"LA GAZZA LADRA": THE CONTRALTO VOICE.
The Patriarch of Moscow, arrayed in all his splendour, was about to lay
the foundation stone of a new church, when his consecrated trowel,
formed of massive gold, could nowhere be found. Dreadful things
happened. No one could say what had become of the precious instrument.
The question was put to the nobles, the merchants were put to the
question, the peasants were knouted and sent to Siberia; still the
golden trowel was not forthcoming.
At last the Tsar died of grief; the great bell of Ivan Velikoi, the
sound of which is never heard except on the most solemn occasions, was
about to be tolled, when the aged bell-ringer, on ascending the tower,
was much startled at startling a magpie which had turned the sacred
belfry into a receptacle for stolen goods. In the midst of the hoard
accumulated by the thievish bird, which included a fur cap, a wooden
spoon, a pair of goloshes, a hymn-book, and a tenpenny nail, the
long-lost golden trowel was discovered.
The Patriarch, now advanced in years, laid the foundation stone of the
new church. He then pronounced a curse, the terms of which are unfit for
publication, on the magpies of Moscow, and forbad them to approach the
holy city within a distance of forty versts. Accordingly, no magpie is
ever seen in Moscow--except, of course, on the stage, when "La Gazza
Ladra" is performed.
Wherever the legend on which the story of the Maid and the Magpie may
have come from--and its birthplace is doubtless much further east than
Moscow--the drama or melodrama of domestic, military, and judicial
interest on which Rossini's "Gazza Ladra" is founded, belongs, like the
dramatic originals of "Il Barbiere" and "La Cenerentola," to the French.
The French playwrights, if not good librettists themselves, are
certainly cunning contrivers of plots on which good libretti may be
founded. "Le Nozze di Figaro," "Il Barbiere di Siviglia," are both
derived from Beaumarchais; "La Cenerentola" from Etienne; "La
Sonnambula" from Scribe; "Lucrezia Borgia," "Ernani," and "Rigoletto,"
from Victor Hugo. "Linda di Chamouni" is only "La Grace de Dieu;" "La
Gazza Ladra," "La Pie Voleuse" in another form. If there should ever be
a recognised national division of literary labour in the world, England,
considering how much the works of Richardson, Fielding, Scott, Bulwer,
Dickens, Thackeray have been read on the continent, may perhaps supply
the novels; but the French already write plays in every shape for the
whole world.
Mademoiselle Jenny Vertpré was acting with great success in "La Pie
Voleuse," when Paer, happening to see the piece, was struck with its
capabilities for musical setting, bought the book, made notes in the
margin with a view to its conversion into an opera, and forwarded it to
his librettist. The librettist thought, with Paer, that the subject was
excellent for music; but he preferred to treat it for Rossini, who seems
to have profited by the treachery of Paer's poet in ordinary.
The story of the Maid and the Magpie does not in the present day seem to
have been worth quarrelling about; nor, for that matter, did it lead to
any positive dispute. Only Rossini constructed a fine musical work on a
dramatic scaffolding furnished by Paer, who had no more wish to help him
to a plot than one rival generally has to assist another, especially
when the aid is to come from the less successful of the two.
The same Paer, composer of "Agnese" and several works which were very
popular during his lifetime, was more unfortunate still with a libretto
which he did make into an opera, and which Beethoven nevertheless
adopted for his "Fidelio."
"I have seen your piece," said Beethoven to Paer, with cruel
thoughtlessness, "and think of setting it to music!" Thus, Paer's
"Leonora, ossia l'amore conjugale" came to be overshadowed by the
superior presence of Beethoven's great work.
"La Gazza Ladra" belongs neither to opera seria nor to opera buffa; nor
can it be classed with those operas of mezzo carattere, "Il Barbiere,"
and "La Cenerentola." It is a domestic drama set to music--very
inferior, as to the subject, to its successors in the same style, "La
Sonnambula," and "Linda di Chamouni."
The heroine of each of these dramas is the victim of a slight mistake.
