egli accorre… Io tuttora vivea!… “He comes running… and finds me still living!… RETAINERS, SERVANTS, ETC “Oh! CORRADO “Che intendo!…” Spietata! “What do I hear!…” Implacable woman! MARIA L’arcano serbai I kept my existence a secret Onde oppormi ad iniqui legami… In order to thwart his wicked marriage plans… “Oh!… –168– with a ferocious laugh I have shattered them!… CORRADO Ah, perversa!… E vivrai?… Ah, perverse creature!… And shall I let you live?… He goes to draw his sword but, not finding it, throws himself upon one of the armed retainers in order to take possession of his Un acciaro… Deh… A sword… Ah… Other retainers and servants restrain him MARIA Tu spenta mi brami!… You wish me dead!… Sarai pago… You will have your wish… RAMBALDO “Che dici!…” “What are you saying!…” MARIA La vita, This hateful life… Che abborrisco… già fugge da me… Is already slipping from me… CORRADO Matilde… Matilde… MARIA Sarai pago… You will have your way… Riaperta è la cruda ferita… My unhealed wound has reopened… Breve istante… e Maria più non è… A brief moment… and Maria will be no more… There is a general reaction of horror: she leans against Rambaldo for support [15] Al misfatto enorme e rio I was drawn despite myself Trascinata fui pel crine… To a monstrous and heinous crime… Gli ho spezzati!… –169– Non ha legge, né confine Oltraggiato, immense amor. Quest’ingrato, l’onor mio Ricovrì di negro velo… Ei m’ha tolto vita… e cielo… But when an immense love is outraged It knows neither law nor limit. This ingrate cast a black veil Over my honour… He has deprived me of life… and heaven… Quest’ ingrato… io l’amo ancor! This ingrate… and yet I love him still! CORRADO in a state of consternation and fear Ah! Mi punisce con la vita, Ah! God Almighty, your severity Dio tremendo, il tuo rigor. Punishes me by making me live. WOMEN L’alma ho tutta sbigottita!… I am dismayed to the depths of my soul!… MEN Oh, qual notte di terror! Oh, what a night of terror! The signs of Maria’s approaching death become more apparent RAMBALDO Ah! fetch a physician’s aid… Fetch help… RAMBALDO & RETAINERS O terror!… MARIA tearing the bandages from her wound No… no… no… Ah! d’un farmaco l’aita… Un soccorso… Ah! Oh terror!… No… no… no… –170– Or m’aspetta infame tomba Now there awaits me a tomb of evil fame Senza prece… e senza pianto… Without prayers… without tears… to Rambaldo Frai i mortali… tu soltanto Among the living… you alone Resti... a spargerla d’un fior! Remain… to cast a flower upon it! Io già manco!… In sen mi piomba Already I am failing!… The icy hand of death Della morte orrendo il gelo!… Falls heavy upon my breast!… dragging herself close to Corrado Mi togliesti vita… e cielo! You deprived me of life… and heaven! CORRADO Ah! perdon… Ah! forgive me… MARIA Ti perdono… e… t’amo… ancor… I forgive you… and… I love you… still… RETAINERS & SERVANTS, ETC L’alma ho tutta sbigottita, I am dismayed to the depths of my soul!… Ah! Cielo! Qual notte di terror! Ah! Heavens! What a night of terror! CORRADO Ah! Vieni abbracciami… Ah! Come and embrace me… Mi punisce con la vita, Ah! God Almighty, your severity Dio tremendo, il tuo rigor. Punishes me by making me live. Maria falls dead at his feet THE END –171– APPENDIX [16] Coro, ‘Fu vista in arme sul far del giorno’, for insertion at the beginning of Part Two. This extra chorus is to be found in one copyist manuscript of the opera. As there is no known autograph of the complete opera – or, indeed, of this chorus – Donizetti’s reasons for adding a new scene at the beginning of Part Two are not clear. It is believed to have been composed for a production at La Scala in Milan. RETAINERS At break of day a large number of armed men Per ogni intorn gran folla errar; Were seen prowling through these surrounding parts; E mentre il cielo era ancor fosco And while the sky was yet dark Nel vicin bosco guardinga entrar. Cautiously the band entered the nearby wood. Quell’orda forse Corrado invia… Perhaps it is Corrado who sends that horde… (Corrado, oh ciel!) (Corrado, oh Heavens!) Forse a Maria fatal sarà! Perhaps its approach will prove fatal for Maria! Ma pria che cada su lei la spada But before the sword falls upon her Pie nostri petti passar dovrà. It must first pass through our hearts. Giuriamo al ciel che n’ode We swear to heaven that hears us Che l’empia frode distrutta andrà! That the dastardly plan will be frustrated! E se la gloria per noi tramonta And if our glory is about to set, Fu vista in arme sul far del giorno –172– La morte all’onta si preporrà. Ma sgomberiam da questo suol Come una nebbia che sperdi il sol Senza sterpare nel suo furore Una sol fronda del nostro allor. We shall choose death rather than shame. But let us disappear from this earth Like a mist dispersed by the sun Which, in his fury, does not strip A single frond from our laurels. [17] Scena e cavatina (Enrico) con coro, ‘Che pensi Enrico?… Il pensar che per te peno’, for insertion at the beginning of the finale of Part One. This aria exists in autograph manuscript, and is headed ‘Atto Pmo… Dopo il coro… Scena e cavatina Enrico con Cori’. It is signed ‘Donizetti – all’amico Moriano – Venezia 1838’. From this it is clear that it was intended to follow the chorus, ‘Ah! che di pianto è questo’, and to precede the entry of Matilde and Corrado. Presumably, since the words do not appear in the first libretto, it was either dropped from the score – and the manuscript given to Moriani as a gesture to compensate him for his disappointment – or it was composed at the last moment for possible insertion if the premiere proved a success. There is no evidence that Moriani ever performed it. Che pensi Enrico? Riedere al campo? Al primo acciar nemico Offrire il petto? Ah no! Donna adorata, purch’io respiri ENRICO What do you intend, Enrico? To return to the camp? To bare your breast to the first Enemy sword? Ah no! Adored lady, provided that I may breathe –173– L’aure del tuo soggiorno, Purch’io ti vegga – ti vegga e ascolti Mi fia supreme bene Il soffrir mille angoscie e mille pene! Il pensar che per te peno Sarà pace al cor deliro; Mi fia dolce ogni sospiro, Il dolor fia voluttà! Sotto gl’occhi di Matilde Io trarrò nel pianto l’ore, Non chiedendo a tanto amore Che mercede di pietà. Fuggì gual sogno infido La speme invan nudrita: Di lagrime una vita Soltanto a me restò. In queste soglie il cielo Corrado a te s’apria, Amor la tomba mia In esse m’apprestò! Ah! nel crudel dolore Suoi lacci Imen formò. The air where you dwell, Provided I may see you – see you and hear you, It will be a supreme blessing for me To suffer a thousand pangs, a thousand pains! To think that I suffer for you Will bring peace to my raging heart; Every sigh will become sweet to me, And grief an indulgence in luxury! Beneath the gaze of Matilde I shall count the hours in tears, Asking no reward for so much love Except her compassion. The hope that I nourished in vain Has vanished like a fickle dream: A life of tears Is all that is left to me. Upon this threshold heaven Opened for you, Corrado, But upon this same threshold Love prepared for me my tomb! RETAINERS Ah! Hymen shaped his bonds In cruel grief. –174– Matilde – io t’ho perduta! Fuggì qual sogno, ecc. ENRICO Matilde – I have lost you! The hope that I nourished in vain, etc. –175– Sir Peter Moores