Plácido Domingo as the Doge and Ana Maria Martínez
as Maria Boccanegra in Los Angeles this past February
as Maria Boccanegra in Los Angeles this past February
VERDI: Simon Boccanegra: Act I, Scene 1: Boccanegra and Maria, "Ah!" . . . Boccanegra, "Figlia a tal nome io palpito"
MARIA BOCCANEGRA: Father! Ah! Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON BOCCANEGRA [simultaneously]: Ah! daughter my heart calls you!
[Orchestral outburst]
SIMON B: Ah! Daughter, daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Ah! Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON B: Daughter! At the name I tremble
as if Heaven had opened up to me.
You reveal to me
a world of unspeakable joy;
your loving father will create
for you a paradise;
the luster of my crown
will be your glory.
Leyla Gencer (s), Maria Boccanegra; Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961
by Ken
Above we hear the moment of recognition, which we heard in last week's Sunday Classics preview, "Together again, and all's right with the world -- more or less," introducing opera's two great recognition scene. We listened last week to the one in Richard Strauss's Elektra, when Elektra and Orest, over great obstacles and with great difficulty, finally recognize each other as sister and brother.
Now we return to the scene in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra when both Simon, now Doge of Genoa, and the young woman who has been known as Amelia Grimaldi, understand that she is in fact his long-ago-abducted daughter Maria. As I noted, we heard the actual moment of recognition last week, but we stopped short of the meltingly beautiful solo that follows immediately.
I described these two scenes last week as "scenes whose power over me undoubtedly exceeds anything I'll be able to explain," and in presenting the Elektra scene I didn't even try. As we approach the Boccanegra scene (having listened, in Friday night's preview, to that supreme expression of grief, the aria "Il lacerato spirito," voiced by her grandfather, Jacopo Fiesco, at the death of her mother, Maria), I will just suggest that while there likely are people who have never felt some version, albeit likely less extreme, of the feeling of utter-aloneness-in-the-world felt by both pairs of characters, and consequently truly don't experience a wrench of the gut at these instances of the character pairs, against all odds, being reunited with another person who is closely related to them, and more importantly entirely with them, on their side, available to kiss the booboo and make it better.
Before we proceed to the full scene, I thought we might hear just the final word of the scene. According to the stage direction: "MARIA, accompanied by her father all the way to the threshold, enters the palace. SIMON contemplates her ecstatically as she disappears," after which "he says one last time": "Daughter!" This last "Figlia!" could hardly be set more simply: dolcissimo (very sweetly) and very softly, the first syllable on the baritone's high F (not that high for a baritone, but right on the vocal "break"), dropping for the second syllable to the F an octave below.
Here are four renditions of this final bit. I'll identify the performers in the click-through.
The final "Figlia!"
LET'S PRESS JUST A BIT FURTHER
INTO THE BOCCANEGRA-AMELIA SCENE
Alas, as this sneak peak at the end of the opera shows, the Boccanegras don't live happily ever after. (That's Anja Harteros with Plácido Domingo -- jeez, you'd think nobody else had ever sung the title role.)Act I, Scene 1, Boccanegra, "Figlia il cor ti chiama" . . . "Figlia a tal nome io palpito" . . . Maria, "Padre! vedrai la vigile"
Note: I apologize for the abrupt cutoff of the version of Boccanegra's "Figlia a tal nome io palpito" in the clip we heard at the top of this post. It was an ugly but necessary compromise, since the final syllable of his utterance is overlapped by the first syllable of Maria's reply, as we'll hear now. We pick up just before "Figlia a tal nome."
SIMON B: Daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON B: Daughter! At the name I tremble
as if Heaven had opened up to me.
You reveal to me
a world of unspeakable joy;
your loving father will create
for you a paradise;
the luster of my crown
will be your glory.
MARIA B: Father, you shall see
your watchful daugher
always near you;
I will wipe away your tears.
We shall taste undiscovered joys,
known only to heave;
I will be the dove of peace
at your royal palace.
Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Renata Tebaldi (s), Maria Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965
OOPS, WE'VE VIOLATED ONE OF OUR BASIC RULES.
WE HAVEN'T HEARD HOW THE OPERA STARTS
And I think we should correct this deficit before proceeding. Here's the muted, somber, almost hypnotic little orchestral prelude with which Verdi has the revised version of Simon Boccanegra open, with its newly created Prologue.
VERDI: Simon Boccanegra: Prelude
Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded December 1988
BEFORE WE HEAR THE FULL BOCCANEGRA-AMELIA SCENE,
WE'RE GOING TO BACK UP TO AN EARLY POINT IN IT
We're not going to break down the whole scene, as we've done with other scenes we looked at, including the Elektra Recognition Scene. But I do want to spotlight a chunk from near the start.
When we get to the full scene, you'll notice that the Doge's tone in approaching Amelia isn't wildly sympathetic. His timing in pressing his unspeakable underling Paolo's suit isn't great, since as mentioned, Amelia has just committed herself to marrying the dashing young Patrician Gabriele Adorno. Does she know that the Doge has come calling in order to strong-arm her into marrying Paolo? Before the Doge brings him up, she does, branding him a miscreant. When the Doge expresses a measure of sympathy interest in her, she seizes the opportunity to share a secret.
Amelia, "Non son una Grimaldi" . . . "Orfanella il tetto umile"
"AMELIA": I am not a Grimaldi.
BOCCANEGRA: Heavens! You are?
"AMELIA": The lovely roof of a poor woman
sheltered me as an orphan,
where Pisa rises
near the sea --
BOCCANEGRA: In Pisa, you?
"AMELIA": That good woman, heavy with years,
was my only support;
I tempted Heaven's wrath,
and she was taken from me.
