AN OPERA GUIDE TO
IL TROVATORE Le Opere
by Giorgio De Martino
WHAT IS IT? This is an opera in four acts, a sombre but enthralling tale which takes us back to fifteenth century Spain and plunges us into a maelstrom of emotions: from a story of an impossible love to the bloody battles waged by proud feudal knights. Il Trovatore, the very epitome of a popular opera, puts to music – with the power of simplicity and unforgettable melodies – the torments of love, terrible revenge, epic adventures, dark premonitions and curses, in the contrasting settings of ancient, dark and sinister halls of power and gypsy camps. The first performance of Il Trovatore, on 19th January 1853 at the Apollo Theatre in Rome, was a triumphant success. Ever since then this fiery opera, which is sometimes even brutal in its dramatic contrasts, has never failed to excite audiences all over the world.
WHAT DOES IT TEACH US? In the course of the four acts of the opera, which are respectively entitled The Duel, The Gypsy Woman, The Son of the Gypsy Woman and The Punishment, and each divided geometrically into two scenes, we are taught a universal “lesson”: that hate inevitably leads to hate, and evil only brings more evil. The story is undoubtedly also based on the traditional rivalry between the protagonists (Manrico and Count Di Luna) for the heart of the same woman (Leonora). But there is so much more as it involves questions such as esotericism, sorcery, and the twists and turns (as well as the “quips and scorns”) of destiny.
WHAT DOES THE STORY TELL US? We are in Spain at the beginning of the XVth century. A gypsy is wrongly accused of having bewitched the young son of a Count. The woman is sentenced to be burned at the stake. As she dies she tells her daughter to take revenge for her fate. By keeping her promise to avenge her mother, the gypsy Azucena leads to her own downfall. In fact she kidnaps one of the Count’s two children but throws her own child into the fire by mistake and then raises the surviving child as her own. Some years go by. A civil war of sorts is being fought for control of the lands of Aragon (in the north of Spain). Duke Urgel is attempting to oust the king from the throne. Manrico, the young man brought up by the gypsy, fights on the side of the Duke against Count Di Luna who is loyal to the king. The fact that they both love the same woman – Leonora – and the resulting jealousy makes them enemies. Leonora chooses Manrico. The Count has his rival put to death. But he was his own brother!
WHO WROTE THE SCORE? Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest Italian composer of the nineteenth century, was a brilliant artist who lived for almost a hundred years and who, through his music, was able to express very strong and real human
emotions such as love, jealousy, greed and desire, not thinking “only” of the music, however, but always trying, through opera, to achieve a complete, powerful and coherent theatrical spectacle. Today he and his fellow composer Puccini, are the most frequently performed composers of opera in the world. Verdi worked for the musical theatre from 1839 to 1893, and thereby experienced the whole of the great romantic adventure, rising above all his contemporaries, and personifying the peak of success of the centuries-old operatic tradition, not only in his own country and not limiting himself to witnessing through art the many cultural, social and political changes of his own century, but contributing greatly to their dissemination and implementation throughout the world.
