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composers • synopses singers • Performances EYEWITNESS companions EYEWITNESS companions Opera EYEWITNESS companions EYEWITNESS companions Opera Discover more at www.dk.com KEY TO SYMBOLS USED IN THIS BOOK Opera genre, number of acts, and duration Date of composition Date and location of first performance Librettist and sources Aria Duet Ensemble � � � composers • synopses singers • Performances Opera other eyewitness companions architecture • Art • astronomy backpacking & Hiking • cats • Classical Music dogs • film • French Cheese • French Wine Golf • Guitar • Olive Oil • Photography riding • scuba diving • Trees Wines of the World Alan Riding is an opera devotee who, as European Arts Correspondent for The New York Times, has covered innumerable opera productions in theaters from London to Vienna, Berlin to Milan, Paris to New York. Leslie Dunton-Downer has written librettos for operas produced in Aspen, New York, Paris, Evian, Spoleto (Italy), and Moscow. She has collaborated with leading composers, conductors, singers, and directors from North America, Europe, and Asia. Alan Riding and Leslie Dunton-Downer are coauthors of DK’s Essential Shakespeare Handbook. The composers From Monteverdi to Adams, learn more about the lives of the operatic masters The operas Synopses of more than 160 operas from around the world Opera $25.00 USA $32.00 Canada ISBN 0-7566-2204-2 9 7 8 0 7 5 6 6 2 2 0 4 6 5 2 5 0 0 Opera Alan riding & leslie dunton-downer The performances Discover hundreds of classic and modern opera interpretations through stunning photography section color codes Jacket images Front: Alamy: Chad Ehlers (t), Alamy: Jeff Morgan (br), Alamy/Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library (bcl), Empics/Stuart Ramson/Metropolitan Opera, New York (c), Judith Miller/DK/Gorringes (bcr), Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library (bl). Spine: ArenaPAL: Clive Barda. Back: ArenaPAL: Clive Barda (bl), Corbis: Francis G. Mayer (br), Corbis: L. Clarke (c), Corbis: Robbie Jack (cl), Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library (cr), Rough Guides: Eddie Gerard (t). alan riding  leslie dunton-downer introducing opera monteverdi to mozart Italian Opera germanic opera french opera russian opera Pages 12–47 Pages 48–121 Pages 122–201 Pages 202–259 Pages 260–305 Pages 306–339 czech opera modern opera Pages 340–359 Pages 360–423 The defi nitive visual guide Explore 400 years of music drama, from late-Renaissance Italy to the modern day Printed in China O pera alan r id in g  leslie d u n to n -d o w n er ALAN RIDING & LESLIE DUNTON-DOWNER EYEWITNESS COMPANIONS Opera LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH, MELBOURNE, AND DELHI Project Editor Sam Atkinson Project Designer Victoria Clark DTP Designer Laragh Kedwell Production Controller Melanie Dowland Managing Editor Debra Wolter Managing Art Editor Karen Self Publisher Jonathan Metcalf Art Director Bryn Walls Picture Researcher Sarah Smithies Editorial Assistant Oussama Zahr US Editor Anne Plume Indexer Hilary Bird Produced for Dorling Kindersley by Project Editor Jennifer Close Project Designer Dawn Terrey Designers Sharon Cluett, Claire Moore, Sharon Rudd Editorial Assistance Jane Baldock, Aaron Brown, Rob Walker First American edition, 2006. DK Publishing, 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014 A Penguin Company 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Copyright © 2006 Dorling Kindersley Limited Text copyright © 2006 Alan Riding and Leslie Dunton-Downer All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Riding, Alan. Opera / written by Alan Riding and Leslie Dunton-Downer. -- 1st American ed. p. cm. -- (Eyewitness companions.) Includes index. ISBN 0-7566-2204-2 1. Opera. I. Dunton-Downer, Leslie. II. Title. III. Series. ML1700.R49 2006 782.1--dc22 2006013290 ISBN-13: 978-0-7566-2204-6 ISBN-10: 0-7566-2204-2 Color reproduction by GRB, Italy Printed and bound in China by Leo Discover more at www.dk.com CONTENTS 42 IDOLS OF OPERA 48 MONTEVERDI TO MOZART c.1600–1800 122 ITALIAN OPERA c.1800–1925 202 GERMANIC OPERA c.1800–1950 260 FRENCH OPERA c.1790–1900 10 INTRODUCTION 12 INTRODUCING OPERA 14 WHAT IS OPERA? 