Opera Books
THE OPERA
EDITED BY
ALBERT HILLERY BERGH
VOLUME III.
1909
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Giordano.
Umberto Giordano was
born at Foggia, on August 27, 1863. He was a pupil of Serrao at the
Naples Conservatorio, and while there composed his first opera,
Marina, which was successfully performed at a publisher’s concert,
and secured the order for a second. His great popular success, Mala
Vita, a dramatic story of an unfortunate woman, which set its
composer in the first rank of composers of the realistic school, was
produced at Rome in 1892. Regina Diaz, presented at Naples two
years later, was not well received. The composer’s fame, however, was
retrieved in the spring of 1896 by the production at Milan of André
Chénier, which had its first performance in America on November 13th
of the same year.
Fedora,
another successful opera, founded on Sardou’s play of the same name, was
produced in 1897, and in the same year Mala Vita reappeared nuder
the name of Il Voto. Siberia was given with success in Paris in
1905, when it produced something of a sensation. His latest opera,
Marcella, was produced in 1907 at Milan. Giordano is at present
reported to be at work on The Festival of the Nile, the libretto
for which was written by Victorien Sardou.
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Opera in four acts by
Giordano. Libretto by Luigi Illica.
Characters: André Chénier; Gerard, a lackey; Chevalier Fléville;
Fouquier-Tinville; Roucher; a Spy; Mathieu; Robespierre; Dumas; Schmidt;
the Major-Domo the Abbé; Countess Coigny; Madelaine, her daughter; Bersi,
her companion; guests of the countess, an old woman, and women of the
city; men and maid-servants.
Place, the chateau of Coigny, and Paris. Time, the French
Revolution. First produced at Milan in 1896. The opening scene of the
opera is a ballroom at the Castle Coigny. With the help of Gerard, who
is a servant in livery, the other servants arrange the room for a
reception. The countess enters to inspect the arrangemnents made by the
major-domo. She is accompanied by Bersi, and by her daughter, Madelaine,
a beautiful girl, to whom everybody pays homage. The countess’ home is a
rendezvous for political partisans of the stormy times of 1794, and
during the evening Madelaine meets André Chénier, a French patriot and
poet, who was born at Constantinople, and who was the third son of a
French consul-general to that city. André and Madelaine fall in love
with each other. As the dance progresses Gerard appears at the door of
the ballroom to announce a crowd of paupers who seek admittance to the
castle, and who, having entered, imitate the manners of the guests. The
countess angrily demands who has admitted them, and when she learns that
it is Gerard dismisses him at once. Gerard, who is a revolutionist,
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peaceably, but the others have to be ejected.
In the second act Chénier is seated alone at a table in the Café
Hottot, on a warm day. Bersi and the spy are seen at another table. The
spy recognizes in Bersi the woman who has accompanied Madelaine, and he
spies upon her actions, believing that they are working at the castle
against the cause of the revolutionists, and that Bersi has come to give
André Chénier information. Roucher enters, and handing André a passport
advises him to leave the city at once, as his life is in danger. André
refuses to go. He has just received a note written on dainty paper,
which gives him a rendezvous. Roucher chides him for risking his life to
see a woman. André keeps the tryst designated in the note, and, after
waiting patiently, finds that the writer is Madelaine, who has come to
ask his protection. She is the last survivor of her family, the others
all having perished in the Revolution. André promises to do what he can
for her, when her departure is prevented by Gerard, who has been
informed of their meeting by the spy. André resents Gerard’s
interference. They fight, and Gerard is wounded. With the help of
Roucher, Madelaine makes her escape.
The third act is the scene of the Revolutionary tribunal. Mathieu
harangues the crowd, asking for money for the cause. The women come
forward, and put their rings and other trinkets into the fund. One old
woman gives her little grandson for his country, all the rest of the
family having died while fighting for the liberty of France. While the
mob are gathered newsboys run by, shouting out the news of the arrest of
André Chénier.
