 | This is my post from this week's Once or Twice a Fortnight. |
Let me pop out of my summer hiatus for one OTF post, this one in the “Old Switch-a-roo” tradition, looking at operas that are adapted in other languages.
Some of us are familiar with Don Carlo, a Verdi’s longest opera with an enduring duet
It turns out the opera was commissioned and produced by the Paris Opera and given its premiere at the Salle Le Peletier on 11 March 1867. Developed with both a French and an Italian libretto, the first performance in Italian was given at Covent Garden in London in June 1867. The first Italian version given in Italy was in Bologna in October 1867.
Over the following twenty years, cuts and additions were made to the opera, resulting in a number of versions being available to directors and conductors.
Revised again by Verdi, it was given in Naples in November/December 1872. Finally, two other versions were prepared: the first was seen in Milan in January 1884 (in which the four acts were based on some original French text which was then translated). That is now known as the "Milan version", while the second—also sanctioned by the composer—became the "Modena version" and was presented in that city in December 1886. It restored the "Fontainebleau" first act to the Milan four-act version.
No other Verdi opera exists in so many versions.
The version I’m sharing today is from the BBC Opera Rara series, originally broadcast in the 1970s. In some ways it is the most important: it comes closest to what Verdi had in mind for his extended masterpiece. What is more, it is given by a cast of largely Francophone singers, who make it sound – at last – like the truly French work it is.
According to a detailed review of the text sung in this broadcast version, we have the complete Fontainebleau scene, a short solo for Posa at the beginning of Scene 2, a longer version of the Posa-Philippe scene in Act 2, the costume-changing of Elisabeth and Eboli, their duet before “O don fatal” in Act 3, the whole of the ballet, the full Insurrection scene, and the longest version of the finale.
That adds up to almost four hours. No wonder Verdi either made or sanctioned cuts!
The principal singers, as I stated in a post a few weeks ago, are French-Canadian. The musical direction is poised but the sound quality is uneven.
The links below are to both the YouTube clips of the disc and my own montages (for later use) into two large tracks.
Happy summer listening!
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Don Carlos (1867)
Opera in five acts, French Libretto: Joseph Méry and Camille Du Locle on Schiller’s dramatic poem ‘Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien’ (1785-86)
1867 Paris version sung in French and complete with music unused at the first production
CAST
Philippe II (King of Spain), Joseph Rouleau (bass);
Don Carlos (Infante of Spain), André Turp (ten);
Rodrigue (Marquis de Posa), Robert Savoie (bar);
Le Grand Inquisiteur, Richard Van Allan (bass);
Elisabeth de Valois (Philip's Queen), Edith Tremblay (sop);
Princesse Eboli (Elisabeth's lady-in-waiting), Michelle Vilma (mezzo);
Thiabault (Elisabeth's page), Gillian Knight (sop);
Le Comte de Lerme (A Royal Herald), Emile Belcourt (ten);
An Old Monk, Robert Lloyd (bass);
A Voice from Heaven, Prudence Lloyd (sop)
BBC Singers; BBC Concert Orchestra/John Matheson
rec. 22 April 1972 before invited audience, Camden Theatre, London.
First broadcast: BBC, 10 June 1973
OPERA RARA ORCV 305
Synopsis – https://www.opera-arias.com/verdi/don-carlo/synopsis/
Libretto - http://kareol.es/obras/doncarlos/acto1f.htm (This may not completely fi the opera dialogue as the performance reintroduces missing portions)
Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/part1_201908
Some of us are familiar with Don Carlo, a Verdi’s longest opera with an enduring duet
It turns out the opera was commissioned and produced by the Paris Opera and given its premiere at the Salle Le Peletier on 11 March 1867. Developed with both a French and an Italian libretto, the first performance in Italian was given at Covent Garden in London in June 1867. The first Italian version given in Italy was in Bologna in October 1867.
Over the following twenty years, cuts and additions were made to the opera, resulting in a number of versions being available to directors and conductors.
Revised again by Verdi, it was given in Naples in November/December 1872. Finally, two other versions were prepared: the first was seen in Milan in January 1884 (in which the four acts were based on some original French text which was then translated). That is now known as the "Milan version", while the second—also sanctioned by the composer—became the "Modena version" and was presented in that city in December 1886. It restored the "Fontainebleau" first act to the Milan four-act version.
No other Verdi opera exists in so many versions.
The version I’m sharing today is from the BBC Opera Rara series, originally broadcast in the 1970s. In some ways it is the most important: it comes closest to what Verdi had in mind for his extended masterpiece. What is more, it is given by a cast of largely Francophone singers, who make it sound – at last – like the truly French work it is.
According to a detailed review of the text sung in this broadcast version, we have the complete Fontainebleau scene, a short solo for Posa at the beginning of Scene 2, a longer version of the Posa-Philippe scene in Act 2, the costume-changing of Elisabeth and Eboli, their duet before “O don fatal” in Act 3, the whole of the ballet, the full Insurrection scene, and the longest version of the finale.
That adds up to almost four hours. No wonder Verdi either made or sanctioned cuts!
The principal singers, as I stated in a post a few weeks ago, are French-Canadian. The musical direction is poised but the sound quality is uneven.
The links below are to both the YouTube clips of the disc and my own montages (for later use) into two large tracks.
Happy summer listening!
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Don Carlos (1867)
Opera in five acts, French Libretto: Joseph Méry and Camille Du Locle on Schiller’s dramatic poem ‘Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien’ (1785-86)
1867 Paris version sung in French and complete with music unused at the first production
CAST
Philippe II (King of Spain), Joseph Rouleau (bass);
Don Carlos (Infante of Spain), André Turp (ten);
Rodrigue (Marquis de Posa), Robert Savoie (bar);
Le Grand Inquisiteur, Richard Van Allan (bass);
Elisabeth de Valois (Philip's Queen), Edith Tremblay (sop);
Princesse Eboli (Elisabeth's lady-in-waiting), Michelle Vilma (mezzo);
Thiabault (Elisabeth's page), Gillian Knight (sop);
Le Comte de Lerme (A Royal Herald), Emile Belcourt (ten);
An Old Monk, Robert Lloyd (bass);
A Voice from Heaven, Prudence Lloyd (sop)
BBC Singers; BBC Concert Orchestra/John Matheson
rec. 22 April 1972 before invited audience, Camden Theatre, London.
First broadcast: BBC, 10 June 1973
OPERA RARA ORCV 305
Synopsis – https://www.opera-arias.com/verdi/don-carlo/synopsis/
Libretto - http://kareol.es/obras/doncarlos/acto1f.htm (This may not completely fi the opera dialogue as the performance reintroduces missing portions)
Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/part1_201908
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