Whether 'tis nobler to be suspected of carrying on an intrigue with a
village count or of stealing a silver spoon, may be left to the decision
of those prima donnas who have represented both _Ninetta_ and _Amina_;
but the story of "La Sonnambula" is certainly both more probable, and
more pleasing, than that of "La Gazza Ladra," which Rossini does not
seem to have been able to treat seriously. The plot is so badly woven in
"La Gazza Ladra" that it scarcely hangs together at all. We feel almost
from the beginning that everything can be explained at any moment if
_Ninetta_ will only give herself the trouble to speak.
_Fernando_ cannot say a word in defence of his daughter, though it is to
save her that he has given himself up to the authorities. If _Ninetta_
will make no statement, it is for fear of compromising her father--who,
however, by his own act is already as much compromised as he well can
be.
In "La Sonnambula," on the other hand, appearances are entirely against
the unfortunate _Amina_, who, to the last moment, is entirely unable to
explain her conduct.
In "La Gazza Ladra" Rossini makes some amends to the contralto voice for
dethroning it from the highest position, formerly assigned to it in
serious opera. Before Rossini's time, when a soprano and a contralto
part were introduced together, the former was for the primo uomo
(sopranist), the latter for the prima donna. We have seen that Rossini
after writing one part for a sopranist (Velluti in "Aureliano"), never
wrote a second. Taking his prima donnas as he found them, he continued
to compose the principal female part for the contralto, and dispensed
with the soprano, except where, as in "L'Italiana," he found it
convenient to introduce a soprano voice merely for the sake of the
concerted pieces.
In writing "La Gazza Ladra" for the company of La Scala at Milan, he
found two female vocalists to whom he could with advantage give leading
parts: one a soprano, or mezzo-soprano, as she would now be called,
Madame Theresa Belloc; and the other a contralto, Mademoiselle
Galianis. The former was the prima donna; for the latter Rossini
composed the charming part of _Pippo_--the first secondary auxiliary
part for the contralto which occurs in opera.
_Pippo_, then, was the first of that interesting tribe of rich-voiced
hermaphrodites for whom so many charming melodies were to be written.
The humble _Pippo_ was the precursor of the picturesque _Malcolm
Graeme_, of the chivalrous _Arsace_, of the impulsive _Maffeo Orsini_,
of the courteous _Urbano_; as Mademoiselle Galianis was the forerunner
of Pisaroni, of Brambilla, and of Alboni. In the present day, for sound
commercial reasons, no singer will remain a contralto who can possibly
become a soprano; and, whether it be an effect or a cause, since "Linda
di Chamouni" (1842), the class of parts represented by the above-named
types has received no addition.
Contraltos for the representation of interesting adolescents were so
rare when "La Gazza Ladra" was first produced, that in most companies
the part of _Pippo_ was assigned to a baritone or bass.
In bringing out "La Gazza Ladra" at Milan, Rossini was somewhat in the
same position as when, four years previously, he had produced
"Tancredi" at Venice. The Milanese had not considered "Il Turco in
Italia," which Rossini wrote for La Scala in 1814, quite good enough for
them. This had not prevented Rossini (who must have been a better judge
of his own music than the Milanese public) from prefixing the overture
written for "Il Turco in Italia" to "Otello," nor from transferring
several pieces from the body of that work to "La Cenerentola." Still the
Milanese, jealous of the public of Rome, for whom "Il Barbiere" and "La
Cenerentola" had been composed, and of that of Naples, where "Otello"
had recently been produced, fancied themselves slighted, and seem to
have gone to the first representation of "La Gazza Ladra" with the
determination to stand no trifling from the composer.
* * * * *
Rossini attacked them at once at the very beginning of the overture with
a roll of the drum--or rather of two drums, one at each end of the
orchestra--which they could not say had been heard before either at
Rome, at Venice, or at Naples. The audience could not but be attentive,
and continuing to listen, could not but be delighted. The freshness and
beauty of the melodies, the brilliancy and sonority of the
instrumentation, the happy verve which animates the whole work, produced
their natural effect.
