100 Great Operas and Their Stories: Act-By-Act Synopses (35 page)

Scene 2
Before the castle of Creonte, Truffaldino is fearfully frightened, and even the dauntless Prince hides when the Cook (sung by a basso) emerges with her huge ladle. When she finds Truffaldino, she threatens him with sudden death; but, suddenly espying Celio’s ribbon hanging about his neck, she coyly asks for it. The Prince takes the opportunity to slip into the kitchen and emerge with three enormous oranges. With Truffaldino he escapes once more into the desert as the Cook bounds with delight about the stage, enchanted with the ribbon, and delivering a coarse aria that is likely to be the hit of the show.

Scene 3
In the desert the Prince is asleep, while Truffaldino is suffering from thirst. At the back of the stage stand the three stolen oranges, now grown large enough to contain human beings. Truffaldino is so desperate with thirst that he opens up one of them, and out steps a lovely princess named Linetta, who says she is dying of thirst. The second orange yields a second princess named Nicoletta, who is equally thirsty. In fact, they are both so thirsty that they die prettily right there and frighten Truffaldino into running away.

When the Prince awakens, he is not especially surprised to see a couple of pretty dead girls lying next to him; and when a quartet of soldiers conveniently happens to pass by, he orders an elegant funeral for them. When they have removed the bodies, he declares himself in love with the remaining orange and proceeds to cut it open. Out steps a third princess, this one named Ninetta, who is just as thirsty as her sisters were, though she does have breath enough to acknowledge her rescuer from thraldom and a keen interest in the Prince’s extravagant
vows of love. However, she begins to faint away in his arms, whereupon the Reasonable Spectators descend upon the stage with a pail of water so that she may drink and the drama go on.

The Prince then announces their forthcoming nuptials and proposes to take his beloved directly to his father’s palace. She, however, refuses to go without a suitable wardrobe and sends him off to secure one. As soon as she is left alone, Fata Morgana, accompanied by Smeraldina, slinks in and stabs the girl in the head with a hatpin, changing her into a rat (or a pigeon, depending upon what production you are seeing). The powerful witch then instructs her black-faced assistant to impersonate the Princess.

The familiar
March
is heard once more; the whole court enters the scene; and Smeraldina announces herself as the Princess. The Prince knows better; he refuses to marry such an ugly girl; and the King, who claims that one must live up to his word, offers her his arm to lead her back to the palace.

ACT IV

Scene 1
In a brief scene before the curtain with cabalistic signs used in Act I, Fata Morgana and Celio argue violently. The Reasonable Spectators take a part in this argument, seize upon Fata Morgana, and shut her up in a box.

Scene 2
Back at the palace, in the throne room, Leandro and an assistant are making preparations for the return of the King; and when he arrives with his entourage, the curtains are drawn from before the throne—and there sits a huge rat (or pigeon, as the case may be). Everyone is shocked; but Celio’s magic—strengthened by his recent victory over Fata Morgana—is finally equal to the task of transforming the animal into its original form, that of the Princess Ninetta. While the Prince expresses his joy, Smeraldina is at a loss for explaining her presence satisfactorily. Finally, she is accused of being a conspirator with Leandro and Clarissa. The King decides that they are all traitors and must be hanged, and even the amiable Truffaldino’s pleas for mercy are in vain. However,
as they are about to be seized, Fata Morgana appears in their midst; a trap door opens conveniently; and they disappear down it, presumably for the nether regions.

The King leads off with the toast: “God save the Prince and Princess,” and the opera closes with a repetition of the
March
.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

(Lucy of Lammermoor)

Opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti with
libretto in Italian by Salvatore Cammarano,
based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel,
The Bride
of Lammermoor

Time: 1669

Place: Scotland

First performance at Naples, September 26, 1835

    Scott’s novel
The Bride of Lammermoor
is seldom read nowadays, for it is not one of his best. It nevertheless attracted opera composers as a promising subject, three of them—Bredal, Carafa, and Mazzucato—having made use of it before Donizetti. None of the earlier versions survives on the boards, and of all of Donizetti’s works this is the one most frequently played.

He may have been additionally attracted to the subject because one of his grandfathers, Donald Izett, was a Scot. Nevertheless, for the purposes of opera, the names of Scott’s characters were sensibly changed to their more mellifluous Italian equivalents. Thus, Lucy becomes Lucia; Henry, Enrico; Edgar, Edgardo; but place names remain the same, and Ravenswood
is Ravenswood still, though pronounced, “Rahvensvood.” Other changes were made, too, besides the necessary cutting. For instance, Scott’s Edgar meets a highly unoperatic end by wildly riding his horse into a quicksand. No tenor could sing two long arias ending in a high D-flat under such circumstances, and so Donizetti’s Edgardo quite conventionally stabs himself. An Italian tenor is sure to sing well given this advantage. The final aria, by the way, one of the best ever written by Donizetti, was tossed off in half an hour while the composer was suffering from a severe headache.

But the opera is a vehicle primarily for a coloratura soprano, not for the tenor, and many great sopranos have chosen it as a debut piece in New York. Among them were Patti, Sembrich, Melba, Barrientos, and Lily Pons. Both Pons and Sembrich also chose the role to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversaries of their respective debuts at the Metropolitan.