THE POPULAR TRILOGY Along with Rigoletto and La Traviata, Il Trovatore forms part of a trilogy composed over a period of less than three years, in the mid-nineteenth century. It was defined as popular, not only due to the fact that all three operas enjoyed an immediate success, but also because Verdi, who by then was fully in command of his great creative talent, used situations and emotions which directly touched the hearts of his audiences. Il Trovatore is an opera which is full of unforgettable moments, some grand heroic ones and others of a romantic nature. There is undeniably, however, a sort of black humour which underpins this opera. It is accompanied by all the classic romantic ingredients, from the trials of love, poison and a duel, but Il Trovatore is underpinned by something more intense and disturbing compared to the many other sombre tales which were set to music in the nineteenth century. The reason for this may perhaps be found in the composer’s biography. In June 1851, shortly after the success of Rigoletto, when Verdi was contemplating his next opera, his mother died leaving him in the deepest distress. The following year the librettist, Salvatore Cammarano, who had been working with him for months, not without some differences of opinion, on the lyrics for Il Trovatore, also suddenly died. After the opera’s triumphant debut (with a score which completely and definitively establishes the musical and dramatic genius of its composer), Verdi wrote to his friend, the Countess Maffei: «they say that this opera is too sad and that there are too many deaths. But in life, in the end, everything is death. »
THE BACKGROUND TO THE STORY (FROM GUTIÉRREZ TO CAMMARANO) Il Trovatore is inspired by El trovador, a play by Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez, a Spanish writer to whom Verdi returned years later when he wrote Simon Bocconegra. Gutiérrez’s play was staged in 1836 and represents the introduction of romantic theatre into Spain. [The script can be found, in the original Spanish, on www.cervantesvirtual.com]. The playwright (who was the same age as Verdi) was only just
23 years old at the time, and with this story which was “romantically” set in Spain during the dynastic wars between 1300 and 1400, he suddenly achieved celebrity. In order to transform the Spanish tragedy into a libretto for an opera, Verdi turned to Salvatore Cammarano, a Neapolitan man of letters who had found fame as a result of his libretto for Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Il Trovatore had a difficult gestation. Initially it was Cammarano who had doubts about Gutiérrez’s play, then it was Verdi who felt dissatisfied with the way the story was presented. After a number of modifications made by Verdi himself, the collaboration eventually proceeded smoothly. Cammarano’s sudden death was a serious personal, as well as professional, loss for Verdi. To finish the libretto he turned to a young poet, Leone Emanuele Bardare and on 14th December 1852 he completed the opera. Rehearsals started at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on Christmas day and less than one month later it premiered triumphantly.
WHO WERE THE TROVATORI? The term derives from the ancient Provencal verb trobar, meaning to compose with words, to invent and discover rhymes, and thus “make poetry” or “poetize”. The word trovatore (or troubadour) refers to a poet/musician from XIIth and XIIIth century Provence. The troubadours performed their own compositions and were the equivalent of our singer/songwriters today! They were not minstrels but artists who produced refined compositions on themes relating to the delights of nature and life. They were figures of considerable literary and musical culture to whom we must recognize the merit of having laid the foundations of modern opera.
A TRADITIONAL AND YET INNOVATIVE OPERA Despite a vocal style which may seem at times rough and violent, Il Trovatore is an opera with a traditional structure which is very lyrical and organised in “closed sections”, exactly as had been done by Verdi’s predecessors in the previous generation of composers. Verdi, who by this time was convinced that the theatre should not imitate “real life”, presents us a Spain which is entirely free of any folklore and, being very abstract in style, the characters become emblematic symbols of the romantic passions.
THE GYPSY’S MACABRE WALTZ, MANRICO’S HIGH NOTES Azucena’s role is related to the symbol of fire (which is mentioned several times by her) and, being such an important part, it is the first example of a dramatic mezzosoprano. Almost all of the gypsy Azucena’s part is expressed with the rhythm of the waltz. We will also encounter this dance in La Traviata, but in that case it becomes an expression of the worldliness of aristocratic society. Expressed by the
gypsy, the waltz takes on a slant which is occasionally teeth-grinding and even “rough”: the energetic and visceral rhythm of life itself. The most important male roles include the ambiguous figure of the baritone Count Di Luna and of course the "trovatore" himself, Manrico: possibly the most spectacular role for a tenor of any XIXth century opera. He is the archetypal romantic hero, victim of undeservedly harsh treatment at the hands of destiny. He has some universally renowned arias such as «Di quella pira», which closes the third act with a spectacular top note, just as tradition demands.
LUCHINO VISCONTI’S HOMAGE Il Trovatore is for Verdi what the Fifth Symphony (in C minor op. 67) is for Beethoven! It is a work which remains the most “typical” symbol of Italian nineteenth century opera and of the popular sensibility of the country during a turbulent period in its history, while it was still under the yoke of foreign domination. It is not by chance that in order to tell the story of the nationalist uprising against the Austrians, Luchino Visconti’s film, “Senso”, depicts a revolt which breaks out in the audience of a theatre, precisely at the end of the cabaletta (the final part of an operatic “aria”) «Di quella pira», when Manrico proclaims “To arms!”.
