I'm selecting Il Trovatore as the third opera in my monthly series that will ultimately total twelve, representing my twelve favorites. It is only fitting that the works of Giuseppe Verdi will be the most represented in my cycle. It's not so much that Verdi's greatest works are any greater than those of the other best opera composers. He simply wrote more that rank among the greatest in music history. Some opera lovers more musically sophisticated than myself favor the two marvels, Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), that Verdi wrote at the ripe ages of 74 and 80 respectively, but my personal preference is for the operas written at that stage in his life when the remnants of youthful romantic exuberance blended with artistic maturity, in the early 1850's.

Historical Background: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was born in Le Roncole, a small hamlet near Busseto, in the Duchy of Parma, in Italy. As a lad, he was made assistant to a prosperous grocer of Busseto, Antonio Barezzi, who had a love for music. Thereafter, Giuseppe received proper training in music and played piano duets with Barezzi's daughter, Margherita, whom he later married. Verdi so excelled at music that Barezzi was motivated to raise money in town to send the lad to Milan, where he was refused admission to the Conservatory, but studied privately with Lavigna. He returned to Busseto after a couple of years, participated in local musical and political activities, and married Margherita.

In 1938, the young couple arrived in Milan and the following year Verdi's first opera, Oberto (1939), was produced at La Scala, with some success. During this same time period, Verdi was overwhelmed by a series of personal tragedies. He had lost his first child, Virginia in 1838, lost his infant son, Icilio, in 1840, and, finally, his young wife later in 1840. Then, as a coup de grace, his second opera, the comic Un Giorno di Regno (1840), was very poorly received. This succession of blows left Verdi prostrate. In a sense, he never fully recovered, retaining a rather gloomy outlook for the remainder of his life. He was probably saved from complete surrender to melancholy by the Scala impresario, Bartolomeo Merelli, who rekindled Verdi's energies by presenting him with the magnificent libretto that would become Nabucco (1842). It was a triumphant success.

The 1840's were a time of patriotic zeal, in Italy, as Italian partisans strove to cast off the yoke of occupation and to establish a national identity. Verdi's operas during this time, such as I Lombardi and Attila, were closely associated with the surging patriotism. The choruses were sung during patriotic rallies and the letters of Verdi's name – V.E.R.D.I. – were scrawled onto walls as a veiled statement of defiant allegiance to Vittorio Emmanuele ré d'Italia . Yet, these operas, prior to 1849, remained relatively immature, musically. Verdi entered a new, more musically advanced phase of his career with Luisa Miller (1849) and, especially, the three great masterpieces of the early fifties, Rigoletto (1851), It Trovatore (1853), and La Traviata (1853). The first and the last of these three operas, all still popular today, were considered daring and revolutionary, regrettably so by much of the public, though it is hard to understand why from the vantage point of the present. It Trovatore, by contrast, was instantly embraced by Italians and, almost as quickly, by the entire Western world. It broke no new ground; it merely brought to a magnificent apotheosis all that was revered in traditional opera. Opening in Rome on January 19th, 1953, it had been launched in more than thirty productions through Italy by the end of the year. In the subsequent year, more than sixty-five productions were organized world-wide, in virtually every country in the West and even some in Asia. The melodies of Il Trovatore could be heard throughout the world.

