The Complete Opera Book Part 51

In the sacred dance,

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the interval is from G to F-flat. The intervals, where employed in the two music examples just cited, are bracketed. The interval of three semi-tones--the characteristic of the Oriental scale--could not be more clearly shown than it is under the second bracket of the sacred dance.

Act II. Scene 1. In this scene, which takes place in a hall in the apartments of _Amneris_, the Princess adopts strategy to discover if _Ada_ returns the pa.s.sion which she suspects in _Rhadames_.

Messengers have arrived from the front with news that _Rhadames_ has put the Ethiopians to utter rout and is returning with many trophies and captives. Naturally _Ada_ is distraught. Is her lover safe? Was her father slain? It is while _Ada's_ mind and heart are agitated by these questions that _Amneris_ chooses the moment to test her feelings and wrest from her the secret she longs yet dreads to fathom. The Princess is reclining on a couch in her apartment in the palace at Thebes, whither the court has repaired to welcome the triumphant Egyptian army. Slaves are adorning her for the festival or agitating the air with large feather fans. Moorish slave boys dance for her delectation and her attendants sing:

While on thy tresses rain Laurels and flowers interwoven, Let songs of glory mingle With strains of tender love.

In the midst of these festive preparations _Ada_ enters, and _Amneris_, craftily feigning sympathy for her lest she be grieving over the defeat of her people and the possible loss in battle of someone dear to her, affects to console her by telling her that _Rhadames_, the leader of the Egyptians, has been slain.

It is not necessary for the Princess to watch the girl intently in order to note the effect upon her of the sudden and cruelly contrived announcement. Almost as suddenly, having feasted her eyes on the slave girl's grief, the Princess exclaims: "I have deceived you; _Rhadames_ lives!"

"He lives!" Tears of grat.i.tude instead of despair now moisten _Ada's_ eyes as she raises them to Heaven.

"You love him; you cannot deny it!" cries _Amneris_, forgetting in her furious jealousy her dignity as a Princess. "But know, you have a rival. Yes--in me. You, my slave, have a rival in your mistress, a daughter of the Pharaohs!"

Having fathomed her slave's secret, she vents the refined cruelty of her jealous nature upon the unfortunate girl by commanding her to be present at the approaching triumphant entry of _Rhadames_ and the Egyptian army:

"Come, follow me, and you shall learn if you can contend with me--you, prostrate in the dust, I on the throne beside the king!"

What has just been described is formulated by Verdi in a duet for _Amneris_ and _Ada_, "Amore! gaudio tormento" (Oh, love! Oh, joy and sorrow!), which expresses the craftiness and subtlety of the Egyptian Princess, the conflicting emotions of _Ada_, and the dramatic stress of the whole episode.

This phrase especially seems to express the combined haughtiness and jealousy in the att.i.tude of _Amneris_ toward _Ada_:

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Scene 2. Brilliant indeed is the spectacle to which _Ada_ is compelled to proceed with the Princess. It is near a group of palms at the entrance to the city of Thebes that the _King_ has elected to give _Rhadames_ his triumph. Here stands the temple of Ammon. Beyond it a triumphal gate has been erected. When the _King_ enters to the cheers of the mult.i.tude and followed by his gaudily clad court, he takes his seat on the throne surmounted by a purple canopy. To his left sits _Amneris_, singling out for her disdainful glances the most unhappy of her slaves.

A blast of trumpets, and the victorious army begins its defile past the throne. After the foot soldiers come the chariots of war; then the bearers of the sacred vases and statues of the G.o.ds, and a troupe of dancing girls carrying the loot of victory. A great flourish of trumpets, an outburst of acclaim, and _Rhadames_, proudly standing under a canopy borne high on the shoulders of twelve of his officers, is carried through the triumphal gate and into the presence of his _King_. As the young hero descends from the canopy, the monarch, too, comes down from the throne and embracing him exclaims:

"Savior of your country, I salute you. My daughter with her own hand shall place the crown of laurels upon your brow." And when _Amneris_, suiting her action to her father's words, crowns _Rhadames_, the _King_ continues: "Now ask of me whatever you most desire. I swear by my crown and by the sacred G.o.ds that nothing shall be denied to you this day!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Dupont

Louise Homer as Amneris in "Ada"]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Copyright photo by Mishkin

Rosina Galli in the Ballet of "Ada"]

But although no wish is nearer the heart of _Rhadames_ than to obtain freedom for _Ada_, he does not consider the moment as yet opportune.

Therefore he requests that first the prisoners of war be brought before the _King_. When they enter, one of them, by his proud mien and spirited carriage, easily stands forth from the rest. Hardly has _Ada_ set eyes upon him than she utters the startled exclamation, "My father!"

It is indeed none other than _Amonasro_, the Ethiopian king, who, his ident.i.ty unknown to the Egyptians, has been made captive by them.

