_RIGOLETTO_ TO _AÏDA_--SECOND PERIOD OPERAS
Turning-point in Verdi's career--The libretto of
_Rigoletto_--Production of _Rigoletto_ in Venice, London, and
Paris--Great success of the opera--_Athenæum_ and _The Times_ on
_Rigoletto_--"_La Donna è mobile_"--A Second period style--_Il
Trovatore_ written for Rome--The libretto--Its reception at the
Apollo Theatre--The work produced at the Royal Italian Opera,
Covent Garden--Its cast and Graziani's singing therein--Lightning
study of the _Azucena rôle_--_Athenæum_ and _The Times_ on _Il
Trovatore_--_La Traviata_--The libretto and argument--The first
performance at Venice a _fiasco_--Judgment reversed--Brilliant
success of the opera in London--Piccolomini's impersonation of
Violetta--Mr. Lumley's testimony--The Press and _La
Traviata_--_Athenæum_ and _The Times_ criticism of _La
Traviata_--_Les Vêpres Siciliennes_--_Prima donna_ runs
away--Reception of the opera in Paris and London--Verdi in
Germany--_The Times_ criticism--_Simon Boccanegra_ a failure--_Un
Ballo in Maschera_--Trouble with the authorities--Production and
success of _Un Ballo in Maschera_--Its reception in London--_The
Times_ on the opera--_La Forza del Destino_ unsuccessful.
We here reach a period in the composer's career where unmistakable
signs of a change in Verdi's musical manner present themselves. Verdi
was a born musician. So too, were Bellini and Donizetti, but Verdi, by
industry and study, has done immeasurably more for Italy's art than
these or any other of her sons. A musical progressivist, he has ever
been on the art march. Not content with writing opera after opera of
the normal Bellini stamp, we find him at this stage improving upon
his model, and engaging in the construction of a series of opera
compositions which, analysts declare, constitute a Second period in
Verdi's artistic development. The first of these works was _Rigoletto_.
Verdi had entered into an agreement with _impresario_ Lasina to write
another opera for the Fenice Theatre, and Piave had prepared a libretto
based upon Victor Hugo's drama, _Le Roi s'amuse_. Everybody knows the
tragedy, and that it was suppressed lest the cap should fit, because
the principal part of _François Premier_ showed a depraved libertine,
whose capers were not unreflected in Royalty. The libretto provoked the
Austrian supervision, and brought in the police. The original title of
the book was _La Maledizione_, but this was dropped. It closely follows
the French play, the locality and the personages only being changed.
There is the deformed jester or fool of the Court, who is prostrated
by a malediction from a father whom he has mocked, and who is punished
for his witticism by Gilda, his daughter, being made the victim of his
Sovereign. This unfortunate girl is then seen giving up her own life to
save that of her betrayer, the Duke having been entrapped into a lone
house to be assassinated by the jester's orders.
Eventually, all points being arranged, Verdi set to work upon
_Rigoletto, Buffone di Corte_, which was produced with signal success
on the 11th March 1851. That world-famed melody "_La Donna è mobile_"
made an instantaneous hit, and has been hummed and sung to death
in every quarter of the globe ever since. To make quite sure that
the public should not get wind of this tune before the night of the
performance, Verdi did not put it upon paper until within a few hours
of the time when Mirate, the tenor, had to sing it.
As soon as it could be arranged, the opera was introduced at London and
Paris, being brought forward at the Italian Opera, Covent Garden, for
the 1853 season, and at the Théâtre Italien in the French capital on
the 19th January 1857. _Rigoletto_ was a brilliant success in London;
indeed, of three operatic novelties which Mr. Gye produced in that
season, it was the only one that proved attractive or profitable.
On this occasion the cast was:--_Gilda_, Madame Bosio; _Duke of
Mantua_, Signor Mario; _Rigoletto_, Signor Ronconi; _Sparafucile_,
Signor Tagliafico; while subordinate characters were represented by
Mlle. Didiée (Magdalen), Madame Temple, Signor Polonini, and others.
Mario's singing was splendid, and the acting of Ronconi was greatly
admired. "Great as was the histrionic genius of Ronconi admitted to
be, his Rigoletto has combined displays of comedy and tragedy that
can only recall the well-known picture of Garrick between Thalia and
Melpomene. Let us instance the scene in the Ducal palace in the second
act" (wrote an eye-witness) "in which Rigoletto strives to smile with
the courtiers, whilst his heart is breaking at the abduction of his
child--an abduction in which he himself has been made, innocently, to
assist. The expression of Ronconi's face in this scene, one-half of the
face a court jester, the other half that of the bereaved father, can
never be forgotten."[36]
In Paris a French translation of _Rigoletto_ was equally well received.
The musical characteristics of _Rigoletto_ were immediately discerned
and discussed. The general drift of the criticism was that in
_Rigoletto_ melody was wanting, that there were no fine concerted
pieces, and that the opera possessed everything save living properties.
The truth was, Verdi was expressing himself in something of a new
language that had yet to be learned.
Here is what an impartial critic thought of _Rigoletto_ at the time of
its production:--
"We have never been the champions nor the detractors of Verdi, and
we recognise in _Rigoletto_ a higher order of beauty than struck us
even in _Ernani_ and the _Due Foscari_, and an abandonment, at the
same time, of his most palpable defects. _Rigoletto_ cannot be ranked,
however, as a masterpiece; it is full of plagiarisms and faults, and
yet abounds with the most captivating music."[37]
The following is what the _Athenæum_ had to say of _Rigoletto_, a work
which, by the bye, was performed at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent
Garden, as recently as last season, when it was received with well-nigh
unbounded applause and real pleasure:--"Such effect as _Rigoletto_
produces is produced not by its dramatic propriety of sound to sense.
There is hardly one phrase in the part of the Buffoon which might not
belong to Signor Verdi's Doge in _I Due Foscari_ or to his _Nabucco_.
