The Complete Opera Book Part 52

[Music]

Half concealed in the foliage is the temple of Isis, from which issues the sound of women's voices, softly chanting. A boat approaches the sh.o.r.e and out of it steps _Amneris_ and the high priest, with a train of closely veiled women and several guards. The _Princess_ is about to enter upon a vigil in the temple to implore the favour of the G.o.ddess before her nuptials with _Rhadames_.

For a while after they have entered the temple, the sh.o.r.e seems deserted. But from the shadow of a grove of palms _Ada_ cautiously emerges into the moonlight. In song she breathes forth memories of her native land: _Oh, patria mia!--O cieli azzurri!_ (Oh, native land!--Oh, skies of tender blue!).

[Music: O cieli azzurri, o dolci aure native,]

The phrase, _O patria mia! mai piu ti rivedr_ (Oh, native land! I ne'er shall see thee more)--a little further on--recalls the famous "Non ti scordar" from the "Miserere" in "Trovatore." Here _Rhadames_ has bid _Ada_ meet him. Is it for a last farewell? If so, the Nile shall be her grave. She hears a swift footfall, and turning, in expectation of seeing _Rhadames_, beholds her father. He has fathomed her secret and divined that she is here to meet _Rhadames_--the betrothed of _Amneris_! Cunningly _Amonasro_ works upon her feelings.

Would she triumph over her rival? The Ethiopians again are in arms.

Again _Rhadames_ is to lead the Egyptians against them. Let her draw from him the path which he intends to take with his army and that path shall be converted into a fatal ambuscade.

At first the thought is abhorrent to _Ada_; but her father by craftily inciting her love of country and no less her jealousy and despair, at last is able to wrest consent from her; then draws back into the shadow as he hears _Rhadames_ approaching.

This duet of _Ada_ and _Amonasro_ is and will remain one of the beautiful dramatic efforts of the Italian repertory. The situation is one of those in which Verdi delights; he is in his element.

It is difficult to bring _Ada_ to make the designs of her father agree with her love for the young Egyptian chief. But the subtlety of the score, its warmth, its varied and ably managed expression, almost make plausible the submission of the young girl to the adjurations of _Amonasro_, and excusable a decision of which she does not foresee the consequences. To restore the crown to her father, to view again her own country, to escape an ignominious servitude, to prevent her lover becoming the husband of _Amneris_, her rival,--such are the thoughts which a.s.sail her during this duet, and they are quite capable of disturbing for a moment her better reason. _Amonasro_ sings these phrases, so charming in the Italian:

Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate, Le fresche valli, i nostri templi d'or!

Sposa felice a lui che amasti tanto, Tripudii immensi ivi potrai gioir!...

(Thou shalt see again the balmy forests, The green valleys, and our golden temples.

Happy bride of him thou lovest so much, Great rejoicing thenceforth shall be thine.)

As she still is reluctant to lure from her lover the secret of the route by which, in the newly planned invasion of her country, the Egyptians expect to enter Ethiopia, _Amonasro_ changes his tactics and conjures up for her in music a vision of the carnage among her people, and finally invokes her mother's ghost, until, in pianissimo, dramatically contrasting with the force of her father's savage imprecation, she whispers, _O patria! quanto mi costi!_ (Oh, native land! how much thou demandest of me!).

_Amonasro_ leaves. _Ada_ awaits her lover. When she somewhat coldly meets _Rhadames's_ renewed declaration of love with the bitter protest that the rites of another love are awaiting him, he unfolds his plan to her. He will lead the Egyptians to victory and on returning with these fresh laurels, he will prostrate himself before the _King_, lay bare his heart to him, and ask for the hand of _Ada_ as a reward for his services to his country. But _Ada_ is well aware of the power of _Amneris_ and that her vengeance would swiftly fall upon them both.

She can see but one course to safety--that _Rhadames_ join her in flight to her native land, where, amid forest groves and the scent of flowers, and all forgetful of the world, they will dream away their lives in love. This is the beginning of the dreamy yet impa.s.sioned love duet--"Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti" (Ah, fly with me). She implores him in pa.s.sionate accents to escape with her. Enthralled by the rapture in her voice, thrilled by the vision of happiness she conjures up before him, he forgets for the moment country, duty, all else save love; and exclaiming, "Love shall be our guide!" turns to fly with her.

This duet, charged with exotic rapture, opens with recitativo phrases for _Ada_. I have selected three pa.s.sages for quotation: "La tra foreste vergini" (There 'mid the virgin forest groves); "Di fiori profumate" (And 'mid the scent of flowers); and "In estasi la terra scorderem" (In ecstasy the world forgotten).

[Music: La tra foreste vergini,]

[Music: In estasi beate la terra scorderem,]

[Music: in estasi la terra scorderem,]

But Ada, feigning alarm, asks:

"By what road shall we avoid the Egyptian host?"

"The path by which our troops plan to fall upon the enemy will be deserted until tomorrow."

"And that path?"

"The pa.s.s of Napata."

