The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: What makes this weekend’s performances of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” classically Italian operas and especially inviting for beginners?
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Opera will open its new season this weekend with two performances of Pietro Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s ”Pagliacci.”
Details about the productions in Overture Hall on Friday night at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. appeared in a previous posting that includes information about the cast and the tickets ($18-$131):
https://www.madisonopera.org/tickets/
But Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill), the general director of the Madison Opera, recently agreed to a Q&A with The Ear to discuss the two operas more specifically and at length. Here are her comments:
A veteran opera-goer told the Ear that he considers these two works ideal operas for people new to the art form. Do you agree?
I think almost any opera is perfect for someone new to opera – supertitles make it possible to understand the words, so one can just sit down and enjoy the show.
That said, “Cav and Pag” are definitely what many people think of when you say the words “Italian opera”: elemental stories of love, hate and jealousy that lead to tragedy.
Cavalleria Rusticana, which means “Rustic Chivalry,” tells about a woman named Santuzza who had been seduced and abandoned by a man named Turridu. On Easter Sunday, she attempts to get Turridu back, then tells the husband of his new lover about that affair, resulting in a duel.
Pagliacci, which means “Clowns,” tells about a traveling theater troupe. Nedda, the wife of the troupe’s leader, Canio, wants to run away with her lover Silvio after the evening performance. Canio finds out, but goes on with the show even though his heart is breaking. He then snaps during the performance and kills both Nedda and Silvio.
The music in both operas ranges from glorious choral music (the Easter Hymn in Cavalleria Rusticana is one of the most famous opera choruses of all time for good reason) to famous arias (particularly the aria “Vesti la Giubba” from Pagliacci, or at least the line “Ridi, Pagliaccio!”), to orchestral music that is well-known in its own right, such as Cavalleria’s intermezzo, which plays an integral role in the final scene of “The Godfather” film trilogy. (You can hear that famous Intermezzo used in “The Godfather” film in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
They are also compact: Each opera lasts about 70 minutes, so a lot gets packed into a short amount of time. (Below is the set of “Pagliaccio” rented from the New Orleans Opera.)
What are the shared elements that make the two operas so compatible that they are often presented together?
Pagliacci was written in response to Cavalleria Rusticana: Ruggero Leoncavallo (below top) saw what a hit Pietro Mascagni (below bottom) had his 1890 one-act opera about real people propelled by love and revenge, and wrote his own version that premiered just two years later, in 1892.
There are some obvious parallels: both take place in small Italian villages, both take place on religious holidays, and both involve love triangles that end with someone dead. Plus the last line of each opera is spoken, not sung.
They also have musical similarities, as both have full orchestrations, large choral segments, and a style of vocal writing that calls for dramatic, expressive singing. As a result, the combined pairing makes a satisfying night of Italian opera, rather than being simply two operas that happen to be done on the same night.
Does one usually overshadow the other or are they equals?
It very much depends on the tastes of an individual audience member. When the operas were new, Cavalleria was definitely the more popular of the two – even Queen Victoria wrote in her diary that she preferred it.
To modern eyes, Pagliacci may be more dramatically satisfying because more happens in it, such as the entire play-within-the-opera, which adds an element of humor to the high stakes of reality. But both are masterpieces in their own right, and the audience gets to enjoy them both.
Why do you think these verismo operas are still powerful today?
“Verismo” comes from the word “vero,” which means “true.” Cav and Pag tell stories about real people caught up in their lives, with all the emotional messiness that can entail – and those emotions are still driving people today.
Above all, the music of both operas is so powerful that it strikes to the heart of what opera can be. It can be thrilling, it can be moving, it can be funny – all in one night.
Is there something else you would like to say about the two operas and your production of them?
We have wonderful casts in each opera. Scott Piper (below top), who was last here as Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, sings both Turridu and Canio; and Michael Mayes (below bottom), who was last here as the lead in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, sings both Alfio and Tonio.
We have two extraordinary sopranos making their debuts with us: Michelle Johnson (below top) as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and Talise Trevigne (below bottom) as Nedda in Pagliacci.
The Pagliacci cast is completed by Benjamin Taylor making his debut as Silvio and Robert Goderich singing Beppe; the Cavalleria cast is completed by Danielle Wright as Lucia and Kirsten Larson as Lola.