The music of combination and dramatic action, again, is puerile and
queer--odd modulations being perpetually wrenched out with the vain
hope of disguising the intrinsic meagreness of the ideas, and flutes
being used for violins, or _vice versâ_, apparently not to charm
the listener but to make him stare. Thus, the opening ball scene,
accompanied throughout by orchestras on the stage, the abduction
_finale_, the scene between Rigoletto and the courtiers, and the storm
in the last act, are alike miserable in their meagre patchiness and
want of meaning.... Signor Verdi is less violent in his instrumentation
in _Rigoletto_ than he was in his earlier operas; but he has not here
arrived at the music of intellect and expression, which is French or
German, as distinguished from the music of melody, which is Italian....
The air of display for Gilda in the garden scene, called in the
published copies of the music a _Polacca_, though in common tempo, is
as ineffective a mixture of commonplace and eccentricity as it ever
fell to the lot of a _prima donna_ to deliver."[38]
_The Times_ spoke thus of _Rigoletto_:--"The imitations and plagiarisms
from other composers are frequent, while there is not a single
elaborate and well-conducted _finale_, or even _morceau l'ensemble_. In
aiming at simplicity, Signor Verdi has hit frivolity. In other operas
he has often, with a certain degree of success hidden poverty of idea
under a pompous display of instruments; but in the present, abandoning
that artifice, and relying upon the strength of his melodic invention,
he has triumphantly demonstrated that he has very few ideas that can
be pronounced original. In short, with one exception (_Luisa Miller_),
_Rigoletto_ is the most feeble opera of Signor Verdi with which we have
the advantage to be acquainted, the most uninspired, the barest, and
the most destitute of ingenious contrivance. To enter into an analysis
would be a loss of time and space."[39]
And yet, after forty years or more of musical progress, a crowded
fashionable house, to say nothing of the wisdom of the management,
will assemble to give its time, attention, and money to listen to an
opera which, if we are to believe these two sapient leading critics of
a past age, was scarcely worth the paper upon which it was written!
Both old and new journalism to-day appears to have everything to say
in favour of _Rigoletto_! Instead of the opera dying, it has proved,
we repeat, one of the most admired of Verdi's early works, and we who
are living the years of this closing nineteenth century can see what
a fitting connecting link _Rigoletto_ forms between Verdi's First and
Third period works. The composer bridges us quietly over from impulsive
musical youth to a ripe artistic fulness which, natural as it all
seems to us who can look back upon Verdi's gradual development towards
perfection of style, must have bewildered his closely scrutinising
contemporaries. No previous work of his had shown similar masterly
force and originality. Apart from the evergreen "_La Donna è mobile_"
air, such attractive numbers as the soprano romance, and the soprano,
tenor, and bass duos in the second act, are beauties of the opera that
will always tend to keep it on the stage; while no praise would be too
much to bestow upon the quartuor in the last act, a piece of concerted
music which competent judges are agreed would of itself be sufficient
to stamp Verdi as a composer of rare fancy and imagination.
Since its style and merit were maintained in several works that
followed it, this opera well lends itself as the starting-point of a
Second era in Verdi's career as a leading composer for the Italian
lyric stage.
_Rigoletto_ was the first of a series of fine examples of dramatic art,
which brought world-wide fame and ample profit to Verdi, lifting him,
at the same time, into the first rank of operatic composers. In the
face of its alleged defects--absence of melody and concerted pieces,
together with a subdued, restricted orchestration--the audiences
accepted it, the general feeling being that it stood unsurpassed by any
Italian opera. Every _habitué_ of the opera-house to-day is familiar
with the sparkling beauties of _Rigoletto_, and fittingly enough, the
opera finds a place in almost every season's programme. The strongest
proof of its merits, however, is the fact that performances of the
work, extending over a period of forty years, have neither diminished
its attractiveness nor prejudiced a new and rising generation against
either the book or the music. Several of Verdi's early operas have
weathered the test of time and fashion bravely, especially if we
remember the evanescent nature of opera generally; but not one, not the
_Trovatore_ among his early works, is more highly regarded by musical
people to-day than is _Rigoletto, the Court Jester_.
With the composer's next opera we meet Verdi the melodic universalist.
It was at the Apollo Theatre in Rome that the _Trovatore_ first saw
the light on the 19th January 1853. Cammarano the Italian poet found
subject in _El Trovador_, a brilliant drama by Guttierez, a talented
Spanish author of only nineteen summers. The story, a revoltingly
horrible one, is well known. A gipsy woman put to death by a nobleman
on a charge of witchcraft, has a daughter to whom she bequeaths the
task of avenging her death. The daughter steals the Count's younger
child, and brings him up as her own, instilling into his mind a
hatred of his own brother, whom he knows not to be such. The brothers
become rivals in love; the reputed son of the gipsy (who has risen
to distinction) being preferred by the object of their passion. The
quarrel becomes deadly; the younger brother falls into the hands of
the elder, who orders his execution. The gipsy witnesses the death of
her supposed son; and when the axe has fallen, turns exultingly to the
Count exclaiming, "My mother is avenged; you have murdered your own
brother!" The lady who is beloved by the rival brothers, unable to save
her lover's life, swallows poison. The epoch is the fifteenth century.
Undaunted by frailties of his _collaborateur_, the _maestro_ went to
work, and in a short time _Il Trovatore_ was clothed in musical garb.
What that harmonious garment proved the world well knows--too well, say
some who, like the late Mr. Babbage, mathematician and calculator, have
been almost driven to death by organ-grinders. Whatever was confused
and improbable in the book was amply atoned for by the music, for Verdi
set it to some of his most passionate-human melody and harmony.
The first representation was awaited with feverish excitement, akin to
the musical sensibilities of the Italian people. The day proved wet and
cold, but not sufficiently so to damp the ardour of the enthusiastic
Romans. At early morn the theatre doors were besieged, and as the
hour of the performance drew near the pitch of fervour was intense.
Eventually the crowd got into the theatre, packing it from floor to
ceiling with marvellous rapidity and dangerous discomfort. Then amid
alternate periods of strained attention and agitation, the opera was
performed. Each scene and situation brought down thunders of applause
until the very walls echoed with the shoutings. Outside, the people
took up the cry, and there arose such shouts of "Long live Verdi!"