AZUCENA, THE DARK LADY OF THE MELODRAMA Azucena’s past is full of terrible events and misdeeds. Her soul is fraught with conflicting impulses and she is obsessed with one thing: the need to seek revenge for her mother. She is the most original aspect of Il Trovatore. The composer was attracted by the possibility of working with a character who was moved by unusual emotions. In a letter to Cammarano, Verdi urged him to be sure that Azucena retained «her strange and new character (…) and the two great passions of this woman, her love for her mother and her maternal feelings ». She is a character with a dual nature, expressed in the classic conflict typical of Verdi’s heroes between their basic human nature and a destiny which is pitted against them (just as in the case of the hunchback Rigoletto, the fretful father and court jester).
THE PLOT: ACT ONE (THE DUEL) The action takes place at the beginning of the XVth century in the Spanish regions of Biscay and Aragon. It is night time in the Palace of Aljaferia, the Aragonese royal family’s residence. In the entrance, Ferrando (bass), Count Di Luna’s captain of the guard, tells his companions about his master. He urges them to keep watch until his return: the Count is in love with the Countess Leonora (soprano), the Queen’s lady in waiting, and he has often heard the voice of a troubadour from below the balconies of the royal apartment: a song of love dedicated to Leonora, which is obviously causing him to feel jealous.
Ferrando explains how the old Count, the father of the current Count, had two sons. One morning their nurse found an old gypsy by the cradle of the younger boy, Garzia, who was glowering at the child. The nurse cried out and the servants rushed in and took the gypsy prisoner but from that moment the boy was afflicted by a terrible fever. The old Count, suspecting a curse, sentenced the presumed culprit to be burned at the stake. However, the next day young Garzia disappeared and when the corpse of a child was subsequently found in the ashes of the fire everyone took it to be the poor kidnapped boy. Who was the murderer? The gypsy woman who was put to death had a daughter, Azucena (mezzosoprano). She was suspected of having thrown Garzia in the fire out of revenge. However, before passing away, the old Count expressed his instinctive feeling that his younger son was still alive, and begged his surviving son, “Count Di Luna”, not to give up his search. Scene two takes us into the palace gardens on a cloudy night. Here we meet Leonora (soprano) and her confidante lnes (soprano). The confidante asks her lady to go back inside but Leonora confesses to her that she is in love with a man who is waiting for her. The girl explains how she was at a jousting tournament and no-one knew the identity of the mysterious stranger who wore no banner but defeated all the other contestants. Leonora crowned him victor and immediately fell in love with him but then civil war had broken out and he had to leave. One night a troubadour with a lute sang her a love song. She rushed to her balcony and recognized him as her mysterious knight. The women then go back inside and Count Di Luna (baritone) comes into the garden wishing to speak with Leonora but is stopped in his tracks by the troubadour’s song. Leonora comes out of her apartments and, deceived by the darkness, she rushes towards the Count declaring her love to him. When she realizes her terrible mistake she throws herself at the troubadour’s feet and confesses her feelings for him. The Count is furious and forces his rival to reveal his identity. It is Manrico (tenor), one of Count Urgel’s men who was forced into exile having been sentenced to death. Mad with jealousy, the Count wants to kill his enemy with his own hands. Leonora tries to intervene to stop them fighting but her efforts are in vain: the two rush off, swords drawn, for a duel and the young woman faints.
