We move on to No. 7 as we count our way through those "Top 10 [or 11] Orchestral Clarinet Solos" with (mostly) Stanley Drucker

STANLEY D. GOES TO THE OPERA --
AND HEREUPON HANGS OUR TALE
(with apologies for the crappy sound and crappier end-edit)


OR, TO HEAR IT IN CONTEXT --
(still in crappy sound, but at least without my unavoidably crappy edit)

Great Performers at Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, live, April 1983
[Note the audience's response when they hear Stanley D. launch "The Solo."]

And the stars were shining
and the earth was perfumed,
the garden gate creaked,
and footsteps grazed the path.
She entered, all fragrance,
she fell into my arms.
O sweet kisses, o languid caresses,
while I, trembling,
unloosed the veils, revealing her beauty!
Gone forever that dream of love --
the hour has fled,
and I die despairing, and I die despairing!
Yet never before have I loved life, loved life so much!

Luciano Pavarotti, tenor; with Stanley Drucker, clarinet; New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, cond. Encore performance from a Pavarotti-Mehta "Gala Concert," telecast live from Avery Fisher Hall, Apr. 4, 1983 (with post-performance announcements by Martin Bookspan)
[Note: Farther along we're going to hear Luciano P. in good studio sound.]

by Ken

We're continuing our countdown through Charlotte (NC) Symphony Orchestra clarinetist Allan Rosenfeld's list of his "Top 10 Orchestral Clarinet Solos," in the company (mostly) of the New York Philharmonic's 61-season clarinetist, Stanley Drucker (1929-2022) -- first, from age 19, as assistant principal, then for an amazing 49 seasons as principal clarinet.

Last week (in "An orchestra principal's most visible job is playing orchestral solos written for his/her instrument. He-e-re's Stanley D.!") we made it all the way down from No. 10 (the end of "Pines of the Janiculum" from Respighi's Pines of Rome) to No. 8 (the opening of the Andante of the Brahms Third Symphony) -- oh, right, passing through No. 9 (from the "Andante cantabile non troppo" section of Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini).

So here I was thinking that with two good pushes we could get through the whole list, even allowing ample excursion time to look in a larger way at the music represented, which, as I tried to explain, is one effect pondering Stanley D.'s enormous career has had on me. I mean, to have been that immersed in music -- mostly not of his own choosing -- all those decades while maintaining an insistence on bringing to each performance first-performance freshness: How awesome is that?


WOULDN'T YOU KNOW? RIGHT AWAY AT NO. 7 I GOT STUCK

I ran into trouble, but not the trouble it had been originally, when I wondered what my chances were of getting hold of a Stanley D. performance of Cavaradossi's Act III aria from Tosca, "E lucevan le stelle"? I was pleasantly surprised to find, digging into the NY Phil's dandy online Performance History, that in fact he would presumably have performed the solo on multiple occasions, including the series of complete concert performances of Tosca offered in June 2008 by his last Philharmonic music director, Lorin Maazel. (Spoiler alert: We're going to be hearing a chunk of Tosca conducted -- very nicely too! -- by a much younger [as in the picture] Maestro Maazel.) The trouble then was that I didn't have access to any of those performances.

Until, suddenly, I did! Not the greatest access, mind you, but still access -- access enough to let us hear the extraordinariness of Stanley D.'s performance of this extraordinary solo, which for the record is marked "dolcissimo, vagamente rubando," which I'm going to render as "sweetest" or "gentlest" and "with some degree of rubato" (i.e., rhythmic stretching).

But in editing not just the Great Performers at Lincoln Center clip but the clips I was thinking of compiling for context, I kept wanting to include more and more of the setting into which Puccini so carefully fit this astonishingly and exquisitely beautiful little aria. I kept thinking, no, we need to go farther back, and farther back, until I was all the way back to the haunting opening of Act III, which begings to create a dramatic and emotional context for this day in the life of Rome, before focusing in on the really nasty bit of context closing in on the fervent and idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi, who is facing what he has every reason to believe is last hour on earth.


WHICH SET ME TO THINKING MORE EXPANSIVELY
ABOUT WHAT A MIRACULOUS CREATION TOSCA IS

Which set me to thinking more expansively about just what a miraculous creation Tosca is. I don't think it suffers from any lack of appreciation today, but it's amazing how it was viewed as a shabby shocker little worthy of association with the sturdier creations of the operatic literature.