"Verdi and Italy!" "Italy's greatest composer!" "Viva Verdi!" as could
be heard again inside the theatre.
The artists at this memorable performance were Signore Penco (Leonora)
and Goggi; and Signori Grossi (Manrico), Baucarde, Guicciardi, and
Balderi.
The spread of the _Trovatore_ music was electrical. Theatre after
theatre produced the work, so eagerly did subscribers and patrons
clamour. At Naples three houses were giving the opera at about the same
time.
It was at this time that Verdi was meeting with a determined opposition
from a brother craftsman from whom better treatment might reasonably
have been expected. "In Naples," states an eye-witness, "Mercadante
reigned supreme. He would not listen to the sound of Verdi's name.
He declared even _Rigoletto_ was bosh,--you know I was then singing
_Gilda_ at the Teatro Nuovo;--he had the Court and the highest society
for his patrons, and managed to set everybody against poor Verdi.
Things went so far that he organised a cabal against him at Court,
and when _Trovatore_--which by the way, after Rome, the people would
have--was brought out at San Carlo, Mercadante had so ingratiated
himself with the censor Lord Chamberlain, and I don't know who else,
that they only allowed two acts of _Trovatore_ to be sung, and there
was a perfect revolution in the town until the third and fourth acts
were accorded by the management. I was the first one to sing the full
score at little Teatro Nuovo. The subscribers who were three nights at
San Carlo were the other three nights at my theatre; and to my dying
day I shall never forget the success it had! Happily Teatro Nuovo was
the first in the field with the complete opera.... It is impossible to
conceive the tricks and cabals against Verdi put up by old Mercadante.
One would have thought that as he was old and nearing his grave, and
as his last opera at San Carlo had been a failure, he would have had
some consideration for the young and struggling artist; but, on the
contrary, he kept Verdi out of Naples as long as he could. The people
finally wouldn't stand it any longer; they weren't going to put up even
with Mercadante at his best when there was a fresh new composer taking
Italy by storm--when every Italian capital was singing his operas, and
Naples, according to all, the very seat of fine arts, the only city
deprived of hearing Verdi and acclaiming his works."[40]
Not only in Italy did the _Trovatore_ "take." It went the round of the
European capitals in an unprecedentedly short time, and nowhere was
it admired more than in that stronghold of contrapuntal prejudice,
Germany, where its alluring melodies proved simply irresistible.
In 1854 it was given at the Paris Théâtre Italien, and the following
year saw its production in London. The management of the Royal Italian
Opera, Covent Garden, brought it forward on Thursday, 11th May,
when it was received with warm applause, which increased with every
representation. On this occasion the principal parts were filled by
Madame Viardot[41] (Azucena), Mdlle. Jenny Ney (Leonora), Signor
Tamberlik (Manrico) and Signor Graziani (Conte di Luna), who did full
justice to Verdi's captivating music.
Referring to this remarkable performance, an experienced writer says:--
"The favourable impression Graziani had made in the _Ernani_ induced
the management to put him forward in another of Verdi's operas, _Il
Trovatore_, a work which has brought more money into theatrical
treasuries than any other production of modern times. If Graziani
had sung nothing else in this opera than the air '_Il balen del suo
sorriso_,' as the Conte di Luna, he would have permanently established
himself; yet whoever witnessed the clumsy manner in which he 'loafed'
down to the footlights as the symphony of this air was being played--as
he still does--could by no means have anticipated anything else than
a manifestation of the most positive vulgarity, instead of hearing
the beautiful voice and suave _cantabile_ with which he invested that
somewhat commonplace, yet not the less popular, invention. Mdlle. Ney
was the Leonora on this occasion, and was singing and acting with care,
according to the habit of German stage usage, but nothing more. The
event of the evening, however, was Madame Viardot's Azucena, the part
she had 'created' in Paris, and one of the most remarkable performances
of its time. The savage, credulous, restless Spanish gipsy, strong in
her instincts, but whose reason amounts to little beyond a few broken
ideas of revenge, was manifested in every word, look, and gesture.
Since Pasta and Rubini left the stage, nothing of nicer vocal finish,
and nothing in dramatic utterance more true and beautiful than her
delivery of the _andantino_, '_Si la stanchezza_,' had ever been
listened to. The Royal Italian Opera had never, indeed, heard such
singing as hers in such music, which lay thoroughly within her compass,
the middle portion of which had gained both body and sweetness.
Tamberlik undertook the part of the Trovatore, and gained ground with
his audience as the opera proceeded; but his magnificent voice gave
unwelcome evidence of wear and tear in its diminished resonance, when
he desired to use it to advantage in the most exacting passages."[42]
It will be allowed, we suspect, that no dramatic-lyric work is so
well known, or has enjoyed a more amazing popularity than has Verdi's
opera of _The Troubadour_. Whatever may be its merits and demerits,
it is unquestionably a work which has delighted a generation fast
passing away; while it bids fair to afford equal pleasure to a new
and rising one, judging by the hearty reception given to the opera
at recent performances. For long and long have ominous words been
uttered predicting the decline and death of _Il Trovatore_, with all
Italian opera of its kin. But behold it is alive and well! Thanks to
the efforts of "apostles" of music like Hullah and others, musical
education has gone on apace since _Il Trovatore_ first appeared here;
but with all this, and all the classicism which it has been fashionable
to ape in music, there yet remains something in Verdi's opera that
still attracts, not merely the "mob," but educated people. This
suggests merit of some kind. What said critics forty years ago:--
"By the choice of his subjects," says the _Athenæum_, "we sometimes can
gauge a composer, as well as by his melodies. Bellini may have known
even less of the scientific processes of composition than Signor Verdi
(whom report declares to be a thoughtful, cultivated gentleman, as
anxious according to his measure of light for dramatic reality in opera
as Herr Wagner himself), nevertheless Bellini contrived to appropriate
two of the best Italian books ever written, those of _Norma_ and _La
Sonnambula_.... But in _Il Trovatore_, as throughout every opera by
the master with which we are acquainted, these gleams of purpose and
intelligence are relieved and contrasted against a general ground of
commonplace, than which little more monotonous in its mannerism can
be conceived. The dash which may be found in the _cabaletta_ '_Ditale
amor_' with its _staccati_ and its sighs and sobbings, and its snatch
at high notes by way of brilliancy, is as old as _Ernani_. The
_cantabile_ for the tenor, in 3/4 time, and with a plurality of flats
for key, has been written for tenor and baritone one hundred times, if
once, by Donizetti. The movement of the _stretto_ to '_Cruda Sorte_'
in Signor Rossini's _Ricciardo e Zoraide_, the employment of principal
voices in unison, whether it be placed or misplaced, are anew resorted
to here, with a coolness nothing short of curious, in one who believes
that he has a mission and professes to write a 'system.'"[43]
_The Times_ notice of _Il Trovatore_ was more appreciative than
usual. There was a desire to find something good in the musician, and
although the criticism hardly conveys the idea that the work referred
to would ever attain the extraordinary popularity which it has done, a
popularity extending to this hour, yet it must, in justice, be noted
that certain favourable points in the work did appeal to, and were duly
chronicled by the critic. Not that we can admit that the notice was
one to induce the composer to feel at ease. A spirit of antagonism to
Italian art still reigns, and throughout it seems to ring out the old
familiar theme, that no good thing could come out of Italy. Nor could
it have greatly served Verdi's art-progress.
