After a hefty Christmas break and three weeks in bed with the flu, Opera Miscellany returns with an opera that is very close to my heart.  Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (Ballo).  Why the personal connection?  Well, I sang the role of Amelia in one of the opera’s odder reincarnations – a soap opera romp, set in IKEA, with such timeless lines as “a spot of dogging to keep things fresh.”

So what’s the real thing about then?

Well, Riccardo is governor of Boston (King of Sweden), but only by the skin of his teeth, there is a rather large contingent of plotters (headed up by a chap called Tom and a rogue called Samuel) set on killing him. Renato is the governor’s (king’s) best friend and is married to the lovely Amelia. The governor (king) also has a faithful page – Oscar – who is, rather confusingly, played by a light soprano.  Oh, and there’s a witch in the mix too – Ulrica.

Act One sees Riccardo celebrating the upcoming ball.  As he peruses the list of invitees he gets all moon-pie-eyed upon spotting the name of Renato’s wife.

Riccardo is not the ideal friend it turns out, and has been coveting Amelia for a while. Renato turns up and tries to warn Riccardo that there is a plot to kill him, but Riccardo is having none of it.

Just then, a complaint is made to Riccardo about a local witch.  The magistrate calls for her to be banished, but the page Oscar, who thinks she is quite fabulous, appeals on her account.

Riccardo tells the assembled crowd that he will see for himself, and that anyone who is up for it should join him at her house later on to witness her alleged witchcraft.

On to the next scene. Ulrica is busy summoning the spirits and demons…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NQAe1EWnso

…when Riccardo, disguised as a sailor, turns up to have his fortune told.  The rest of the courtiers haven’t arrived so he hangs around and subsequently overhears Amelia who has come to seek the witch’s advice.

Poor old Amelia pours her heart out to Ulrica, admitting that she is in love with a man who is not her husband, but his best friend.  She asks the witch to help her put her yearning heart at ease. Ulrica sends her off to the executioner’s field where she must gather a secret herb at midnight – this will put an end to her extra-marital desires.  Having heard all this, and knowing Amelia wants to stop loving him completely, Riccardo still decides it’s a great idea for him to turn up at this field too, and declare his love.

Exit Amelia and enter all the governor’s entourage (courtiers).  Riccardo – still in disguise – asks Ulrica to predict his future.  She goes all funny and tells him that he will be murdered by the next man to shake his hand.  Ever jovial, Riccardo laughs it off…he offers his hand to the assembled crowd, but no one dares shake it.  In comes Renato, late to the party, and shakes his friend’s hand in greeting – Uh oh…

On to Act Two…

Amelia is in the field and she’s a wee bit scared about everything in life really.  She has a sing about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHemvNiH2z8

Then, lo and behold, the last person she wants to see right now rocks up – Riccardo. He declares his passion for her and forces her to admit she loves him.  That done they sing a rather lengthy love duet.

No sooner is that over with then Renato turns up to warn his friend that the plotters, who still want him dead, are close at hand.  Mortified Amelia hides beneath her veil.

Riccardo, in a show of particular stupidity, decides the best thing is if Renato leads the mysterious lady he is dallying with back to town.  One condition, he must not ask who she is, nor ask her to remove the veil.  Renato promises to fulfil his friend’s wish, assuming Riccardo is having an affair with someone’s missus and it’s best for all concerned if no one knows who she is.  Exit Riccardo.

Now the plotters turn up.

In the skirmish Amelia’s veil is thrown back and Renato realises that Riccardo’s dalliance is his own wife.  The plotters, thinking Renato and his wife are having some al fresco romance, have a good laugh about it.  Renato is heart broken.

Act Three

This kicks off with some stunning Verdi.  A tragic scene plays out between Amelia and Renato.  Furious, Renato vows to kill his wife.  She kneels before him accepting her fate, but begs that she be allowed to see their son one more time before Renato takes his revenge…

Her plea stays his hand.  He finds he has no strength to kill her, but vows that Riccardo, whose fault it is, must die.  He sings a hugely famous aria about Riccardo’s betrayal…Eri tu…

At Renato’s behest the plotters, Tom and Samuel, arrive.  Renato asks to join them. He pledges his own son’s life as a show of his sincerity. They all want to be the one to strike the killer blow, so they write their names and toss them in a hat, the winning name must be picked.  Enter Amelia, who Renato forces to pick the winner.  She draws Renato’s name.  As he celebrates his victory, she realises what is going on.  Her husband is going to murder Riccardo.

