Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi)

[cahn]

So, a not-quite-love-triangle (Verdi has super spoiled me! I was like, where are the family relationships??) with Gustavo, the King of Sweden; his best friend and secretary Renato; and Renato's wife Amelia. (Because of Censors, Gustavo started out as Riccardo, the Governor of Boston, which is totally awesome. But both my audio and video experiences were with Sweden instead of Boston.)

(Note: D got hold of this post while I was writing it. I think I have scrubbed his comments, but if there's anything about Mr. Bennett or cosmonauts I am blaming him!)

I listened to Un Ballo in Maschera in Opera in English (which was fine -- not one of the strongest, but not the weakest either) and borrowed from RL opera friend the Salzburg 1990 production with Domingo as Gustavo, Josephine Barstow as Amelia, Leo Nucci as Renato/Anckarstrom, Florence Quivar as Ulrica, and Sumi Jo as Oscar. This one was wonderful and I am seriously thinking about buying my own copy.

My watching experience went something like this:


Production: *has lavish traditional sets and elaborate period costumes and is basically the furthest thing from a regie production possible*
Me: So I'm watching this Met production --
alcanis_ivennil: No, it's Salzburg.
My brain: *explodes*

Plácido Domingo: *sings*
Me: Ah, it's Domingo again! Hi! I like you! You're noticeably older than everything else I've seen you in as a tenor, and noticeably younger than everything I see clips of as you as a baritone! I am a little weirded out by this!
Leo Nucci: *sings, acts*
Me: ...wow. You are awesome and I want to see everything you've ever done.
Sumi Jo: *sings*
Me: WHOA WHAT WAS THAT. How are you so perfectly matched up with the orchestra underneath you on all those trills and runs and so sparkly?? Are you a vocalist or a string instrument?? How do you even do that? Are you even breathing??

Renato: Gustavo, you have to be careful because our country would be soooo badly off if you died! Also because you're my best friend!
Me: ....apparently I have even more of a loyalty kink than I thought. I'm already totally a huge fan of Renato!
Gustavo: Nonsense, everyone loooooves me so I'll be fine! Also I think I'll go check out this fortuneteller Ulrica who apparently talks to Satan, because as the king of the country this is totally the best use of my time.
Me: On the other hand, Renato, I am not sure I agree with you that the country would be so badly off without Gustavo.

Amelia: I'm married to Renato, but alas, I am in love with Gustavo!
Me: ...I don't know if you've noticed, Amelia, but your husband is way hotter than Gustavo. I'm just saying.

Amelia: I have to pick this herb next to the gallows at midnight for Plot Reasons so that I can be cured of my love for Gustavo. EEK WHAT WAS THAT.
Gustavo: It's me! I followed you here because I am a tenor, and stalking is a Thing That Tenors do! Amelia, tell me you love me!
Amelia: No!
Gustavo: I am gonna keep pestering you until you do!
Amelia: I love you!
Gustavo: Let remorse and friendship be destroyed within my breast! Let all be dead except my love!
Amelia and Gustavo: *kiss*
Gustavo: *is totally trying to feel her up*
Me: ...so, I have listened to this before watching and I know Gustavo and Amelia are supposed to be innocent, but Gustavo is sure not sounding AT ALL innocent right now and he's definitely not looking very innocent and I am really on Renato's side emotionally even if intellectually I know he shouldn't be going around killing people --
Renato: Aaaaand here I am!
Amelia: *hastily veils herself*
Renato: Gustavo, you should leave so the conspirators don't kill you.
Amelia: You should leave.
Gustavo: Clearly I should not leave.
Renato, Amelia, and me: JUST GO, OKAY??
D, wandering by: It's time for the conspirators to show up, right? Since this is an opera, they are probably in league with the fortune-teller.
Me: NO THEY'RE NOT. Ulrica is totally blameless! Well, except for that whole talking with Satan thing.
Conspirators: Who's that lady? *Amelia is unveiled* Oh, Renato, it's your wife! Ha ha! You were having a little honeymoon tryst! Next to the gallows at midnight!
Renato: *is completely and utterly crushed while the conspirators laugh*
Me: RENATO! :(

