CHAN 3093 Book Cover.qxd 3:23 pm Page 1 GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS CHAN 3093 11/4/07 GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS CHANDOS DIANA MONTAGUE 2 O P E R A IN ENGLISH PETER MOORES FOUNDATION 11/4/07 Diana Montague at the recording sessions 3:30 pm Page 2 Bill Cooper CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Great Operatic Arias with Diana Montague 3 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 4 Time Page Time Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) from The Marriage of Figaro Cherubino’s Aria (Non so più) 1 6 ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me’ ‘Send me, but, my beloved’ 6:39 [p. 44] 7 ‘Farewell, beloved homeland’ – ‘No hope remains in my affliction’ Dorabella’s Recitative and Aria (Smanie implacabili) 8 4:56 [p. 45] with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir ‘Ah! Leave me now’ – ‘Torture and agony’ 3:39 [p. 46] Dorabella and Fiordiligi’s Duet (Prenderò quel brunettino) Iphigenia’s Aria (Je t’implore et je tremble) ‘I implore thee and tremble’ 9 ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ 3:07 [p. 46] with Orla Boylan soprano 3:36 [p. 45] George Frideric Handel (1685 –1759) from Alcina Ruggiero’s aria (Verdi prati) 5 from Così fan tutte Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso’s Trio (Soave sia il vento) ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ 3:33 [p. 46] with Orla Boylan soprano • Alan Opie baritone from Iphigenia in Tauris Priestesses’ Chorus and Iphigenia’s Aria (O malheureuse Iphigénie!) 4 2:05 [p. 46] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–1787) 3 ‘Noble forests, sombre and shady’ Alastair Young harpsichord • Susanne Beer cello 3:07 [p. 44] from The Clemency of Titus Sextus’s Aria (Parto, parto) 2 Page from Atalanta Meleagro’s aria (Care selve) 10 Concert Arias ‘Banished, rejected, God save me!’ 4:50 [p. 47] (Vado, ma dove?) ‘Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands’ 4:18 [p. 45] 11 ‘Who knows what feeling’ 3:16 [p. 47] (Chi sa qual sia) 4 5 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 6 Time Page Time 12 ‘My heart here I give you’ from Faust Siébel’s Romance (Si le bonheur à sourire t’invite) 4:39 [p. 47] with Alan Opie baritone 16 17 5:46 [p. 48] (formerly attrib. J.S. Bach) (Bist du bei mir) from Prince Igor Song of the Polovtsian Maiden 18 5:57 [p. 50] with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir ‘If you are near’ 2:54 [p. 53] Alastair Young harpsichord • Susanne Beer cello TT 75:01 Diana Montague mezzo-soprano Geoffrey Mitchell Choir London Philharmonic Orchestra Johann Strauss II (1825 –1899) from Die Fledermaus (The Bat) Orlofsky’s Aria (Chacun à son goût) 15 6:55 [p. 52] Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749) Alexander Borodin (1833 –1887) ‘Tender flower, starved of water’ ‘Calm down, my friend!’ – ‘Just as the sun awakens’ with Bruce Ford tenor with Helen Williams soprano 14 2:49 [p. 51] from The Merry Widow Valencienne and Camille’s Duet (Wie eine Rosenknospe) from The Opera Ball Henri and Hortense’s Duet (Gehen wir ins Chambre séparée) ‘This is the clock’ – ‘In a cosy chambre séparée’ ‘When happy days’ Philharmonia Orchestra • David Parry Richard Heuberger (1850 –1914) 13 ‘Three score and ten’ 2:46 [p. 51] Peter Schoeman leader Walter Weller 6 Page Charles Gounod (1818–1893) from Così fan tutte Guglielmo and Dorabella’s Duet (Il core vi dono) 7 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 8 Great Operatic Arias The term Zwischenfach (between types) is used in Germany and elsewhere graphically to describe the kind of voice possessed by Diana Montague. For voices such as hers the possibilities are almost limitless as this varied and eclectic recital confirms. She possesses a high mezzo able, as was that of a distant nineteenth-century predecessor, Pauline Viardot, and others since, to encompass roles intended for a normal mezzo, but also many others usually the province of sopranos. These possibilities extend right from roles in Baroque opera to those in operetta – as this disc vividly and satisfactorily illustrates, as does the progress of her career. As was the case in the first volume of arias she recorded for Chandos (CHAN 3010), Montague is also a most convincing advocate of opera in English. She deploys her trim, appealing voice to make the most of a text in the vernacular, inflecting every word and phrase with a specific meaning. She also has the inestimable advantage of being born with and developed a timbre that palpitates with the music in hand. That gives everything she sings a peculiarly eloquent or, where appropriate, witty accent. For much of this recital she displays her exceptional gifts as an interpreter of Handel, Gluck and Mozart. Their operas cover the period when at first the castrato was in the ascendant, taking many of the leading male roles in Handel’s operas. Later when that artificially created breed was being phased out it became common for the roles of young men to be taken by women, again with voices of Montague’s type. It is a tradition that carried on into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, eg Octavian and the Composer in respectively Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne on Naxos, and is demonstrated in this recital by Orlofsky in the other Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and by Siébel in Faust. The earliest among the choices here are two well-known and affecting arias from Handel’s operas, both originally sung by castratos. ‘Verdant pastures’ (track 5 ) is sung in Alcina, by Ruggiero, originally taken by the castrato Carestini. He has been enchanted by the sorceress Alcina and fallen in love with her. The spell is removed in Act II, but Ruggiero is rather reluctant to leave the glorious pastures which he hymns in this justly famous aria. 8 progression unique to Gluck. In the later ‘I implore thee and tremble’ (track 4 ) from Act IV she deplores her fate at being forced to make a blood sacrifice in tones that capture in a peculiarly Gluckian way the horror of her situation. In both pieces Gluck evinces deep compassion for his heroine, an emotion reflected in Montague’s singing of them. In Mozart’s time, the castrato was (mercifully) a dying breed, although the composer still cast roles in his opera seria for that voice (see below). In any case, it would have seemed odd to cast the priapic youth Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) with such a singer. Instead, Mozart chose a soprano, but the lighter singers in that category can sound too girlish. Montague’s high mezzo, on the other hand, is entirely appropriate for the palpitating youth, whose realisation of his burgeoning manhood is perfectly encapsulated in his Act I aria, ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me’ (track 1 ). Mozart here exploits the ability of the middle range of the voice to project the warmth and immediacy of Cherubino’s feelings. This was one of Montague’s earliest roles in her successful career at Covent Garden. She looked and sang the role to near-perfection, so this souvenir of that performance is most welcome. Its seemingly simple melody clothes his ambivalent feelings. It was often Handel’s custom to open an opera with a reflective arioso (vide ‘Ombra mai fu’ in Xerxes). The same happens in Atalanta, where the hero Meleagro sings the simple, elegiac ‘Noble forests’ (track 6 ), in which he greets the beauties of nature. As a pendant to these Handel pieces, we have the simple, sincere song ‘If you are near’ (track 18 ), once thought to be by J.S. Bach, now assigned to his contemporary Stölzel. Whoever may be the composer, the piece is a delight. Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris is perhaps the most telling and dramatically consistent operas of his mature period, the last and greatest of the serious works he wrote for Paris. Its eponymous heroine is a truly tragic figure whose fate is expressed – such is Gluck’s genius – at once with classical restraint and emotional depth. Diana Montague has already recorded the opera complete in French under John Eliot Gardiner. Here, singing in her native tongue, she is, if possible, even more moving and urgent in her portrayal of the daughter of Agamemnon, now a Priestess of Diana on the island of Tauris. Her Act II lament, ‘No hope remains in my affliction’ (track 3 ), is an outpouring of despair and loneliness with a melodic cut and harmonic 9 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 10 Although Dorabella in Così fan tutte is a very different kind of character from Cherubino, the voice range for the two is much the same and, in the same way, it has been cast over the years with both sopranos and mezzos. In any case in Mozart’s times, these stark differences between types hardly existed. Once again, Montague’s voice seems the ideal answer, poised between the two. We hear her first in the mock-heroics of ‘Torture and agony’ (track 8 ) in which Mozart makes one of his impressionable heroines rail against the fate that has supposedly taken her loved one from her. Indeed this outburst of seemingly sincere passion is almost Gluckian in its force. Next we catch Dorabella, with her sister