In comes the oblivious Oscar to invite them all to the masked ball that night, it is decided that Riccardo will meet his fate at the party.  A lovely little sing song ensues.

It’s just before the party, Riccardo is doing some soul searching and decides he must send Amelia and Renato away to save them from him.  He will ship them off to England.  He writes Amelia a letter…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avov3nsuQV4

The party starts.  Everyone is masked and in fancy dress. In the confusion Renato has no idea who he is meant to stab.  The page, Oscar, who knows what Riccardo is wearing, taunts him with what sounds a bit like a “na na nana na” aria…

Only then, Oscar accidentally lets the vital piece of information slip – Riccardo is wearing a black cloak with a red ribbon.

Riccardo has found Amelia in the crowd.  She tries to warn him that Renato is going to kill him, that he thinks that they are having an affair, but Riccardo silences her by letting her know he is sending both her and hubby to England.  Just as they are saying their tearful goodbyes Renato stabs Riccardo.

On his deathbed Riccardo reveals that they never actually had an affair, he forgives Renato and dies as the latter cries out his name.

Firstly, I would like to say how indebted I am as a Wagner novice to the YouTube channel ‘Wagner Leitmotifs’ which is well worth looking at.  It helped me find my way in to the operas.

Here is a link to all such musical themes that occur in Tristan und Isolde:

I didn’t take to Wagner naturally, I know lots of people do, but I also know that many people are like me; put off by the absence of ‘tunes’ so-to-speak.

The thing about me, is that I am also a geek, and the idea of getting into Wagner’s own sound world and playing spot the motif quite appealed.  Have a listen to all those little YouTube snippets.  Then you can listen to the opera with your ears pricked for them.  I’m not saying this is the best way to listen to Wagner but it really is a great game and a good way to understand what Wagner was trying to do with opera.

A quick word on Leitmotifs…

So, a leitmotif is a little snippet of music that is linked to a character, a place, an emotion, a couple etc. etc.  Wagner opera’s are built of such motifs and become like a sound map.  Every time you hear one of these sounds it is supposed to elicit certain feelings.  This way, either subconsciously or consciously (depending how deeply you study these things), the listener feels draw in by the orchestration rather than feeling alienated by its seeming lack of tonality.

Wagner revolutionised the musical scene with these new ideas, and they can be seen beginning to permeate other forms of operatic output of the period.  Puccini got in trouble with Italian audiences for being too Wagnerian in his use of leitmotifs.  They are particularly apparent in Tosca.

Back to Tristan und Isolde…The opera was composed during a rather turbulent period for Wagner.  He was 44 and had no money.  It was five years since his last opera, Lohengrin, had been performed.  He still had dreams of getting the Ring commisioned, but these were withering.

So he hit upon the idea of writing Tristan und Isolde.  He wrote to Liszt:

“As I have never in life felt the real bliss of love, I must erect a monument to the most beautiful of all my dreams, in which, from beginning to end, that love shall thoroughly satiated. I have in my head “Tristan and Isolde,” the simplest, but most full-blooded musical conception. With the black flag which floats at the end of it I shall cover myself to die.”

Liszt was taken with this and wrote back encouragingly…further good news and encouragement came from the Emperor of Brazil, who told Wagner to write an opera, bring it to the Italian Company in Rio Janeiro, and he could have all the resources he needed to get it staged.  Wagner had to turn him down.  Italian opera singers, he believed, would never be able to get through his music.

Luckily (or not so if you happened to be Wagner’s wife, Minna), he received an invite to stay with his wealthy friends, the Wesendoncks.  He and Minna moved into the small cottage on their estate.  This is where he began having an emotional (if not physical) affair with Mathilde Wesendonck.  So while composing Act One of T & I  there was certainly a great deal on his mind.  Unrequitable love was definitely the theme of the hour.  By 1858 he and Minna were in a state and he left her, and the Wesendoncks, and headed to Venice, where the second act of the opera was composed.