In Renato's house:
6-year-old-kid: *sits on steps waiting for mom and dad to get home*
Me: Kid, go to bed! It must be, like, 1am!
Renato: Blood must flow, and you must die.
Kid: *has had enough of mom and dad fighting, runs up the stairs to bed*
Me: Poor kid! *is relieved he is no longer around*
Renato: *his hands go to Amelia's throat for a split second*
Renato: *flinches away*
Renato: *backs away to the other side of the room, totally horrified at himself*
Amelia: You would kill me! At least let me hug my child.
Renato: *you didn't actually have to sing that aria, Amelia, I wasn't going to actually kill you!*
Me: ...I know this is all Nucci/the direction rather than libretto, but this is all totally going in my headcanon anyway.
Renato: But I am really upset, and I'm going to channel all that rage into being upset with Gustavo!
Videographer: *dramatic closeup on this EXTREMELY HUGE portrait of Gustavo that's in their house but which has not been hitherto focused on*
Me: ...WHY DO THEY HAVE AN EXTREMELY HUGE PORTRAIT OF GUSTAVO IN THEIR HOUSE. I THINK I SEE THE PROBLEM.
Videographer: *keeps doing DRAMATIC CLOSEUPS on the portrait as Renato sings*
Me: *feels guilty about laughing while Renato is so upset*

Gustavo: I guess I will sign this order to have Renato and Amelia return to their home country, that way she and I won't do anything any more awful than have an emotional affair. And kiss. But that's as far as we went! Could have been much worse!
Me: Yeah, but...
Letter from Amelia: Don't go to the ball, conspirators will kill you!
Gustavo: This clearly means I should go to the ball! Also, then my heart will burn for love with Amelia! This is a good thing, right?
Me: DO YOU EVER LISTEN TO ANYONE, GUSTAVO.

At the ball:
Oscar: *is sweet and cute as she's been this whole time*
Renato: Oscar, what is Gustavo dressed as?
Oscar: I won't tell! Ha ha!
Renato: It's important!
Oscar: A black cape with a pink ribbon.
Me: NOOOOOOO, Renato, you know I love you but how could you do that to my sweet Oscar??
Amelia: Gustavo, how many times it is now that someone has told you that conspirators are going to kill you. Add +1 to that.
Gustavo: Another opportunity for me to declare that I won't be cowardly and leave! Add +1 to that.
Me: Gustavo, are you the most exasperating person ever or what?!
Everyone else who has ever watched an opera: HE IS A TENOR.
Gustavo: Also, you are going back to your native land. Also, let us have a very emotional and also rather touchy farewell.
Me: I... mean... you don't know that Renato has discovered the lady you were with was Amelia, but this... is not a good idea, this is going to make him feel even worse --
Renato: *shoots Gustavo*
Oscar: *is devastated*
Me: Oscar!! :((((((((
Gustavo: I didn't have sex with your wife!
Me: I don't know, if I were dying and the thing I thought of to say was whether I was or wasn't having an affair with someone's spouse, I'd be really suspicious of that...
Renato: *agrees with me; very obviously does not believe Gustavo*
Gustavo: See, look, I wrote an order saying you guys should go back to your native land! *hands it to Amelia, who tearfully hands it to Renato*
Renato: *for some reason now believes Gustavo and is totally upset*
Everyone: *is upset*
Gustavo: I am still ruler here (until I die) and I pardon everyone! Farewell, beloved America Sweden! *dies*
Me: Verdi, you... got me to like Gustavo at the end even though I've been exasperated at him this entire time... NOT FAIR VERDI.

Comments

[zdenka]

I will continue to insist that this opera is set in Boston! Because I think it's hilarious.