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This false alarm is a ruse invented by Gerard to persuade Madelaine
to reveal her hiding-place. The scheme is successful. Miadelaine asks
Gerard for an audience, and begs him to save André, who has been marked
by the Attorney-General as a traitor to the country. Gerard tells her of
his love, which he has felt for many years, since he was first a servant
in her father’s family. At the declaration Madelaine is offended, and
says that she will receive death at the hands of the mob rather than
listen to his declarations of love. By a great effort, however, she
calms herself, and tells Gerard that she will accept him if he will save
André. Gerard replies that it is too late, that André’s name is already
on the list of those condemned to death. At the entreaty of Madelaine,
however, he says that he will himself arise at the Assembly when André
comes to trial, and that he will speak for him, He does so, but it is of
no avail. André is condemned to the guillotine. Madelaine, knowing that
it is impossible to save Chénier, desires to share his fate. She bribes
the jailer of Saint Lazare to let her pass as a young woman of the name
of Legray, and, substituting herself for this girl, Madelaine enters the
death tumbrel with Chénier, and they are both executed at the same time.
Opera in three acts by
Giordano. Libretto by Victorien Sardou.
Characters: Princess Fedora Romazov; Countess Olga Sukarev; Count
Loris Ipanov; De Siriex, a diplomat; Dimitri, a groom; Desiré, a maid;
Baron Rouvel; Cyrill, a cook; Borov, a physician; Grech, a police
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officer; Lorek, a surgeon; Boleslav Laziuski; Dr. Müller; Marka, a
waiter; Basil, a domestic; Ivan, a detective.
Place, St. Petersburg. Time, the Nineteenth Century. First produced
at Milan in 1898.
The beginning of the opera takes place at the house of Count
Vladimir Andrejevich, captain of the guard. The servants are
merry-making in the parlor. They are familiar with their master’s
habits, and arc aware that he will probably not return to the house
before dawn, especially as this is his last day of bachelorhood, his
marriage to the young widow, Princess Fedora Romazov, being set for the
next day. The servants laugh as they discuss the rapidity with which he
will probably dissipate her fortune, and they describe his extravagant
and questionable tastes.
Suddenly the Princess herself arrives at the house to consult her
fiancé on some important matter. Dimitri, the groom, goes away in the
hope of finding the Count at his club, and meanwhile Fedora gazes fondly
around the apartment, happy at Wing in surroundings that suggest her
lover. She eulogizes his nobility, and declares her belief that a new
life is opening for her. As she waits, absorbed in a happy reverie, the
body of the Count is brought in. The house quickly fills with officers,
doctors and priests. Suspicion of the death of Vladimir falls on Count
Loris Ipanov, and Fedora, wild with grief, swears upon the cross to
avenge his death.
The second act takes place in Paris. The Princess Fedora is holding
a brilliant reception. Among those who surround her is Loris, whom she
has tracked to the city, and who has become infatuated with her. She
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but to her dismay finds that she does not hate him as she naturally
should. Finally she begins to hope that her suspicions are wrong, and
that he is innocent of the murder of Vladmir. Fedora, in his presence,
announces that she intends to return to Russia the next day. The
prospect of losing her leads Loris to declare his love. He admits that
he is under imputation of the murder of Count Andrejevich, however.
Fedora has a terrible moment. She is bound by her oath to extract the
truth, and yet her heart fears to know it. He asks if she loves him. She
acknowledges that she does, and he then confesses that he did indeed
kill Vladimir. He promises to bring her proof that the killing was
justifiable, and leaves her.
Before his return to Fedora the machinery of the Russian government
is set at work; a letter has been sent to the headquarters of the
police; guards are stationed in the garden to give the signal when all
is ready, and Fedora is to dismiss him and send him down to meet his
fate. The Russian ship on the Seine is to be his prison. Loris comes. He
tells Fedora that Vladimir, who was his professed friend, had seduced
Loris’ wife, who afterwards died. He showed her letters which not only
prove what he says, but also reveal to Fedora the fact that her lover
was untrue to her on the very eve of their wedding. The guards suddenly
whistle in the garden below. Fedora shivers at the sound. It is growing
late. Loris says he must go. Fedora begs him to stay, but he reminds her
of the world and its bitter tongue. She replies that she does not care
for the world, and turns the key in the door.