Fiordiligi, singing the matchless trio of farewell in the company of cynical old Don Alfonso, ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ (track 7 ). As is Mozart’s way, especially in this work, he makes a moment of repose and thought timelessly beautiful, even though a character, such as Alfonso here, may be having very different thoughts. In Act II, Fiordiligi, the more steadfast of the sisters, and Dorabella – having decided to have a fling with their ‘new’ men – sing a delightful duet in which each makes her choice, ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ (track 9 ). Its intertwining of the two voices is truly sisterly in character. In the duet, ‘My heart here I give you’ (track 12 ), as in the trio above, Dorabella’s fresh love is genuinely expressed, yet we also feel that Guglielmo, in spite of himself, is falling in love with the ‘wrong’ woman, the music is so seductively beguiling. That is Mozart’s genius. Alan Opie, who has sung both Guglielmo and Alfonso for English National Opera, easily encompasses both roles in these excerpts and Orla Boylan has just the right voice for Fiordiligi. In his final opera, The Clemency of Titus, Mozart again wrote, as I have already inferred, a role for a castrato, the part of Sextus, where the vulnerable young man is entirely in thrall to Vitellia. Peaked that Emperor Titus has not chosen her as his Empress, she persuades Sextus to go and murder his best friend, Titus. All Sextus’s contrary feelings are expounded in the extended, two-part aria, ‘Send me, but, my beloved, never reject me in anger’ (track 2 ). In it Mozart gives us the character of the upright, perplexed young man. Again this is a role that can be distributed to either a soprano or mezzo, its tessitura lying between the two. 10 In addition to his operas, Mozart wrote extensively for the solo voice in arias with orchestra of which we have two excellent examples here. They are particularly appropriate to Montague as both were written for Louise Villeneuve, the first Dorabella, for insertion in Vicente Martin’s Il burbero di buon cuore, an opera to a text by Da Ponte, based on a Goldoni play. They stand side by side in the Köchel catalogue as K. 582 and 583. The latter and much more substantial is ‘Banished, rejected’ (track 10 ), written in Mozart’s most high-flown, deeply felt manner. The other, ‘Who knows what feeling’ (track 11 ), is a slight but charming piece. A hundred years or so later we find ourselves in an entirely different world, that of native Russian opera as represented by Borodin’s Prince Igor. In the opening scene of Act II, a group of Polovtsian maidens sings a langourous song, ‘Tender flower, starved of water’ (track 14 ), before their mistress, Konchakovna, daughter of Khan Konchak, the benevolent ruler who has taken Igor prisoner. The music, with its quasi-Oriental colour and feeling, provides a moment of repose in a tense drama. Borodin was skilled in marrying what he had learnt from Western music with more local influences. Faust, a work from the same era, is much more urbane and Western in its musical character, as is shown in Siébel’s charming song ‘When happy days’ (track 16 ). Faust’s rival for Marguerite’s hand, he is doomed to failure. Meanwhile in Vienna much had changed in terms of ethos and musical character since Mozart’s time. Operetta was now all the rage. In his highly successful 1874 operetta, Die Fledermaus (The Bat), Johann Strauss was not-so-gently mocking the bourgeois society of the day in the Austrian capital. At the heart of the piece is the party given at the palace of Prince Orlofsky, a blasé youth who is bored with life and seeking to be amused. In his couplets near the start of Act II he declares his philosophy -- he wants everyone to drink with him and entertain him (‘Chacun à son goût’, track 15 ). Strauss caught his character perfectly in a song that marries nonchalance and cynicism with a degree of gaucherie. Written for a mezzo it isn’t easy to sing. Much of it lies in a low register, but it also has repeated A flats. The kind of voice possessed by Montague is ideal for overcoming its difficulties. Richard Heuberger proved one of Strauss’s more successful followers with his Opera Ball first given in Vienna in 1898. Far and away 11 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 12 its most successful number is ‘In a cosy chambre séparée’, (track 13 ), where the lovers Henri and Hortense meet for the first time in a theatre. He leads her into the chambre séparée, one of the theatre’s boxes set aside as a private room. He woos her in one of the most delectably seductive songs in all operetta. Even more successful in 1905 was Lehár’s Merry Widow. Its lyrical high point is the duet in Act II between the French aristocrat Camille de Rosillon and Valencienne, who is in fact wife of Baron Mirko, the Pontevedrin envoy in Paris. The illicit affair culminates in this piece, ‘Just as the sun awakens’ (track 17 ). Valencienne begs Camille to desist from his ardent advances, but finally, to the kind of perfumed, erotically suggestive music of which the composer was pastmaster (‘See where the summer-house awaits’), she agrees to one last kiss in the summerhouse, which leads to all sorts of plot complications. Valencienne is another of those roles that lies between voice types, having been taken by both sopranos and high mezzos. Montague is here partnered by Bruce Ford’s elegantly persuasive tenor. Diana Montague was born in Winchester and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. Since her debut as Zerlina with Glyndebourne Touring Opera she has appeared in venues such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals. Her repertoire includes the major roles for mezzo-soprano in operas by Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini and Berlioz, and her frequent concert engagements include performances under Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate and Sir Andrew Davis. Engagements have included Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Madrid and with Welsh National Opera; Le Comte Ory in Lausanne, Rome and Glyndebourne; © 2003 Alan Blyth 12 Andromaca in Rossini’s Ermione at Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in Amsterdam and Sydney; Sesto in Madrid; the Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Scottish Opera and in Lisbon; Meg Page (Falstaff ) for the reopening of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) in Naples, Bilbao and at The Teatro Real in Madrid, and Marguerite in Vienna. Diana Montague’s many recordings include Monteverdi’s Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, Iphigénie en Tauride, for Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata and Il crociato in Egitto, and, for Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation, Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier (highlights), Faust, and a previous disc of Great Operatic Arias (CHAN 3010). of the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft Basel, General Music Director of the Basel Theatre and Chief Conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra from September 1994 until July 1997, Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1980 to 1985, and Music Director and Artistic Director to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic from 1977 to 1980. At the age of twenty-one he was appointed leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra he went on to conduct. He is regularly invited as guest conductor by major orchestras throughout the world and has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, RSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Philharmonie Hamburg, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre national de France, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala Milan, Royal Concertgebouw Walter Weller was Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra between January 1992 and July 1997 and is now Conductor Emeritus. He also holds the title of Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra of Spain. He was Artistic Director 13 11/4/07 3:30 pm Page 14 Orchestra, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Holland, Tonhalle Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Swedish Radio, Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras. In North America, he has worked with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota, San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa. Operatic engagements have included Der fliegende Holländer at La Scala, Ariadne on Naxos and The Flying Dutchman for English National Opera, Der Freischütz at Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Prince Igor for Berlin Staatskapelle, and Fidelio and Der Rosenkavalier for Scottish Opera. He has also undertaken concert performances at the Tivoli Festival. In his opening season with Basel, he conducted a highly successful production of Die Frau ohne Schatten. Other operas in concert have included Fidelio with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Elektra and Der fliegende Holländer with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Eugene Onegin in Copenhagen. Recordings include cycles of the Prokofiev and