WELL, ONE MORE THING (from the wee hours of Friday): Just when I thought we were done, it occurred to me that the order had to be switched, moving the Don Giovanni excerpts, until then sandwiched between the Verdis and the Wagners, to the end. By happy coincidence this put the five performances we're sampling to represent John Macurdy's career in chronological order. What really happened, though, is that once the Don Giovanni texts were finally in place, it suddenly became obvious that we had to finish with Don Giovanni.
OK, this isn't the king we want -- it's King Heinrich of Brabant (Lohengrin) rather than the King of Egypt (Aida) -- but a king's a king, right? And a sturdy all-purpose bass like the late John Macurdy is gonna sing a bunch of kings, not to mention priests, and of course papas -- and the odd inquisitor. Photo by Louis Mélançon/Metropolitan Opera
From the Triumphal Scene (Act II, Scene 2) of Verdi's Aida
John Macurdy (bs), King of Egypt; Carlo Bergonzi (t), Radamès; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Georg Solti, cond. Broadcast performance, Dec. 7, 1963
[NOTE: Yeah, the Italian original of the King's first line should be italicized, but by the time I noticed this, fixing it would have required retyping the whole danged thing. -- Ed.]by Ken
In the prepost to this remembrance of John Macurdy, I said we'd be hearing this 38-year Met mainstay in three characteristic roles, but in the event it'll be four or possibly five: two Verdis (the King of Egypt and the Grand Inquisitor), one Mozart (the Commendatore), and either one or two Wagners, depending on how we count the Rheingold and Siegfried Fafners.
It's seems only right that we begin with the King of Egypt. I think it was the first role I heard him in, and I'm pretty sure the first I saw him in, not long after he joined the Met. For the decades following he and Paul Plishka, whose Met career overlapped his , were pleasant constants in my early decades of Met experience.
It's interesting, though, to go back and hear just how fine a sound Macurdy made back then as the King, both above and in this additional Aida clip.
The King prepares the Egyptians for war
Aida: from Act I, Scene 1: "Alto cagion v'aduna" . . . "Su del Nilo al sacro lido"
A Hall in the Royal Palace at Memphis. Amid rumblings of encroachment by Ethiopian forces into Egyptian territory, we've learned that the goddess Isis has chosen the office to be put in command of the Egyptian army if events so dictate. The High Priest RAMFIS has gone to inform the KING of the chosen commander. The KING now enters the hall, preceded by his guard and followed by RAMFIS, minsters, priests, officers, and others.
THE KING: A high cause brings you together,
oh loyal Egyptians,
around your king.
From the Ethiopian borders
a messenger has just arrived.
He brings grave news.
Be pleased to hear him.
Let the messenger stand forth.
MESSENGER: The sacred soil of Egypt is invaded
by the barbarous Ethiopians . . . our fields
have been laid waste . . . the crops burned . . .
and emboldened by easy victory
the plunderers are already marching on Thebes.
ONE AND ALL: And they dare so much!
A warrior indomitable and fierce
leads them: Amonasro.
AIDA [an Ethiopian slave who attends the King's daughter AMNERIS, to herself]: My father!
MESSENGER: Already Thebes is in arms,
and from her hundred gates will
sally forth to meet the barbarous
invader with war and death.
THE KING: Yes let war and death be our cry!
RAMFIS, PRIESTS, MINISTERS, CAPTAINS [severally and variously]: War! War! War! War! War!
Terrible, inexorable.
KING: Revered Isis,
responding to our queries,
has already named the supreme commander:
Radamès!
AIDA, AMNERIS, MINISTERS, CAPTAINS: Radamès!
RADAMÈS: Thanks be to the gods!
THE KING: Now to the temple of Vulcan
proceed, o warrior!
Strap on your sacred arms
and fly to victory!
Arise! to the sacred banks of the Nile
hasten, Egyptian heroes,
from every heart let the cry burst forth:
War and death,
and death to the foreigner!
RAMFIS: Glory to the gods! Let everyone remember
that it's they who determine the course of events,
that in the power of the gods alone
rest the fates of the warrior..
Many strains are heard from the crowd, including:
AIDA: For whom do I weep? for whome do I pray?
What power binds me to him!
I must love him, and he is
an enemy, a foreigner!
AMNERIS: From my hand
s receive, o commander,
the glorious standard;
may it be your guide, may it light you
on the road to victory!
The crowd continues its various chants, until --
AMNERIS: Return victorious!
ALL, including AIDA: Return victorious!
John Macurdy (bs), King of Egypt; Robert Nagy (t), the Messenger; Leontyne Price (s), Aida; Rita Gorr (ms), Amneris; Carlo Bergonzi (t), Radamès; Cesare Siepi (bs), Ramfis; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Georg Solti, cond. Broadcast performance, Dec. 7, 1963
PERFORMANCE NOTE: Two years-plus earlier, in July 1961, Price and Gorr had headed the cast of Solti's RCA (now Decca) recording of Aida, still by a comfortable margin my favorite -- I'd go so far as to say there isn't a better Aida or Amneris on records. For now I just wanted to say: Would you listen to Gorr on this Saturday afternoon in December 1963?
Verdi role no. 2: the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos
Cesare Siepi had been singing King Philip at the Met since his debut in November 1950, more than 20 years before the broadcast performance we're about to sample. Over that time he'd been confronted by a host of Grand Inquisitors in this amazing scene. Siepi himself is in excellent form here, and I think it's a treat to hear Macurdy standing up to him so beautifully and forcefully.
from Act III (in the 4-act version), Scene 1: At crack of dawn, King Philip's day goes from bad to worse when the Grand Inquisitor drops in for a chat
COUNT OF LERMA [entering]: The Grand Inquisitor!
