PUCCINI : LA RONDINE

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 24th of February 2013 at 3 - 5.45 pm
Sunday 15th of February 2009 at 3 - 5.30 pm

PUCCINI: La Rondine, an opera in three acts
which tells of the romance between a "kept" woman and a naïve younger man. Magda, jaded mistress of a banker, has her faith in love restored; she disguises herself as a shopgirl 'Paulette' to follow her romantic dream, for a while: she flies away to the south, like a swallow (la rondine), but returns to her safe home in her gilded cage.
Magda.......................... Kristine Opolais
Lisette.......................... Anna Christy
Ruggero....................... Giuseppe Filianoti
Prunier......................... Marius Brenciu
Rambaldo.................... Dwayne Croft
Périchaud..................... Edward Parks
Gobin........................... Keith Jameson
Crébillon...................... Evan Hugues
Rabonnier.................... Jason Hendrix
Yvette.......................... Monica Yunus
Bianca.......................... Janinah Burnett
Suzy............................. Margaret Thompson
Butler........................... Roger Andrews
Singer........................... Lei Xu
Georgette..................... Stephanie Chigas
Gabriele....................... Sara Stewart
Lolette......................... Christina Thomson Anderson
Adolf........................... Daniel Clark Smith
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Ion Marin
INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
PREVIEW
LIBRETTO

Possibly you have never heard of La Rondine (1917); it comes before the Trittico (1918) and Turandot (1926), but you may recognize 'the dream of Doretta' (not a character in the opera), a song performed by the poet Prunier and Magda in Act 1. You may know how to pronounce the title, but be warned, it is not French, like La Bohème, but Italian so the final -e is pronounced (ron-di-ne, as in net). It means 'the swallow', a soubriquet for Magda the leading lady (she's no lady she has to admit to her new lover, and she flies back to the old one); she is not the soubrette in the story, as that role is given to her maid Lisette.
   Puccini, a friend of Lehár, was asked to compose an operetta for Vienna, and he started picturing himself as the Italian Strauss; but not the Fledermaus Strauss, because in operettas like The Gypsy Baron and Lehár's The Merry Widow (and Singspiels like Mozart's Seraglio and Magic Flute) the music keeps stopping for people to chatter on stage. That was not Puccini's style, following Verdi (Falstaff) and Wagner (Mastersingers), so it would have to be the Strauss of Der Rosenkavalier. And nobody can die, even though it is the same story as Verdi's La Traviata; the ending must be sad but not tragic (most of Puccini's heroines sang their last notes in a dying gasp).
   There is a wealth of information on this opera or operetta hiding under all the click-me headings up above. What can I say, then? Well, you can get a recording of it with Angela and Roberto (when they were still a happy couple). 
   I have blooming (not a swear word) Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo, London Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel; so I own a libretto, too, and it includes notes by Barrymore Laurence Scherer. He comes up with a nice idea that La Rondine is a sequel to La Bohème (only the names have been changed).  Briefly, Prunier the professional poet is Rodolfo (now over the loss of his Lucia alias Mimi, or was her name Buttercup, though she could never tell why?), and he is still attracted to working-class girls; Magda is Musetta (we know it's her because she sings waltz-songs all the time). They still like going to the café in the second act.

Sunday 15th of February 2009 at 3 - 5.30 pm
PUCCINI: La Rondine, an opera in three acts
Magda, jaded mistress of a banker, has her faith in love restored; she disguises herself as a shopgirl 'Paulette' to follow her romantic dream, for a while: she flies away to the south, like a swallow (la rondine), but returns to her safe home in her gilded cage .
Magda.......................... Angela Gheorghiu
Lisette........................... Lisette Oropesa
Ruggero........................ Roberto Alagna
Prunier.......................... Marius Brenciu
Rambaldo..................... Samuel Ramey (old Wobbly)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Marco Armiliato

COMPOSER
CHARACTERS
SYNOPSIS
STORYLINE
BACKGROUND
UNDERGROUND
ANALYSIS
PUZZLE
SCANDAL Puccini's German lady-love
REVIEW
LIBRETTO Buy e-book!