The Story: Il Trovatore is structured in four parts, each with two scenes. Part I is entitled The Duel. The retainers of the Count di Luna stand guard in the "Vestibule in the Palace of Aliaferia." To wile away the time, the captain of the guard, Ferrando (Donald Shanks), entertains his fellow soldiers with the story of the kidnapping of the Count's brother, many years earlier. The present Count's father, now long dead, had two sons very close in age. One night, a gypsy hag, who had entered the castle's nursery surreptitiously, was discovered huddling over the cradle of the younger child. When the child later became sickly, the woman was accused of bewitching it and was burned at the stake. The gypsy's daughter, Azucena, a young woman with a child of her own, had witnessed her mother's horrendous execution. Her mother's final words, as she was engulfed in flames, were "Avenge my wrong." Even as the flames unleashed their fury, Azucena had crept into the castle and stolen the Count's youngest son. Hurrying back to the site of her mother's execution, Azucena, half-crazed, had hurled the child into the same flames that had engulfed her mother. (Unbeknownst to Ferrando, however, Azucena, in her confusion, had thrown her own child into the flames instead of the Count's son. She had then raised the Count's son as her own, naming him Manrico, and cherishing the hope that he might someday wreak the requisite vengeance on his own family. The old Count had continued to retain hope that his son was still alive and had later made his surviving son swear never to abandon the search for him.) So gruesome is Ferrando's recounting of the tale, the soldiers rush away in terror, as the clock strikes midnight.

Scene 2 takes place at "The Gardens of the Palace." The lovely Leonora (Joan Sutherland) strolls about with her companion, Inez (Cynthia Johnson), confiding her passion (in the expressive aria Peaceful was the night) for a young knight, champion of a recent tournament. The young hero has since serenaded her in the evenings and is thus her troubadour ("Il Trovatore"). Inez implores Leonora to forget this madness, illuminating the danger that it portends. As the ladies withdraw into the palace, the Count di Luna (Jonathan Sumers) (the older of the two sons of the old Count) appears, just as The Troubadour (Kenneth Collins), hiding in a clump of trees nearby, begins to serenade his love. The Count also has designs on Leonora and is furious at the presumptuousness of this rival. Leonora emerges from the castle and, mistaking the Count as her troubadour, initially approaches to embrace him. At the last moment, the moon emerges from behind the clouds and reveals her error. When she then rushes toward The Troubadour instead, the Count is enraged. The Troubadour reveals himself as Manrico, a follower of the Prince of Biscay, the political rival of the Count di Luna. The two men draw swords and rush off to duel as the curtain drops.

Part II is entitled The Gypsy. Scene 1 is at a gypsy camp near "A Ruined House at the Foot of a Mountain in Biscay." It is dawn, and the gypsies are working at their forges as they sing the famous "Anvil Chorus." The elderly Azucena stares vacuously at the flames of the campfire, haunted by the vision of her mother's gruesome death. She describes the harrowing scene in vivid detail in the aria Flames soaring upward. Her mother's plea reverberates in her mind, "Avenge thou me!" In a moment of weakness, she seems to reveal to Manrico that he is not really her son, but she is later able to cover her slip as a frenzied mistake. She reminds Manrico how she nursed him back to life after he fell during the battle at Petilla between the forces of Biscay and Aragon, which took place shortly after Manrico had defeated the Count di Luna in their duel. Azucena demands to know why Manrico had spared his rival's life. Manrico, in the aria At my mercy lay the foe, tells of hearing a voice from heaven pleading with him to spare the Count. Azucena demands that he never again hesitate to kill the Count. As the scene draws to a conclusion, word arrives that Manrico is to assume command of the defense of Castle Castellor.

Scene 2 takes place at "The Cloister of a Convent near Castellor." Leonora believes Manrico to have been killed in battle and is determined to take vows, rather than marry another. The Count di Luna has assembled a small force to kidnap Leonora before that can happen. He allows himself to imagine his future bliss with her in the aria The glow of her smile. Even villains have romantic ambitions. As the nuns emerge from the convent and Leonora bids farewell to her faithful servant, Inez, the Count and his company charge forward. At the same moment, Manrico arrives with a force of his own to rescue his beloved.

Part III is entitled The Gypsy's Son. Scene 1 takes place at "A Military Encampment." The Count di Luna has laid siege to Castellor, where Manrico and Leonora are about to marry. The Count's soldiers sing a rousing chorus in anticipation of glory and booty. Azucena is captured as she tries to sneak through the enemy encampment to reach her son at the castle. When the Count discovers that she is both the mother of Manrico and the gypsy who stole his brother, he vows to exact a double revenge. Scene 2 opens on "A Hall Adjoining the Chapel of Castellor." As Manrico and Leonora await the hour of their union, he declares his devotion to her in the aria Ah, yes, beloved. As the ceremony is about to begin, an aide rushes in with news of Azucena's capture and imminent execution at the stake. Manrico drops Leonora's hand and rallies his troops for an effort to rescue his mother, singing Tremble, ye tyrants, which is one of the great tenor arias of the operatic repertoire.