[LERMA exits. The GRAND INQUISITOR, blind, 90, enters supported by two Dominicans.]
GRAND INQUISITOR: Am I before the king?
KING PHILIP: Yes, I had you called, father. I am in doubt.
Carlos has filled my heart with bitter sadness,
the Infante has rebelled in arms against his father.
GRAND INQUISITOR: What have you decided to do about him?
KING PHILIP: Everything … or nothing!
GRAND INQUISITOR: Explain yourself!
KING PHILIP: He must go away … or by the sword …
GRAND INQUISITOR: Well then?
KING PHILIP: If I strike down the Infante, will your hand absolve me?
GRAND INQUISITOR: The peace of the world is worth the blood of a son.
KING PHILIP: Can I as a Christian sacrifice my son to the world?
GRAND INQUISITOR: God sacrificed his own, to save us all.
KING PHILIP: Can you justify in all cases such a harsh faith?
GRAND INQUISITOR: Wherever a Christian follows the faith of Calvary.
KING PHILIP: Will the ties of nature and blood remain silent in me?
GRAND INQUISITOR: Everything bows and is silent when faith speaks!
KING PHILIP: It is well!
GRAND INQUISITOR: King Philip II has nothing more to say to me?
KING PHILIP: No!
GRAND INQUISITOR: Then I shall speak to you, Sire!
In this beautiful land, untainted by heresy,
a man dares to undermine the divine order.
He is a friend of the King, his intimate confidant,
the tempting demon who is pushing him to the brink.
The criminal intent of which you accuse the Infante
is but child's play compared with his,
and I, the Inquisitor, I, as long as I raise
against obscure criminals the hand which wields the sword,
while forgoing my wrath against those with power in the world,
I let live in peace this great wrongdoer . . . and you!
KING PHILIP: To see us through the days of trial in which we live,
I have sought in my court, that vast desert of men,
a man, a sure friend . . . and I have found him!
GRAND INQUISITOR: Why a man?
And by what right do you call yourself King,
Sire, if you have equals?
KING PHILIP: Be quiet, priest!
GRAND INQUISITOR: The spirit of the reformers already enters your soul!
You wish to throw off with your feeble hand
the holy yoke which covers the Roman universe!
Return to your duty! The Church, like a good mother,
can still embrace a sincere penitent.
Deliver the Marquis of Posa to us!
KING PHILIP: No, never!
GRAND INQUISITOR: O King, if I were not here, in this palace
today, by the living God, tomorrow you yourself,
you would be before us at the supreme tribunal!
KING PHILIP: Priest! I have suffered your criminal audacity for too long!
GRAND INQUISITOR: Why do you evoke the shade of Samuel?
I have given two kings to this mighty empire,
my whole life's work, you want to destroy it . . .
What did I come here for? What do you want of me?
[He starts to leave.]
KING PHILIP: My father, may peace be restored between us.
GRAND INQUISITOR [continuing to move off]: Peace?
KING PHILIP: Let the past be forgotten!
GRAND INQUISITOR [at the door, as he leaves]: Perhaps!
KING PHILIP: The pride of the King withers before the pride of the priest!
John Macurdy (bs), Grand Inquisitor; Cesare Siepi (bs), King Philip; with Leo Goeke (t), Count of Lerma; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, cond. Broadcast performance, Apr. 22, 1972
Finally, our one or two Wagners, from The Ring:
the Rheingold and Siegfried Fafners
Macurdy sang all the Wagner bass roles: Daland in The Flying Dutchman, the Landgraf in Tannhäuser, King Heinrich in Lohengrin, King Marke in Tristan, Pogner in Meistersinger, Gurnemanz and Titurel in Parsifal, and in The Ring: both Fasolt and Fafner in Das Rheingold, Hunding in Die Walküre, Fafner in Siegfried, and Hagen in Götterdämmerung. The 1975 broadcast Met Ring cycle, in which he sang both the Rheingold and the Siegfried Fafner, gives us the opportunity to hear him in these fairly different roles -- by the time of Siegfried, Fafner the Giant has transformed himself into a venomously dripping dragon -- and also in some productive partnerships, notably in Rheingold with the really outstanding Fasolt of the Swedish bass Bengt Rundgren (and also, I'm afraid, with some less happy partners -- for the sake of musico-dramatic context we'll be hearing more of the Wotan of Donald McIntyre and the Siegfried of Jess Thomas than any of us might wish).
1a. from Scene 2 of Das Rheingold:
The brothers Fasolt and Fafner demand from Wotan their contracted fee for building Valhalla
It took me awhile to understand why the Rheingold audio clips lagged behind most of the others we're hearing, even though I started working on them before most of the others. In Rheingold we have the luxury and opportunity of choice, in the form of a pair of Giants so good that not only do we want to hear everything they have to sing, we don't mind some repetition.
So, for example, in our first clip, even though it's the Fafner we're theoretically focused on, we get to hear him alongside a Fasolt (the far more sympathetic Giant brother) that: (a) I'm quite happy to listen through nearly the whole of our first clip before Fafner opens his mouth to utter a single line, and in the process (b) we're also learning -- as I'm sure Wagner intended us to -- something basic about the dynamic between these brothers. So let's listen to just this much.