It cannot be said, however, that Rossini's overture was applauded
without a single dissentient voice. One young man in the pit--a student
of music, and a pupil of Rolla, the leader of the orchestra--went almost
into convulsions on hearing the drums, and wished to take summary
vengeance on the composer who had ventured to introduce such instruments
into an operatic orchestra. The youthful conservative, with all the
ardour of an Italian revolutionist, swore that he would have Rossini's
blood, and went about with a stiletto in the hope of meeting him.
The master of this vehement orchestral purist warned Rossini that he
meant mischief; but Rossini was so much amused at the idea of any one
wishing to assassinate him because in an overture of a military
character he had introduced a couple of drums, that he got Rolla to
bring him and the young man together. Then in a humble tone he set forth
his reasons for introducing the instruments which had so irritated the
student's susceptible ears, and ended by promising never to offend in a
similar manner again. For which, or better reasons, Rossini never
afterwards began an overture with a duet for drums.
The overture of "La Gazza Ladra" is still the most popular in Italy of
all Rossini's overtures, and it formed an essential part of the
programme at all the commemorative performances given throughout Italy
after the composer's death. When it was executed for the first time it
caused raptures of enthusiasm. The audience rose, applauded, called out
to the composer, after the queer Italian fashion, and continued to
applaud for several minutes.
They had now quite forgotten their predetermination to be severe; they
were only too grateful to Rossini for the pleasure he had afforded them.
The reconciliation was perfect. The public was prepared to be enchanted
with everything; the introduction was very much admired, and _Ninetta's_
cavatina, the celebrated
"Di piacer mi balza il cor"
obtained as much applause as the overture itself.
Madame Belloc had sung her air a second time, and it was being called
for again, when Rossini, from his place in the orchestra, appealed to
the audience to allow the performance to proceed, saying that the part
of _Ninetta_ was very heavy, and that Madame Belloc, if called upon to
repeat her solos, might be unable to get through it. This protest
against the encore system found rational listeners, and the opera went
on without further interruption.
Rossini had particularly counted on the success of the prayer for three
voices--
"Oh, nume benefico!"
and he was not deceived in his expectation. The success of a prayer for
three voices in Winter's recently produced opera of "Maometto" is said
to have determined Rossini to introduce a concerted _preghiera_ of his
own in "La Gazza Ladra." It was a novelty in those days to see operatic
characters address a formal invocation to Heaven. Now it is the first
thing that occurs to them when they are in trouble.
A dozen operas might be mentioned in which one or more of the
personages, and generally a whole crowd, fall down on their knees before
the audience and begin to pray. In "La Gazza Ladra" there are two
prayers; the one just mentioned, in the _terzetto_, and _Ninetta's_
prayer in the scene of her condemnation. Rossini, when he _did_ take an
idea from another composer, appropriated it so thoroughly that it
belonged to him for ever afterwards. He practised in music the precept
enjoined by Voltaire in literature,--not to rob without killing. Mosca's
_crescendo_ ceased to belong to Mosca when it had once been adopted by
Rossini; and Winter, after the trio of "La Gazza Ladra," and above all,
the _preghiera_ in "Mosè," could no longer pass, even in Italy, as the
inventor of stage praying.
But were it not that the prayer in Winter's "Maometto," produced at
Milan just before "La Gazza Ladra," is known to have made a distinct
impression on Rossini, and to have induced him to order a prayer
forthwith from his own librettist, there would be no reason at all why
the prayer in "La Gazza Ladra" should be attributed to Winter,
considering that a much better model of the same operatic form already
existed in the "trio of masks" in "Don Giovanni."
Once more let it be remarked that almost everything new in Rossini was
already old in Mozart. But apart from his own endless verve, gaiety,
and melodic inventiveness, what really does belong to Rossini in the
matter of operatic forms is the _preghiera_ for a whole body of voices,
as first introduced in "Mosè."