A voice echoes his words, "The pa.s.s of Napata."

"Who hears us?" exclaims _Rhadames_.

"The father of _Ada_ and king of the Ethiopians," and _Amonasro_ issues forth from his hiding place. He has uncovered the plan of the Egyptian invasion, but the delay has been fatal. For at the same moment there is a cry of "Traitor!" from the temple.

It is the voice of _Amneris_, who with the high priest has overheard all. _Amonasro_, baring a dagger, would throw himself upon his daughter's rival, but _Rhadames_ places himself between them and bids the Ethiopian fly with _Ada_. _Amonasro_, drawing his daughter away with him, disappears in the darkness; while _Rhadames_, with the words, "Priest, I remain with you," delivers himself a prisoner into his hands.

Act IV. Scene 1. In a hall of the Royal Palace _Amneris_ awaits the pa.s.sage, under guard, of _Rhadames_ to the dungeon where the priests are to sit in judgment upon him. There is a duet between _Rhadames_ and this woman, who now bitterly repents the doom her jealousy is about to bring upon the man she loves. She implores him to exculpate himself. But _Rhadames_ refuses. Not being able to possess _Ada_ he will die.

He is conducted to the dungeon, from where, as from the bowels of the earth, she hears the sombre voices of the priests.

Ramfis. (Nel sotterraneo.) Radames--Radames: tu rivelasti Della patria i segreti allo straniero....

Sacer. Discolpati!

Ramfis. Egli tace.

Tutti. Traditor!

Ramphis. (In the subterranean hall.) Rhadames, Rhadames, thou didst reveal The country's secrets to the foreigner....

Priests. Defend thyself!

Ramphis. He is silent.

All. Traitor!

The dramatically condemnatory "Traditor!" is a death knell for her lover in the ears of _Amneris_. And after each accusation, silence by _Rhadames_, and cry by the priests of "Traitor!" _Amneris_ realizes only too well that his approaching doom is to be entombed alive! Her revulsions of feeling from hatred to love and despair find vent in highly dramatic musical phrases. In fact _Amneris_ dominates this scene, which is one of the most powerful pa.s.sages for mezzo-soprano in all opera.

Scene 2. This is the famous double scene. The stage setting is divided into two floors. The upper floor represents the interior of the Temple of Vulcan, resplendent with light and gold; the lower floor a subterranean hall and long rows of arcades which are lost in the darkness. A colossal statue of Osiris, with the hands crossed, sustains the pilasters of the vault.

In the temple _Amneris_ and the priestesses kneel in prayer. And _Rhadames_? Immured in the dungeon and, as he thought, to perish alone, a form slowly takes shape in the darkness, and his own name, uttered by the tender accents of a familiar voice, falls upon his ear.

It is _Ada_. Antic.i.p.ating the death to which he will be sentenced, she has secretly made her way into the dungeon before his trial and there hidden herself to find reunion with him in death. And so, while in the temple above them the unhappy _Amneris_ kneels and implores the G.o.ds to vouchsafe Heaven to him whose death she has compa.s.sed, _Rhadames_ and _Ada_, blissful in their mutual sacrifice, await the end.

From "Celeste Ada," _Rhadames's_ apostrophe to his beloved, with which the opera opens, to "O, terra, addio; addio, valle di pianti!"

(Oh, earth, farewell! Farewell, vale of tears!),

[Music: O terra addio; addio valle di pianti]

which is the swan-song of _Rhadames_ and _Ada_, united in death in the stone-sealed vault,--such is the tragic fate of love, as set forth in this beautiful and eloquent score by Giuseppe Verdi.

OTELLO

OTh.e.l.lO

Opera in four acts, by Verdi. Words by Arrigo Boto, after Shakespeare. Produced, La Scala, Milan, February 5, 1887, with Tamagno (_Otello_), and Maurel (_Iago_). London, Lyceum Theatre, July 5, 1889. New York, Academy of Music, under management of Italo Campanini, April 16, 1888, with Marconi, Tetrazzini, Gala.s.si, and Scalchi. (Later in the engagement Marconi was succeeded by Campanini.); Metropolitan Opera House, 1894, with Tamagno, Albani, Maurel; 1902, Alvarez, Eames, and Scotti; later with Slezak, Alda, and Scotti; Manhattan Opera House, with Zenatello, Melba, and Sammarco.

CHARACTERS

OTh.e.l.lO, a Moor, general in the army of Venice _Tenor_ IAGO, ancient to Oth.e.l.lo _Baritone_ Ca.s.sIO, lieutenant to Oth.e.l.lo _Tenor_ RODERIGO, a Venetian _Tenor_ LODOVICO, Venetian amba.s.sador _Ba.s.s_ MONTANO, Oth.e.l.lo's predecessor in the government of Cyprus _Ba.s.s_ A HERALD _Ba.s.s_ DESDEMONA, wife of Oth.e.l.lo _Soprano_ EMILIA, wife of Iago _Mezzo-Soprano_