La forza del destino
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| Operas by Giuseppe Verdi |
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Oberto (1839) |
La forza del destino (The Force of Destiny) is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Alvaro o La Fuerza de Sino (1835), by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager.
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[edit] Performance history
It was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia, on 10 November 1862.
After some further revisions, performances in Rome in 1863 (as Don Alvaro) and Madrid (with the Duke of Rivas, the play's author, in attendance) followed shortly afterwards, and the opera subsequently travelled to New York and Vienna (1865), Buenos Aires (1866) and London (1867).
Verdi made other revisions, with additions by Antonio Ghislanzoni. This version, which premiered at La Scala, Milan, on 27 February 1869, has become the "standard" performance version. The most important changes were a new overture (replacing a brief prelude); the addition of a final scene to Act 3, following the duel between Carlo and Alvaro; and a new ending, in which Alvaro remains alive, instead of throwing himself off a cliff to his death.
La forza del destino is frequently performed and there are a number of recordings.
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast 10 November 1862[1] (Conductor: - ) |
Revised version premiere cast 27 February 1869[2] (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Marquis of Calatrava | bass | Meo | Giuseppe Vecchi |
| Leonora, his daughter | soprano | Caroline Barbot | Teresa Stolz |
| Don Carlo di Vargas, his son | baritone | Francesco Graziani | Luigi Colonnese |
| Don Alvaro, Leonora's suitor | tenor | Enrico Tamberlik | Mario Tiberini |
| Curra, Leonora's maid | mezzo-soprano | Lagramante | Ester Neri |
| Preziosilla, a young gypsy | mezzo-soprano | Constance Nantier-Didier | Ida Benzi |
| Mayor | bass | Ignazio Marini | Luigi Alessandrini |
| Maestro Trabuco, a muleteer and peddler | tenor | Geremia Bettini | Antonio Tasso |
| Padre Guardiano, a Franciscan | bass | Gian-Francesco Angelini | Marcello Junca |
| Fra Melitone, a Franciscan | baritone | Achille De Bassini | Giacomo Rota |
| A surgeon | bass | Alessandro Polonini | Vincenzo Paraboschi |
| Peasants, servants, pilgrims, soldiers and friars | |||
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Act 1
The mansion of Leonora's family, in Seville
Don Alvaro is a young nobleman from South America (presumably Peru) who is part Indian and who has settled in Seville, where, however, he is not very well thought of. He falls in love with Donna Leonora, the daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava, who, notwithstanding his love for his daughter, is determined that she shall marry only a man of the highest origin. Leonora, knowing her father’s aversion, and deeply in love with Alvaro, determines to elope with him, aided by her confidante, Curra. Her father unexpectedly enters and discovers Alvaro; he threatens him with death, and Alvaro in order to remove any suspicion as to Leonora’s purity, offers to surrender himself to the Marquis. He flings down his pistol which goes off and mortally wounds the Marquis who dies cursing his daughter.
[edit] Act 2
Scene 1: An inn in the village of Hornachuelos
The Alcalde, several peasant muleteers, and Don Carlo of Vargas, the brother of Doña Leonora, are gathered in the kitchen of an inn. Don Carlo, disguised as a student of Salamanca, under the fictitious name of Pereda, is seeking revenge against Alvaro and Leonora. During the supper, Preziosilla, a young gypsy, tells the young men’s fortunes and exhorts them to enlist in the war for Italy’s freedom, which all agree to do. Leonora, having become separated from Alvaro, arrives in male attire, but slips away without being discovered by Carlo.
Scene 2: A monastery nearby
Leonora takes refuge in the monastery where she tells the abbot, Padre Guardiano, her true name and that she intends to spend the remainder of her life in a hermitage. The abbot recounts the trials she will have to undergo. Leonora, Padre Guardiano, Fra Melitone, and the other monks join in prayer.
[edit] Act 3
Scene 1: A forest near Velletri, in Italy
Meanwhile Don Alvaro has joined the Spanish army under the name of Don Federico Herreros. One night he saves the life of Don Carlo who is serving in the same army under the name of Don Felix Bornos. They become close friends and go into battle side by side.