A lot of my reactions are similar to yours. I wrote a silly plot summary of this opera about, um, ten years ago now, good Lord. (https://zdenka.dreamwidth.org/1340164.html)

I'm much more sympathetic to Renato than Riccardo in this opera (barring the whole murder bit). Renato is loyal and a good friend (until Riccardo abuses his loyalty), and Riccardo really isn't. And Riccardo is really exasperating in his refusal to listen when people are telling him sensible things.

Oscar is really charming. I'm currently having a mental block on what I've seen or heard Sumi Jo in, but my first reaction to seeing her name was "yes, she's amazing!" so she definitely impressed me in something.

[cahn]

It is totally awesome that it is set in Boston! I love how that's the place Verdi thought of as "eh, it's the wild frontier, no one cares what happens in Boston, right?"

It is really a little frightening how much more sympathy I have for Renato than for Riccardo, given that Renato kills him in the end (and I knew that going in). But like you say Renato is totally loyal and a good friend (and I have all kinds of loyalty kink going on there as well), and Riccardo is just SO exasperating and I really believe that if Renato hadn't showed up right then in the graveyard, that Riccardo would have totally gotten it on with Amelia (or at least tried). (I mean, what else am I supposed to take from Oh sia distrutto il rimorso, l’amicizia nel mio seno: estinto tutto, tutto sia fuorché l’amor!) It probably also didn't help that I watched this right after Forza, so going from a terribly sweet tenor directly to a really exasperating one was a bit of whiplash.

This is also why I found it so impressive that you made me believe in the friendship from both sides in your fic! So I started writing that I think I would have loved the opera more if Riccardo had been worthy of Renato's devotion -- but actually given that there's this whole betrayal theme I think it would have been more painful and harder to watch. I guess what I really want is More Operas with Best Friends Who Are Awesome And Don't Betray Each Other, gosh darn it.

The only other thing I've heard with Sumi Jo is that my first Zauberflote recording (Solti) had her as the Queen of the Night, though I don't listen to that recording much (I bought it a long time ago, before I really understood what I wanted). But I do remember her being good!

Ohhhh, your plot summary is awesome!

[zdenka]

Ha, yes. :D

Yeah. I just wind up with a feeling of "Renato deserved a better king/employer and friend." And I agree, Amelia might have stopped him but I don't think Riccardo would have stopped.

Thank you, I'm glad that fic worked for you! I think partly I needed to make myself see what Renato could have seen in Riccardo, or I wouldn't have been able to write convincing shipfic for my recipient.

Hmm. Now I'm trying to think of operas with good pairs of friends, besides Don Carlo. There's La Clemenza di Tito, sort of -- Sesto betrays Tito but he and Annio don't betray each other? Or Gennaro and Orsino in Lucrezia Borgia -- they're tenor and mezzo rather than tenor and baritone, but they do have a great friendship duet.

Oh, that's jogging my memory -- I think I might have her on a Mozart highlights CD. I should go look for that later.

Thanks, glad you like it.!I know I have some other silly opera plot summaries on my LJ/DW, but I don't seem to have made a special tag for them.

[cahn]

Yeah, if Renato had had a better king and friend, he would never have snapped the way he did :(

Ooh, yay! Although of course I love baritones, I am willing to take any flavor of voices as friends who don't betray each other. Hmm, this may be part of why I like Nozze, and the women of Nozze -- Susanna and the Countess, and Susanna and Cherubino, are both pairs of friends who don't really have a whole lot of angst involved between them. (Well, okay, Cherubino also wants to get in her pants, but I kind of don't take that seriously because no one else does, including Cherubino and Susanna themselves.)

...I will have to go look for those silly opera plot summaries sometime :P :)

[selenak]

:) I don't think I've ever heard/seen the opera switched back to the original Swedish Setting, though I know that's a thing. BTW, did anyone ever stage Rigoletto with the Duke switched back to King Francis I., which he is in Hugo's original novel, and Mantua to Paris? (Verdi had to make the change for identical reasons. Ah, 19th century censorship!)