Wagner had other troubles too.  He was wanted for revolutionary activity, and so had to travel carefully.  When he finally found a city he was safe in, with an opera house keen on giving T & I a go, Vienna, it turned out he had composed another Ring; an opera that it seemed impossible for singers to grasp in the time they had and impossible to stage.

He was utterly disheartened.  The tide didn’t turn until patronage arrived in the form of 18 year old Ludwig II, newly crowned King of Bavaria.  Wagner had grabbed his attention with a new (1863) edition of his Ring poem; in the preface of which he called for a “German prince” who might help him realise his vision for a new German opera. In 1964, shortly after his coronation, Ludwig answered Wagner’s prayers.  He commissioned the Ring and set about providing Wagner with as much money and as many resources as he could possibly need to ensure the first performance of Tristan un Isolde.

The opera was highly successful, and remains a firm favourite today.  For me, the key to it was allowing myself to get utterly lost in the music.  The overwhelming sound world is so beautiful and moving if you give yourself up to it entirely.

It also might help to have a look at some of Wagner’s writings to understand his project.  Here they (well some of them) are:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner%27s_Prose_Works_%28Wagner,_Richard%29

From the frothy glee of Donizetti to the dark rich resonance of Wagner.  Get your beard out, it’s time for Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House.

Isolde is on her way to England, Cornwall to be precise, on a boat captained by Tristan, who killed her fiancé in battle, and is now merrily shipping her off to be married to his good friend and uncle, King Marke.

The opera starts with a plaintive song about a wild Irish maid, which, Isolde is convinced is a cheap dig at her – rather beautifully sung below, no video I’m afraid!

She get’s pretty angry and sings some rather wild notes of upset while wishing the whole boat would just sink.  Her handmaiden (need a few of these in Wagner), Brangäne, is on hand (see what I did there) to try and cheer her up a bit.  Isolde’s not much in the mood for that though, she’d rather get on with poisoning Tristan, so she commands Brangäne to go and get him.

Tristan, unsurprisingly, is less than keen for a quick chat with crazy Isolde and tells Brangäne as much. 

Brangäne explains that Tristan isn’t coming out to play and so Isolde, now really quite irate, tells a tale of how, during the fighting, she came across a dying stranger on a barge who told her his name was Tantris. She used her healing powers on him, before realising he was actually Tristan, murderer of her lovely man.  She was about to undo her good works with a big old sword when their eyes met and she couldn’t kill Tristan after all.  Tristan promised to leave and never come back as a sort of thank you for the life saving/sparing.

This is most of that… a bit long but very beautiful, again no video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ83AyKiQ98

This is why she Isolde so monumentally miffed. Not only did he come back, he decided to marry her off to his overseas mate.  Moreover, this guy who owes her his life won’t even come for a catch up. Terrible manners…besides, she really wants to poison him. Brangäne is a bit disturbed by that idea, but doesn’t say much…well, not too much.

In comes Kurwenal, one of Tristan’s men, to announce that they are nearly there. Isolde swears that she will not appear before her new husband-to-be unless Tristan comes over right now and they have a drink.  Soon Tristan shows up.  Isolde tells him he’s been very naughty and must drink atonement to her.  He knows she is probably trying to kill him, so offers her his sword.  She’d rather not go down that route again, it didn’t work first time, no, no, they really must have a drink.  Deciding there’s not much he can do Tristan drinks the potion and Isolde takes half for herself…

Pretty short opera if Isolde had got her way, problem is, Brangäne has been fooling around with the various bottles and has substituted poison for love potion.  So now Tristan and Isolde are wildly, madly, passionately in love with one another.

Here’s from the moment they drink the potion until the end of the act…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xb-FajyCSkOopsie!

 

Everyone is in Cornwall enjoying (enduring) the hospitality of King Marke.  Luckily for the lovestruck one-time enemies, a hunting party is taking place and they’re pretty sure they can get away with a secret tryst.