ACT TWO (THE GYPSY WOMAN) The first scene opens at the first light of dawn, in Biscay. We are at the foot of a mountain in a gypsy camp. Azucena and Manrico are warming themselves by the fire while the men hammer their tools to the rhythm of the music. The sight of the flames reawakens horrendous memories for Azucena (expressed in the famous aria «Stride la vampa!»). As though in a trance, she explains how her mother was burned at the stake accused of witchcraft. To avenge her she had kidnapped the Count’s second born son (Garzia) intending to lead him to the same fate. Then, moved by his tears, she had placed him in the same cradle as her own son, but then the sight of her mother crying out from the torment of the flames to her to seek revenge overcame her and in a state of delirium she grasped the child and went to
burn him in the same place as the gypsy woman had been put to death. Once her fury had subsided she realized to her horror that she had thrown her own son into the flames by mistake. At this point Manrico is agitated and asks her who his father is. Azucena regains her composure and tries to retract her almost involuntary confession. He is her son and must not listen to nonsense. Manrico, as though by a form of unconscious recollection, tells her that, having defeated the Count in the duel, a mysterious voice had forced him to spare his life. The gypsy makes Manrico swear not to heed that voice next time and to be sure to kill his rival. A messenger (tenor) arrives sent by his devoted attendant Ruiz (tenor). He reports that the fort of Castellor has been taken by Urgel’s men and Leonora, believing Manrico to have been killed in battle, is about to enter a convent and take the veil. Manrico rushes off to stop her. The next scene takes us to the inner courtyard of a convent in the vicinity of Castellor. Count Di Luna, is hiding in the shadows with Ferrando and his men, intending to abduct Leonora. He bars her passage when suddenly Manrico appears between him and the women. Overcome with surprise and joy, Leonora throws herself into the troubadour’s arms. The Count is furious. When Ruiz and Urgel’s men arrive the Count and his followers are disarmed. Manrico leaves taking Leonora with him.
ACT THREE (THE SON OF THE GYPSY WOMAN) The third act takes us into Count Di Luna’s camp, where, with his troops, he is preparing to attack Castellor, the stronghold of his enemies under the command of Manrico. Ferrando announces that the next day they intend to make their assault on the fortress. While the Count is consumed with jealousy, some soldiers bring a gypsy woman before him. It is Azucena who had been found prowling around the encampment suspiciously. When Ferrando questions her he has a feeling that she is the gypsy who had kidnapped the Count’s brother many years earlier. Under torture she calls out the name of her son Manrico thus giving herself away. In a moment of ferocious joy the Count realises that he now has the secret he needs to be able to defeat his rival. In the meantime Manrico and Leonora are about to be married. Deep down the young bride is disturbed by a sense of dark foreboding. The sound of an organ is heard and the couple set off to the chapel for the wedding ceremony but Ruiz arrives with the news that Azucena has been taken prisoner. Manrico catches sight of the fire which has already been set alight in the distance and, in a frenzy of rage («Di quella pira») he leaves Leonora to race to his mother’s rescue.
ACT FOUR (THE PUNISHMENT) Defeated in battle, Manrico is imprisoned with Azucena. Leonora flees from Castellor and arrives at the tower of the Palace of Aljaferia where her lover and his mother are held captive. She hears Manrico’s song asking her not to forget him together with the prayers of the monks for the prisoners awaiting execution.
Leonora finds Count Di Luna and pleads with him to spare Manrico offering herself in exchange for his release. The Count accepts her offer but she secretly takes some poison concealed inside a ring on her finger. The last scene takes place inside the prison. Manrico sits next to Azucena. She is unable to sleep, obsessed by the memory of her own mother and the same fate which awaits her. Manrico tries to calm her and she falls asleep with the thought of returning to the peace of their mountain home. The door of the prison opens and Leonora comes in. She has come to free Manrico but she warns him that she cannot come with him. He suspects the price that she must pay for his freedom and disdainfully refuses to leave. Only when the dying Leonora falls down does he realise the sacrifice she has made for him. She dies in his arms while the Count comes in and orders his rival to be taken away to be executed. Azucena awakes and asks where her son has gone. The Count drags her to the window to witness Manrico’s execution. Too late! With horror he learns from the gypsy that he has killed his own brother. Azucena screams out to him: «You are avenged, oh mother!». sort of emotional resonance. It has been noticed that Massenet’s orchestral treatment, with its range of autumnal tones, contains references to Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms but it also has some expressive devices recalling Tchaikosvsky and a chromatic predilection of Wagnerian range.