In the third act Loris and Fedora are living happily
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in her villa in the Bernese Alps. They are almost like children in their
happy simplicity. Loris leaves her for a while to go for the mail. While
she is alone she learns that her incriminating letter has caused the
arrest and execution of his brother, and has resulted in the death of
his mother, whose heart was broken. When Loris returns he ‘opens a
telegram announcing his pardon. The thought of his return to his native
land, and to his own people, and the realization of the fact that, as he
believes he is now able to offer a position of honor to his beloved
Fedora, fill him with delight, he then opens the letter which preceded
the telegram, and learns of the loss of his brother and mother, and that
it was brought about by a woman in Paris, whose name is unknown. He
begs Fedora to help him to take vengeance upon the creature who has
betrayed him. Faltering, she pleads the cause of this woman, who may
have loved Vladimir. In a flash he sees the reason for her pleading; she
is the woman!
Loris flings her down, and is about to kill Fedora; but she has had
the presence of mind to spare him this crime. Having foreseen the result
of his anger, she has taken poison, and before she dies receives the
pardon of the despairing Loris.
Opera by Umberto
Giordano. Libretto by Luigi Illica.
Characters: Vassili; Prince Alexis; Gleby; Walitzin; Miskinsky;
Ivan; L’Ispravnik; the Captain; a Cossack; Stephana; Nikona.
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Place, Russia. Time, the Nineteenth Century. First produced at
Milan in 1904.
The first scene is that of a palace in St. Petersburg. Nikona and
Ivan are awaiting Stephana. Gleby, a police spy, who comes to inquire
for the girl, is told that she has not yet arisen. He suspects that Ivan
is lying, and enters her room, only to find it empty. He is greatly
disturbed, when Prince Alexis, the protector of Stephana, and a party of
nobles enter the palace. Alexis demands to see Stephana, but the
situation is saved by Gleby, who thrusts Nikona into the room, and tells
Alexis that Stephana is asleep. The nobles sing a serenade, but Stephana
remains invisible, and only rushes in by a garden gate as the gentlemen
leave the house. Gleby asks her to reveal her lover, but she disappears
into her boudoir as Alexis and Walitzin return to the house. The latter
is off to Siberia, and he takes farewell of Stephana through the doorway.
Alexis follows him, and Vassili enters. He confides in Nikona, who is
the maid of Stephana, as to his love for a poor girl, but when Stephana
appears he is amazed to find in her the object of his love. Seeing that
he has apparently followed her, Stephana accuses Vassili of being a spy,
but he indignantly denies this, and Xikona tells Stephana that Vassili
has been more than a son to her. They both tell him that the palace is a
dangerous place, and urge him to fly. Alexis enters, and asks who
Vassili is. Stephana proudly declares that he is the man she loves.
Alexis and Vassili fight, and Alexis is wounded. His friends rush in and
disarm Vassili, who exclaims, “Farewell to glory!” as he realizes that
he has drawn his sword on a superior officer.
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The second act takes place at a convict station. The captain and
the inspector are impatiently awaiting the arrival of a chain of
convicts. The stage is crowded with peasants and peddlers, who complain
of the misery of their life. The chain-gang arrives. Stephana comes in
riding in a troika, and, offering a letter to the captain, asks to be
permitted to see Convict 107. He is brought in. It is Vassili. They meet
joyously, and she tells him that she has given her money to the poor,
has retired from the world, and has come to Siberia to join him. Vassili
exclaims that the sacrifice is too great. He tells her that he cannot
allow her to share the unspeakable horrors through which he has passed.
But she replies that she is determined. Both then join the chain-gang.
In the third act the scene is laid in the trans-Baikal mines. It is
Easter, and the commandant, Walitzin, orders that work shall cease.
Vassili and Stephana are occupying a hut. A cripple suggests to them a
way of escape, but Vassili and Stephana resolve not to make the attempt.
Walitzin comes up to Stephana and sympathizes with her. She tells him,
however, that she has no complaint to make. Gleby, who has also become a
convict, makes himself known to Stephana, but she repudiates him. In
revenge Gleby informs Vassili that Stephana has been a courtesan.
Vassili is heartbroken, but Stephana calmly acknowledges it, and adds
that Gleby had profited by her sin, but that now she had given up all
for love, and that by that act had been redeemed and purified.
These revelations lead Vassili and Stephana to wish to profit by
the opportunity of escape which had been
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previously offered, and when the cripple again approaches them Stephana
approves the plan. Vassili forces the well open, and at a signal from
Gleby the soldiers appear. In the confusion a shot is heard, and
Stephana falls wounded into the arms of Vassili. He is arrested, and a
moment later Stephana dies in his arms.
Last updated March 14, 2007