Domingo I saw twice live when he was still a tenor, once during one of those Three Tenors events with Pavarotti & Carreras, and once in Bayreuth, where he sang Sigmund to Waltraud Maier's Sieglinde in Die Walküre. Since Waltraud Maier had just quarrelled with Wolfgang Wagner, everyone knew this would be her last appearance in Bayreuth (and it was until this year, more than two decades later!), and she was glorious. The audience melted, and not just because of the summer heat. (Which in the Festspielhaus is something, since it can't have modern air conditioning for sound reasons.) Domingo didn't even try to outshine her, though Sigmund is the bigger part, he supported her, and it was just one of the best experiences I had in Bayreuth.


Back then, one of my classmates from the Wagner lectures had an internship in Bayreuth, and she told me a Domingo/Maier anecdote - Waltraud M. had thought it a nice idea to give him a little present, a bottle of mead, which is "Met" in German, to be delivered at his wardrobe, because Met is what Sieglinde gives to Sigmund as a greeting in the opera, with a German note saying "Mead from your Sieglinde". And - nothing. He doesn't mention it. Since she's worked with him before, and knows it's unlike him, she asks whether the mead wasn't delivered, and quoth Domingo: "Oh, that was from you? I thought the Met had send it!"

I

[cahn]

Ha, you've always seen it set in Boston? That's hilarious -- I wonder if it's more common to set it in Boston in Europe and in Sweden in the US. (Although the DVD I watched was of a Salzburg production, so that doesn't quite match up...) I didn't know that about Rigoletto. Hee! (Though zdenka told me a little while ago that Montfort in I vespri siciliani actually started out as the Duke of Alba from Philip II's court!)

Oh, wow, what an experience to see Domingo and Waltraud Maier; thank you for telling me about that! And I love that story. It's so neat to hear about when these extremely accomplished people are also really sweet too <3

(Did part of your comment get cut off? Just wondering if I missed anything :) )

[selenak]

Colonial Boston: where they have masked balls and it's chique to consult witches. ;) Btw, historical Gustav III. was Frederick II.'s nephew (his mother was one of Fritz' younger Sisters), so it occurs to me that the fictional Friedrich II tv series I told you about could have had Gustav guest starring and dramatically dying. With or without Verdi soundtrack.

Cut-off comments: I was going to say that if you want tenor/bariton bffs who don't betray each other, well, there's Tristan and Isolde where Tristan's best friend Kurwenal is devoted and faithful, and Tristan never acts like a jerk to him, either. (King Marke is a bass, but this is a Marke who is a good guy, and Tristan really does not want to betray him, still, it's kind of the story…) There's also Tannhäuser where Wolfram von Eschenbach is the faithful baritone bff who looks after tenor Tannhäuser's interests despite unrequitedly pining for soprano Elisabeth himself.

[cahn]

so it occurs to me that the fictional Friedrich II tv series I told you about could have had Gustav guest starring and dramatically dying.

YES PLEASE! I want all the historical/opera crossovers ever :)

Ohh, yes, these sound like I would really like them. The only Wagner I've listened to / watched has been (of course) the Ring, which I love (well, okay, I dislike Siegfried, who annoys me, but he is a tenor so what's new), and I have always meant to watch more, and this sounds like a useful entry point :)

[selenak]

I love the Ring, but despise Siegfried (seriously, one of the most loathsome opera heroes ever, and that's saying something), so we're not going to disagree there. :)

You might also enjoy The Flying Dutchman, which has no bffs but does have a main male character who is a baritone. The sole tenor is a minor character, Erik the shepherd, who is in love with our heroine and miffed she goes for the baritone instead. Mind you, tenor Erik would have been the safer choice in this scenario, seeing as the Dutchman is a Byronic hero with a curse on him, so.... Anyway, Wagner likes his baritones a lot. In Meistersinger, tenor Walther von Stolzing gets to do the obligatory love duet and big aria, but the main male character is baritone Hans Sachs, shoemaker and master poet, who teaches young Walther how to do it in this scene, which is a rare recording of Wieland Wagner's 1963 production. (Sachs is another baritone who gets along with his tenor fine, but his main relationships in the opera are with soprano Eva, Walther's crush, and with his apprentice David.