22 LIBRETTOS AND LIBRETTISTS 28 STAGING OPERA 34 OPERA HOUSES AND FESTIVALS 306 RUSSIAN OPERA c.1830–1960 340 CZECH OPERA c.1860–1940 360 MODERN OPERA c.1900– 424 INDEX 431 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS And yet, to its legions of worshipful followers, opera continually adds new converts. It may fi rst touch the unsuspecting soul through a diva’s charisma on television, a haunting chorus on the radio, or the thrill of a live performance. Whatever the impetus may be, people have a way of remembering the moment when opera began to change their lives. We both came to opera along different paths. But it has since led us to see the world—and ourselves—with fresh eyes. It has taken us on imaginary journeys and has accompanied us on our travels. And now, through this book, we hope to share the many pleasures that opera has afforded us. Opera is, of course, an emotional, even intimate experience. Its dramatic essence cannot be overlooked: story, lyrics, and music come together to express powerful feelings. The words themselves may be sung in any number of languages—those we address here are in Italian, German, French, Russian, Czech, Hungarian, and English—but the music itself requires no translation. It may be tempting to think of opera as an artifi cial, even contrived form of art. Barely four centuries old, it was born in the European land that provided its name and many of its greatest composers: Italy. Yet, in reality, singing—of love, betrayal, suffering, or joy—is older than recorded history, inseparable from human passion itself. Thus, what opera’s earliest creators did was to give age-old emotional truths a new lyrical and dramatic form. Successive generations of composers and librettists have captured the operatic sentiments of their own times. And as opera grew in popularity, spawning theaters designed around its needs, it also became an international art form. Singers, composers, poets, EVEN PASSIONATE MUSIC FANS MAY BE FORGIVEN FOR CONSIDERING OPERA OVER-THE-TOP. AFTER ALL, HOW BETTER TO DESCRIBE AN ART FORM THAT FLAUNTS CONVOLUTED PLOTS, INCOMPREHENSIBLE LYRICS, STORMY ORCHESTRATION, HYPERBOLIC ACTING, EXOTIC STAGING, AND TEMPERAMENTAL SINGERS? ANOTHER WORD MIGHT BE “OPERATIC”. I N T R O D U C T I O N10 Crowds arrive for La traviata at the “old” Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1961, fi ve years before it was replaced by today’s larger Met at Lincoln Center. 11I N T R O D U C T I O N Thousands of fans brave the damp weather as the great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti celebrates 30 years in opera with a free concert in Hyde Park, London, in July 1991. and designers crisscrossed Europe and soon they carried opera to the New World and beyond. No single book could cover every surviving opera: they number in the thousands. Instead, we have chosen those of enduring popularity, as well as those that played a crucial role in opera’s evolution. Thus, while highlighting some 165 works and their composers, the book also aims to tell the story of opera itself. This is a story of how the art form appeared and changed over the centuries. But it is also a story of composers who were worshiped like gods and others who died in misery; of operas banned as subversive and others that became patriotic banners; of arias, duets, and choruses that became popular hits; of electrifying singers and dazzling stagecraft; of opera houses burned to the ground and lovingly rebuilt; and, not least, of the devoted audiences who make opera what it is. As authors, we too have been on a voyage. We both began with our own favorite operas, composers, and musical periods. But in selecting works for detailed examination, our research led us to discover new operatic treasures, and to admire the extraordinary variety and continuity of opera through the ages. Opera is a richly rewarding world and it can be entered through myriad doors. We trust that this book will serve as a welcome companion to anyone exploring this unique realm. ALAN RIDING LESLIE DUNTON-DOWNER May 2006 � 15 Four centuries ago, music, theater, and dance came together in Italy to create a new art form called opera. It soon caught on and, by 1700, it was entertaining commoners and royalty alike across Europe. Over time, the sound of its music would change, yet the essence of opera has not: Accompanied by an orchestra, with scenery, costumes, and light adding drama, singers tell a story. U S I C’S U N I QU E P OW E R to move people is no secret, but opera’s special appeal lies in the voice, arguably the most affecting of all instruments. It conveys emotion even when the lyrics are not understood, while talented voices can enliven the most familiar of scores and plots. Indeed, the pleasure of revisiting beloved operas explains how an entire art form can rest on the genius of Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner and a core repertoire of some 150 works. Still, it remains a mystery why relatively few operas have survived and many thousands are forgotten. Some operas, sell-outs in their day, are now never performed. Others, heckled at their premieres, have become fi rm favorites. There are also fashions: Once considered the summit of the art, French grand opéra has vanished; in contrast, Renaissance and Baroque opera has been rediscovered with enthusiasm. Today, contemporary opera is