Bengt Rundgren (bs), Fasolt; Donald McIntyre (bs-b), Wotan; John Macurdy (bs), Fafner; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Feb. 15, 1975
1b. continuation of the above:
Fafner takes over the "negotiating" from Fasolt
Note that we're backing up a bit here -- back to that one and only line Fafner utters, because as we continue from this point, it'll be almost three minutes before Fafner opens his mouth again. He's content to let Fasolt the fancy plain-talker do the talking, until the stakes dictate otherwise. Fasolt understands perfectly well what's happening: Wotan not only is reneging on an agreement that is central to everything he believes or claims to, that is the basis for every bit of authority he possesses as chief of the gods, but he's making clear that in their contract negotiations Wotan never for the slightest minisecond had any attention of honoring the agreement that was engraved on his spear. Yes, Fasolt understands and for a moment is struck dumb, and when he recovers his voice, all he has are more words -- pretty words, beautiful words (for me Fasolt is the most sincere and sympathetic character we're going to meet in the Ring), but what the Giant brothers need now isn't words but action. So Fafner steps in and formulates an action plan in the form of the gorgeous little "Goldne Äpfel" invocation we heard in the prepost.
[FAFNER doesn't speak again till 2:58, then "Goldne Äpfel" at 3:11] John Macurdy (bs), Fafner; Bengt Rundgren (bs), Fasolt; Donald McIntyre (bs-b), Wotan; Mary Ellen Pracht (s), Freia; Kolbjørn Høiseth (t), Froh; William Dooley (b), Donner; Mignon Dunn (ms), Fricka; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Feb. 15, 1975
2a. from Scene 4 of Das Rheingold:
Fasolt and Fafner collect the promised alternate payment . . .
Let the record show that the Rheingold Scene 4 excerpts are being done just about last of everything in this post, and in particular after the Siegfried clips, where I allowed myself to go kind of wild in choosing starting and stopping points, to make sure (as suggested above) that we have meaningful context for Fafner in transformed dragon form. In Rheingold, there was also a powerful temptation to expand our horizons -- Wagner's construction is so tight that it's painful to chop it up. In the end I was, with no little regret, stricter about allowing clip-creep in Rheingold, a feat I managed in part by stipulating that all the witnesses we're hearing, now that we're taking testimony in these areas, may be recalled to the stand at some future time, still under oath.
We pick up in Scene 4, where the Giants return to collect the payment renegotiated in Scene 2 (instead of the goddess Freia, a heaping hoard of Nibelung treasure), with a clip made for some dimly recalled past post. The deal is that the treasure has to be piled up high enough that the Giants can no longer see Freia, to which end they plant their (naturally) giant-size clubs in the ground to form a frame around the goddess. Alas, an issue develops not just of treasure height but of treasure density. And here we hear the exact same dynamic we encountered between the Giants in Scene 2: Fafner lets his sentimental brother babble eloquently on until it's time to cut to the chase, when it's Fafner who points the way to a resolution for the chink-in-the-hoard problem: the gold ring gleaming on Wotan's finger -- the very ring that Wotan has just finished stealing from the Nibelung Alberich (who promptly put a curse on the damned thing) -- should just about fill that chink.
Which doesn't gladden Wotan, who after all has suffered no little emotional inconvenience in the process of stealing the ring from Alberich -- and I was powerfully tempted to make a new clip that took us back to that nasty business, especially since we have a quite good Alberich in Marius Rintzler. In Wotan's mind the ring was stolen fair and square, and he appears immovable until (and again I plotted an arrangement of audio clips that would let us hear it) the goddess Erda makes her startling deus ex machina-style appearance and shakes Wotan out of his socks and we could equally well have extended our clip forward to include this, an instance of clip-creep that again would have been rewarded with the fine Erda of contralto Lili Chookasian.
Instead, by recycling the more limited old clip, we end up with Wotan registering astonishment at the unspeakably preposterous idea of giving up "his" ring. Note too, at the start of the clip, how beneath consideration Wotan finds the idea that he himself do any of the treasure-hauling fobbed off on his fellow gods (who don't appear exactly used to manual labor themselves). In fact, he finds it necessary to exhort them to work faster because of the enormous emotional strain of this whole "widerlich" (revolting, repulsive) business to his ever-so-delicate sensibilities! And while we're noticing character traits, note too that when it comes to keeping the treasure-piling moving, it's Fafner rather than Fasolt who gets down and dirty.
from Scene 4: Fafner, "Gepflanzt sind die Pfähle"
The GIANTS place FREIA in the center, then thrust their clubs into the ground on either side of her, so that they measure up exactly to her height and breadth.
FAFNER: The stakes are planted
according to the pledge's size:
now heap up the hoard to fill it.
WOTAN: Hurry with the work:
it is repulsive to me.
LOGE: Help me, Froh!
FROH: Freia's shame I hasten to end.
[LOGE and FROH hastily heap up the treasure between the poles.]
FAFNER: Not so lightly and loosely fit together!
[With raw strength he presses the hoard tightly together.]
Tight and dense fill up the space!
[he stoops down to look for crevices.]
Here I can still see through:
stop up the chinks!
LOGE: Back, you churl!
FAFNER: Hey now!
LOGE: Don't you touch me!
FAFNER: Hey now! The chink must be closed up!
WOTAN [turning away moodily]: Deep in my breast
I'm burning with shame
FRICKA: See how in shame
the noble woman shamefully stands:
for redemption flies
silently her suffering look.
FAFNER: Still more! Still more up here!
DONNER: Barely can I contain myself!
Bubbling rage the shameless fellow wakens in me!
Hey now, you dog!
If you want to measure,
then measure yourself against me!
FAFNER: Quiet, Donner!
Roar where it tells;
here your clatter does nothing for you!
DONNER [aiming a blow]:
Not even to smash you, slanderer?