"_Il Trovatore_," to quote a few of its strains, "though it exhibits
Signor Verdi in his best holiday attire, is hardly destined to raise
him in the estimation of real judges.... The kind, and degree of merit,
the direct influence of his music, and its chance of outliving an
ephemeral reputation are questions apart.... He is neither a Rossini,
nor an Auber, nor a Meyerbeer; far from it; but he is not, as some
would insist, a nonentity, almost as far indeed from that as from the
other.... The weaker part of the first act" (we are told) "is the
trio, where the Count (Signor Graziani) surprises the troubadour in
the presence of Leonora, which is rambling and incoherent, and after
all but an apology for a trio, since the tenor and soprano are in
unison almost throughout. The last movement is vulgar and commonplace,
ill-written for the voices, and extremely noisy."[44]
This is what the _Illustrated London News_ thought of _Il Trovatore_:--
"The production of _Il Trovatore_ at the Royal Italian Opera has
been attended with complete success.... On its first performance (on
Thursday) it was received with warm applause, and on the Saturday and
Tuesday following its reception was more and more enthusiastic. It
is evident that the _Trovatore_ will be a permanent addition to the
_répertoire_ of the theatre. We expected this. Verdi's latest opera
had not only been received with acclamations in his own country; it
had achieved triumphs in the principal theatres of Germany; and, last
of all, in Paris; and it was not likely that London would reverse
the judgment pronounced by the most authoritative tribunals of the
Continent. Verdi has long been popular as a dramatic composer; and
his popularity has been literal--gained by the voice of the multitude
in opposition to that of criticism. While writers learned in musical
lore have been labouring to prove that Verdi is a shallow pretender,
his operas have been giving delight to thousands in every part of
Europe."[45]
Wherever performed, in Italy, France, Germany, Russia, or England, the
tale has always been the same respecting the _Trovatore_. It has been
truly enjoyed by the public who have flocked to hear it; and those
pieces which are favourites now were favourites from the first. It did
not pretend to be a classic, but times and oft it has done the trick
for managers in filling their coffers; and after all, any legitimate
work which accomplishes this for many years together must not be
lightly regarded. Even to-day, forty years and more after its first
production, _Il Trovatore_ when well presented never fails to make a
deep impression upon audiences. In the 1895 season it was given (May
18) at the Covent Garden Opera with Signor Tamagno in the title-role,
when the entire opera was listened to with breathless attention. The
enthusiasm was unbounded, and the favourite old work roused as much
excitement as if it had been a brand new opera.
_La Traviata_, a name familiar almost as the _Trovatore_, was the title
of the composer's next opera. The _maestro_ had witnessed younger
Dumas' _La Dame aux Camelias_, that none too delicate play, which, in
its day, startled even the Parisians, and he suggested the work to
Piave the librettist as an opera book. _The Traviata_ was to satisfy
an engagement with the direction of the Fenice Theatre, and by working
double tides, _i.e._ during the while he was composing _Il Trovatore_,
Verdi had the score ready for production on the 6th March 1855, some
ten weeks after the _Trovatore_ "first night."
Opera-goers are familiar with the pathetic story and the sorrows of
the erring, interesting heroine. La Traviata, _i.e._ the outcast or
lost one, is a youthful beauty and reigning favourite, who gives a
splendid entertainment at her house. Among the gay company is a young
gentleman, Alfredo by name, who really loves her, and who inspires her
with a similar attachment. Actuated by a pure and mutual passion, they
retire to the country, where they live together in happy seclusion. One
day, in Alfredo's absence, Violetta receives a visit from a venerable
old gentleman, who announces himself as the father of her lover.
He represents to her the ruinous consequences of his son's present
course of life, and urges her to save him, by consenting to leave him.
Resolving to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of his welfare,
she departs on the instant for Paris, leaving him in the belief that
she is faithless, and has forsaken him for another. She returns to her
former life, and afterwards meets her lost lover at a party given by
one of her friends. Alfredo is furious at the sight of her, insults her
grossly, challenges the man whom he considers his successful rival, and
the poor girl is carried fainting from the apartment. Her heart is now
broken, and nothing remains for her but to die. In the last scene, she
is in her bedchamber, extremely weak, but sustained by hope, for her
lover's father moved by her sufferings has written to say that he will
bring his son to her. They arrive. The lover flies to her and for a
moment there is rapture; but the shock is fatal. The dying flame goes
out, and she dies of joy in his arms.
The success of _Il Trovatore_ had brought Verdi immense popularity
throughout Europe. Great things therefore were expected at this
performance of _La Traviata_. Signora Donatelli was the Violetta,
Signori Graziani and Varesi filling the parts of the lover and the
father respectively. The work was a failure!