Rachmaninov Symphonies, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Janáček’s Lachian Dances, Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1 Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, for Chandos the Beethoven Symphonies and piano concertos (with John Lill) and the Mendelssohn symphonies, and for Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation a disc of Viennese Operetta with Bruce Ford. Javier del Real CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Diana Montague as Octavian in the Teatro Real production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier 14 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 16 Clive Barda CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Diana Montague (right) as Dorabella in San Francisco Opera’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte Diana Montague as Cherubino in The Royal Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 18 Bill Cooper/PMF CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd SIR PETER MOORES, CBE, DL Sir Peter Moores was born in Lancashire and educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied Italian and German. He had a ‘gap year’ at Glyndebourne working as a behind-the-scenes administrator before going to Oxford, then studied for three years at the Vienna Academy of Music, where he produced the Austrian premiere of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and was a production assistant with the Vienna State Opera working as assistant producer of performances by Viennese artists at the San Carlo Opera House, Naples, at the Geneva Festival and at the Rome Opera. In 1957 he joined his father’s business, Littlewoods, becoming Vice-Chairman in 1976, Chairman from 1977 to 1980 and remaining a director until 1993. His public appointments include from 1981 to 1983 Governor of the BBC, Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1978 to 1985 and from 1988 to 1992 a Director of Scottish Opera. He received the Gold Medal of the Italian Republic in 1974, an Honorary MA from Christ Church, Oxford in 1975, and was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Northern College of Music in 1985. In 1992 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Lancashire by HM Queen Elizabeth II. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1991 and received a Knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List for 2003 in recognition of his charitable services to the arts. PETER MOORES FOUNDATION Peter Moores’ philanthropic work began with his passion for opera: in his twenties he identified and helped a number of young artists in the crucial, early stages of their careers, several of whom – Dame Joan Sutherland, Sir Colin Davis and the late Sir Geraint Evans amongst them – became world-famous. He set up his eponymous Foundation in 1964 when he was thirty-two, in order to develop his charitable aims, not only in music and the visual arts, but also in education, health, youth, social and environmental projects. To date, because of his initiatives and life-long commitment to these causes, he has disbursed more than £85 million of his own money through the Foundation and the Peter Moores Charitable Trust – ‘to get things done and to open doors’. Projects to help the young have ranged from a scheme to encourage young Afro-Caribbeans to stay on at school to the endowment of a Faculty Directorship and Chair of Management Studies at Oxford University (providing the lead donation in 1991 for the new School of Management Studies). In 1994 a permanent Transatlantic Slave Trade Gallery, initiated by Peter Moores, opened at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, with the aim of fostering discussion about the heritage and true history of the slave trade. Substantial help was given to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Development Trust, whilst through annual PMF Scholarships established in 1971 well over two hundred young singers have received practical support at the outset of their careers, enabling a significant number to become international opera stars. In 1993 the Foundation acquired Compton Verney, an eighteenth-century mansion, and established the Compton Verney House Trust, an independent charity which it funded in order to transform the mansion into an art gallery designed especially to encourage newcomers to the visual arts. Alongside major international touring exhibitions, it will house permanent collections of North European art, Neapolitan paintings and one of the finest collections of archaic oriental bronzes in the UK, as well as a British Portrait Collection and a British Folk Art Collection. The gallery is scheduled to open in Spring 2004. Opera has given the Foundation its most public ‘face’. Since Peter Moores initiated the live recording of the ‘Goodall Ring’ at the London Coliseum in the 1970s, the Foundation has enabled some eighty recordings to be produced: Chandos Records’ Opera in English series – ‘Opera that speaks your language’ – is now the largest recorded collection of operas sung in English whilst Opera Rara’s recordings of rare bel canto operas have opened up an immensely rich repertory previously only accessible to scholars. In live performance, the Foundation has encouraged the creation of new work and schemes to attract new audiences, financing the publication of scores and enabling rarely heard works to be staged by British opera companies and festivals. 18 19 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 20 Große Opernarien Der Begriff Zwischenfach bezieht sich auf Stimmen wie die der englischen Sängerin Diana Montague. Dass Organen dieser Art beinahe keine Grenzen gesetzt sind, beweist das vorliegende abwechslungsreiche Recital. Diana Montague ist eine hohe Mezzosopranistin, die, wie ihre Vorgängerin Pauline Viardot im 19. Jahrhundert und andere Sängerinnen, nicht nur die Rollen des üblichen Mezzofachs beherrscht, sondern auch viele Partien singt, die eigentlich in den Sopranbereich fallen. Dabei handelt es sich um ein Repertoire, das sich von der Barockoper bis zur Operette erstreckt; diese CD sowie Diana Montagues Karriere gewähren einen lebhaften, aufschlussreichen Überblick über das Fach. Wie in der ersten Kompilation der Opernarien, die sie für Chandos einspielte (CHAN 3010), ist Diana Montague eine hervorragende Verfechterin der Oper in ihrer Landessprache, d.h. auf Englisch. Die schlanke, ansprechende Stimme bringt den Text großartig zur Geltung und verleiht jedem Wort, jeder Phrase eine ganz besondere Bedeutung. Sie ist auch mit einem angeborenen Timbre gesegnet, an dem sie gearbeitet hat, bis es mit der Musik atmet und allen Stücken, die sie singt, eine eigene Beredsamkeit und gegebenfalls humorvolle Ausdrucksweise verleiht. Den Löwenanteil dieses Recitals nehmen Arien von Händel, Mozart und Gluck ein – alles Komponisten, die der Sängerin besonders liegen. Ihre Opern spannen die Epoche des Aufstiegs und Untergangs der Kastraten. Zunächst übernahmen sie zahlreiche Hauptrollen in Händels Opern; als die künstliche Züchtung dieses “Fachs” allmählich abgeschafft wurde, entstanden viele Hosenrollen für Sängerinnen, also für Stimmen wie die der Montague. Diese Tradition wurde auch im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert aufrechterhalten, z.B. in den Richard Strauss-Partien des Octavian und des Komponisten in Der Rosenkavalier und Ariadne auf Naxos; in diesem Recital dient die Rolle des Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus, dem Meisterwerk des anderen Strauss, und des Siébel in Faust, als Beleg. Die ältesten Beispiele sind zwei wohlbekannte, ergreifende Arien aus Händel20 Opern, die ursprünglich für Kastraten gesetzt waren. Die Rolle des Ruggiero in Alcina war für den Kastraten Carestini geschrieben. Die Zauberin Alcina hat ihn verhext und in ihm die Liebe erweckt. Im zweiten Akt ist er wieder bei Sinnen, verläßt aber nur ungern die herrliche Landschaft, die er in der berühmten Arie “Verdant pastures” (Band 5 ) besingt. Die scheinbar einfache Melodie entspricht seinen zwiespältigen Gefühlen. Händel eröffnete seinen Opern häufig mit einem kontemplativen Arioso (z.B. “Ombra mai fu” in Xerxes). Das ist auch der Fall in Atalanta: der Held Meleager besingt mit dem schlichten, elegischen “Noble forests” (Band 6 ) die Herrlichkeit der Natur. Als Gegenstück zu diesen Arien von Händel dient das ungekünstelte “If you are near” (Band 18 ), das seinerzeit Johann Sebastian Bach zugeschrieben wurde, heute aber als das Werk seines Zeitgenossen Stölzel gilt. Wie dem auch sei, ist es bezaubernd. Iphigenia in Tauris ist vielleicht die dramaturgisch überzeugendste Oper aus Glucks Reifezeit; sie war sein letztes, größtes Werk für Paris. Die Titelheldin ist eine wahrhaft tragische Figur, in der Glucks genialer Satz klassische Beherrschung mit echter Gefühlstiefe paart. Diana Montague hat bereits eine Gesamtaufnahme in der Originalsprache unter John Eliot Gardiner eingespielt. In ihrer Muttersprache ist die Verkörperung der Tochter Agamemnons, eine Priesterin der Göttin Diana auf der Insel Tauris, womöglich noch eindringlicher und ergreifender. Die Verzweiflung und Verlassenheit ihrer Klage im zweiten Akt “No hope remains in my affliction” (Band 3 ) enthält melodische