WOTAN: Peace now!
Already Freia seems to me covered over.
LOGE: The hoard is used up.
[FAFNER measures the hoard closely with his eye and looks for crevices.]
FAFNER: Still Holda's hair glimmers at me!
Throw that wove thing [i.e., the Tarnhelm] on the hoard!
LOGE: What, the helmet too?
FAFNER: Quickly give it here!
WOTAN: Let it go then!
[LOGE throws the Tarnhelm on the pile.]
LOGE: So we're finished then!
Are you satisfied?
FASOLT: Freia the beautiful
I can no longer see:
so is she redeemed?
Must I let her go?
[He steps up close and peers through the hoard.]
Woe! Her glance still
bursts upon me;
the stars of her eyes
stream down on me:
through a crack
I can't help looking at them.
[beside himself] While I still see
her wondrous eyes
I can't give up the woman!
FAFNER: Hey, I advise you
stop up that gap!
LOGE: Insatiable!
You don't see then
that the hoard has all disappeared?
FAFNER: By no means, friend!
On Wotan's finger
still gleams a golden ring --
give it to fill the gap.
WOTAN: What, this ring?
LOGE: Let me advise!
To the Rhinemaidens
this gold belongs;
Wotan will give it back to them.
WOTAN: What are you chattering there?
What I obtained with such difficulty
without qualms I am keeping for myself.
LOGE: Unfortunately there's the matter
of my promise that I made to their laments.
WOTAN: Your promise doesn't bind me;
the ring remains my trophy.
FAFNER: But here as ransom
you must hand it over.
WOTAN: Leave me in peace.
I will not give up the ring!
[FASOLT angrily pulls FREIA from behind the hoard.]
John Macurdy (bs), Fafner; Donald McIntyre (bs-b), Wotan; Bengt Rundgren (bs), Fasolt; Glade Peterson (t), Loge; Mignon Dunn (ms), Fricka; William Dooley (b), Donner; Kolbjørn Høiseth (t), Froh (t); Bengt Rundgren (bs), Fasolt; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Feb. 15, 1975
2b. Will Wotan gives up the ring? Can the Giants agree on a fair split of their haul?
Even after Erda has made her sudden, mesmerizing appearance (another of Wagner's stupendous set pieces, which it's almost physically painful to skip over) and then her equally sudden disappearance, while we know that Wotan has acquired a new obsession, with Erda herself (how surprised are we going to be to find in time just how poor his impulse control is when it comes to his obsessions?), we have no indication that Wotan has been persuaded of the one thing that matters now: the need for him to give up the ring. As we pick up, it's left to his goofy brother-in-law Donner to keep the Giants engaged in the ransom exchange that's supposed to be taking place. What actually happens clearly shakes the gods to their very cores.
DONNER: Listen, you Giants! Come back and wait:
the gold will be given to you.
FREIA: Dare I hope so? Do you think
Holda truly worth this ransom?
[All look attentively at WOTAN; he, rousing himself from deep thought, grasps his spear and brandishes it in token of a bold decision.]
WOTAN: To me, Freia! You are liberated!
Bought back, return our youth to us!
You Giants, take your ring!
[He throws the ring on the hoard. The GIANTS let FREIA go; she hastens joyfully to the gods, who for some time caress her in turn with the greatest delight.]
FASOLT [to FAFNER]: Stop, you glutton!
Leave some for me too!
A just division benefits us both.
FAFNER: You set more store on the maid
than on the gold, you lovesick fool!
With difficulty I prevailed on you
to agree to the exchange.
Without sharing
you would have courted Freia.
If I share the hoard,
it is only fair I should keep
the greater half for myself.
FAFNER: You scoundrel!
With this insult?
[turning to the gods] I appeal to you as judges
divide the treasure justly and fairly.
LOGE [to FASOLT]: Let him take the hoard.
Just hold on to the ring!
FASOLT [throwing himself on FAFNER]: Back, you churl!
The ring is mine!
It stays with me in place of Freia's eyes!
[He snatches at the ring.]
FAFNER: Away with your fist!
The ring is mine!
[They struggle together and FASOLT seizes the ring from FAFNER.]
FASOLT: I hold it, it belongs to me!
FAFNER: Hold it tight in case you let it fall!
[With a blow from his staff he kills FASOLT, then snatches the ring back from the dead Giant.]
Blink away now at Freia's eyes;
you won't lay your hands on the ring any more!
[He puts the ring away in the sack and quietly finishes packing up the treasure while the gods stand by horrified.]
WOTAN: Frightful now
I find the curse's strength.
William Dooley (b), Donner; Mary Ellen Pracht (s), Freia; Donald McIntyre (bs-b), Wotan; Bengt Rundgren (bs), Fasolt; John Macurdy (bs), Fafner; Glade Peterson (t), Loge; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Feb. 15, 1975
Siegfried, Act II
Now we make the huge leap, not just over the rainbow bridge across which Wotan -- with a massive effort of composure -- leads the gods into Valhalla, but over the entire action of Die Walküre and Act I of Siegfried, to the seemingly improbable setting of Siegfried Act II, one of Wagner's most weirdly wonderful creations. I say "seemingly improbable" because for anyone who was paying close attention in Act III of Walküre when Brünnhilde, in her desperate attempt to save her half-sister Sieglinde from the wrath of their father, Wotan, it is precisely to the east, to this dense forest, that she directs Sieglinde, suddenly motivated by the news that she's carrying a child -- and the reason Brünnhilde chooses this direction is precisely because Wotan is known to give this area a wide berth precisely because it's where Fafner has holed up after taking sole possession of the Nibelung treasure, using the shape-shifting Tarnhelm to transform himself into the vicious dragon.
