"Il Trovatore"

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 22, 11 December 1931, Page 3

"Il Trovatore"

Wellington Orpheus ‘Society — to present Concert Version from 2YA

HEN an opera ‘is given in concert version, and consequently deprived of all

sage action as well as the spectacular assistance of costume and scenery, it is important that the listener should be familiar with the story in order to fully enjoy the performance. It is with the desire to help the listener.in this enjoyment that the following summary of "Il Trovatore" has been written. SO '. The story of "Il Trovatore" (which-means "The Troubadour’) isa. particularly complicated one. Some years prior to the War a _ morning rehearsal of this opera, which was to be performed the following night, had taken place at Covent Garden. The soprano, tenor and. baritone were lunching together afterwards, when thé question of the story of the opera cropped’ up. Not one of those leading principals, who were all well-known Italian grand opera artists, could tell the tale, and it was only the fortunate arrival of. the contralto, whe was to play Azucena, who gave them the story correctly, that stopped their very heated arguments and probably prevented a serious rupture in their’ friendship. _ _ The libretto of the opera was written for Verdi by Cammarano. who took the plot from a Spanish drama, "El Trovador," by Gutierrez, The latter was only 17 years of age when he wrote the drama. He ‘was just about to bescalled up as a conscript in the Spanish army when his drama was accepted, so, with the money he received for his drama. he was able to pay for a substitute. When the opera was first produced in English it was appropriatels called ‘"‘The Gipsv’s Vengeance," but the fame of "Il Trovatore" be

came so great that a change to any name other than the original Italjan became impossible. The action takes place about the mic-. dle of the 15th century. Years before the time when the opera commences a former Count de Luna had two sons, the elder being the Count de Luna of the opera, andthe younger, a child ~ called Garzia, whe was visited, while his nurse _ slept,

by a sinister looking old gipsy woman. who, twas’ said, cast a spell upon him, as lx sickened fron that day. The Count’followers pur: sued the sorceress, captured her, and burnt her at the stake. Her

daughter, however, disappeared with the child. It was generally supposed that the daughter, for revenge, had thrown the child into the burning pyre of her mother, but the elder Count de Luna, on his deathbed, ordered his son, the Count of the opera, to search for his brother, as he believed he was still alive. The story is now continued in the opera. HE first scene, in the concert version, ' is laid in the gardens of the Palace of Aliaferia. The Lady Leonora tells Inez, her confidant, how she fell in love with an unknown knight at the tourney as she placed the wreath of honour upon his brow, and how he then went to the wars ‘and she saw him no more. On a recent night she heard a troubadour singing in the garden, and, on looking out, she found he was her t unknown knight. Inez advises her to forget him, but Leonora breaks into an ecstatic love song, which ends the scene. Before the next scene opens, Count de Luna, who also loves Leonora, has found the troubadour, who turns out to be Manrico, in the garden, and, in spite of Leonora’s intervention, has fought a duel with him. Manrico has retired to the mountains on the borders of Biscay, where we now find him, in the next scene, among his gipsy friends and seated beside his supposed mother, Azucena, the daughter of the sorceress who was burnt by the followers of the former Count de Luna. The gipsies carry on their work to the well-known "Anvil Chorus," and Azucena, brooding over the past, sings of the burning of her mother and tells Manrico that instead of burning the child of Count de Luna she, in her frenzy, had thrown her own child instead itto the flames. Manrico then asks if he is not her son. She, suddenly realising what she has told him, protests that he is her son, and urges him to assist her in her vengeance upon Count de Luna. He agrees to do this, and a messenger arrives bringing him the news that he is to go and defend the fortress of Castellor; but, alas, also tells him that the Lady Leonora, helieving him. dead, was entering a convent. The scene finishes with Manrico seizing his helmet and sword and rushing off to the rescue of Leonora. The next scene represents the cloisters and grounds of a convent. Count de Luna, Ferrando and several followers have climbed the walls in order to abduct Leonora. This they attempt as she crosses the grounds with the nuns. She is seized by the Count (Concluded on page 10.)