ACT I
(“The Departure”)

Scene 1
In the garden of Lord Enrico Ashton’s castle a group of guards, under their leader Normanno, is searching for a prowler. While they are out beating the bushes, Enrico himself tells Normanno and the family chaplain, Raimondo, about his straitened circumstances. He hopes to improve them by arranging a marriage between his sister Lucia and the wealthy Lord Arturo Bucklaw. Unfortunately, Lucia is unwilling to cooperate. Normanno, having a shrewd suspicion as to the cause of Lucia’s unwillingness, tells of the day when a certain stranger saved her from a maddened bull and how the two meet secretly each morning in the park. That stranger is Edgardo of Ravenswood, who happens to be Enrico’s chief enemy.

At this opportune moment the guards return. They have caught sight of the trespasser but have been unable to apprehend him. However, they do report unequivocally that he is none other than Edgardo. The scene ends as Enrico energetically expresses his hatred of the man who is an enemy of the
family and who threatens to upset his plans for Lucia’s marriage of convenience.

Scene 2
is introduced by an extremely pretty harp solo—perhaps suggesting the park where the scene takes place, perhaps the two pretty young women who are deep in earnest consultation beside the fountain. Lucia of Lammermoor tells her attendant, Alisa, a kind of ghost story about that fountain, and Alisa warns her that it would be better to give up the lover she meets at this place. But Lucia insists on her love for Edgardo and sings his praises. The story of the fountain is told in a smoothly flowing melody
(Regnava nel silenzio)
and her love is sung in the cabaletta of the aria
(Quando rapita in estasi)
.

When Edgardo comes to meet his love, Alisa tactfully retires. He must, he says, depart for France; but before going, he would like to become reconciled with Enrico and tell him of his love. This idea frightens Lucia, who begs him not to do so. Edgardo bitterly recounts the reasons he has for hating the Ashtons, but the scene ends with a loving farewell duet
(Verranno a te sull’ a ure)
in which first Lucia, then Edgardo, then both together sing one of the finest melodies in this ever-melodious opera.

ACT II
(“The Marriage Contract”)

Scene 1
Through a conversation between Enrico and Normanno that takes place in a hall of the castle of Lammermoor, we hear that all of Edgardo’s letters to Lucia have been intercepted. In addition, a letter has been forged to show that Edgardo has been unfaithful to Lucia and is now married to someone else. When Normanno retires, Enrico uses every device possible to persuade his sister to marry Arturo. He breaks her heart by showing her the forged letter, and he adds that it is her duty to the family to marry her wealthy suitor. Poor Lucia never actually consents to the marriage, but she is too distracted to resist.

Scene 2
As a matter of fact, Lord Arturo is already at the castle, and the next scene takes place in the great hall. There is a festal wedding chorus; Arturo pledges his good faith; and
when Lucia, still in tears, comes in, the marriage contract is signed.

Just at this point a heavily cloaked stranger enters. It is Edgardo, returned from France; and when he sees the signed marriage contract, he turns on Lucia and all his enemies in wrath, and with drawn sword. It is only the faithful old chaplain, Raimondo, who saves the wedding party from ending in bloodshed and murder. In the ensuing
Sextet from Lucia
, all the principals, not to mention the chorus of wedding guests, express their many conflicting emotions at the same time—and with stunning effect. At its close Edgardo marches angrily from the hall.

ACT III

Scene 1
Immediately following the wedding, Enrico visits Edgardo in his lonely room in the Wolfscrag tower to vilify him and to taunt him with the details of the ceremony. The two men defy each other heroically and, in the final duet, agree to meet at dawn to fight a duel among the moldering tombstones of Ravenswood. The scene is usually omitted in performance.

Scene 2
The assembled wedding guests are still making merry in the great hall when Raimondo, the chaplain, interrupts the gaiety. Lucia, he announces in horrified accents, her mind having deserted her, has murdered Arturo.

A moment later Lucia herself appears. She is still in her nightdress. She looks deathly pale, almost like a ghost, and carries the fatal dagger. Now comes the celebrated
Mad Scene
. Lucia imagines herself with Edgardo; she relives some of their earlier and happier days; she imagines herself married to him. And at the end, knowing that death is near, she promises to wait for him.

Scene 3
takes us outside the castle, where Edgardo is wandering, disconsolate, among the graves of his ancestors. A train of mourners, led by Raimondo, interrupts his sad philosophizing. He asks for whom they are mourning, and learns of the sad events that have just taken place. A death bell tolls. It is
for Lucia. Only now does Edgardo realize that she has always been faithful to him. He sings his final farewell (Tu
che a Dio spiegasti l’ali
—“Thou hast spread thy wings to heaven”) and then, before Raimondo can stop him, plunges a dagger into his own heart. With the cello taking up the melody, he breathes his last words of farewell.

    
Postscript for the historically curious:
Scott’s
The Bride of Lammermoor
was based on a real marriage of convenience resulting in tragedy that took place in Scotland in 1669. Janet Dalrymple (Lucia) attacked her new husband, David Dunbar (Arturo), whom she had been forced to marry by her father, Viscount Stair (Enrico) instead of the man she loved, Lord Rutherford (Edgardo). In real life the unsuccessful suitor was the bridegroom’s uncle.

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

(Madam Butterfly)

Opera in three (originally two) acts by Giacomo
Puccini with libretto in Italian by Giuseppe
Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on David
Belasco’s play of the same name, which was in
turn based on a story by John Luther Long