Considering the extreme lengths to which Fafner went to acquire sole possession of the hoard, you'd think he had some grand plan in mind -- something grander than simply holing himself up in a remote cave sprawled out mostly unconscious atop his treasure pile, protecting it against theft, emerging from the cave only for the occasional necessary drink of water. If you thought that, you would be wrong. The musical portrait Wagner paints of the dragonized Fafner is stark: He expresses himself almost exclusively in yawps of the interval most reviled by classical harmonists: the tritone, smack in between the oh-so-harmonious subdominant and dominant intervals.
3. Wotan suckers his old nemesis Alberich into trying to make a deal with Fafner, now a mostly sleeping dragon
WANDERER: A hero is approaching
to free the treasure;
two Nibelungs covet the gold.
Fafner, who guards the ring,
will be killed --
whoever snatches it will have won it.
Do you wish to know more?
There lies the dragon;
if you warn him of death,
he might well be disposed to give up the bauble.
I will wake him for you myself.
[calling] Fafner! Fafner!
Awake, dragon!
ALBERICH [in bewildered astonishment]: What's the ruffian about?
Will he really not grudge it me?
FAFNER'S VOICE: Who disturbs my slumbers?
WANDERER: One has come
to warn you of ill.
He will reward you for it with your life,
if you will reward him
with the treasure you guard.
FAFNER'S VOICE: What does he want?
ALBERICH: Wake up, Fafner!
Wake up, you dragon!
A mighty hero is approaching
to try his stength against you, strange beast.
WANDERER: The golden circlet
alone he covets.
Leave me the ring as reward,
and I will turn aside the fight;
you shall watch over the hoard
and live peacefully and long.
FAFNER'S VOICE [yawning]: I have and I hold --
let me sleep!
WANDERER [laughing]: Well, Alberich, that stroke failed!
But call me rogue no more!
I counsel you, heed
this advice well now:
Everything goes after its own fashion;
you will change nothing in it.
[Wotan summons Fafner at 0:58] Donald McIntyre (bs-b), Wanderer; Marius Rintzler (bs-b) Alberich; John Macurdy (bs), Fafner; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixen Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Mar. 15, 1975
4. from Act II, Scene 2 of Siegfried:
Siegfried awakens the sleeping dragon -- and violence ensues
Siegfried has been brought to Fafner's cave by Mime, basically, to kill the dragon and take possession of Fafner's hoard, including the Ring and Tarnhelm. I'm afraid I've gone a bit wild here, backing up from the moment when Siegfried awakens the sleeping dragon by sounding his horn, first to what drives Siegfried to pick up his horn, namely his attempt to communicate with the Forest-Bird whose call has captured his attention, and backing up even farther to how he first becomes aware of the Forest-Bird, during the "Forest Murmurs," heard while he has been trying to imagine what sort of person the mother he never knew might have been. All this backing up takes us farther and farther back from Fafner's emergence in the scene, which I didn't do because I thought we needed to hear Jess Thomas's Siegfried, especially of 1975 vintage, but because for once I'm putting my foot down and insisting that context matters. I just didn't see how we could plunge right into Siegfried's mortal confrontation with Fafner without some aural appreciation of his state of mind at this moment. Not to mention that the scene contains so much amazingly beautiful music.
Growing forest murmurs. SIEGFRIED's attention is at length caught by the song of a forest-bird. He listens with growing attention to the forest-bird in the branches above him.Siegfried's horn call (very loud and long sustained)
SIEGFRIED: You lovely little bird,
I never heard you before.
Are you at home here in the forest?
If only I could understand his sweet song!
It would surely say something to me,
perhaps about my dear mother!
[He listens.]
A testy old dwarf told me
that to understand bird talk well,
that was something one could come to do.
How could that be possible?
Ha! I'll try and echo it:
on a pipe I'll imitate his song!
If I miss his words but attend to his tune
I'll be singing in his language
and surely understand what he says.
[He runs to the neighboring spring, cuts off a reed with his sword, and quickly makes a pipe out of it. After this he listens again.]
He stops and listens:
so I'll tootle away!
[He blows into the pipe. He stops and cuts the pipe again. He blows again. He shakes his head and again cuts the pipe. He tries it. He gets angry, presses the pipe with his hand and tries again. He ceases playing and smiles.]
That doesn't sound right;
the sweet song
doesn't go on my pipe.
Little bird, I think I'm too stupid;
it's not easy to learn from you!
[He hears the bird again and looks up to it.]
Now I'm quite shamed
before that rascal listening there:
it looks at me [vert tenderly] and can hear nothing.
Hey there! Well, now listen to my horn.
[He flings the pipe away.]
On that silly reed I could do nothing.
You shall hear now a woodland tune
which I can play, a cheerful one.
With it I called for a good comrade;
nothing better has yet come than wolf and bear.
Now let me see
what it will bring me;
perhaps a dear companion?
[He takes his silver hunting horn and blows on it]
[During the sustained notes SIEGFRIED looks expectantly at the bird. Gaily, and continually faster and noisier. Very fast and noisily.]
[A movement in the background. FAFNER, in the shape of a huge lizard-like dragon, has risen from his lair in the cave. He breaks through the underwood and drags himself up to the higher ground until the front part of his body rests upon it, when he utters a sound as if yawning. SIEGFRIED looks around and flashes his eyes on FAFNER in astonishment.]
[FAFNER, at the sight of SIEGFRIED, has stopped on the knoll and now remains there.]