Wendungen und harmonische Progressionen, wie man sie nur bei Gluck findet. Im vierten Akt beklagt sie das Geschick, das sie zwingt, ein furchtbares Blutopfer zu vollziehen: “I implore thee and tremble” (Band 4 ); echt Glucksche Töne bringen das Grauen ihrer Zwangslage zur Geltung. Das warme Mitgefühl, das der Komponist für seine Heldin empfand, ist in beiden Stücken unverkennbar und Diana Montagues Interpretation trägt seinen Emotionen Rechnung. In Mozarts Zeit war das Geschlecht der Kastraten (gottlob) im Aussterben, obwohl der Komponist bei seinen Opere serie noch immer Partien für dieses Fach schrieb (siehe unten). Für den Schürzenjäger Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro wäre ein Kastrat natürlich ganz falsch am Platz gewesen. Mozart entschied sich für die Stimmlage Sopran; 21 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 22 allerdings läuft ein leichtes Organ dabei Gefahr, zu mädchenhaft zu wirken. Hingegen ist der hohe Mezzo der Montague wie maßgeschneidert für diesen überschwänglichen Knaben an der Schwelle des Mannesalters, den die Arie im ersten Akt “Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me” (Band 1 ) so wunderbar beschreibt. Hier wertete Mozart die Mittellage aus, um hemmungslose Gefühlswärme auszudrücken. Cherubino war eine der ersten Partien, mit denen Diana Montague am Opernhaus Covent Garden ihre erfolgreiche Karriere anbahnte. Sie war schauspielerisch und stimmlich ideal, daher ist dieses Andenken an ihre Interpretation besonders glücklich gewählt. Obwohl Dorabella in Così fan tutte ein ganz anderes Naturell hat, liegt die Partie im gleichen Stimmumfang wie die des Cherubino und wird denn auch im Lauf der Jahre von Sopranistinnen wie Mezzosopranistinnen gesungen. Übrigens fielen zu Mozarts Zeit diese Unterschiede kaum ins Gewicht. Auch hier ist die Montague, die sich in beiden Lagen gleich wohlfühlt, die ideale Besetzung. Zunächst hören wir, wie sie ihre Verzweiflung mit übertriebenen Worten ausdrückt: “Torture and agony” (Band 8 ). Eine der beiden leicht beeinflussbaren Schwestern beklagt das grausame Geschick, dass ihr angeblich den Geliebten entrissen hat. Dieser Ausbruch echter Leidenschaft ist so emphatisch, dass er geradezu an Gluck anklingt Die nächste Spur bringt Dorabella mit ihrer Schwester Fiordiligi und dem zynischen alten Don Alfonso im wunderbaren Abschiedsterzett “Blow gently, you breezes” (Band 7 ). In diesem Werk gibt sich Mozarts Duktus herrlicher ruhender Punkte in der Erscheinungen Flucht besonders deutlich zu erkennen; freilich meint es eine Person, diesmal Alfonso, wohl nicht ganz ernst. Im zweiten Akt entschließen sich die etwas seriösere Fiordiligi und die leichtfertige Dorabella, mit den “neuen” Verehrern Kontakt aufzunehmen; sie singen ein entzückendes Duett, in dem sie über die beiden Männer disponieren: “I will take the handsome, dark one” (Band 9 ). Die Stimmen verflechten sich auf echt schwesterliche Weise. Das Duett “My heart here I give you” (Band 12 ) drückt Dorabellas neu erwachte Liebe ganz aufrichtig aus; indes ist die Musik so betörend, dass man sich des Eindrucks nicht erwehren kann, auch Guglielmo sei im Begriff, sich in das “falsche” Mädchen zu verlieben. Mozart war eben ein Genie. Alan 22 Opie, der als Guglielmo sowie Alfonso an der English National Opera aufgetreten ist, beherrscht beide Partien mühelos, und Orla Boylan ist die ideale Fiordiligi. Wie schon erwähnt, schrieb auch Mozart für Kastraten. In seiner letzten Oper, der Seria The Clemency of Titus, handelt es sich um die Partie des Sextus, eines jungen, empfindsamen Römers, der Vitellia, der Tochter des enthronten Kaisers, hörig ist. Vitellia ist erbost, dass Kaiser Titus sie nicht zu seiner Gattin erwählt hat, und drängt Sextus, seinen besten Freund zu ermorden. Der unglückliche Sextus besingt all seine Gewissensqualen in der langen zweiteiligen Arie “Send me, but, my beloved, never reject me in anger” (Band 2 ), in der Mozart den Charakter des rechtschaffenen, innerlich zerrissenen Jünglings wunderbar ausdrückt. Auch bei dieser Partie liegt die Tessitura zwischen Sopran und Mezzosopran und kann von beiden Stimmen interpretiert werden. Es folgen zwei Musterbeispiele der vielen Mozartarien für Solostimme mit Orchester. Sie sind Diana Montague wie auf den Leib geschrieben, denn sie entstanden für Louise Villeneuve, die erste Dorabella, als Einlagen in Vicente Martins Oper Il burbero di buon cuore nach einem Schauspiel von Goldoni, Libretto von Lorenzo da Ponte, KV 582 und KV 583 im Köchelverzeichnis. KV 582, “Who knows what feeling” (Band 11 ) ist entzückend, aber nicht besonders seriös; KV 583, “Banished, rejected” (Band 10 ) ist in Mozarts überschwänglichstem, gefühlvollsten Stil geschrieben. Ein Jahrhundert später befinden wir uns in einer ganz anderen Welt, nämlich der russischen Oper mit Fürst Igor von Borodin. Den zweiten Akt eröffnet ein Chor Polowetzer Mädchen, die der Kontschakowna ein schmachtendes Lied vorsingen: “Tender flower, starved of water” (Band 14 ). Fürst Igor ist der Gefangene ihres Vaters, des warmherzigen Khan Kontschak. Das quasiorientale Kolorit und Ambiente der Musik bietet im dramatischen Geschehen vorübergehend etws Entspannung. Borodin vermochte sehr geschickt die Musik des Westens mit lokalen Einflüssen zu verbinden. Viel urbaner und mehr nach westeuropäischem Geschmack ist Gounods Faust, eine Oper aus derselben Epoche, wie die reizende Arie des Siébel “When happy days” (Band 16 ) beweist. Er liebt Margarete, kann sich aber nicht gegen Faust behaupten. Mittlerweile hatte in Wien seit Mozarts Zeit eine grundlegende Änderung im Zugang zur 23 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 24 Musik stattgefunden. Nun war die Operette die große Mode. Mit seinem Bombenerfolg des Jahres 1874, Die Fledermaus, machte sich Johann Strauß etwas maliziös über die damalige bürgerliche Gesellschaft der k. und k. Hauptstadt lustig. Mittelpunkt des Geschehens ist ein Fest im Palais des jungen, blasierten Prinzen Orlowsky; zu Beginn des zweiten Aktes verkündet er die Philosophie seines Lebens in einem Couplet “Chacun à son goût” (Band 15 ). Dieses Lied, in dem Nonchalance und Zynismus mit einer gewissen Taktlosigkeit verbunden sind, fängt den Charakter des Prinzen großartig ein. Es ist für eine Mezzostimme gesetzt und folglich nicht einfach zu singen, denn es liegt zumeist recht tief, verlangt aber auch mehrmals das hohe As. Diana Montagues Stimme ist wie geschaffen, um diese Probleme zu überwinden. Mit seinem 1898 in Wien uraufgeführten Opernball erwies sich Richard Heuberger als einer der erfolgreicheren Nachkommen des Walzerkönigs. Bei weitem die populärste Nummer ist “In a cosy chambre séparée” (Band 13 ). Henri und Hortense begegnen einander im Foyer der Pariser Oper und er lockt sie mit Hilfe eines verführerischkantablen Walzers in eine Loge, die für ungestörte Zusammenkünfte reserviert ist. Noch erfolgreicher war Lehárs Operette The Merry Widow, die 1905 zum ersten Mal über die Bühne ging. Der lyrische Höhepunkt ist das Duett im zweiten Akt. Der französische Aristokrat Camille de Rosillon ist in Valencienne, die Gattin des pontevedrinischen Gesandten in Paris, Baron Mirko Zeta, verliebt. Ihre Beziehung gipfelt in dem Stück “Just as the sun awakens” (Band 17 ). Valencienne beschwört Camille, sie nicht weiter zu verfolgen, willigt aber schließlich zu einem letzten Kuss im Pavillon ein (“See where the summer-house awaits”). Keiner konnte wie Lehár so berückende, erotisch suggestive Musik komponieren. Auch Valencienne ist eine Zwischenfach-Partie, die der Sopranstimme sowie dem hohen Mezzo liegt. Diana Montagues Partner ist der elegante, eindringliche Tenor Bruce Ford. © 2003 Alan Blyth Übersetzung: Gery Bramall Diana Montague wurde in Winchester geboren und studierte am Royal Northern College of Music. Seit ihrem Debüt als Zerlina mit der Glyndebourne Touring Opera ist sie an vielen namhaften Opernhäusern – Royal Opera Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera in 24 New York, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brüssel, Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires – sowie bei den Bayreuther und Salzburger Festspielen aufgetreten. Ihr Repertoire umfasst die wichtigen Rollen für Mezzosopran in Opern von Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini und Berlioz, und im Rahmen regelmäßiger Konzertverpflichtungen ist sie unter der Leitung von Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate und Sir Andrew Davis aufgetreten. Ihre Opernengagements haben sie in alle Welt geführt: Iphigénie en Tauride in Buenos Aires, Madrid und an der Welsh National Opera; Le Comte Ory in Lausanne, Rom und Glyndebourne; Andromaca in Rossinis Ermione in Glyndebourne; Proserpina in Monteverdis Orfeo in Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria in Amsterdam und Sydney; Sesto in Madrid; Der Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) an der Scottish Opera und in Lissabon; Meg Page (Falstaff ) zur Wiedereröffnung der Royal Opera Covent Garden; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) in Neapel, Bilbao und am Teatro Real in Madrid; sowie Marguerite (Faust) in Wien. Diana Montague hat zahlreiche Schallplatten aufgenommen, u.a. Monteverdis Orfeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, Iphigénie en Tauride, für die Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata und Il crociato in Egitto sowie für Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation Cavalleria rusticana, Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier (Auszüge), Faust und eine frühere Sammlung großer Opernarien (CHAN 3010). Walter Weller war von Januar 1992 bis Juli 1997 Musikdirektor und Chefdirigent des Royal Scottish National Orchestra, von dem er zum “Conductor Emeritus” ernannt wurde. Außerdem ist er Künstlerischer Berater und Chefgastdirigent des Orquesta Nacional de España. Er war bei der Allgemeinen Musikgesellschaft Basel Generalmusikdirektor an der Oper und Musikddirektor des Orchesters (September 1994 bis Juli 1997), Chefdirigent des Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1980–1985) sowie Musikdirektor und Künstlerischer Leiter beim Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (1977–1980). Bereits mit 21 Jahren wurde er zum 1. Konzertmeister der Wiener Philharmoniker ernannt, die er später auch dirigierte. Walter Weller tritt regelmäßig als Gastdirigent mit den großen Orchestern der Welt auf und hat zahlreiche Orchester geleitet: London Symphony Orchestra, London 25 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 26 Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, RSO Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonie Hamburg, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala Milan, Concertgebouw Orkest, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Tonhalle Zürich, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester, Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Stockholm sowie die Philharmoniker von Oslo und von Helsinki. In Nordamerika hat er mit Orchestern wie den New York Philharmonikern, den Sinfonieorchestern von Minnesota, San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati und Toronto sowie dem National Arts Centre Orchestra von Ottawa gearbeitet. Zu seinen Opernverpflichtungen gehörten Der fliegende Holländer (Scala), Ariadne on Naxos und The Flying Dutchman (English National Opera), Der Freischütz (Teatro Comunale, Bologna), Prince Igor (Berliner Staatskapelle) sowie Fidelio und Der Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera). Außerdem hat er Konzertaufführungen beim Tivoli Festival geleitet. In seiner Eröffnungssaison in Basel dirigierte er eine hocherfolgreiche Inszenierung von Die Frau ohne Schatten. Andere konzertante Opernaufführungen waren Fidelio mit dem City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Elektra und Der fliegende Holländer mit dem Royal Scottish National Orchestra sowie Eugene Onegin in Kopenhagen. Neben Gesamtaufnahmen der Sinfonien von Prokofjew und Rachmaninow hat Walter Weller Bartóks Konzert für Orchester, die Lachischen Tänze von Janáček’s, Bruckners Sinfonie Nr. 4 und für Chandos die zehn Sinfonien Beethovens und dessen Klavierkonzerte (mit John Lill) sowie die Mendelssohn-Sinfonien eingespielt. Für Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation hat er eine CD Großen Operettenarien mit Bruce Ford dirigiert. Guy Gravett CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Diana Montague as Sesto in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Mozart’s The Clemency of Titus 26 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 28 Grands airs d’opéra Le terme Zwischenfach (types intermédiaires) est utilisé en Allemagne et ailleurs, dans la littérature, pour décrire le type de voix que possède Diana Montague. Les possibilités pour les voix comme la sienne sont presque illimitées, et le récital varié, éclectique enregistré ici le confirme. Sa voix de mezzo aiguë lui permet, comme Pauline Viardot longtemps avant elle au dix-neuvième siècle, et d’autres depuis, d’interpréter des rôles destinés à des mezzos ordinaires et bien d’autres encore revenant habituellement aux sopranos. L’éventail est large et s’étend de l’opéra baroque à l’opérette – comme l’illustrent brillamment ce disque ainsi que l’évolution de sa carrière. Comme dans le premier volume d’arias qu’elle enregistra pour Chandos (CHAN 3010), Diana Montague défend aussi, de manière très convaincante, la cause de l’opéra chanté en anglais. Elle déploie sa voix délicate et plaisante pour tirer le meilleur parti d’un texte dans la langue vernaculaire, donnant à chaque terme et à chaque phrase une inflexion d’une expressivité spécifique. Elle a aussi l’inestimable avantage de posséder naturellement, mais d’avoir développé aussi, un timbre qui palpite avec la musique qu’elle interprète. Ceci pare tout ce qu’elle chante d’une éloquence particulière, ou d’esprit là où il sied. Dans une importante partie de ce récital, Diana Montague déploie ses dons exceptionnels comme interprète de Haendel, Gluck et Mozart. Leurs opéras couvrent l’époque de la vogue du castrat. Plus tard, quand ce type de voix créé artificiellement fut progressivement écarté, des femmes, avec des voix du type de celle de Diana Montague encore, reprirent souvent les rôles de ces jeunes chanteurs. Cette tradition se poursuivit aux dix-neuvième et vingtième siècles. Citons à titre d’exemple, les rôles d’Octavian et du Compositeur, respectivement dans Der Rosenkavalier et Ariadne auf Naxos de Richard Strauss. Dans ce récital, ceci est illustré par Orlofsky dans Die Fledermaus de Johann Strauss et par Siébel dans Faust de Gounod. Les extraits les plus anciens repris sur ce disque sont deux arias célèbres et émouvants de Haendel, chantés tous deux par des castrats. “Verdant pastures” (plage 5 ) dans Alcina est chanté par Ruggiero et fut interprété à l’origine par le castrat Carestini. Ruggiero a été ensorcelé 28 par la magicienne Alcina et est tombé amoureux d’elle. Il est libéré de ce sortilège dans l’Acte II, mais se montre assez réticent à l’idée de quitter les merveilleux pâturages qu’il chante dans cet aria à juste titre célèbre. Sa mélodie d’apparence simple voile ses sentiments ambivalents. Haendel avait souvent pour habitude de débuter un opéra par un arioso (voir “Ombra mai fu” dans Xerxes). C’est le cas dans Atalanta où le héros Meleagro chante cet air élégiaque et tout en simplicité “Noble forests” (plage 6 ) dans lequel il célèbre la magnificence de la nature. Le pendant de ces pièces de Haendel dans cet enregistrement est la mélodie candide, sincère, “If you are near” (plage 18 ) qui fut à une certaine époque attribuée à J.S. Bach et qui l’est maintenant à son contemporain Stölzel. Qui que soit le compositeur, la pièce est un délice. Iphigenia in Tauris de Gluck est peut-être l’opéra le plus éloquent et explicite du point de vue dramatique de sa période de maturité. C’est la dernière et la plus grandiose des œuvres sérieuses écrite par le compositeur pour Paris. Son héroïne éponyme est une figure véritablement tragique dont le destin est exprimé d’emblée – tel est le génie de Gluck – avec une sobriété classique et une émotion profonde. Diana Montague a déjà enregistré l’opéra complet en français avec John Eliot Gardiner. Ici, elle chante dans sa langue maternelle et elle est, s’il est possible, plus émouvante et expressive encore dans l’interprétation de son rôle, la fille d’Agamemnon, prêtresse de Diane sur l’île de Tauride. Dans la lamentation de l’Acte II “No hope remains in my affliction” (plage 3 ), elle épanche son désespoir et son esseulement dans un genre unique à Gluck, à la fois par les contours mélodiques et la progression harmonique. Plus tard, dans l’Acte IV, elle déplore dans “I implore thee and tremble” (plage 4 ) que son destin l’oblige à un sacrifice sanglant et exprime en un style spécifiquement gluckien l’horreur de la situation. Dans les deux airs, Gluck témoigne d’une profonde compassion pour son héroïne, des sentiments que reflètent l’interprétation de Diana Montague. A l’époque de Mozart, le castrat était, heureusement, un type de voix appelé à disparaître, bien que le compositeur ait encore écrit des rôles pour celui-ci (voir ci-dessous) dans son opera seria. De toute manière, il aurait paru étrange de faire appel à un castrat pour chanter le rôle du juvénile Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro). Mozart porta plutôt son choix sur une soprano, mais les voix légères dans ce registre peuvent sembler trop féminines. Le mezzo aigu de Diana Montague, par contre, convient tout à fait pour restituer 29 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 30 la jeunesse palpitante de Cherubino qui prend conscience de sa virilité naissante, ce que résume parfaitement l’aria de l’Acte I “Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me” (plage 1 ). Ici, Mozart exploite les possibilités qu’offre le registre intermédiaire de la voix pour diffuser la chaleur et l’acuité des sentiments de Cherubino. Ce fut l’un des premiers rôles de la glorieuse carrière de Diana Montague à Covent Garden. Elle incarnait et chantait le rôle presque à la perfection, et ce souvenir de cette exécution est donc particulièrement bienvenu. Bien que Dorabella dans Così fan tutte soit un caractère très différent de Cherubino, le registre vocal des deux rôles est très semblable, et tous deux ont été interprétés au cours des ans par des sopranos et des mezzos. De toute manière, à l’époque