The Story of "Il Trovatore"

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 50, 27 June 1930, Page 4

The Story of "Il Trovatore"

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"T= Trovatore" or "The Troubadour," concerns the love of Manrico, a troubadour, for Leonora, who is also loved by the Count di Luna. There is additional dramatic interest in the fact that these two are brothers, though neither knows this, for Manri¢o was stolen when a child by a gipsy woman Aziicena, wha: brought him up as her gon. . Manrieo and Leonora are about to be married, when they hear that Azucena has been captured by the Count, who, on discovering that she is (as he be lieves) Manrico’s mother, has ordered her to be tortured. Manrico goes to her rescue, and in Act IV we find him defeated by the Count, and captured and condemned to déath. He sings the famous "Mirerere" from his prison cell, Leonora, who stands outside, joining sadly in the refrain. She goes to the Count and promises to give herself to him if he will set her lover free. He agrées, but she poisons herself, and dies in the arms of her lover. The furious Count kills Manrico and compéls Azucena to see him die, learning from her, too late, that he has murdered his brother. The famous "Anvil Chorus" is raised at the opening of the Second Act, in PTTTTTTTTITTLTTT tT iTTiiTli tit ttii titi i titi li ttiiiit

which the gipsies are at work in their camp. , "Miserere" is sung in the last Act. The séene is a wing of a palace, with at one side a tower. Manrico, the Troubadour, has been seized by his enemy and confined in a dungeon, A chorus within sings the "Miserere," and the déath bell tolls. Manrico, from his cell sings of his longing for death. whilst his dear one, Leonora, utters her fears. If she cannot rescue him, she is determined to poison herself. The duet comes at one of the most pathetic moments in the opera. In the last scene of. all, the hapless Manrito, imprisoned, is awaiting death. His mother Azuceria is with him. Her mind begins to wander, and she imagines that they are frée again, and that "Home to our mountains we yet shall In "The Flames are Roaring" the old gipsy woman, Azttena, vividly déscribes how her mother was burnt to death for casting a spel] upon a child of Count di Luna. To avenge her mother, Azucena stole another of the Count’s children, Manrico, intending that he should suffer a similar death to that of her mother. Instead, by a terrible mistake, she burnt her own child. (See page 8.)