Sunday, July 17, 2011

VERDI : LA FORZA DEL DESTINO

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 7th of December 2014 at 6.03-9.05 pm

Sunday 21st of April 2013 at 3.03-7 pm
Sunday 11th of November 2012 at 3.03 - 6.05  pm
Sunday 17th of July 2011 at 3.03 - 6  pm


VERDI: The Force of Destiny, an opera in four acts
Marquis of Calatrava............ Vitaly Kovalyov
Leonora................................. Anja Harteros
Don Carlo............................. Ludovic Tézier
Don Alvaro........................... Jonas Kaufmann
Curra..................................... Heike Grötzinger
Preziosilla............................. Nadia Krasteva
Mayor................................... Christian Rieger
Maestro Trabuco.................. Francesco Petrozzi
Padre Guardiano................... Vitaly Kovalyov
Fra Melitone......................... Renato Girolami
Surgeon................................. Rafal Pawnuk
Bavarian Radio Chorus, Bavarian State Orch/Asher Fisch  
(recorded in the National Theatre, Munich by German Radio)

 COMPOSER
INTRODUCTION 
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian) 
LIBRETTO (English)
This Force of Destiny drama is said to be Verdi's Russian opera, and not only because it had its opening night in Saint Petersburg in 1862; but also because the dark bass voices of the monks remind us of Russian Orthodox choirs. But it was revised a few times: the ending was changed, and the overture we know, with its fate motif, was added.

I have never seen it in a theatre or a cinema, but I remember the report from the Metropera in 1960: when Leonard Warren (the American baritone, aged 48) was about to sing the lines in Act 3, Morir, tremenda cosa ("dying is a tremendous thing"), he actually died on stage, of a cerebral hemorrhage. Pavarotti shied away from the alleged curse of the opera with its Force of Destiny.

Honor and blood-vengeance are the driving forces, rather than blind fate, and it all stems from an accidental death when a pistol dropped by the Peruvian suitor Alvaro fires a bullet which kills a nobleman protecting his daughter Leonora from abduction (she was willing, but because she dithered she was caught in the act of elopement). She becomes a monk in a hermitage at a monastery. Her brother Carlo pursues Alvaro, mistakenly swears lifelong friendship with him (just so we can have another of those male-bonding duets), then wants to kill him, and when Alvaro is gravely wounded in battle, he wills him back to life so he can slay him with his own hand. In the end Alvaro wins the duel, Carlo stabs his sister, and Alvaro jumps off a cliff cursing fate. However, the revised ending has him closing with prayer in the presence of Leonora and a friar.

Notice that like Beethoven's Leonora, she disguises herself as a man.

Sunday 21st of April 2013 at 3.03-7 pm
Archive broadcast from March 12, 1977
Fate and a father's curse follow the lives of Leonora, her lover, and her brother
Marquis of Calatrava........ Malcolm Smith
Leonora............................ Leontyne Price
Don Carlo......................... Cornell MacNeil
Don Alvaro....................... Plácido Domingo
Curra................................. Carlotta Ordassy
Preziosilla......................... Rosalind Elias
Mayor............................... Andrij Dobriansky
Trabuco............................. Andrea Velis
Padre Guardiano.............. Martti Talvela
Fra Melitone..................... Renato Capecchi
Surgeon............................ Robert Goodloe
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/James Levine

Sunday 11th of November 2012 at 3.03 - 6.05  pm
VERDI: La Forza del Destino, an opera in four acts
Marquis of Calatrava... Mario Luperi
Leonora........................ Violeta Urmana
Don Carlo.................... Vladimir Stoyanov
Don Alvaro.................. Marcelo Álvarez
Curra............................ Nona Javakhidze
Preziosilla..................... Nadia Krasteva
Mayor.......................... Christophe Fel
Trabuco........................ Rodolphe Briand
Padre Guardiano.......... Kwangchul Youn
Fra Melitone................ Nicola Alaimo
Surgeon........................ François Lis
Paris National Opera Chorus & Orch/Philippe Jordan
(recorded in the Bastille Opera, Paris)

Sunday 17th of July 2011 at 3.03 - 6  pm
VERDI: La Forza del Destino, an opera in four acts
Marquis of Calatrava..... Enrico Iori
Leonora........................ Violeta Urmana
Don Carlo..................... Roberto Frontali
Don Alvaro................... Salvatore Licitra
Curra............................ Antonella Trevisan
Preziosilla...................... Elena Maximova
Maestro Trabuco.......... Carlo Bosi
Padre Guardiano........... Robert Scandiuzzi
Fra Melitone................. Roberto De Candia
Alcade.......................... Filippo Polinelli
Florence May Festival Chorus & Orch/Zubin Mehta  
(recorded in the Teatro Comunale, Florence by Italian Radio)

(As it was performed again in 2006 at the Met, with Deborah Voigt, there are ample notes available from their archives, including pictures. P.S. 2012: They do not allow access to these anymore, though I do not know why. They are reproduced down below for old times' sake, and in case they ever come to life again.)
COMPOSER
INTRODUCTION 
CHARACTERS
SYNOPSIS
STORYLINE 
BACKGROUND 
UNDERGROUND
ANALYSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian) 
LIBRETTO (English)

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