de Mozart, les démarcations rigides entre les types de voix étaient pour ainsi dire inexistantes. Une fois encore, la voix de Diana Montague, à mi-chemin entre l’une et l’autre, semble être la réponse idéale. Nous l’entendons tout d’abord dans le burlesque “Torture and agony” (plage 8 ) dans lequel une des vulnérables héroïnes de Mozart maudit le destin qui lui a soi-disant ravi son bien-aimé. Cette explosion de passion, apparemment sincère, évoque la manière de Gluck par sa force. Ensuite, nous entendons Dorabella et sa sœur Fiordiligi chanter l’incomparable trio d’adieu en compagnie du cynique vieillard Don Alfonso dans “Blow gently, you breezes” (plage 7 ). Mozart, comme de coutume, mais dans cette oeuvre tout particulièrement, marque un moment de repos et de réflexion d’une beauté intemporelle, en dépit du fait qu’un personnage, tel Alfonso ici, puisse avoir des pensées très différentes. Dans l’Acte II, Fiordiligi, la plus résolue des deux sœurs, et Dorabella – ayant décidé de tenter leur chance avec leurs “nouveaux” hommes – chantent un merveilleux duo dans lequel chacune fait son choix, “I will take the handsome, dark one” (plage 9 ). L’entrelacement de leurs deux voix est véritablement fraternel. Dans le duo “My heart here I give you” (plage 12 ), tout comme dans le trio évoqué cidessus, l’amour naissant de Dorabella est exprimé dans toute son authenticité, mais nous sentons aussi que Guglielmo, malgré lui, est en train de tomber amoureux en se trompant de femme; la musique exprime l’équivoque avec une étonnante séduction. C’est le génie de Mozart. Alan Opie qui a interprété les rôles de Guglielmo et d’Alfonso pour le English National Opera maîtrise 30 facilement les deux dans ces extraits et Orla Boylan a juste la voix qui convient pour Fiordiligi. Dans son dernier opéra, The Clemency of Titus, Mozart écrit, une fois encore, comme je l’ai noté précédemment, un rôle qu’il destine à un castrat, celui de Sextus, jeune homme vulnérable esclave de Vitellia. Désespérée car l’empereur Titus ne l’a pas choisie comme impératrice, elle persuade Sextus d’aller assassiner son meilleur ami, Titus. Toute la contradiction des sentiments de Sextus est exposée dans le long aria en deux parties “Send me, but, my beloved, never reject me in anger”) (plage 2 ). Mozart y dépeint le caractère du jeune homme, honnête et perplexe. Une fois encore, il s’agit d’un rôle qui de par sa tessiture moyenne peut être interprété soit par une soprano, soit par une mezzo. En plus de ses opéras, Mozart a composé de nombreuses pièces pour voix solo qui sont des arias avec accompagnement orchestral; nous en avons deux excellents exemples ici. Ils conviennent particulièrement bien à Diana Montague, car tous deux furent écrits pour Louise Villeneuve, la première Dorabella, afin d’être insérés dans Il burbero di buon cuore de Vicente Martin, un opéra d’après un livret de Da Ponte, inspiré d’une pièce de Goldoni. Ils se trouvent côte à côte dans le catalogue Köchel et portent les références K.582 et 583. Le second qui est beaucoup plus substantiel est “Banished, rejected” (plage 10 ), composé dans une style mozartien d’une exceptionnelle éloquence et profondeur de sentiment. L’autre “Who knows what feeling” (plage 11 ) est une pièce sans prétention, mais charmante. Environ cent ans plus tard, nous nous retrouvons dans un univers tout à fait différent, celui de l’opéra de souche russe représenté par le Prince Igor de Borodine. Dans la scène introductive de l’Acte II, un groupe de jeunes filles polovtsiennes chantent une mélodie langoureuse “Tender flower, starved of water” (plage 14 ) devant leur maîtresse, Kontchakovna, la fille du khan Kontchak, le souverain bienfaisant dont Igor est prisonnier. La musique de cet épisode qui évoque l’Orient par sa coloration et les sentiments qui l’imprègnent marque un temps de repos dans ce drame intense. Borodine était maître dans l’art de marier ce que lui avait enseigné la musique occidentale aux influences plus locales. Faust, une œuvre datant de la même époque, est musicalement beaucoup plus courtoise et occidentale comme le montre la charmante mélodie chantée par Siébel 31 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 32 Strauss que le succès récompensa. L’air de très loin le plus célèbre dans cette oeuvre est “In a cosy chambre séparée” (plage 13 ) qui évoque la première rencontre des amants Henri et Hortense dans un théâtre. Henri mène Hortense dans la “chambre séparée”, l’une des loges du théâtre gardée comme chambre particulière. Il lui fait la cour en chantant un air qui compte parmi les plus délicieusement séduisants de tout le répertoire de l’opérette. The Merry Widow de Lehár obtint un succès plus prodigieux encore en 1905. Le sommet lyrique de l’œuvre est le duo de l’Acte II mettant en scène l’aristocrate français Camille de Rosillon et Valencienne qui est en réalité l’épouse du baron Mirko, représentant du Pontevedrin à Paris. La relation illicite culmine dans l’air “Just as the sun awakens” (plage 17 ). Valencienne supplie Camille de mettre un terme à ses ardentes avances, mais finalement, au son d’une musique fragrante, très érotique, celle dans laquelle le compositeur excelle (“See where the summer-house awaits”, elle consent à un dernier baiser dans le pavillon qui conduit à toutes sortes d’intrigues compliquées. Valencienne est encore un de ces rôles situés à mi-chemin entre deux types de voix qui ont été chantés à la fois par des sopranos et par des mezzos. Diana Montague a “When happy days” (plage 16 ). Le rival de Faust pour la main de Marguerite est condamné à l’insuccès. Entre temps, à Vienne, la situation avait beaucoup évolué en termes de génie et de caractère musical depuis l’époque de Mozart. L’opérette faisait fureur. Johann Strauss, dans ce grand succès que fut son opérette Die Fledermaus en 1874, ridiculisait avec une tendresse mitigée la société bourgeoise du moment dans la capitale autrichienne. La pièce se joue autour de la réception offerte au palais du prince Orlofsky, un jeune homme blasé que la vie ennuie et qui cherche à être distrait. Dans les couplets qu’il chante peu après le début de l’Acte II, il énonce sa philosophie – il veut que tout le monde boive avec lui et le divertisse (“Chacun à son goût”, plage 15 ). Strauss esquisse son caractère à la perfection dans un air qui allie nonchalance et cynisme, avec une touche de gaucherie. Ecrit pour une voix de mezzo, il n’est pas facile à chanter. Il se situe pour une grande partie dans le registre grave, mais il y a aussi une répétition du la bémol. Une voix comme celle de Diana Montague convient parfaitement pour surmonter ses difficultés. Avec son Opera Ball créé à Vienne en 1898, Richard Heuberger fut l’un des disciples de 32 ici comme partenaire Bruce Ford, ténor élégant, convaincant. Glyndebourne; Proserpina dans Orfeo de Monteverdi à Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria à Amsterdam et à Sydney; Sesto à Madrid; le Compositeur (Ariadne auf Naxos) au Scottish Opera et à Lisbonne; Meg Page (Falstaff ) pour la réouverture du Royal Opera de Covent Garden à Londres; Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) à Naples, Bilbao et au Teatro Real de Madrid; Marguerite à Vienne. La riche discographie de Diana Montague inclut Orfeo de Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, et Iphigénie en Tauride. Pour Opera Rara, elle a enregistré Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata, Il crociato in Egitto, et pour Chandos et la Peter Moores Foundation, Cavalleria rusticana, Octavian dans Der Rosenkavalier (extraits), Faust en un disque précédent dans la collection Great Operatic Arias (CHAN 3010). © 2003 Alan Blyth Traduction: Marie-Françoise de Meeûs Diana Montague est née à Winchester, et a fait ses études au Royal Northern College of Music de Manchester. Depuis ses débuts dans le rôle de Zerlina avec le Glyndebourne Touring Opera, elle s’est produite dans des salles telles que le Royal Opera de Covent Garden à Londres, le Metropolitan Opera de New York, le Théâtre de la Monnaie à Bruxelles, l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, le Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, et dans les festivals de Bayreuth et Salzbourg. Son répertoire compte les grands roles de mezzo-sopranos dans des opéras de Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini et Berlioz. Très demandée en concert, elle a chanté sous la direction de chefs tels que Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate et Sir Andrew Davis. Parmi ses prestations à la scène, on citera Iphigénie en Tauride à Buenos Aires, à Madrid et au Welsh National Opera; Le Comte Ory à Lausanne, Rome et Glyndebourne; Andromaca dans Ermione de Rossini à Après avoir été directeur musical et chef principal du Royal Scottish National Orchestra de janvier 1992 à juillet 1997, Walter Weller est aujourd’hui chef honoraire de cet ensemble. Il est également conseiller artistique et chef invité principal de l’Orchestre National d’Espagne. Il fut directeur artistique de l’Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft de Bâle, directeur musical de l’Opéra de Bâle et chef 33 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 34 principal de l’Orchestre symphonique de Bâle de