"_La Traviata_ last night was a _fiasco_. Am I to blame, or the
singers? Time will prove," wrote Verdi to friend Muzio. The _fiasco_
might have been avoided had all the contributing circumstances been as
evident as the astonishing disparity that existed between the imaginary
Violetta and the lady filling that _rôle_, who to a commanding stature
added a splendid physique with _embonpoint_, weighing some twelve
stone, which made it madness to imagine that the ravages of a galloping
consumption had left her but a few short hours to live! Of course, the
house burst into a roar, and went off into an uncontrollable fit of
laughter that drove everybody off the stage.
Verdi was distracted, but felt confident that this judgment could be
reversed. He made alterations, substituted Louis XIII. costumes for
"swallow-tail and white choker" dress, and with a new cast, including
a Violetta that could be encompassed, the work was given at the San
Beneditto Theatre. The _éclat_ was immense, _La Traviata_ that had
been hissed and hooted was acclaimed to the skies. Speedily it spread
over Italy, and in the following year was brought to London. The
irresistibly affecting story--one which the sternest moralist could
barely listen to unmoved--was chosen by Mlle. Piccolomini for her
London _début_ in the 1856 season. To quote Mr. Lumley's own words:--
"Mlle. Piccolomini, a young Italian lady of high lineage, made her
curtsey on the boards of Her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday the 24th
May in Verdi's opera _La Traviata_, since become so famous and (it
may be said at once, in spite of all that may be stated hereafter) so
great a favourite, but produced for the first time on that occasion on
the Anglo-Italian boards. The enthusiasm she created was immense. It
spread like wildfire. Once more frantic crowds struggled in the lobbies
of the theatre, once more dresses were torn and hats crushed in the
conflict, once more a mania possessed the public. Marietta Piccolomini
became the 'rage.' From the moment of her _début_ the fortunes of the
theatre were secured for the season."[46] "Opera and singer both were
new," continues Mr. Lumley. "Curiosity and interest were excited both
for the one and the other. There was an overflowing house. As through
the coming season, so through her first night was the charming young
lady's success unquestionable. After a warm reception, such as English
audiences are wont to give by way of welcome to a meritorious stranger,
Mlle. Piccolomini was to be heard and judged, and (what, as it turned
out, was more to the purpose), she was to be seen. Applause followed
her opening efforts. The charm of manner had begun to work. The second
act produced at its conclusion a burst of genuine enthusiasm. At the
end of the opera it was a frenzy. The whole house rose to congratulate
the singer when recalled. The charm was complete. The vivacity of
acting (especially in the death-scene of the _finale_) had worked
their spell. Marietta Piccolomini was adopted at once as the pet (and
afterwards how much petted!) child of Her Majesty's Theatre.
"Verdi's music now shared the same fate as its fortunate exponent.
It pleased, it was run after, it became one of the most popular
compositions of the time. It is true that musical 'purists' cavilled
and criticised severely; that anti-Verdists denounced it with all
the epithets of their stereotyped vocabulary as 'trashy, flimsy, and
meretricious'; but, in spite of opposition and of bigotry, it not
only attracted (perhaps even more than any other of Verdi's operas)
countless crowds when the favourite 'charming little Piccolomini'
was its exponent, but achieved a marked and lasting popularity at
other theatres, as well as in every music hall throughout the land.
Notwithstanding the accusation that the '_Traviata_ was weak and
commonplace,' the 'catching' melody and, above all, the dramatic force
and expression of a composer whose principal merit consisted in the
peculiarity that he really was dramatic, gained upon the masses. It
attained considerable popularity, moreover, in spite of a dangerous and
equivocal subject; one which was denounced from the pulpit, denounced
by mighty authority in the press, denounced even at one time by popular
sentiment itself."[47]
Quite a contrast to the state of things when the work was howled at by
the merry Venetians!
On the night of its first performance in this country, the _caste_
included, besides Mlle. Piccolomini, Signori Calzolari and Beneventano,
who filled the parts of the lover and father respectively.
A critic, one by no means usually ill-disposed towards Verdi, wrote of
the performance as follows:--
"A new production from the prolific pen of _Maestro_ Verdi is a thing
to which we are pretty well accustomed, and it happens that the new
production in question, _La Traviata_, is the weakest, as it is the
last, of his numerous progeny. It has pretty tunes, for every Italian
has more or less the gift of melody; but even the tunes are trite and
common, bespeaking an exhausted invention, while there are no vestiges
of the constructed skill, none of the masterly pieces of concerted
music, which we find in the _Trovatore_ or in _Rigoletto_."[48]
A section of the English press made a dead set against the opera, but
the test of time has given the lie to detractors. Despite the heroine's
damaged reputation, the music has proved sufficiently good, lasting,
and attractive to keep the opera on the English boards, not to mention
Continental theatres, for full forty years. The "highly immoral" story
did not prove destructive to England's youth and age. The British
character survived it!
When _La Traviata_ was ready to be played before the British public,
there was a great outburst of moral indignation. Mr. Lumley gives
his version of the affair: "Permission was in vain demanded of the
Lord Chamberlain to allow adaptations of the drama to appear upon the
English stage. That this prohibition should have been enforced on a
stage where _George Barnwell_, and more especially _Jane Shore_ (the
heroine of which old tragedy is also a sympathetic Traviata, who dies
a miserable death), are upheld as 'fine old legitimate' plays, and
were once produced on the chief assemblage of the youth of the age at
Christmastide, did not appear very consistent or even logical; and
the _Traviata_ appeared. And a considerable surprise (in spite of all
previous minor 'grumblings') fell upon the public when it found its
favourite opera morally crushed to the earth by the mighty thunder of
the press. The 'foul and hideous horrors' of the _Traviata_ were held
up as proper objects for 'deep and unmitigated censure' in the leading
journal. One clap of thunder followed on the other. In a long letter
I published an elaborate defence of my opera against the accusation
of its blatant 'immorality.' This letter appeared duly in the columns
of _The Times_, as an appendix to a still more crushing denunciation.