Which I hope is obviously ridiculous. There's about a Wagner opera's worth of craftsmanship in this under-two-hour time bomb, and all that craftsmanship is bound up with and by vast reserves of astuteness and just plain inspiration. As I thought about it, it occurred to me that this was the case for carving out a chunk of Act III of Tosca that goes back to the start and continues on through the arrival on that parapet of Castel Sant' Angelo of Cavaradossi's beloved, the singer Floria Tosca, who knows something he doesn't know -- or at least she thinks she does. At the other end of the intermission between Acts II and III we witnessed the lengths to which Tosca discovered she was prepared to go in order to -- as she thought -- save Cavaradossi from the vindictive clutches of Baron Scarpia, the Roman police commander. (Of course in the picture that's Callas as Tosca struggling with the horrible ordeal of Act II.) I knew we couldn't go very far into the ensuing Tosca-Cavaradossi scene, but I knew we had to get into the scene.

Meanwhile I was thinking of more and more performances from which we might want to hear this chunk of Act III, and once I had settled on the parameters, I started making clips -- eventually 11 of them. This all became such an involving task that I managed to shove off consideration of just what I would do with 11 clips of this roughly 14-minute chunk. Surely not just dump 'em all out on you?

Alas, at least at initial posting, that's kind of what I'm doing. I'll throw out some simple observations, but as the volume of material increased, I nurtured the hope that I'd be able to spend some time processing it all. Which, as I keep pointing out, becomes vastly more feasible once the post is posted, and all the clips are not only in place but "live."


ONE THING I DID DO WAS BREAK DOWN OUR TEXT
INTO THE SEGMENTS THAT MAKE UP THIS SCENE

I wanted to make it as easy as possible to home in on the very different kinds of musico-dramatic challenges Puccini and librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica (the creative team from La Bohème, which would collaborate again on Madama Butterfly), working of course from the play of Sardou, set for just this chunk of the opera.

In a way, I've often thought, Puccini's are "performer-proof," in that they're so minutely and specifically detailed that you'd think they almost can't be gotten wrong, provided you're really and truly working from the text. Not surprisingly, it doesn't entirely work out that way. Performers have a way of thinking they're "adding insights" when they'd probably do better to make sure they understand what the composer is asking them to do.


LET'S GET TO OUR CHUNK OF ACT III OF TOSCA

PUCCINI: Tosca: Act III opening, up to Tosca's entrance,
including Cavaradossi's "E lucevan le stelle"

[Time cues are to the Muti-Philadelphia recording -- see below]

[1] The Rampart of Castel Sant' Angelo

To the left, a casemate.* A table with a langern, a large register and writing materials, a bench and a chair. On one wall of the casemate is a crucifix with a lamp hanging before it. On the right is the opening of a small staircase leading to the floor below. In the background the Vatican and St. Peter's can be seen.

*Don't know what a casemate (Italian: casamatta) is? I know I didn't. Per American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd ed.: "An armored compartment for artillery on a rampart."

[2] @0:28 -- The curtain rises

Night -- serene sky scintillating with stars.

[3] @1:30 -- Sheep bells tinkle in the distance

Gradually they becoming more and more faint. The voice of a shepherd boy is heard from even farther away.

SHEPHERD BOY: I send you sighs,
there are so many;
as many as the leaves,
blown by the winds.
You despise me;
my heart grieves,
lamp of gold,
I die for you.
[The first gray light that precedes dawn]

[4] @2:50 -- Church bells ring for matins

Bells at various distances, starting very distant

[5] @3:34 -- A jailer with a lantern emerges from the staircase

He goes to the casemate and lights the lamp before the crucifix, then the lantern on the table. He goes to the rear of the parapet and surveys the courtyard below to see if the picket of soldiers bearing the condemned has arrived. He meets a sentry on patrol, exchanges a few words with him, then returns to the casemate, where he sits down to wait, half asleep.

[6] @5:08 -- A picket commanded by a sergeant of the guard emerges onto the platform accompanying CAVARADOSSI

The sergeant takes him to the casemate, where the JAILER rises and salutes. The sergeant gives him a paper, which he examines; then sitting at the table, he opens the register and writes.