septembre 1994 à juillet 1997, chef principal du Royal Philharmonic Orchestra de 1980 à 1985 ainsi que directeur musical et artistique du Royal Liverpool Philharmonic de 1977 à 1980. A l’âge de vingt et un ans, il fut nommé premier violon de l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Vienne, une formation qu’il dirigea par la suite. Il est invité régulièrement à diriger les plus grands orchestres du monde et a travaillé avec le London Symphony Orchestra, le London Philharmonic Orchestra, le Philharmonia Orchestra, le Staatskapelle de Dresde, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Berlin, le Gewandhaus de Leipzig, la Philharmonie de Hambourg, l’Orchestre Philharmonique d’Israël, l’Orchestre de Paris, l’Orchestre National de France, l’Orchestre du Théâtre de La Scala à Milan, l’Orchestre Royal du Concertgebouw, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de la Radio Néerlandaise, l’Orchestre de la Tonhalle de Zürich, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, l’Orchestre de la Radio Suédoise, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Stockholm, ceux d’Oslo et d’Helsinki. En Amérique du Nord, il a collaboré avec des ensembles tels le New York Philharmonic Orchestra, les Orchestres Symphoniques du Minnesota, de San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati et Toronto ainsi qu’avec le National Arts Centre Orchestra à Ottawa. Sur la scène lyrique, il a dirigé entre autres Der fliegende Holländer à La Scala, Ariadne on Naxos et The Flying Dutchman pour l’English National Opera, Der Freischütz au Teatro Comunale de Bologne, Prince Igor pour le Staatskapelle de Berlin et Fidelio ainsi que Der Rosenkavalier pour Scottish Opera. Il s’est également produit en concert dans le cadre du Festival de Tivoli. Durant sa première saison à Bâle, il a dirigé une version extrêmement réussie de Die Frau ohne Schatten. Parmi les autres opéras qu’il donna en concert, notons Fidelio avec le City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Elektra et Der fliegende Holländer avec le Royal Scottish National Orchestra ainsi qu’Eugen Onegin à Copenhague. Sa discographie comprend des cycles des Symphonies de Prokofiev et de Rachmaninov, le Concert pour orchestre de Bartók, les Danses valaques de Janáč ek, la Symphonie No 1 de Rachmaninov, la Symphonie No 4 de Bruckner et, pour Chandos, les Symphonies et les Concertos pour piano (avec John Lill) de Beethoven ainsi que les Symphonies de Mendelssohn. Pour Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation il a dirigé une enregistrement de Grands airs d’opérette avec Bruce Ford. 34 Corrado Maria Falsini CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Diana Montague as Isolier in Rome Opera’s production of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 36 Grandi arie operistiche Zwischenfach (tra un registro e l’altro) è un termine tedesco che può aiutarci a descrivere la voce di Diana Montague. Le cantanti come lei hanno possibilità quasi infinite, come conferma questo vario ed eclettico recital. Pur essendo un mezzosoprano, Diana Montague è capace, come Pauline Viardot nel lontano Ottocento e altre cantanti delle epoche successive, di affrontare anche molti altri brani normalmente appartenenti al repertorio del soprano. Le sue possibilità abbracciano ruoli che vanno dall’opera barocca all’operetta, come testimoniano questo straordinario disco e il progresso della sua carriera. Abbiamo già visto nel primo volume di arie da lei registrate per Chandos (CHAN 3010) che Diana Montague è una strenua paladina dell’opera in lingua inglese. La sua bella voce curata diventa uno strumento per sfruttare al massimo un testo nella propria lingua, modellando ciascuna parola e frase in base al suo particolare significato. A questo si aggiunge la preziosissima qualità innata di un timbro in grado di palpitare di pari passo con la musica, un dono da lei curato e sviluppato. Ecco perché tutte le sue interpretazioni hanno un accento particolarmente eloquente e, a volte, spiritoso. Questo recital esalta in gran parte le sue eccezionali doti di interprete di Handel, Gluck e Mozart, compositori legati al periodo inizialmente dominato dal castrato, che assumeva molti dei principali ruoli maschili delle opere di Handel. In seguito, quando i soprani “artificiali” cominciarono a scomparire, si diffuse maggiormente l’abitudine di affidare i personaggi dei giovani uomini a donne, sempre con voci affini a quella della Montague. La tradizione proseguiva nell’Ottocento e nel Novecento, per esempio con i ruoli di Ottavio e del Compositore in Der Rosenkavalier e Ariadne auf Naxos di Richard Strauss e viene ricordata in questo recital dal ruolo di Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, di un altro Strauss, e dal ruolo di Siébel in Faust di Gounod. Le arie più antiche tra quelle presenti nella registrazione sono due brani famosi e commoventi tratti dalle opere di Handel, entrambe affidate originariamente ai castrati. “Verdant pastures” (traccia 5 ) dall’Alcina, viene eseguita da Ruggero e fu originariamente interpretata dal castrato Carestini. Ruggero, 36 vittima di un incantesimo della maga Alcina, si è innamorato di lei. L’incantesimo viene spezzato nell’Atto II, ma l’eroe non riesce ad abbandonare i meravigliosi pascoli a cui inneggia in quest’aria giustamente famosa. La melodia apparentemente semplice esprime i suoi sentimenti contrastanti. Spesso Handel aveva l’abitudine di aprire un’opera con un arioso meditativo (come “Ombra mai fu” in Serse). Lo stesso accade in Atalanta dove l’eroe, Meleagro, esegue un brano semplice ed elegiaco, “Noble forests” (traccia 6 ), in cui rende omaggio alle bellezze della natura. Fanno da contrappunto a questi brani di Handel il semplice, sincero motivo “If you are near” (traccia 18 ), un tempo attribuito a J.S. Bach e oggi al suo contemporaneo Stölzel, un brano comunque delizioso. Dal punto di vista drammatico, Iphigenia in Tauris è probabilmente l’opera più rivelatrice e coerente della maturità di Gluck, l’ultima e la più grande delle opere serie composte per Parigi. L’omonima eroina è una figura veramente tragica, il cui destino viene genialmente espresso allo stesso tempo con autocontrollo classico e profondità emotiva. Diana Montague ha già registrato la versione integrale dell’opera in francese con John Eliot Gardiner. Qui canta nella propria lingua, e l’interpretazione della figlia di Agamennone, ormai sacerdotessa di Diana nella Tauride, forse è ancora più commovente. Il suo lamento nell’Atto II, “No hope remains in my affliction” (traccia 3 ), è uno sfogo di disperazione e solitudine con un taglio melodico e una progressione armonica esclusiva di Gluck. Nel brano successivo, “I implore thee and tremble” (traccia 4 ) dall’Atto IV, Ifigenia lamenta il proprio fato che l’ha costretta a compiere un sacrificio sanguinoso con toni che descrivono l’orrore della situazione nella maniera caratteristica di Gluck. In entrambi i brani, il compositore guarda alla propria eroina con profonda compassione, un’emozione che si rispecchia nell’interpretazione della Montague. All’epoca di Mozart, quella del castrato era (per fortuna) una razza in via di estinzione, anche se il compositore creò altri ruoli per questa voce nelle sue opere serie. Comunque, sarebbe sembrato strano affidare a un cantante del genere il ruolo del giovane Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro). Mozart scelse un soprano, ma le voci più leggere di questo registro possono sembrare troppo giovanili. Il mezzosoprano alto della Montague, invece, è ideale per il ritratto del paggio appassionato, che manifesta perfettamente la consapevolezza 37 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 38 della propria virilità incipiente nell’aria dell’Atto I, “Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me” (traccia 1 ). Mozart qui sfrutta l’abilità del registro medio della voce per proiettare il calore e l’immediatezza dei sentimenti di Cherubino. Questo è stato uno dei primi ruoli della fortunata carriera della Montague al Covent Garden. La cantane era perfetta per aspetto e per interpretazione e il ricordo della sua interpretazione è graditissimo. Sebbene Dorabella in Così fan tutte sia un personaggio molto diverso da Cherubino, la gamma vocale di entrambi è quasi la stessa e, quindi, è stata affidata negli anni sia a soprani sia a mezzosoprani. Comunque ai tempi di Mozart le rigide differenze tra registri non esistevano. Ancora una volta, la voce della Montague sembra la risposta ideale, in equilibrio tra i due generi. La sentiamo prima nell’imitazione della retorica di “Torture and agony” (traccia 8 ) in cui Mozart spinge la sua sensibile eroina a inveire contro il destino che avrebbe allontanato da lei l’innamorato. L’esplosione di questa passione apparentemente sincera ha una forza che ricorda la musica di Gluck. Poi è la volta di Dorabella e di sua sorella Fiordiligi, in un impareggiabile trio d’addio in compagnia del vecchio cinico Don Alfonso: “Blow gently, you breezes” (traccia 7 ). Come è sua abitudine, specialmente in quest’opera, Mozart crea un momento eterno di riposo e riflessione, anche se un personaggio, in questo caso quello di don Alfonso, nutre sentimenti molto diversi. Nell’Atto II, la