Part IV is entitled The Punishment. Scene 1 is set in "A Wing of the Palace of Aliaferia" and in "A Dungeon Tower." Manrico's rescue effort has been defeated by the Count di Luna's larger force. Leonora plots to save her lover. She is wearing a poisoned ring so as to be able to take her own life if need be. She declares her eternal devotion to Manrico in the aria Love, fly on rosy wings. Inside the dungeon tower, unseen priests are chanting the Miserere, in anticipation of the execution of both Manrico and Azucena. Manrico's voice is heard emanating from the tower, as he plaintively sings Paid with my blood. In a marvelous ensemble, the voices of Leonora and Manrico blend together with those of the chanting priests. The Count enters and refuses Leonora's entreaties on behalf of her lover until, in desperation, she finally offers herself to the Count in exchange for Manrico's life. When he agrees, she secretly sucks the poison from her ring, so that the Count's prize will be a lifeless bride. In the final scene of the opera, Manrico and Azucena are awaiting execution in "A Gloomy Dungeon." Her old visions of the horrible flames are overwhelming Azucena with fear. As Manrico comforts her, she nostalgically imagines they are one again free to return Home to our mountains. Azucena lapses into sleep and Leonora arrives with the news that Manrico is free. Manrico knows his rival too well to mistake the price that Leonora must have paid for his freedom and accuses her of betrayal. It is only when she sinks to the floor in the last agonies of death that Manrico realizes the full extent of her sacrifice. The Count suddenly appears and also comprehends Leonora's deception. His passion once again thwarted, he orders Manrico taken to the block for immediate execution and, moments later, vengefully informs Azucena, "It is ended." Azucena responds ecstatically, "He was your brother!" "You are avenged, O mother!" The Count, in utter horror exclaims, "And still I live!"

Themes: Il Trovatore is thematically rich material. One issue is the corrupting influence of power. The Count and Manrico derive from the same genetic stock, yet privilege and power has made the Count a tyrant while the unassuming life of a gypsy has imbued Manrico with heroic nobility. The Count compounds his corruption with the futility of demanding love from one who feels no such love. Neither the destruction of his rival nor the purchase of Leonora's hand for the price of clemency could avail the Count of Leonora's devotion. The most essential theme, however, in Verdi's rendition of this story, is the unlimited capacity of traumatic abuses to motivate lifelong obsessions for vengeance. America might do well to remember that every instance of torture of prisoners or destruction of innocent lives by the dropping of "smart bombs" has inestimable potential for causing friends and relatives of those victims to devote the remainder of their lives to revenge.

Production Values: The libretto for Il Trovatore was based on a Spanish play called El trovador, first performed in Madrid in 1836 and written by a young disciple of Hugo, by the name of Antonio Gutiérrez. The play's combination of passion and intrigue immediately fired Verdi's imagination and he kept the play in the back of his mind as possible material for future adaptation as an opera. Verdi was especially intrigued by the idea of expanding the emphasis on the character Azucena (Manrico's elderly mother), who he saw as the dramatic centerpiece of the story. Verdi felt that there was untapped potential in her psychological conflict between her love for her (adoptive) son and her obsession with avenging her mother. Verdi chose Salvatore Cammarano, an experienced writer and stage-designer, to prepare a libretto based on El trovador, repeatedly urging the writer to establish Azucena as the central figure in the tragedy. Cammarano structured the opera in four parts (not labeled acts, as was the usual practice), each of which was comprised of two scenes. Cammarano died before he could complete the libretto, though he had finished the first two parts and the outline for the third and fourth. Verdi then hired another poet of Naples, Leone Emanuele Bandare, to complete the lyrics for the third and fourth acts. The product was a masterpiece of red-blooded, romantic melodrama! The story may be absurd, but it inspired a wellspring of gorgeous music from the great master.