Minor journals flashed their own smaller lightnings in sympathetic
response to this storm from the 'Thunderer.' But the public was not
to be lectured out of its treat. It would not consider its morality
endangered. It still flocked to Verdi's opera, and the fascinating
Piccolomini."[49]
_The Times_ easily disposed of Verdi's share in the work. "The book,"
the criticism runs, "is of far more consequence than the music,
which, except so far as it affords a vehicle for the utterance of
the dialogue, is of no value whatever, and, moreover, because it is
essentially as a dramatic vocalist that the brilliant success of Mlle.
Piccolomini was achieved.... For the present, it will be sufficient to
treat _La Traviata_ as a play set to music. To Dumas fils, who invented
the situations, and Mlle. Piccolomini, who delineated the emotions of
the principal character, belong the honours of a triumph with which the
composer has as little to do as possible."[50]
The _Athenæum_ lost no time in "going for" Verdi over _La Traviata_.
The first process was an examination of the "arranged score of Signor
Verdi's setting of the _Dame aux Camelias_," whereupon the critic was
in a position to say: "It seems written in the composer's later manner,
grouping with his _Rigoletto_ and _Trovatore_, without being equal to
the latter opera; to demand from its heroine a less extensive soprano
voice than Signor Verdi usually demands; to contain in the _finale_ to
its second act a good specimen of those pompous slow movements in which
the newer Italian _maestro_ has wrought out a pattern indicated by
Donizetti; also throughout an unusual proportion of music in triple, or
waltz _tempo_.... The masquerade music is _fade_ and trivial.... There
is some of Signor Verdi's effective instrumentation in the opening of
the final _terzetto_. All these good points summed up, the new opera,
as a whole, is poor and pale--consumptive music, which can only be
relished in the absence of some healthier novelty."[51]
Subsequently, when the Lord Chamberlain of the period came down upon
_La Traviata_ on account of its questionable story, we read: "Neither
Signor Verdi's music (which is Signor Verdi's poorest) nor Mlle.
Piccolomini's singing (which every one concedes is on a very small
scale) have made the fame and the _furore_ of the opera, and the
lady.... The music of _La Traviata_ is trashy; the young Italian lady
cannot do justice to the music, such as it is. Hence it follows that
the opera and the lady can only establish themselves in proportion as
Londoners rejoice in a prurient story prettily acted ... granted that
_La Traviata_ at her Majesty's Theatre has been the poorest music,
poorly sung, which has been allowed to pass for the sake of its 'dear
improper story,'" etc.[52]
Whatever the story, whatever the music of _La Traviata_ it still lives
as an opera, and is among the best of its class. This is due again,
we believe, to the quality of the music, not to the nature of the
story, for surely Londoners did not, forty years back,--nor would they
now--betake themselves with their wives and daughters to the theatre
to enjoy a lustful, itching story. The _Traviata_ contains much of
that warm, emotional, melodic profuseness which the public likes, and
which it demands, when it throws off its working garb to take a little
pleasure, sadly as, we are told, it takes this. The popular nature of
the music, its freedom from technical and theatrical perplexity, which
the public at large is glad to be without, its ever-changing colour,
variety and expression--all this contributes to the vitality of _La
Traviata_. Has it been, too, the sensuous nature of the story which has
led so many nervous _débutantes_, highly attuned in temperament, to
select the _rôle_ to win an artistic fame in, perhaps, the highest, as
it is the most difficult of all art pursuits? We believe not.
Poor _Traviata_! Troubles did not end with Mr. Chorley, for three years
after that gentleman's decease we read:--
"How many Traviatas of how many countries have died on the lyric stage
since the lugubrious and equivocal three-act opera was produced at
Venice in March 1853?... It would be a curious calculation to count the
number of _prime donne_ who have taken to this disagreeable part....
A nice discussion as to the degree of sauciness or of bashfulness
with which the vocalists who enact the Traviata should invest the
consumptive lady, who coughs _pianissimo_ and sings _fortissimo_ in her
death-scene."[53]
_Les Vêpres Siciliennes_ was produced at the Grand Opéra, Paris, on
the 13th June 1855; so that this composition, with the _Trovatore_ and
_La Traviata_, must have been occupying Verdi's mind at one and the
same period. This was Verdi's first work written expressly for the
French stage, and it was the more strange, therefore, to find him, an
Italian composer, choosing as a subject the massacre of the French by
the Sicilians; yet Verdi could scarcely refuse Scribe's story of the
wholesale slaughter of 1282.
An amusing incident delayed the production of the work, for Mlle.
Sophie Cruvelli, for some unexplained reason, ran away and could not be
found. When at last she was traced, it was to the Strasburg theatre,
where the runaway was captured and quietly escorted to Paris. A _warm_
reception awaited her; but it so happened that her first words on her
_rentrée_ were those of Valentine in _Les Huguenots_: "Tell me the
result of your daring journey,"--an _à propos_ which fairly defeated
those who were going to hiss and hoot! They laughed heartily and
cheered instead, reflecting over some fresh announcement of _Les Vêpres
Siciliennes_. At length this came. Month after month had been spent in
rehearsals, but at last all was ready. The reception given to the opera
was of the most enthusiastic description, Mlle. Cruvelli receiving a
perfect storm of applause for her efforts in the representation. Other
artists in the cast were Mlle. Saunier and Messieurs Gueymard, Boulo,
Bonnehée, Obin, and Coulon.
_I Vespri Siciliani_--to give the opera its Italian title--pleased the
French immensely; but the Italians cared not greatly for its music,
even when adapted to a new poem entitled _Giovanna di Guzman_.
In the year 1859 it was brought to London, and presented at Drury Lane
Theatre (27th July), being mounted with great care and creditable
splendour. The principal artists, who performed with great effect,
were Madame Titiens and Signori Mongini and Fagotti, and at the time
the opera was adjudged by the _dilettanti_ one of the happiest efforts
of its composer; although, as events have proved, the later English
judgment has not set a particularly high value upon this work.