With a trembling hand
she gave me a painted miniature
and said it was the likeness
of the mother I had never known.
She kissed me and blessed me,
and raised her eyes to Heaven in prayer.
To all my cries to her,
echo alone gave answer.
BOCCANEGRA [to himself]: Merciful heaven, if the hope
which now smiles upon my soul
be a dream, let me die
if that delusion should vanish.
"AMELIA": How dark a future loomed up
before me in my grief!
Renata Tebaldi (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965
Leyla Gencer (s), "Amelia Grimaldi"; Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961
OKAY, WE HAVE ONE MORE LOOSE END STILL
DANGLING: ABOUT THAT FINAL "FIGLIA!"
Baritone 1 has less trouble than you might expect with the high F, but then kind of crash-lands (it's a live performance, remember) on the low one. Baritone 2 has the more expectable opposite problem: He apparently can't do a soft high F but manages the easier low one quite nicely. What we're looking for, I think, is something more along the lines of baritones 3 (a bass-baritone, you'll note) and 4.
(1) Tito Gobbi (Salzburg Festival, 1961; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond.)
(2) Leo Nucci (Decca recording, 1988; Sir Georg Solti, cond.)
(3) José van Dam (Marseille, 1993, Lyrinx; Michelangelo Veltri, cond.)
(4) Anselmo Colzani (Metropolitan Opera, 1965; Fausto Cleva, cond.)
NOW, FINALLY, WE'RE GOING TO HEAR THE COMPLETE SCENE
The translation, by the way, is mostly Lionel Salter's, for the Abbado-DG recording.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA, the Plebeian doge of Genoa, has come calling on the young woman, ward of a Patrician family who is known as AMELIA GRIMALDI, who has just affianced herself to a doughty young Patrician, to persuade her to marry his loathsome henchman PAOLO ALBIANI.
SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Is the Doge addressing Amelia Grimaldi?
"AMELIA GRIMALDI": That's what I'm called.
BOCCANEGRA: And desire for their country
does not haunt your exiled brothers?
"AMELIA": Indeed . . . but . . .
BOCCANEGRA: I understand.
The Grimaldis disdain to bow to me.
This is how the Doge answers such pride.
[Hands her a paper.]
"AMELIA" [reading it]: What do I see? Their pardon?
BOCCANEGRA: The gift of clemency is due to you.
Tell me, why do you hide such beauty
in this seclusion?
Do you never pine for
the glittering attractions of the world?
Your blushes answer me . . .
"AMELIA": You are wrong. I am happy.
BOCCANEGRA: At your age, love --
"AMELIA": Ah, you have read my heart!
I love a pure soul
who ardently returns my love;
but a miscreant who desires me
hankers after the Grimaldis' wealth.
BOCCANEGRA: Paolo!
"AMELIA": You have named the villain. And since
you show such concern for my future,
I will tell you the secret which cloaks me:
I am not a Grimaldi.
BOCCANEGRA: Heavens! You are?
"AMELIA": The lovely roof of a poor woman
sheltered me as an orphan,
where Pisa rises
near the sea --
BOCCANEGRA: In Pisa, you?
"AMELIA": That good woman, heavy with years,
was my only support;
I tempted Heaven's wrath,
and she was taken from me.
With a trembling hand
she gave me a painted miniature
and said it was the likeness
of the mother I had never known.
She kissed me and blessed me,
and raised her eyes to Heaven in prayer.
To all my cries to her,
echo alone gave answer.
BOCCANEGRA [to himself]: Merciful heaven, if the hope
which now smiles upon my soul
be a dream, let me die
if that delusion should vanish.
"AMELIA": How dark a future loomed up
before me in my grief!
BOCCANEGRA: Tell me, did you see no one there?
"AMELIA": A seaman used to visit us.
BOCCANEGRA: And Giovanna was the name
of the woman fate snatched from you?
"AMELIA": Yes.
BOCCANEGRA [draws from his breast a locket and hands it to AMELIA, who does likewise]: And was the portrait not like this?
"AMELIA": They are the same.
BOCCANEGRA: Maria!
"AMELIA": My name!
BOCCANEGRA: You are my daughter!
"AMELIA": I?
BOCCANEGRA: Embrace me, o my daughter!
MARIA BOCCANEGRA: Father! Ah! Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON BOCCANEGRA [simultaneously]: Ah! daughter my heart calls you!
[Orchestral outburst]
SIMON B: Daughter, daughter my heart calls you!
MARIA B: Clasp to your breast Maria, who loves you!
SIMON B: Daughter! At the name I tremble
as if Heaven had opened up to me.
You reveal to me
a world of unspeakable joy;
your loving father will create
for you a paradise;
the luster of my crown
will be your glory.
MARIA B: Father, you shall see
your watchful daugher
always near you;
I will wipe away your tears.
We shall taste undiscovered joys,
known only to heave;
I will be the dove of peace
at your royal palace.
[MARIA, accompanied by her father all the way to the threshold, enters the palace. SIMON contemplates her ecstatically as she disappears.]
SIMON B [and he says one last time]: Daughter!
Tito Gobbi (b), Simon Boccanegra; Leyla Gencer (s), Maria Boccanegra; Vienna Philharmonic, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 9, 1961
Anselmo Colzani (b), Simon Boccanegra; Renata Tebaldi (s), Maria Boccanegra; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Jan. 30, 1965
Leo Nucci (b), Simon Boccanegra; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Maria Boccanegra; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded December 1988
José van Dam (bs-b), Simon Boccanegra; Daniela Longhi (s); Orchestra of the Opéra de Marseille, Michelangelo Veltri, cond. Lyrinx, recorded live, January 1993
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