The performance of Il Trovatore reviewed here took place on Saturday, July 2nd, 1983 at the magnificent Sydney Opera House. The recording was directed by Riccardo Pellizzeri and was first shown on Australian television. The sets, designed by Sidney Nolan, are attractive but minimalistic, leaving the full emphasis on the performances and on Verdi's magnificent music. The costumes, designed by Luciana Arrighi, are very impressive. Sydney-born Maestro Richard Bonynge was the conductor for the orchestra of The Australian Opera.

Primary among the reasons for selecting this particular rendition of Il Trovatore, over others, is the casting of the incomparable Joan Sutherland as Leonora. Her magnificent soprano voice has the clarity of a flute but the power of a trumpet. She was best known for her performances of the bel canto repertoire of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Massenet. Her signature operatic role was Lucia di Lammermoor, in the Donizetti opera of the same name.

When Verdi was in the process of negotiating with various opera houses for the honor of the premiere performance of Il Trovatore, the consideration that ultimately proved to be the deciding factor was the availability of a world class contralto for the part of Azucena. Neither Venice nor Naples could provide one, so Verdi opted for Rome, despite the censorship that his work would inevitably encounter in the Papal city. Lauris Elms takes the role of Azucena in the present recording and would have likely met with Verdi's enthusiastic approval. She was Principal Contralto at the Royal Opera House and made guest appearances at such places as Covent Garden and the Australian Opera. She proved ideal, both musically and performance-wise, as Azucena.

Kenneth Collins (tenor) and Jonathan Sumers (baritone) sing and play the parts of the erstwhile brothers, Manrico and Count di Luna. Both give fine performances. Since the audio recording that I own of this opera features Jussi Bjoerling, my all-time favorite tenor, as Manrico, it would be dishonest on my part to suggest that Collins is the best I've ever heard in the role. Nevertheless, both he and Sumers are in fine voice and look their parts, as well. If your choice of a rendition is based more on the quality of the tenor than the soprano, you might consider the version of Il Trovatore that features Luciano Pavarotti (See Listing), in lieu of the one I'm recommending.

Bottom-Line: The product listing under which I've placed this review is the DVD version. For some reason that escapes me, the VHS version of the same production is listed separately at VHS Version. Epinions does not permit the same review to be posted at more than one product location, which seems counterproductive in this circumstance. In any case, the two listings ought to be compressed to one.

Il Trovatore stands as one of the most seamlessly lyrical operas ever written, from beginning to end. By 1850, Verdi was master of the requirements for each voice range, composing arias perfectly matched to each. The choruses are also exceptional, as are the ensembles, such as the marvelous blending of voices in Part IV, Scene 1. Due to its lyrical beauty, Il Trovatore is an excellent entry point for those wanting to acquire an appreciation for opera. For those already knowledgeable about opera, this staple of the repertoire needs no introduction. In contrast to the version of Turandot that I recently reviewed, this film offers minimalistic sets. It will therefore be most appreciated by those mainly interested in the music and the performances. The opera is in Italian, of course, but one nice advantage of opera on home video is the English subtitles, which adds immeasurably to the comprehensibility of the story. The running time is 138 minutes.


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You may also enjoy my other opera reviews:

The Barber of Seville
La Bohème
Boris Godunov
Carmen
Carmen (Dance Version)
Don Giovanni
Lucia di Lammermoor
The Magic Flute
I Pagliacci
Rigoletto
La Traviata (Strada)
La Traviata (Moffo)
Turandot



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You can easily access my other opera reviews using the following lists:

Top-Twelve Film Versions of Operas
Metalluk's Twenty Best Pre-Romantic (Baroque & Classicism) Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty-five Best Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty Best Non-Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Thirty Best Operas of the 20th-Century, on DVD
Metalluk's Best Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century, on DVD

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12