Writing for the Parisian stage, Verdi appears to have deemed it
necessary to copy the grandiose style of the Grand Opéra, to which
he sacrificed that vein of sweet, natural, Italian melody which had
won him his success. "Several _morceaux_," wrote a critic of this
London introduction, "were much applauded, but the performance went
off heavily as a whole; and we hardly think that those who sat it out
will feel much tempted to do so again. Five acts of a ponderous French
_tragédie lyrique_ are generally too much for English patience, unless
sweeping measures of curtailment are resorted to; and this might be
very advantageously done in the case of the _Vêpres Siciliennes_."[54]
One who was present thus writes of the circumstances: "But one novelty
was given--_Les Vêpres Siciliennes_--which I had heard four years
previously at the Grand Opéra, Paris, with Mlle. Cruvelli as the
heroine. It failed here, as elsewhere, to maintain the reputation
which Verdi had won by his _Trovatore_, _Traviata_, and one or two
other works of minor importance. In the absence of Mlle. Cruvelli, who
had retired from the stage, Mlle. Titiens undertook the part of the
heroine; but although she laboured conscientiously to make something of
it, it completely beat her, and she has been wise enough never again to
waste her powers upon crudities that betray nothing else than leanness
and want of resource by reason of their noise and eccentricity."[55]
_The Times_ was good enough to allow next day that the work was
produced "with incontestable success." In criticising the music
subsequently, _The Times'_ critic said: "Though the piece of itself, in
spite of its melodramatic and spectacular character, appears somewhat
heavy and spun out, it is enriched with many of Signor Verdi's happiest
thoughts.... In short, it may reasonably be concluded that the _Vespri
Siciliani_ will maintain its place amongst the best operas of its
composer."[56]
Verdi, perhaps, made obeisance for such appreciation from _The Times'_
critic, who from the first, it should in fairness be remarked, had
spoken less disparagingly of Verdi's prospects as a musician than
had the _Athenæum_ critic. The prediction, however, that _I Vespri
Siciliani_ would maintain its place among the best operas of its
composer, was singularly unfortunate as a piece of critical forecast,
inasmuch as it has been sadly falsified. The reasons for this need not
be discussed; suffice it to say that thousands who know and delight in
the _Trovatore_, _La Traviata_, and _Rigoletto_ music, have not heard
the _Sicilian Vespers_. Thousands more could not even distinguish the
opera by its name.
The score that followed _Les Vêpres Siciliennes_ was _Simon
Boccanegra_. The management of the Fenice theatre sought another work
from the first Italian master of the day, and _Simon Boccanegra_ was
the consequence. Once more the libretto was by Piave. This opera,
produced on the 12th March 1857, proved a failure, a result that was
attributed partly to the unsuitability of the leading singers, and
partly to the feeble book. Later on, an attempt was made by Boito and
Verdi to recast it; but neither Milan nor Paris would lend ears to the
opera. Yet the following year it was given at Naples with enthusiasm.
"Its first performance took place," wrote a critic, "on the 28th
November 1858, and was crowned with the most complete success. The
audience was densely crowded, and so brimful of enthusiasm that the
_maestro_ was called for seventeen times in course of the evening."[57]
One of its best vocal numbers is the scena, "_Sento avvampar
nell'anima_," with the aria, "_Cielo pietoso, rendila_," a thoroughly
characteristic Verdinian song, and one which might well be found in
every tenor vocalist's _répertoire_.
Let it not be thought that Verdi was waning. Only a few months elapsed,
and the _maestro_ was ready with a work, _Un Ballo in Maschera_, which
was to prove another triumph.
The original title was _Gustave III._, but the police, watchful of
Verdi, and freshened by the Orsini attempt upon Napoleon III.'s life,
positively refused to permit an assassination scene to be played.
Verdi was furious, and declined to adapt his music to other words,
whereupon the management of the San Carlo Theatre at Naples (who had
originally contracted for this work) sued Verdi for 200,000 francs
damages. Soon the public learned the news. Then was there something
resembling a revolution; thousands of excited Neapolitans followed the
musician wherever he went, shouting "_Viva Verdi!_" So heated did the
feeling grow, steeped as it was with virulent political animosity, that
the situation became dangerous, and eventually the authorities were
glad to allow Verdi to depart "out of their coasts" with his opera
under his arm. It next turned up at Rome. Jacovacci, the _impresario_
of the Teatro Apollo, wanted a novelty, and hearing of the squabble
at Naples, sought Verdi and offered to take the opera. The official
element insisted upon _some_ alteration, but finally the opera was
produced on 17th February 1859, and met with a splendid reception, once
more sending Verdi's name and tunes over all Europe. The artists were,
Mesdames Julienne Dejeau, Scotti, and Sbriscia, with Signori Fraschini
and Giraldoni, but Verdi was not satisfied with their interpretation of
his score.
On the 15th June 1861, _Un Ballo in Maschera_ was produced at the Royal
Opera, Lyceum, and met with an enthusiastic reception. The subject
is the same as that of Auber's celebrated opera _Gustavus III._--the
assassination of the King of Sweden at a masked ball. Undoubtedly it
is one of the best of Verdi's Second period operas. The audience were
delighted with the music, and all good judges perceived that the work
was in every sense a grand opera.
_Un Ballo in Maschera_, when produced for the first time in England,
brought _The Times_ again to the fore. "It presents enough," the review
ran, "to show his (Verdi's) talent still ripening, and his inventive
faculty in its prime; but it cannot be regarded as 'his _Guillaume
Tell_,' _Rigoletto_ being out of all comparison a better work, while
_Il Trovatore_ and _La Traviata_ (to say nothing of those earlier
compositions _Nabucco_ and _Ernani_) contain isolated passages of
marked superiority.... Unquestionable as are the merits of his score,
piece after piece demonstrates his musical inferiority to Auber.... To
describe the opera scene after scene would be a work of supererogation.