Incidentally, generally speaking I like Verdi better than Wagner, not least for external reasons (obvious historical heritage etc.), but I'm glad the musical world got them both, and arguably Aida would never have been written if Verdi hadn't felt challenged by Tristan and Isolde, specifically this part. They were born in the same year, which is great because it meant a great many productions back when they had their 200th anniversary. Good times for opera lovers. :)

[cahn]

:D These sound good too! I am almost done with mainlining the popular Verdi and then I will give Wagner a try. I don't have to have tenor and baritone friendship duets, though they do make me awfully happy. (As do baritone-bass duets, which I have an especial weakness for. Okay, I just like baritones singing with anyone. So, uh, if Wagner likes his baritones, we will get along just fine, I think.)

Yeah, I love Verdi more than Wagner (well, at this point I have less Wagner to compare to, but the Ring is brilliant) -- in large part I think because Verdi seems often to have this utter compassion for his characters that I can't help but respond viscerally to -- but I am very glad to have them both; they're really different!

[alcanis_ivennil]

Siegfried had it comin'. #hagendidnothingwrong

[selenak]

Siegfried did, as far as the death was concerned, but even obnoxious heroes do not deserve to be raped, and Hagen did rohypnol him. #noleatherpantsHagen

[alcanis_ivennil]

I always wondered why Brünnhilde doesn't suspect some Evil Magic and just accepts that Siegfried straight up forgot her.

[cahn]

Yeah, Volsunga saga is a little better on that point, although Brynhild is still super mad that Sigurd and Gunnar tricked her into marrying Gunnar, which seems reasonable to me.

[selenak]

The interesting thing is that the Nibelungenlied dispenses with the earlier aquaintance between Brünhild and Siegfried altogether. He still is complicit in tricking her into marrying Gunther by using his invisibilty, but he truly didn't know her before everyone went to Iceland, nor is he in love with her. (Thus there's also no need for a love/forgetting potion.) In Wagner's time, everyone assumed the Volsunga saga predates the Nibelungenlied, but as far as I know current literary theory is that it's actually the other way around.

[cahn]

Ah! That's really interesting! I have never made it all the way through the Nibelungenlied, though I have it right here on my shelf, staring at me :)

And, huh, I'd also thought Volsunga saga predated it.

[selenak]

Nope, Nibelungenlied = 1200, Poetic Edda = 1270, Völsunga Saga = second half of 13th century. Mind you, each of these three goes back to oral tradition predating this by centuries, but you can't pinpoint oral tradition, whereas you can date manuscripts somewhat accurately. It's entirely possible that the poet of the Nibelungenlied drew on a younger tradition than the poet of the Völsunga Saga, but he definitely wrote his version down almost a century earlier, and it's equally possible the Nibelungenlied made its way to Scandinavia and was adapted and "Norsified" there. Again, Wagner & contemporaries assumed it was the other way around, and that the Völsunda Saga was the "pure" origin and the Nibelungenlied basically the medievalized updating.

[cahn]

Wow, I also didn't know the Poetic Edda was after the Nibelungenlied. That's really interesting. I wonder where I got that idea from -- for example, I got to Volsunga saga via William Morris' verse retelling, and I imagine he thought it was older, so it might have been from there.

[selenak]

Well, I suspect that it's partly because by refusing to hand over the ring earlier, she's aware she might have brought its curse on herself. (After all, she was fully briefed on its disastrous history by Wotan two operas earlier.) She kept it as a symbol of Siegfried's love, so losing Siegfried's love seems like a curse-like retribution.

[cahn]

Personally I think all of the guys in Gotterdammerung are obnoxious -- I am basically in the Ring for Brunnhilde and Sieglinde :) (All right, I love all the characters in Walkure -- not that Siegmund and Hunding aren't obnoxious and/or evil too, but I find them fascinating anyway.) (My feelings about Gutrune are colored by how much I love Gudrun in Volsunga saga.) I really want the AU where Sieglinde lives and parents Siegfried so he turns out nicer :D

[selenak]

I hear you re: the women, though I have to say I like Siegmund a lot: at the start of The Valkyrie, he's on the run due to having defended a woman's right to choose not because he was in love with her or she with him, but because of a sense of fairness, and later he declines Valhalla and glory if it means leaving Sieglinde. By far the most sympathetic, non-egodriven in the Ring.