THE STORY OF VERDI’S LIFE Verdi was born in Le Roncole, a district of Busseto, in the province of Parma, on 10th October 1813. He began to study music in his birthplace but later transferred to Milan thanks to the financial support provided by a merchant called Antonio Barezzi who had spotted his talent. However, he did not get into the Conservatory in Milan and had to complete his music studies privately. He married the daughter of his benefactor, Margherita Barezzi, and achieved a degree of success in 1839 with his opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, which was performed at La Scala. But Verdi’s life was soon upset by the death of his wife and his two small children, a tragedy that cast the composer into a state of deep anguish precisely at a time when, in order to meet the terms of a contract, he had to complete a comic opera, Un giorno di regno. The lack of success of this venture led the young composer to abandon his chosen path. However, the Milanese impresario Merelli’s efforts of persuasion combined with the positive impression Verdi had upon reading a libretto which reignited his creative instinct, led to his completing the first of his masterpieces, Nabucco (1842). He enjoyed a similar success the following year with I lombardi alla prima Crociata, the plot of which was interpreted as a patriotic message and thus won Verdi the support of all those who were striving towards national unity at the time. There followed fifteen years of frenetic activity. These were the years that Verdi described as his “prison years”. After completing his Giovanna d’Arco, Verdi moved away from La Scala and from Milan. He went first to Paris and in 1849 returned to Busseto together with the singer Giuseppina Strepponi, who had become his partner (a strong relationship which was to last all his life and which was legalised by
their marriage in 1859). During these years Verdi wrote the so-called popular trilogy: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata. Having gone back to Paris again in 1855 he composed the Vespri Siciliani. In Italy once again he produced other masterpieces such as Simon Boccanegra, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino and Don Carlo. In the meantime his villa Sant’Agata in Villanova d’Arda was finally completed and Verdi and his wife finally moved in. It was a beautiful home surrounded by a large garden which Verdi himself tended. Cause of much gossip was the intense friendship he developed with Teresa Stolz, the Bohemian soprano who was also the first singer to perform Aida, the opera commissioned to inaugurate the Suez canal. By this time Verdi was well established and with his artistic ambitions amply fulfilled he allowed himself a long period of rest which was only interrupted by work on the Requiem Mass which he composed in 1874 in memory of Alessandro Manzoni. At the age of 74 he decided to try his hand at setting to music the greatest English dramatist of all time, William Shakespeare, whom he had greatly admired ever since his childhood. This resulted in his two last great masterpieces, Otello and the opera buffa Falstaff in 1893. Four years later Giuseppina Strepponi died and Verdi spent his last years in the Hotel de Milan where he died on 27th January 1901. During his life he was quietly and discreetly involved in a number of charitable and humanitarian projects. For example in 1888 he opened a hospital in Villanova D’Arda which was entirely funded by him. In 1880 he purchased the land to build a retirement home for musicians which was completed in 1899 and remains operational to this day.
WHO WAS SALVATORE CAMMARANO? A Neapolitan, born in 1801, he is considered to be the greatest Italian dramatist for music of the Romantic period. He wrote opera libretti which were characterised by verses of strong “intrinsic” musicality , intense pathos which was often concentrated on the female characters and a great mastery of the musical-dramatic structures. He has even been compared to Giacomo Leopardi for the expressive quality of his poetry. His collaboration with Gaetano Donizetti was launched with Lucia di Lammermoor which established the prototype for a romantic drama set to music, with hints of the macabre, pathological psychological characterisations and violent situations. He died in July 1852 leaving the libretto for Il Trovatore unfinished. With Giuseppe Verdi he had also planned to produce a libretto drawn from Shakespeare’s King Lear.
TO DOWNLOAD THE LIBRETTO http://www.librettidopera.it/trovatore/trovatore.html http://opera.stanford.edu/Verdi/Trovatore/libretto.html http://www.librettidopera.it/zpdf/trovatore.pdf
Le Opere
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