Tags: #ArtForm, #AudienceMembers, #BenjaminTaylor, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrokenHeart, #CavalleriaRusticana, #CavandPag, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianReligion, #DanielleWright, #DeadManWalking, #EasterHymn, #EasterSunday, #FacebookPost, #FilmScore, #FinalScene, #GiacomoPuccini, #ItalianOpera, #JakeHeggie, #JesusChrist, #KathrynSmith, #KirstenLarson, #LoveAffair, #LoveStory, #LoveTriangle, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MichaelMayes, #MIchelleJohnson, #MovieSoundtrack, #NewOrleans, #NewOrleansOpera, #OperaAria, #OperaChorus, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureHall, #PietroMascagni, #QueenVictoria, #RealPeople, #ReligiousHoliday, #RobertGoderich, #RomanCatholicism, #RuggeroLeoncavallo, #ScottPiper, #TaliseTrevigne, #TheEar, #TheGodfather, #VerismoOpera, #YouTubevideo, affair, aria, art form, Arts, audience, Benjamin Taylor, broken heart, cast, Cav and Pag, Cavalleria Rusticana, chivalry, choral music, chorus, Christian religion, Classical music, clowns, compact, composer, dead, Dead Man Walking, debut, diary, drama, dramatic, duel, Easter, Easter Sunday, element, emotion, equal, evening, eyes, Facebook, famous, film, final scene, hate, heart, heart-breaking, Humor, husband, hymn, intermezzo, Italian opera, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Heggie, jealousy, Jesus Christ, Kathryn Smith, kill, Kirsten Larson, link, Love, love affair, love story, love triangle, lover, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, man, Michael Mayes, Michelle Johnson, modern, movie, movie soundtrack, Music, new, New Orleans, New Orleans Opera, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, orchestral music, Overture Center, Overture Hall, Pagliacci, pairing, parallels, People, perfect, performance, Pietro Mascagni, powerful, premiere, Puccini, Q&A, Queen Victoria, real people, reality, Religion, revenge, Robert Goderich, Roman Catholicism, Ruggero Leoncavallo, rustic, scene, Scott Piper, seduced, sets, short, similarities, sing, singer, Singing, soprano, soundtrack, story, Sunday, supertitles, Talise Trevigne, The Ear, The Godfather, theater, theatre, Tosca, tragedy, trilogy, troupe, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verismo opera, Veteran, video, village, vocal music, Wisconsin, woman, YouTube
Classical music: The amateur Middleton Community Orchestra brings its fifth season to an impressively brassy close
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (below) finished its fifth season with a concert on Wednesday night that was a kind of brass sandwich—that is, a brass filling between two noisy slices of bread.
The opener was the popular “Carnival” Overture by Antonin Dvorak, the closest this composer ever came to producing a cheap crowd-pleaser.
(I wish that the enterprising conductor Steve Kurr (below), had chosen instead one of the other two overtures in Dvorak’s trilogy of “Nature, Life and Love,” which are much more substantial.)
The orchestra gave the overture a lusty performance, revealing some interesting wind details that one does not often hear.
There were two sandwich fillers.
The first was a concerto for tuba, dating from 2015. The composer, local musician and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music alumnus Pat Doty (below), was also the soloist.
Of its three movements, the first was clearly in the idiom of music for marching band, in which Doty has had long UW experience. The second movement was an attempt at a waltz, while the finale had Latin American odors and featured a prominent part for marimba. What to say? The program bio made the sensible point that Doty’s music “never takes itself too seriously.”
A more substantial score was the other filling, the Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, Op. 91, by Russian late-Romantic Reinhold Glière, also in three movements. (Sadly, the program booklet failed to list the movements for each concerto.)
While this score may not be really great music, it is a splendid, if difficult, vehicle for the soloist.
Another UW-Madison grad, Paul Litterio (below), a player in many area orchestras including both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (and with a sideline in handbells), was the soloist. Playing with perfect technique, an elegant style and just a touch of teasing vibrato, Litterio gave a fascinating demonstration of his instrument in a solo capacity that we do not often hear.
The closing bread for the sandwich was another example of near-vulgar bombast by one of its masters: Tchaikovsky (below). If that was the kind of music to be written, he was the one to do it, and still make you admire him.
The Capriccio Italien, Op. 40, was the composer’s reaction to a visit to Rome. He evoked his neighborhood and, above all, the riotous sounds and songs of a Roman Carnival. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Tchaikovsky’s capacity for making bombast sound like fun creates a really delightful score, and the Middleton players poured all their energies into it.
(An interesting footnote: Tchaikovsky’s other musical product of his visits to Italy is a very different work, the gorgeous string sextet Souvenir de Florence (Memory of Florence), which is less about Italy itself and more a picture of the composer’s homesickness. As it happens, that masterpiece will be played on July 8 by the Willy Street Chamber Players.)
Tags: amateur, American Record Guide, Arts, band, biography, bombast, brass, brass instruments, bread, Capriccio Italien, Carnival Overture, Classical music, concerto, critic, Dvorak, History, Horn, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, July, Latin America, life, Love, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, marching band, marimba, Medieval history, MEMF, Middleton Community Orchestra, movement, nature, noise, Orchestra, Overture, percussion, program notes, Reinhold Gliere, review, sandwich, score, solo, soloist, songs, Souvenir de Florence, style, symphony, Tchaikovsky, technique, trilogy, Tuba, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vibrato, vulgar, Waltz, Willy Street Chamber Players, wind instruments, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 