Scene 2: The officers' quarters
In one of these engagements Don Alvaro is, as he supposes, mortally wounded, and confides to Don Carlo’s care a valise containing a bundle of letters which he is to destroy as soon as Don Alvaro dies. Don Carlo has sworn not to look at the contents of the letters; but he becomes suspicious of his friend, opens the valise, finds his sister’s picture, and realizes Alvaro's true identity. At that moment a surgeon brings word that Don Alvaro may recover. Don Carlo is overjoyed at the idea of revenging his father’s death.
Scene 3: A camp near the battleground
Alvaro, having recovered, is confronted by Carlo. They begin to duel but are pulled away from each other by the soldiers. As they restrain Carlo, the anguished Don Alvaro vows to enter a monastery.
The soldiers gather. Trabucco, the peddler, tries to sell them his wares; Fra Melitone chastises them for their godless ways; and Preziosilla leads them in a chorus in praise of the military life.
[edit] Act 4
Scene 1: The monastery
Don Alvaro has entered the monastery at Hornachuelos, near which is Leonora’s cave, under the name of Father Raphael. Don Carlo arrives and forces him to fight.
Scene 2: A desolate spot near Leonora's hermitage
Leonora prays that she may find peace in death. Alvaro runs in, calling for help, having mortally wounded Carlo in their duel. The two lovers recognize each other. Leonora runs offstage to see her brother, who, when she bends over him, stabs her to the heart. Leonora returns with Padre Guardiano; he and Alvaro pray to heaven as she dies.
[edit] Noted arias and duets
- "Me pellegrina ed orfana" - Leonora in Act I
- "Al suon del tamburo" - Preziosilla in Act II, Scene 1
- "Son Pereda son ricco d'onore" - Don Carlo in Act II, Scene 1
- "Sono giunta! . . . Madre, pietosa Vergine" - Leonora in Act II, Scene 2
- "La vita è inferno . . . O tu che in seno agli angeli" - Don Alvaro in Act III
- "Solenne in quest'ora" - Don Alvaro and Don Carlo in Act III, Scene 2
- "Morir! Tremenda cosa! . . . Urna fatale del mio destino" - Don Carlo in Act III, Scene 2
- "I minacci, i fieri accenti" - Don Alvaro and Don Carlo in Act IV, Scene 1
- "Pace, pace mio Dio!" - Leonora in Act IV, Scene 2
[edit] Libretto
Click the following links for the libretto in (original language) Italian or the English translation.
[edit] Selected recordings
[edit] The so-called "curse"
"Forza" is an opera that many old school Italian singers felt was "cursed" and brought bad luck.
On 1960-03-04 at the Metropolitan Opera, in a performance of La Forza del Destino with Renata Tebaldi, the American baritone Leonard Warren was about to launch into the vigorous cabaletta to Don Carlo's act III aria, which begins "Morir, tremenda cosa" ("to die, a momentous thing"), when he started coughing and gasping. His final words were "Help me, help me!", then he pitched face-forward down to the floor. A few minutes later he was pronounced dead of a massive heart attack, and the rest of the performance was canceled. Warren was only forty-eight.[citation needed]
There was also a well-known Italian opera director, costumer and set provider[specify] who would launch into an obscenity-laced tirade if anyone in his presence so much as whistled anything from the opera. Also, another Italian tenor[specify] during the 1980s sang the tenor aria from the opera during a concert in New Jersey, immediately after which the power went out in the theater.[citation needed]
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- La Forza del Destino is referred to several times in the "Odd Couple" episode, "The New Car".
- The Overture to La Forza del Destino is the theme music in the film Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources. It also is used in television advertisements for Stella Artois.
- In The Penultimate Peril, the twelfth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, it is mentioned that Baudelaire's parents attended the show.
[edit] Notes
- ^ List of singers taken from Budden, Julian: The Operas of Verdi (Cassell), vol 2, p. 427.
- ^ Ibid
- ^ The plot description is adapted from The Opera Goer's Complete Guide by Leo Melitz, 1921 version, and The Complete Operas of Verdi by Charles Osborne
[edit] References
- The Opera Goer's Complete Guide by Leo Melitz, 1921 version.
- Osborne, Charles. The Complete Operas of Verdi. Da Capo Press, New York, 1969. ISBN 0-306-80072-1