Its pretensions as a whole are not of a sort to call for technical
analysis, or even to bear a very close scrutiny; while the beauties by
which it is enriched (and they are frequent) _se déroulent_, as the
French say, so easily, reveal themselves with such complacency, start
out from the canvas, in short, in such bold relief and endowed with
so marked an individuality, that they render themselves familiar at a
glance, and put that into shade which, after all, is scarcely worth
bringing to light--we mean the general framework in which they are
set. Those pieces which are not the most likely to become popular, but
which in the majority of instances are also, from a musical point of
view, decidedly the best, may be summed up in a 'catalogue' not over
_raisonnée_."[58]
This criticism, unmarked though it be by any evident sympathy with
Verdi's muse, might pass as a somewhat favourable estimate of an effort
of Verdi's. But it is illogical. Upon reference to what appeared in
_The Times_ eight years before, respecting _Rigoletto_, we fail to
trace a good word. "A very few (words) will suffice to recall its
beauties. Its faults we have not space to describe. The continental
critics have informed us that _Rigoletto_ presented a transformation in
Signor Verdi's style as complete as that of Beethoven when the Second
Symphony was succeeded by the _Eroica_. A very attentive hearing,
however, left us convinced that Signor Verdi's style in _Rigoletto_
was much the same as in his other operas. There is certainly no
difference.... Verdi is as essentially Verdi as in _Nabucco_ and
_Ernani_, with the proviso that in _Nabucco_ and _Ernani_ there are
stirring tunes and flowing melodies which are nowhere to be met with in
_Rigoletto_."[59]
Such language, and that which appears on page 110 is plain,
unmistakable, emphatic. How, then, shall we read the line of
comparative comment upon _Un Ballo in Maschera_--"_Rigoletto_ being out
of all comparison a better work"?
One more opera, and we must close this chapter. This was _La Forza del
Destino_, the libretto of which by Piave was borrowed from a Spanish
drama entitled _Don Alvar_. The work was a commission from the Imperial
Theatre of St. Petersburg, and was produced there on the 10th November
1862. It was only a _succés d'estime_, the Court of Russia and the
Muscovite populace not being greatly moved by it. Yet it was well
rendered by Mesdames Barbot and Nautier-Didiée, with Signori Tamberlik,
Graziani, Debassini, and Angelini. Precisely the same fate that
attended the work in the Russian capital befel it at La Scala, Milan,
in 1869, as well as at the Paris Théâtre Italien seven years later.
There was not a little that was restless and novel in _La Forza del
Destino_, which probably accounts for its cool reception from those
who were ready enough to welcome another of the old and approved Verdi
operas. That change of style which was, later on, to show itself so
unmistakably in _Aïda_, _Otello_, and _Falstaff_ was beginning to
possess the composer's mind. Sufficient of the new manner oozed out
in _La Forza del Destino_ for critics and analysts now to point to
that opera as the work in which Verdi's Third style first begins to
be traceable, and it can scarcely be surprising that an unprepared
public failed to be impressed with the first hintings at a new style
which had yet to be placed before the musical world in a matured and
comprehendable state.
With this work, Verdi appeared to bid farewell for ever to the operatic
stage; but, as all the world knows, a long artistic silence meant
merely a retirement for the gathering up of resources that were to
burst forth and bring Verdi into a perfect blaze of popularity.
[Footnote 36: _Illustrated London News_, 21st May 1853.]
[Footnote 37: _Illustrated London News_, 21st May 1853.]
[Footnote 38: _Athenæum_, 21st May 1853.]
[Footnote 39: _The Times_, 16th May 1853.]
[Footnote 40: _Verdi: Milan and "Othello"_ (Roosevelt), p. 49.]
[Footnote 41: _Apropos_ of this distinguished cantatrice, sister
to the immortal Malibran, an interesting narrative is related in
connection with the first production of _Il Trovatore_ in Paris, where,
by the way, it soon had no less than one hundred representations.
Verdi himself has told the tale. "The morning arriving for the first
performance, Madame Alboni announced that she was ill, and the opera
could not be given that night. What was to be done? Every one was
waiting; every seat was sold. I was in despair. Happily, I thought of
Madame Viardot. I said to myself, 'She is the only woman in the world
who, at a moment's notice, can take the part, if she will only consent
to do it.'
"I tore off to her house. It was early in the morning. 'Mon cher,' she
said, 'what on earth has brought you at this hour?'
"I hastily told her the cause. 'Alboni is ill.'
"'But what can I do?' she said.
"'You must sing it,' I cried.
"She interrupted, 'I have been so busy, I haven't even seen the music;
I haven't looked at it.'
"'There it is,' I said, producing a roll. 'It is very easy; it will
be nothing to you.' So, laughing and chatting, and protesting that
she couldn't, I sat down to the piano. We ran the music of Azucena
over from beginning to end two or three times. In the afternoon we had
another rehearsal, and that evening she sang the part with overwhelming
success.
"'That is what we call a quick study,' said Verdi, laughing, 'to
learn such a _rôle_ in the space of eight hours, dress it, and go on
the stage and sing it; but then, you must remember there is only one
Pauline Viardot in all this world'" (_Verdi: Milan and "Othello"_
(Roosevelt), p. 49).]
[Footnote 42: _Musical Recollections of the Last Half-Century_, vol.
ii. p. 280.]
[Footnote 43: _Athenæum_, 12th May 1855.]
[Footnote 44: _The Times_, 14th May 1855.]
[Footnote 45: 19th May 1855.]
[Footnote 46: _Reminiscences of the Opera_ (Lumley), p. 375.]
[Footnote 47: _Reminiscences of the Opera_ (Lumley), p. 377.]
[Footnote 48: _Illustrated London News_, 31st May 1856.]
[Footnote 49: _Reminiscences of the Opera_ (Lumley), p. 379.]
[Footnote 50: _The Times_, 26th May 1856.]
[Footnote 51: _Athenæum_, 3rd May 1856.]
[Footnote 52: _Athenæum_, 16th August 1856.]
[Footnote 53: _Athenæum_, 9th May 1874.]
[Footnote 54: _Illustrated London News_, 30th July 1859.]
[Footnote 55: _Musical Recollections of the Last Half-Century_, vol.
ii. p. 325.]
[Footnote 56: _The Times_, 1st August 1859.]
[Footnote 57: _Illustrated London News_, 11th December 1858.]
[Footnote 58: _The Times_, 17th June 1861.]
[Footnote 59: _Ibid._, 16th May 1853.]