[7] @6:42 -- While writing, the JAILER questions CAVARADOSSI

JAILER: Mario Cavaradossi?
[CAVARADOSSI nods assent; the JAILER hands the pen to the sergeant.]
For you.
[The sergeant signs the register, then leaves, followed by the soldiers.]
You have one hour left.
A priest awaits your call.
CAVARADOSSI: No, but one last favor
I ask of you.
JAILER: If I can.
CAVARADOSSI: I leave behind
a person dear to me.
Permit me to write her
a few words.
[Taking a ring from his finger --]
All that is left of my possessions
is this ring.
If you promise to give her
my last farewell,
it is yours.
JAILER [hesitating a little, then accepting and motioning CAVARADOSSI to be seated at the table]: Write.

[8] @8:25 -- CAVARADOSSI sits on the bench

He thinks awhile, then begins to write. After a few lines, he is overcome by a flood of memories and stops writing.

[9] @9:35 -- A clarinet, marked "dolcissimo," introduces CAVARADOSSI's musings (the aria "E lucevan le stelle")

And the stars were shining
and the earth was perfumed,
the garden gate creaked,
and footsteps grazed the path.
She entered, all fragrance,
she fell into my arms.
O sweet kisses, o languid caresses,
while I, trembling,
unloosed the veils, revealing her beauty!
Gone forever that dream of love --
the hour has fled,
and I die despairing, and I die despairing!
Yet never before have I loved life, loved life so much!
[He breaks into tears, covering his face with his hands.]

[10] @12:39 -- From the staircase SPOLETTA emerges, accompanied by the sergeant and followed by TOSCA

SPOLETTA shows TOSCA where she will find CAVARADOSSI, then calls the JAILER. He warns the sentinel to keep an eye on the prisoner, then disappears down the steps again with the sergeant and the JAILER. TOSCA runs to CAVARADOSSI and, unable to speak for emotion, raises his head with both her hands and shows him the safe conduct. CAVARADOSSI leaps to his feet in surprise, then reads the paper.

CAVARADOSSI: Ah! "Safe conduct for Floria Tosca --"
CAVARADOSSI and TOSCA: "-- and the cavalier who accompanies her."
TOSCA: You are free!
CAVARADOSSI [examining the signature]:
Scarpia! Scarpia so merciful?
This is his first act of grace --
TOSCA [taking back the document and putting it in her purse]: And the last!
CAVARADOSSI: What are you saying? . . .
[Nope, sorry, we're not going to hear TOSCA's reply. That's another whole contemplating-and-listening unit. -- Ed.]

Giuseppe Giacomini (t), Cavaradossi; with Jeffrey Smith (treble), the Shepherd; Charles Austin (bs), the Jailer; Carol Vaness (s), Tosca; Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, cond. Philips, recorded live in the Academy of Music, Mar. 1991 & Jan. 1992


HERE ARE OUR 11 PERFORMANCES -- in chronological order

Beniamino Gigli & Oliviero de Fabritiis (EMI, summer 1938)

[aria intro at 8:43, clarinet at 9:58] Beniamino Gigli (t), Cavaradossi; with Anna Marcangeli (s), the Shepherd; Gino Conti (bs), the Jailer; Maria Caniglia (s), Tosca; Rome Opera Orchestra, Oliviero de Fabritiis, cond. EMI, recorded in the Teatro Reale ([June? July? Sept.?] 1938)

Giuseppe di Stefano & Victor de Sabata [EMI, 8/1953)

[aria intro at 8:42, clarinet at 9:42] Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Cavaradossi; with Alvaro Cordova (treble), the Shepherd; Dario Caselli (bs), the Jailer; Maria Callas (s), Tosca; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Victor de Sabata, cond. EMI, recorded at La Scala, Aug. 10-21, 1953

Jussi Bjoerling & Erich Leindorf (RCA, 7/1957)

[aria intro at 8:15, clarinet at 9:21] Jussi Bjoerling (t), Cavaradossi; with Giovanni Bianchini (treble), the Shepherd; Vincenzo Preziosa (bs), the Jailer; Zinka Milanov (s), Tosca; Rome Opera Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA, recorded in the Rome Opera House, July 1957

Giuseppe di Stefano & Herbert von Karajan (RCA-Decca, 9/1962)