SIEGFRIED: Ha ha! So my strains
have roused something lovely!
You'd make me a pretty playmate.
FAFNER [through a speaking trumpet]: What is there?
SIEGFRIED: Well, if you're a beast
that knows how to speak,
perhaps there's something I can learn from you?
Here is someone who does not know fear;
can he come to know it from you?
FAFNER: Is this bravado?
SIEGFRIED: Bravery or bravado -- how do I know?
But I'll cut you to shreds
if you don't teach me fear.
[FAFNER makes a sound like a laugh.]
FAFNER: I wanted a drink:
now I've also found food!
[He opens his mouth and shows his teeth.]
SIEGFRIED: A delicious maw you display,
teeth laughing in a dainty muzzle!
It would be good to close your gullet:
your jaws gape too wide!
FAFNER: They are not suited to idle chatter,
but my throat is well made to gulp you down.
SIEGFRIED: Ho ho! You grim, gruesome knave!
I've no desire to be digested by you;
but it seems right and proper
that you should die without delay.
FAFNER [roaring]: Bah! Come on, braggart boy!
SIEGFRIED: On your guard, growler!
Here comes the braggart!
[He draws his sword, spring toward FAFNER, and remains defiantly standing. FAFNER drags himself farther up on the knoll and spits from his nostrils at SIEGFRIED. SIEGFRIED avoids the steam, springs nearer, and stands on one side. FAFNER tries to reach him with his tail. SIEGFRIED, who has nearly struck FAFNER, springs over him at one bound and wounds him in the tail. FAFNER roars, pulls his tail away, and raises the front part of his body, in order to throw its full weight on SIEGFRIED, and so offers his breast to his stroke. SIEGFRIED quickly seeks the place of his heart, and thrusts his sword into it up to the hilt. FAFNER raises himself still higher in pain, and sinks on the wound as SIEGFRIED lets go his sword and springs aside.]
SIEGFRIED: Lie there, murderous beast:
you have Notung through your heart!
[The apparatus that represents the dragon has been moved a little farther forward. A new trap is now opened from which the singer of FAFNER's part sings through a less powerful speaking trumpet.]
FAFNER [in a weaker voice]: Who are you, bold boy,
that have pierced my heart?
Who kindled your childish courage
to this deadly deed?
Your brain did not conceive
what you have carried out.
SIEGFRIED: There is much I still don't know,
not even who I am.
You yourself goaded me
to engage you in mortal combat.
FAFNER: You bright-eyed boy
who do not know yourself,
I will tell you whom you have murdered.
Of the towering race of giants,
the brothers Fasolt and Fafner
both now are dead.
For the accursed gold gained from the gods
I dealt death to Fasolt.
He who defended the hoard as a dragon,
Fafner, last of the giants,
has fallen to a fresh-faced hero.
Keep a sharp watch, jubilant boy;
he who prompted you in your blindness to this deed
is now after your triumph plotting your death.
Mark how it will end! Heed my words!
SIEGFRIED: Then tell me where I came from:
in your death, dragon, you seem wise.
You will know from my name:
I am called Siegfried.
FAFNER: Siegfried. [He raises himself and dies.]
-- English translations: text (nearly all) by Lionel Salter ©1969,
stage directions by Frederick Jameson
[Fafner's awakening at 7:33] Jess Thomas (t), Siegfried; John Macurdy, bass (bs), Fafner; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling, cond. Broadcast performance, Mar. 15, 1975
And finally, our Mozart role:
the Commendatore in Don Giovanni
Is this nuts? In a career that included hardly any commercial recordings, Macurdy's Commendatore was recorded at almost the same time twice. (The other was DG's Böhm-conducted live Salzburg Don Giovanni.) Some readers may recall my venturing that there are two Don Giovanni recordings I would most hate to be without: the Krips-Decca and this Maazel-Sony, and when we get to the Final Scene, I think you'll agree that the latter is holding up very well indeed. Maazel reminds us what a terrific operatic conductor he could be, and since we'll be hearing a lot of them, let me say that I genuinely admire Ruggero Raimondi's Don Giovanni and I just plain love José van Dam's Leporello. And while I've heard more glamorously sung Commendatores, and it's such a potent role that I value them highly, a Don Giovanni performance of the dramatic caliber of the Maazel-CBS clearly requires a Commendatore of commensurate quality, and I think Macurdy, with his long experience of the role, rises to the occasion.
1. from the opening scene: "Lascia, indegno"
The Commendatore chases after his daughter's late-night visitor and forces a duel, which ends badly for the Commendatore
[DON GIOVANNI has rushed out of the COMMENDATORE's house with DONNA ANNA in hot pursuit screaming bloody murder, followed shortly by her enraged father. LEPORELLO remains outside on seduction watch for his master.] [EDITORIAL NOTE: We never do learn what actually happened inside. DONNA ANNA's claim to her fiancé DON OTTAVIO of an attempted assault seems wildly at variance with everything we do know.]Commendatore, "Lascia, indegno!"
COMMENDATORE: Leave her be, scoundrel!
Fight with me!
[DONNA ANNA, hearing her father's voice, leaves DON GIOVANNI and enters the house.]
DON GIOVANNI: Go! I don't deign to fight with you.
COMMENDATORE: Thus you think you'll escape me?
LEPORELLO [to himself]: If I could only get away from here.
DON GIOVANNI: Wretch! Stay if you want to die!
[They fight. The COMMENDATORE is mortally wounded.]
Trio, Commendatore, Don Giovanni, and Leporello
COMMENDATORE: Ah, help! I'm undone . . .