Swiftly gliding over to where _Ada_ stands, he whispers to her not to betray his rank to his captors. Then, turning to the Egyptian monarch, he craftily describes how he has seen the king of Ethiopia dead at his feet from many wounds, and concludes by entreating clemency for the conquered. Not only do the other captives and _Ada_ join in his prayer, but the people, moved by his words and by his n.o.ble aspect, beg their king to spare the prisoners. The priests, however, protest.

The G.o.ds have delivered these enemies into the hands of Egypt; let them be put to death lest, emboldened by a pardon so easily obtained, they should rush to arms again.

Meanwhile _Rhadames_ has had eyes only for _Ada_, while _Amneris_ notes with rising jealousy the glances he turns upon her hated slave.

At last _Rhadames_, carried away by his feelings, himself joins in the appeal for clemency. "Oh, _King_," he exclaims, "by the sacred G.o.ds and by the splendour of your crown, you swore to grant my wish this day! Let it be life and liberty for the Ethiopian prisoners." But the high priest urges that even if freedom is granted to the others, _Ada_ and her father be detained as hostages and this is agreed upon.

Then the _King_, as a crowning act of glory for _Rhadames_, leads _Amneris_ forth, and addressing the young warrior, says:

"_Rhadames_, the country owes everything to you. Your reward shall be the hand of _Amneris_. With her one day you shall reign over Egypt."

A great shout goes up from the mult.i.tude. Unexpectedly _Amneris_ sees herself triumphant over her rival, the dream of her heart fulfilled, and _Ada_ bereft of hope, since for _Rhadames_ to refuse the hand of his king's daughter would mean treason and death. And so while all seemingly are rejoicing, two hearts are sad and bewildered. For _Ada_, the man she adores appears lost to her forever and all that is left to her, the tears of hopeless love; while to _Rhadames_ the heart of _Ada_ is worth more than the throne of Egypt, and its gift, with the hand of _Amneris_, is like the unjust vengeance of the G.o.ds descending upon his head.

This is the finale of the second act. It has been well said that not only is it the greatest effort of the composer, but also one of the grandest conceptions of modern musical and specifically operatic art.

The importance of the staging, the magnificence of the spectacle, the diversity of characterization, and the strength of action of the drama all conspire to keep at an unusually high level the inspiration of the composer. The triumphal chorus, "Gloria all'Egitto" (Glory to Egypt), is sonorous and can be rendered with splendid effect.

It is preceded by a march.

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Then comes the chorus of triumph.

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Voices of women join in the acclaim.

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The trumpets of the Egyptian troops execute a most brilliant modulation from A-flat to B-natural.

The reference here is to the long, straight trumpets with three valves (only one of which, however, is used). These trumpets, in groups of three, precede the divisions of the Egyptian troops. The trumpets of the first group are tuned in A-flat.

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When the second group enters and intones the same stirring march theme in B-natural, the enharmonic modulation to a tone higher gives an immediate and vastly effective "lift" to the music and the scene.

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The entrance of _Rhadames_, borne on high under a canopy by twelve officers, is a dramatic climax to the spectacle. But a more emotional one is to follow.

The recognition of _King Amonasro_ by his daughter; the supplication of the captives; the plea of _Rhadames_ and the people in their favour; the vehement protests of the priests who, in the name of the G.o.ds of Egypt, demand their death; the diverse pa.s.sions which agitate _Rhadames_, _Ada_, and _Amneris_; the hope of vengeance that _Amonasro_ cherishes--all these conflicting feelings are musically expressed with complete success. The structure is reared upon _Amonasro's_ plea to the _King_ for mercy for the Ethiopian captives, "Ma tu, re, tu signore possente" (But thou, O king, thou puissant lord).

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When the singer who takes the role of _Amonasro_ also is a good actor, he will know how to convey, between the lines of this supplication, his secret thoughts and unavowed hope for the reconquest of his freedom and his country. After the Egyptian _King_ has bestowed upon _Rhadames_ the hand of _Amneris_, the chorus, "Gloria all'Egitto," is heard again, and, above its sonorous measures, _Ada's_ cry:

What hope now remains to me?

To him, glory and the throne; To me, oblivion--the tears Of hopeless love.

It is largely due to Verdi's management of the score to this elaborate scene that "Ada" not only has superseded all spectacular operas that came before it, but has held its own against and survived practically all those that have come since. The others were merely spectacular. In "Ada" the surface radiates and glows because beneath it seethe the fires of conflicting human pa.s.sion. In other operas spectacle is merely spectacle. In "Ada" it clothes in brilliant habiliments the forces of impending and on-rushing tragedy.

Act III. That tragedy further advances toward its consummation in the present act.

It is a beautiful moonlight night on the banks of the Nile--moonlight whose silvery rays are no more exquisite than the music that seems steeped in them.