a minority taste, yet works are continually being composed and a few have entered the repertoire. Opera’s stories also matter. Its scores can be recorded in studios or presented in concert version, yet opera was born as music theater, that is, music set to a libretto for the stage. True, most people only remember the name of the opera’s composer, yet even the greatest composers have always valued a good libretto. It may borrow its plot from Greek mythology or Roman history, from Shakespeare or Schiller, from historical epics, romantic dramas, or the occasional farce of life. More importantly, it should use the poetry of language to express a spectrum of emotions. The composer taps into all these ingredients of human drama. Thus, the greatest operas can be about violence, greed, ambition, intrigue, betrayal, reconciliation, and death, but they may also be shaped by humor, joy, passion, and love. WHAT IS OPERA? M 16 A POSSESSIVE PUBLIC Score and libretto become an opera through the voices of soloists and chorus, supported by orchestra and staging. And when all work together, the opera’s creators can feel satisfi ed. Except, of course, they are rarely alive. Instead, the role of judge and jury is played by the public, some newcomers to opera, others veterans of myriad productions, all with opinions fl owing from strong passions. Indeed, if opera audiences often proclaim their verdicts with loud cheers or boos, it is because they feel deeply possessive about opera. Yet rare is the opera devotee who likes all operas. In fact, some verge on the sectarian, worshiping one composer, disdaining another. Wagner lovers, for instance, resemble a cult. Then there are those who prefer Verdi’s dramatic operas, while others yearn for the bel canto – “beautiful singing” – of, say, Bellini. Russian and Czech audiences are strongly loyal to their own national operas, while the French have led the revival of Baroque opera. At the same time, an art form once mocked by Samuel Johnson as “an exotick and irrational entertainment” continues to win converts. In this, glamorous stars make a difference. And even in the absence of mega-divas like Maria Callas, stars keep appearing: With Renée Fleming or Bryn Terfel on a bill, a full house can be assured. Spectacles like The Three Tenors also attract new audiences. To satisfy this demand, opera houses are renovated and new ones are built. Opera festivals keep multiplying, while crowds watch live performances on screens in squares and parks. Four centuries after its inception, opera is alive and well. GENRES OF OPERA In the 18th century, opera seria – and its comic cousin, opera buffa – were the dominant models, with sung recitatives and strict aria structures. Many other types were also popular. Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was a tragédie opéra. The German Singspiel and the French opéra comique both used spoken dialogue, while French grand opéra required fi ve acts and ballet. But many composers named their operas as they wished. Mozart’s Don Giovanni was called a dramma giocoso (“jocose” opera). Verdi often chose melodramma, Wagner varied the description of his operas, and Mussorgsky came up with “national music drama” for Khovanshchina. At the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera in New York on 22 October 1983, performers at a gala evening fi lled the stage to receive a standing ovation from an ecstatic audience. WHAT IS OPERA? 17 boasted 17 opera houses, and the Italian love for opera was sealed. The city was never short of composers, with Antonio Vivaldi its early 18th-century star. Europe’s royal courts also wanted the new divertimento, or entertainment and Italians often provided it, with Jean-Baptiste Lully introducing opera to France as Louis XIV’s offi cial composer. George Frideric Handel, a German, made opera popular in 18th- century London, although the fi rst opera in English, Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, was performed as early as 1689. OPERA’S REFORM The prevailing model for much of the 17th and 18th centuries was opera seria, with the narrative recounted in sung dialogue called recitatives and moments HOW IT ALL BEGAN Opera was yet another fruit of the Italian Renaissance. And, as such, it is no accident that its roots lie in the creative exuberance of Florence. In the fi nal decade of the 16th century, a group of artists, musicians, and poets, calling themselves the “Camerata” met there to promote a revival of Greek drama. What they came up with instead was the idea that these stories could be told as an opera in musica – “a work in music.” Claudio Monteverdi is considered the father of opera because he took the Florentine experiment a step further: With L’Orfeo, presented in Mantua in 1607, he absorbed his audience in a lyrical drama. The new art quickly spread to other courts and soon arrived in Venice. There, with the opening of the city’s fi rst opera house in 1637, opera reached a new public. By the end of the century, Venice Michele Marieschi’s view of the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, where for the fi rst time opera was staged in public theatres for paying audiences. The artist Thomas Rowlandson captures the social dimension of opera-going in the 18th century in this lively and crowded scene. WHAT IS OPERA? 