"IL TROVATORE" "Leonora (Soprano) ........ Amy Woopwart Inez (Mezzo-Soprano) ...... Rusy EVERETTE Azucena (Contralto) ...... Cristina YouNnc Manrico (Tenor) ............ Epwin DENNI¢ The Count de Luna (Baritone) .. Kerrn Grant Ferrando (Bass-Baritone) ...... Roy DELLow ) Ruiz (Tenor) .........06. Cuas. A. WILSON « Accompanists: ApELiInA McGratu, F.T.C.L., L.A.B.; Harry Brusey Directed by: HARISON COOK who relates the story of the opera in this article. -It has become a fashion among musical poseurs to‘sniff at Verdi's earlier: operas, among which "‘Il Trovatore" is a favourite butt of much cheap sneering. Be that as it may, "Il Trovatore’’ contains vital qualities that will sustain its hold on public favour long after the critics are dead and utterly forgotten. The story of the opera as told by Harison Cook is more than a ‘little bloodthirsty, but then most romances of old Spain would be considered incomplete without at least three sudden deaths-as incomplete as a modern detective mystery without a _corpse in the opening chapter.

"Tl Trovatore"

(Continued from page 3.) and all hope seems lest, when Manrico and his followers arrive. A fight ensues, and the Count is defeated and disarmed. As the curtain falls Manrico is about to lead Leonora away. This scene is followed by one showing the Count..@hd his followers encamped within sight of the towers of Castellor, where’ Leonora has been taken by Manrico to be his bride. After the well-known "Chorus of Soldiers," Count .de Luna proclaims the vengeance he will take upon Manrico, and ‘Ferrando annoutices’. the capture of a gipsy woman. © Bound in chains, Azucena is dtagged in by the soldiers. She is recognised by Ferrando as the gipsy who stole.the infant brother of the Count, and, ‘¢alling down the ve1geance of Heaveixy upon the Count, shq~,, is dragged away to prison, and the seene ends. News is conyeyed to Manrico that his mother has been thrown into prison, so his marriage is interrupted and he hastens to the rescue of his mother, only to be captured himself and put in prison beside her. The next scene finds Manrico in the prison tower, and Leonora, who has followed in an attempt to save hiin, comes in guided. by Ruiz. She bids Ruiz leave her alone, then gazes upon a poisoned ring which she wears, and sings the famous aria to the "Breeze of the Night." This is followed by the well-known ‘"Miserere’ scene, where Leonora sings outside, and Manrico inside, the prison tower, while the monks are chanting in the adjoining chapel. This ends the scene in the concert version, but: the story which connects this scene with the prison scene is as follows. As Leonora stands in the courtyard of the prison the Count joins her, and ‘she offers her life in place of Manrico’s. The Count scorns the offer and her pleading. As a last resort, she offers herself in marriage to the Count if he will allow her to go to Manrico, in prison, and announce to him that he is free. The Count eventually ¢onsents, but, as he turns to give his instructions to his attendants, Leonora drinks the poison from her ring, saying that, he will have her, but only when dead. We now come to the last scene. It is a gloomy dungeon in the prison. Azucena is lying on a heap of straw, with Manrico seated beside her on a stone. He tries to. get her to. sleep and forget. Slumber eventually claih, her as she sings of her own beloyeu mountains. She is hardly asleep, with Manrico kneeling beside her, when a light appears and Leonora enters. Manrico greets her rapturously, until she tells him to fly without her. Jealousy seizes him and he accuses her of having sold herself to the Count. Too late, as she grows weaker from the poison, he learns the truth, and she dies in his arms. The Count enters, and, full of rage at having been duped by Leonora, orders the instant execution of Manrico. As the latter is dragged through the door to the scaffold his ery of "Mother, farewell," awakens Azucena, who is pulled to the window by the Count. As she sees the execution, she shrieks to the Count, "Manrico was thy brother,’ and then. continuing with the wild exaltation of the triumphant gipsy, she calls,, "Thou art avenged, oh mother," and falls senseless to the floor.