The assassin has wounded me . . .
and from my throbbing breast
I feel my soul departing.
DON GIOVANNI [to himself]: Ah! Already the rash old man is down,
trembling and in agony,
Already from his throbbing breast
I see his soul departing.
LEPORELLO [to himself]: What a crime! What excess!
Inside my breast, from fear
I feel my heart pounding.
I don't know what to do, what to say.
[The COMMENDATORE dies.]
John Macurdy (bs), Commendatore; Ruggero Raimondi (bs), Don Giovanni; José van Dam (bs-b), Leporello; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded June-July 1978
2. from Act II, Scene 3: Don Giovanni has Leporello invite the statue of the Commendatore to dinner
DON GIOVANNI and LEPORELLO have reconnected in a walled churchyard with monuments, including a statue of the late COMMENDATORE. In the moonlight DON GIOVANNI recounts an episode of having encountered a young woman who mistook him for LEPORELLO and proceeded to treat him amorously.
Recitative
DON GIOVANNI: I took advantage of the mistake. I don't know how, but she recognized me; she screamed, so, hearing people coming, I made off and quickly jumped over that wall there into this place.
LEPORELLO: And you can tell me about it
with such complete unconcern.
DON GIOVANNI: Why not?
LEPORELLO: But suppose the girl had been my wife?
DON GIOVANNI: Better still!
[He laughs loudly.]
STATUE OF THE COMMENDATORE [accompanied by clarinets, bassoons, trombones, cellos, and basses]:
You will be finished laughing before the dawn.
DON GIOVANNI: Who spoke?
LEPORELLO: Ah, that will be some soul
from the other world
who knows you in depth.
DON GIOVANNI [searching among the monuments and striking at some of the statues with his sword]:
Quiet, fool! Who goes there?
STATUE OF THE COMMENDATORE:
Scoundrel! Audacious fellow!
Leave the dead in peace!
LEPORELLO: I told you so.
DON GIOVANNI: It'll be someone outside
playing a joke on us. Hey, isn't that
the statue of the Commendatore?
Read a little of the inscription.
LEPORELLO: Excuse me, I didn't learn
to read by moonlight.
DON GIOVANNI: Read, I say.
LEPORELLO [reading]: "On the wretch who brought me to the extreme passage I here await vengeance."
Do you hear? I'm trembling.
DON GIOVANNI: O most buffoonish old man!
Tell him this evening I expect him to sup with me.
LEPORELLO: What madness! But it seems to me . . .
Oh gods! See there,
what a terrible look he's giving us!
Seems alive . . . seems to hear . . .
and to want to speak . . .
DON GIOVANNI: Look here, get on with it!
Or I'll kill you on the spot
and then bury you.
LEPORELLO: Softly, softly, sir . . . I'll obey now.
Duet, "O statua gentilissima"
LEPORELLO: O most genteel statue
of the great Commendatore . . .
Master, my heart is is shaking . . .
I can't, I can't finish . . .
DON GIOVANNI: Finish it, or in your breast
I'll put this blade!
LEPORELLO: What a mess! What an idea!
DON GIOVANNI: What fun! What sport!
LEPORELLO: I feel ice cold!
DON GIOVANNI: I want to make him tremble!
LEPORELLO: O most genteel statue,
although you are of marble . . .
Ah, master, my master!
Look! Look!
How he keeps his eyes fixed on us!
DON GIOVANNI: You die! You die!
Sir, my master
LEPORELLO: No, no, no, no! Wait, wait!
Sir, my master --
mark well, not I --
would like to have supper with you!
[THE STATUE nods its head in assent.]
Ah, ah, ah! What a scene this is!
O heavens, it nodded its head!
DON GIOVANNI: Go away! You're a buffoon!
LEPORELLO: Look, look, look again, master!
DON GIOVANNI: And what am I supposed to look at?
LEPORELLO: With his marble head
[nodding his head in imitation of the statue]
he's going like this, like this!
DON GIOVANNI and LEPORELLO: With his marble head
he's going like this, like this!
DON GIOVANNI [to THE STATUE]: Speak, if you can:
will you come to supper?
will you come to supper?
STATUE OF THE COMMENDATORE: Yes.
LEPORELLO: I can scarcely move, oh gods!
My strength is failing
For mercy's sake let's be off!
Let's get away from here!
DON GIOVANNI [overlapping]: Indeed the scene is bizarre.
Will he come, the good old man, to supper?
Let's go prepare it!
Let's head for there!
[They go off together!]
Ruggero Raimondi (bs), Don Giovanni; José van Dam (bs-b), Leporello; John Macurdy (bs), Commendatore; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded June-July 1978
3. from later in Act II: And guess who comes to dinner!
from Act II, Scene 5 (Final Scene): Don Giovanni's last supper guest
Master and servant have indeed made it back to Don Giovanni's home, and the famous supper is prepared -- along with a band of musicians to play a series of tunes, culminating in one that Don Giovanni insists he "knows only too well": Figaro's "Non più andrai" from The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart's previous opera! Whereupon who should burst in but that perennial in-burster Donna Elvira? Here to make one last attempt to get the man she considers her husband to see the error of his ways. Finally, the exasperated host declares:
DON GIOVANNI: Allow me to eat! Allow me to eat!
[seating himself again] and if you like, eat with me.
DONNA ELVIRA: Stay, cruel man!
In rank obscenity a horrible example of iniquity!
LEPORELLO [overlapping]: If he isn't touched by her suffering
he has a heart of stone, or no heart at all!
DON GIOVANNI: Long live femininity!
Long live good wine!