18 of high emotion provided by arias, which allowed soloists – frequently castratos, men castrated before puberty to preserve their high voices – to show off their virtuosity. Neapolitan opera broke with this solemnity by introducing humorous opera buffa, but this too demanded great technical prowess of singers. In the late 18th century, two fi gures broke the mold. The Viennese- based composer Christoph Willibald Gluck emerged as the key fi gure in a so- named reforma by moving opera away from vocal exhibitionism toward expression of the drama. His Orfeo ed Euridice, in particular, paved the way for opera’s fi rst undisputed genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart inherited a legacy of opera seria and opera buffa as well as German Singspiel, a form of opera with spoken dialogue instead of sung recitative. But while he exploited these genres, he also transformed them, responding to the audacity of his librettists with music of rare inspiration. Today his reputation rests on four late masterpieces: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberfl öte. In practice, opera history can be divided into pre-Mozart and post-Mozart. THE RISE OF NATIONAL OPERAS The clearest way of tracking what followed is through space rather than time. The 19th century, for instance, was an era when Italy, Germany, and the Czech region were forging themselves as nation states, while Tsarist Russia was opening itself up to Europe. At the same time, travel also encouraged cross- fertilization. With so much change in the air, opera was inevitably affected. Infl uenced by Gluck and Mozart, and with its instinct for melody, Italian music spawned fi ve monumental 19th-century composers. Gioacchino Rossini wrote 39 operas between the ages of 17 and 37, then Soprano Voices are defi ned by their tessitura, a palette of notes which for professional singers usually covers two octaves. However, while composers write roles to fi t these tessituras, the singer’s range may be expected to surpass them, above all when sopranos and tenors are assigned exceptionally high notes. The tonal ranges of the six different voice types are shown to the right, from soprano (the highest) to bass (the lowest). There are also subdivisions of each type that defi ne whether they are light or heavy, lyric or dramatic. For instance, there are at least six categories of sopranos and tenors. A Wagnerian tenor is thus unlikely to sing a Mozartian tenor aria. TYPES OF VOICES Mezzo-soprano Contralto Tenor Baritone Bass In the 18th century, the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) increased the dramatic aspect of the art form. WHAT IS OPERA? 19 abandoned composition. In comic operas like Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola, he refi ned bel canto, a fl orid and virtuoso form of singing which was adopted by his successors, Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti. A still greater opera composer followed. Giuseppe Verdi not only created a stream of memorable works but also came to personify the risorgimento, Italy’s revolt against Austrian occupation. Several of his operas, notably Nabucco, were metaphors for this struggle, although his most popular works, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and La traviata, are deeply romantic. His successor, Giacomo Puccini, was no less drawn to tragic love stories. Rich in memorable tunes, his greatest operas, Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfl y, all portray ill-fated heroines. THE PARIS CROSSROADS Although Italian opera held its own, from the 1820s Paris became Europe’s opera capital, drawing composers from across Europe. Their infl uence was considerable. Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi all worked there. A German expatriate, Giacomo Meyerbeer, created the spectacle known as grand opéra, comprising fi ve-act operas with historical librettos, rich décor, and lengthy ballet interludes. Another German, Jacques Offenbach, invented the operetta, or opéra-bouffe, which earned him great popularity in Paris and a following across Europe. French opera as such had to carve its own path. Hector Berlioz turned away from grand opéra for his few lyrical works. Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet, who both studied in Rome, made