[aria intro at 8:36, clarinet at 9:39] Giuseppe di Stefano (t), Cavaradossi; with Herbert Weiss (treble), the Shepherd; Alfredo Mariotti (bs), the Jailer; Leontyne Price (s), Tosca; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. RCA-Decca, recorded in the Sofiensaal, September 1962

Carlo Bergonzi & Georges Prêtre (EMI, 12/1964-1/1965)

[aria intro at 9:10, clarinet at 10:15] Carlo Bergonzi (t), Cavaradossi; with David Sellar (treble), the Shepherd; Leonardo Monreale (bs), the Jailer; Maria Callas (s), Tosca; Paris Conservatory Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded in the Salle Wagram, Paris, Dec. 1964-Jan. 1965

Franco Corelli & Lorin Maazel (Decca, 6/1966]

[aria intro at 8:49, clarinet at 9:54] Franco Corelli (t), Cavaradossi; with Patrizio Veronelli (treble), the Shepherd; Libero Arbace (bs), the Jailer; Birgit Nilsson (s), Tosca; Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded at the Accademia, June 1966

Plácido Domingo & Bruno Bartoletti (Unitel-DG video, 8/1976)

[aria intro at 8:34, clarinet at 9:40] Plácido Domingo (t), Cavaradossi; with Plácido Domingo Jr. (treble), the Shepherd; Domenico Medici (bs), the Jailer; Raina Kabaivanska (s), Tosca; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Bruno Bartoletti, cond. From the soundtrack of the Unitel-DG film, sound recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall, August 1976

Luciano Pavarotti & Nicola Rescigno (Decca, 6/1978)

[aria intro at 9:07, clarinet at 10:12] Luciano Pavarotti (t), Cavaradossi; with Walter Baratti (treble), the Shepherd; John Tomlinson (bs), the Jailer; Mirella Freni (s), Tosca; National Philharmonic Orchestra, Nicola Rescigno, cond. Decca, recorded in Henry Wood Hall & Kingsway Hall, London, June 1978

Giacomo Aragall & Sir Georg Solti [Decca, 1984-85)

[aria intro at 9:15, clarinet at 10:24] Giacomo Aragall (t), Cavaradossi; with Ivo Martinez (treble), the Shepherd; Nicholas Folwell (bs), the Jailer; Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Tosca; National Philharmnic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded in Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, 1984-85

Giuseppe Giacomini & Riccardo Muti (Philips, 3/1991 & 1/1992)

[aria intro at 8:28, clarinet at 9:35] Giuseppe Giacomini (t), Cavaradossi; with Jeffrey Smith (treble), the Shepherd; Charles Austin (bs), the Jailer; Carol Vaness (s), Tosca; Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, cond. Philips, recorded live in the Academy of Music, Mar. 1991 & Jan. 1992

Jonas Kaufmann & Eivind Gullberg Jensen (live, Vienna, 5/2017)

[aria intro at 8:33, clarinet at 9:44] Jonas Kaufmann (t), Cavaradossi; with Rebekka Rennert (child soprano from the Opera School), the Shepherd; Ayk Martirossian (bs), the Jailer; Martina Serafin (s), Tosca; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, cond. Live performance from the Vienna State Opera, May 8, 2017
[Note that after a nearly 4½-minute ovation, Kaufmann gives an encore peformance of "E lucevan le stelle."]


TO BE ADDED SHORTLY --

Some fairly straightforward observations about the performances. Maybe beyond that I can offer some more specific notes on what seems to me especially interesting or occasionally problematic in our performances.

JULY 16 UPDATE:
Tosca follow-up still to come

In this post I couldn't pass up the sideways diversion to take a look at some of the extraordinary craftsmanship -- at the service of outsize genius -- is on view in those opening 14 minutes or so of Act III of Tosca. To which end I got as far as: (a) breaking the scene down into its component parts, and (b) assembling 11 audio clips taking us from Puccini's musical portrait of the awakening city of Rome to Cavaradossi's arrival at his imminent place of execution on through Tosca's entrance bringing -- she thinks -- documented word of his rescue.

What I didn't get to was adding any comment on what all that aimed at pulling all this material together -- trying to show what those 11 performances have to tell us about Puccini's crafting of this extraordinary opera. I still want to give that a shot. In fact, I hoped to have it ready today. I didn't. Soon, though!
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