Isolde and Brangäne remain in the castle and, when Isolde puts out the burning brazier, it will be Tristan’s signal to come to her for some more love chat.  Isolde is pretty impatient, but Brangäne warns her that Melot, one of King Marke’s men has spotted Tristan and Isolde exchanging dough eyed looks and knows something is going on.  Isolde is too randy to heed the warning and extinguishes the fire.

Brangäne leaves them to it as Tristan arrives.  They finally have a chance to properly declare their love for one another.

It’s a lot of talking.  They call for the night Tristan has a rant against daylight, crying out that it is only at night that they can truly be together. Then together they realise the truth that only the long night of eternal death can truly unite them.

As things go on, and beautifully on, the day starts dawning. Brangäne calls out to the saucy pair that day is coming and they need to wrap it up, but they seem  incapable of paying attention.

As the sun comes up, Melot leads Marke to where the lovers are canoodling.

Marke is understandably upset, but, strangely, not just at his nephew Tristan, but also at Melot for betraying said nephew.

Tristan accuses Melot of also loving Isolde which leads to a big fight.  It’s al getting a bit hot and bothered when Tristan throws aside his sword, allowing Melot to fatally wound him.

Act Three

Tristan is back in Brittany with faithful Kurwenal, where a shepherd is piping a doleful tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfi0CjsNBTY

He is dying.  Kurwenal tells the shepherd boy that the only thing that might bring him back to life is Isolde’s arrival.  Tristan wakes up and laments his fate…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHDhJDCr_Ko

He cheers up when he finds out his best beloved is on her way…then get’s sad again and muses on the sad shepherd song that is playing and was playing at the deaths of his parents.

Suddenly the shepherd changes his tune to announce the arrival of Isolde’s ship. Kurwenal rushes to get her, but all in vain.  Tristan gets over excited, rips off his bandages in delirium and dies crying out his lovers name just as she gets there.

Then another ship appears on the horizon; it’s Marke, Melot and Brangäne.  Kurwenal thinks this is dreadful news and launches an attack on Melot to avenge Tristan.  They manage to kill each other even though Melot was only coming to apologise.

Marke and Brangäne arrive at the scene of Tristan’s death and Marke reveals that he now knows everything and had actually come to give his blessing to the lovers.  Isolde wakes briefly, then dies: but not before singing the Liebestod, a stunning aria about her vision of Tristan risen from the dead….here it is…gorgeous!

Next up at London’s Royal Opera House is Mozart’s Idomeneo.  So, what’s that all about?

This one’s set shortly after the Trojan war so hold onto your hats it might get dramatically bumpy.  Or should that be hold your horses?

The main players are; the lovely princess Ilia, daughter of King Priam of Troy; the son of her father’s great enemy with whom she happens to be in love, Idamante; Elettra, princess of Argos (who has a crush on Idamante and thinks he’s too soft on the Trojans); and Arbace, Idomeneo’s best mate…oh and, of course, Idomeneo himself, Idamante’s father whom everyone thinks has drowned. Oh, and there are some  Cretan Wives, High Priestesses and Sea Monsters too.

Ilia is beating herself up for falling for a man who is in part to blame for the death of her family and the sacking of her native Troy.  This is how the opera begins.

We then see the hero Idamante release the Trojan prisoners and restore peace.  Ilia is still unhappy, although Idamante tries to convince her there is nothing wrong with them being in love (non ho colpa).

Meanwhile, Elettra is even less happy. She sees that at this rate Ilia will wind up Queen of Crete.  She is tormented by the Furies.

Cut to Idomeneo’s ship being washed up on a local beach.  He sings about a deal he made with Neptune.  The first person he sees he must sacrifice to the Sea God.

Cue Idamante.  It takes a while, Idamante is older and Idomeneo is a bit worse for wear, but soon Idomeneo realises that he will have to sacrifice his own son. Distraught he tells Idamante to leave him alone and never come back.  Upset, Idamante runs off. Act One ends on a cheery note however, as all the crew of Idomeneo’s ship are reunited with their wives and sing praise to Neptune.

Here’s Idamante getting upset after his dad telling him to get lost…

…did I mention Idamante is a castrato role (most commonly played by a mezzo-soprano lady) – and before you roll your eyes remember that you enjoy panto with its Principal Boys as much as anyone! N.B. there is a version with Idamante re-written as a tenor.