Sustenance and glory of humanity!
DONNA ELVIRA: Stay, cruel man! etc.
LEPORELLO: If he isn't touched by her suffering etc.
DON GIOVANNI: Long live femininity! etc.
[Finally DONNA ELVIRA goes, but returns immediately, screaming, and rushes out a door on the opposite side.]
DON GIOVANNI and LEPORELLO: Whatever is this scream?
DON GIOVANNI [to LEPORELLO]: Go and see what's happened.
[LEPORELLO goes out.]
LEPORELLO [outside]: Ah!
DON GIOVANNI: What a devilish scream!
Leporello, what is it?
LEPORELLO [returning]: Ah, sir! for pity's sake
don't go out there!
The man of stone, the white man . . .
ah, master! I tremble,
I'm failing!
If you'd seen what a face,
if you'd heard how it goes ta! ta! ta! ta!
DON GIOVANNI: I don't understand anything at all!
LEPORELLO: Ta! ta! ta! ta!
DON GIOVANNI: You're mad, really!
LEPORELLO: Ah, listen!
DON GIOVANNI: Someone's knocking! Open up!
LEPORELLO: I'm trembling!
DON GIOVANNI: Open up, I say!
LEPORELLO: Ah!
DON GIOVANNI: Open!
LEPORELLO: No!
DON GIOVANNI: Madman! To satisfy my curiosity
I'll go and open it myself!
[He takes up a lamp and with drawn sword goes to open the door.]
LEPORELLO: I don't want to see our friend anymore!
Ever so quietly I'll hide, I'll hide.
[He gets under the table. DON GIOVANNI returns, accompanied by THE STATUE OF THE COMMENDATORE.]
THE STATUE: Don Giovanni, to have supper with you
you invited me, and I've come!
DON GIOVANNI: I would never have believed it;
but I'll do what I can.
Leporello! Another supper
have brought at once!
LEPORELLO [from under the table]: Ah master! We're all dead!
DON GIOVANNI: Go, I say!
THE STATUE: Stay a bit!
He does not partake of mortal food
who partakes of celestial food!
Other cares more grave than this
have brought me here below!
LEPORELLO: I seem to have fever . . .
and to keep my limbs still . . .
I can't anymore!
DON GIOVANNI [overlapping]: Speak then!
What do you wish? What do you want?
THE STATUE: I speak, listen! I have no more time!
DON GIOVANNI [overlapping]: Speak, speak! I stand listening!
LEPORELLO [overlapping]: Ah, I can't keep my limbs still anymore!
THE STATUE: You invited me to supper,
now know your obligation!
Respond to me, respond to me,
will you come to have supper with me?
LEPORELLO [standing well back]:
Oh dear, oh dear! I don't have time, excuse me!
DON GIOVANNI: I'll never be wrongly accused of cowardice!
THE STATUE: Decide!
DON GIOVANNI: I've already decided!
THE STATUE: Will you come?
LEPORELLO: Tell him no, tell him no!
DON GIOVANNI: My heart is firm within my breast:
I'm not afraid, I'll come!
THE STATUE: Give me your hand in pledge!
DON GIOVANNI [giving his hand]: Here it is! Ah! Alas!
THE STATUE: What's the matter?
DON GIOVANNI: How ice cold this is!
THE STATUE: Repent, change your life!
It's the ultimate moment!
DON GIOVANNI: No, foolish old man!
THE STATUE: Repent!
DON GIOVANNI: No!
THE STATUE: Repent!
DON GIOVANNI: No!
THE STATUE: Yes!
LEPORELLO: Yes, yes!
DON GIOVANNI: No, no!
THE STATUE: Ah, there's no longer time!
[THE STATUE leaves. Flames burst out from all directions.]
DON GIOVANNI: With what unaccustomed terror
I feel the spirits assail me!
Whence issue these swirling flames
so fraught with horror?
CHORUS OF SPIRITS [from below]:
All is as nothing to your crimes!
Come! There is worse in store!
DON GIOVANNI [overlapping]:
Who is rending my soul? Who is tearing at my viscera
What torture, alas! What frenzy!
LEPORELLO [overlapping]:
What a desperate grimace! What gestures of a soul in hell!
What screams! What wailing!
DON GIOVANNI: What terror! etc.
LEPORELLO: How it fills me with terror! etc.
CHORUS OF SPIRITS: All is as nothing etc.
DON GIOVANNI [as he is swallowed up by the ever-increasing flames that burst through the mansion]: Ah!
-- translation draws on Peggie Cochrane's for Decca
Ruggero Raimondi (bs), Don Giovanni; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Donna Elvira; José van Dam (bs-b), Leporello; John Macurdy (bs), Commendatore; Chorus and Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded June-July 1978
We should remember, of course, that the "Final Scene" of Don Giovanni isn't actually the end of the opera. Still to come is the gathering of all the surviving characters to contemplate the wreckage and take a preliminary forward glimpse at their lives after Don Giovanni. Once upon a time opera impresarios had the stones to cut the final ensemble, understandably but insanely. Sure, it's an 18th-century opera-finale forumula, this bit of postgame moralizing. Hands of genius, however, have a way of turning formulas into transcendence. Da Ponte and Mozart's Don Giovanni isn't so much about Don Giovanni himself as about the range of effects his existence has on the range of people whose lives intersect with his.
In any other circumstance I'd want to bring out the rest of the troupe to bring the opera to a proper close. In this particular circumstance, though, I think we couldn't ask for a much better way of saying good-bye and thanks to a singer who gave us so much operatic satisfaction.
#
No comments:
Post a Comment