(George Bernard)Shaw had the theory that everyone's dislikability in Götterdämmerung is because Wagner wrote that first and then worked his way backwards as the backstory grew and grew, so his skills as a writer and composer and his understanding for and sympathy with the characters developed accordingly.

The problem with Siegfried in any case to me is that he's more a concept than a person - the free Nietzschean superman unbound by laws of gods and men who could have been this if raised by loving parents (either plural or singular). (As Frigga points out to Wotan in The Valkyrie, the fact that Wotan spent time with and caused both happiness and misery for Sigmund means Siegmund does not count as a free-of-the-gods person.) In a fictional universe where most of the characters really are characters, no matter which philosophical arguments they at times embody, that sticks out like a sore thumb.

[cahn]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love Siegmund! Especially, yeah, the part where he gives up Valhalla for Sieglinde, that part is just wonderful. You know, I think this might be an interpretation thing -- it's been a while, so I might have details wrong in my head, but I remember the first Siegmund I watched (Hofmann, Chereau Ring) played him as quite prideful and rather arrogant, which came across to me as obnoxious sometimes (although made the moving parts, like giving up Valhalla, even more moving and amazing), and the other Siegmund I've watched (Schunk, Sawallisch Ring) played him as much nicer.

Hmm, I like Shaw's idea there, because I also like the characters in Rheingold a lot, and then although I still like the story in Gotterdammerung the characters are just... so... dislikable!

Yeah, the thing is, the free Nietzschean superman is apparently a total jerk! Does being free of the gods also mean that you're free of basic decency, like, being minimally polite to people? (At least in Siegfried, I realize Mime and Wotan have their issues, but Siegfried is just rude to them.)

[alcanis_ivennil]

"I don't know if you've noticed, Amelia, but your husband is way hotter than Gustavo" - the problem in nearly every production. Younger Nucci was quite handsome (there's also a Met Forza with him from '84, he looked niiiice). Although younger Domingo was also quite a looker.

Also: the 2012 Met Ballo, oh boy. Álvarez is a rather dashing fellow but when Renato is the world's most beautiful silver fox...

Yeah, Gustavo is very much a tenor, although at least he gets some character development. He is pretty damn difficult, though - he has a huge amount of singing to do.

Sumi Jo is such a great Oscar! Although I don't think I have ever seen a bad Oscar, they're always so cute.

[cahn]

Hee! I agree, younger Nucci is... not hard on the eyes at all. Younger Domingo wasn't either, mind you! Although by the time he did this Ballo he was honestly past his prime in looks -- but his voice is still really great. But also Renato is so much nicer than Gustavo, who would ever go for Gustavo? A soprano, I suppose... :)

I saw you were watching a Forza with Nucci! I bet he's really great in that. It is on my list to watch :D He's also the Rodrigo in the French recording of Don Carlos I was listening to on Spotify. And oh gosh, Ballo with Hvorostovsky... yeah, I really want to watch that too :) I have a lot on my list now :P

[alcanis_ivennil]

Why are sopranos Like This... another case where I doubt the soprano's sanity is Pique Dame. You could have a kind, loving, handsome, rich baritone who respects you and you go for the mentally unstable tenor who just wants your grandma's secret?

[cahn]

Oh man, I really want to watch Pique Dame but I've never quite been able to bring myself to after reading the synopsis; it sounds like I'd be yelling at the soprano the whole time to go for the baritone :) But I love Onegin so much I should probably go for it one of these days...

[alcanis_ivennil]

https://rutracker.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3634165

This is a nice production, and it has Tézier as Prince Yeletsky. Like, Lisa, wtf.

[cahn]

awesome, thanks! Lisa, what is your problem?