risoluta Fiordiligi e Dorabella, avendo deciso di lasciarsi convincere dai “nuovi” uomini, cantano un delizioso duetto in cui ciascuna fa la propria scelta, “I will take the handsome, dark one” (traccia 9 ). Anche le due voci sono sorelle, nel loro intrecciarsi. Nel duetto, “My heart here I give you” (traccia 12 ), come nel trio precedente, il nuovo amore di Dorabella è espresso con sincerità, mentre Guglielmo, suo malgrado, è sul punto di innamorarsi della donna “sbagliata”, tale è la forza seducente e ingannatrice della musica geniale di Mozart. Alan Opie, cha ha interpretato i ruoli di Guglielmo e Alfonso per la English National Opera, li padroneggia entrambi con facilità in questi brani e Orla Boylan ha la voce giusta per Fiordiligi. Nella sua ultima opera, The Clemency of Titus, Mozart compose ancora una volta un ruolo per castrato: la parte di Sesto, un giovane vulnerabile, completamente schiavo di Vitellia. Offesa di non essere stata scelta come imperatrice, Vitellia convince Sesto ad 38 assassinare Tito, il suo migliore amico. Sesto esprime i suoi sentimenti contrari nella lunga aria in due parti, ‘Send me, but, my beloved, never reject me in anger’ (traccia 2 ), con cui Mozart presenta il personaggio di questo giovane retto e tormentato. Anche in questo caso il ruolo può essere affidato a un soprano o mezzosoprano, per la sua tessitura intermedia tra i due registri. Mozart compose anche molto brani indipendenti per voce solista di cui qui vengono presentati due ottimi esempi con l’accompagnamento dell’orchestra. Le arie sono particolarmente adatte a Diana Montague in quanto furono entrambe composte per Louise Villeneuve, la prima Dorabella, per essere inserite in Il burbero di buon cuore, di Vicente Martin, un’opera su libretto di Da Ponte, basata su una commedia di Goldoni. Si trovano affiancate nel catalogo Köchel con i numeri K. 582 and 583. La seconda e più impegnativa è “Banished, rejected”, (traccia 10 ) composta nella maniera più sentita, altisonante di Mozart. L’altra, “Who knows what feeling” (traccia 11 ), è un brano più leggero, ma incantevole. Circa un secolo dopo, ci ritroviamo in un mondo completamente diverso, quello dell’opera russa, con Prince Igor di Borodin. Nella scena iniziale dell’Atto II, un gruppo di fanciulle polovesi canta una canzone languida, “Tender flower, starved of water” (traccia 14 ), davanti alla padrona Konciakovna, figlia del Khan Konciak, governante benevolo che tiene prigioniero Igor. La musica, di colore e ispirazione quasi orientale, crea un momento di distensione in un dramma carico di tensione. Borodin aveva l’abilità di abbinare quanto aveva imparato dalla musica occidentale ad influenze più locali. Faust, un’opera dello stesso periodo, rivela un carattere musicale molto più cortese e occidentale, come dimostra il delizioso brano di Siebel “When happy days” (traccia 16 ). Il rivale di Faust alla mano di Margherita è destinato al fallimento. A fine Ottocento, molte cose erano cambiate a Vienna rispetto ai tempi di Mozart per quanto riguarda i costumi e la musica. Adesso era di gran moda l’operetta. Nel suo grande successo del 1874, Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss si prese gioco senza tanti complimenti della società borghese dell’epoca nella capitale austriaca. Al centro della vicenda è il ballo organizzato al palazzo del principe Orlofsky, un giovane blasé annoiato della vita, in cerca di divertimento. Nei suoi versi all’inizio dell’Atto II dichiara la propria 39 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 40 filosofia. Esorta tutti a bere con lui e a farlo divertire (“Chacun à son goût”, traccia 15 ). Strauss definisce perfettamente la sua personalità in un brano che abbina noncuranza e cinismo con un pizzico di goffaggine. Composta per un mezzosoprano, l’aria non è facile da cantare. Per lo più è in un registro basso, ma contiene anche alcuni la bemolle ripetuti. Una voce come quella della Montague è ideale per superare le sue difficoltà.. Richard Heuberger fu uno dei seguaci di Strauss di maggior successo, con il suo Opera Ball eseguito per la prima volta a Vienna nel 1898. Il brano più riuscito è “In a cosy chambre séparée”, (traccia 13 ), in cui gli innamorati Henri e Hortense si incontrano per la prima volta in un teatro. L’uomo guida la donna nella chambre séparée, uno dei palchi del teatro adibito a camera privata, e la corteggia con uno dei più seducenti brani operettistici. The Merry Widow di Lehár riscosse ancora più successo nel 1905. La sua vetta lirica è il duetto dell’Atto II tra Camillo de Rosillon, aristocratico francese, e Valencienne, moglie del barone Mirko, inviato di Pontevedrin a Parigi. La relazione culmina in questo brano, “Just as the sun awakens” (traccia 17 ). Valencienne supplica Camillo di desistere dalle sue focose avances ma alla fine, al suono della musica raffinata, piena di richiami erotici di cui il compositore era maestro (“See where the summer-house awaits”), accetta un ultimo bacio nella serra, che porterà a una serie di complicazioni nella vicenda. Valencienne è un altro ruolo “intermedio”, eseguito da soprani e mezzosoprani alti. Diana Montague qui è accompagnata dall’elegante, persuasivo tenore Bruce Ford. © 2003 Alan Blyth Traduzione: Emanuela Guastella Diana Montague è nata a Winchester e ha studiato presso il Royal Northern College of Music. Dopo il suo esordio nel ruolo di Zerlina con la Glyndebourne Touring Opera si è esibita in teatri quali la Royal Opera House di Covent Garden, la Metropolitan Opera di New York, il Théâtre de la Monnaie di Bruxelles, l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, il Teatro Colón di Buenos Aires e ha partecipato ai festival di Bayreuth e Salisburgo. Il suo repertorio include i principali ruoli per mezzosoprano delle opere di Mozart, Gluck, Strauss, Rossini, Bellini e Berlioz. La sua ricca attività concertistica l’ha vista comparire a fianco di Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Sir John Eliot 40 Gardiner, Seiji Ozawa, Jeffrey Tate e Sir Andrew Davis. I suoi impegni hanno compreso Iphigénie en Tauride a Buenos Aires, Madrid e con la Welsh National Opera; Le Comte Ory a Losanna, Roma e Glyndebourne; Andromaca nell’Ermione di Rossini a Glyndebourne; Proserpina nell’Orfeo di Monteverdi ad Amsterdam; Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria ad Amsterdam e Sydney; i ruoli di Sesto a Madrid; il Compositore (Ariadne auf Naxos) per Scottish Opera e a Lisbona; Meg Page (Falstaff ) per la riapertura della Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Ottavio (Der Rosenkavalier) a Napoli, Bilbao e al Teatro Real di Madrid, e Marguerite a Vienna. La ricca discografia di Diana Montague comprende Orfeo di Monteverdi, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Norma, Lucia di Lammermoor, Iphigénie en Tauride; per Opera Rara Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Zoraida di Granata e Il crociato in Egitto; per Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation, Cavalleria rusticana, Ottoavio in Der Rosenkavalier (momenti salienti), Faust, e il disco Great Operatic Arias (CHAN 3010). è Consulente artistico e Direttore ospite dell’Orchestra nazionale di Spagna. È stato Direttore artistico della Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft di Basilea, Direttore musicale del Teatro di Basilea e Direttore principale dell’Orchestra sinfonica di Basilea dal settembre 1994 fino al luglio 1997, Direttore stabile della Royal Philharmonic Orchestra dal 1980 al 1985 e Direttore Musicale e artistico della Royal Liverpool Philharmonic dal 1977 al 1980. All’età di ventuno anni è stato nominato primo violino dell’Orchestra filarmonica di Vienna, di cui in seguito sarebbe diventato direttore. Walter Weller viene regolarmente invitato come direttore ospite da importanti orchestre di tutto il mondo e ha lavorato con la London Symphony Orchestra, la London Philharmonic, la Philharmonia Orchestra, la Staatskapelle di Dresda, la RSO di Berlino, l’orchestra del Gewandhaus di Lipsia, la Philharmonie di Amburgo, la Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Paris, l’Orchestre National de France, l’Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, l’Orchestra del Concertgebouw, l’Orchestra filarmonica della radio olandese, la Tonhalle-Orchester di Zurigo, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, l’orchestra della radio svedese, la Filarmonica Walter Weller è stato Direttore musicale e Direttore stabile della Royal Scottish National Orchestra tra il gennaio del 1992 e il luglio del 1997 e oggi è il suo Direttore Emerito. Inoltre 41 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 42 di Stoccolma e le Filarmoniche di Oslo e di Helsinki. Nell’America del nord ha lavorato con la New York Philharmonic, le orchestre sinfoniche del Minnesota, di San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cincinnati e Toronto e l’Orchestra del National Arts Centre di Ottawa. In teatro Walter Weller ha diretto tra l’altro Der fliegende Holländer alla Scala, Ariadne on Naxos e The Flying Dutchman per la English National Opera, Der Freischütz al Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Il principe Igor per la Staatskapelle di Berlino, Fidelio e Der Rosenkavalier per la Scottish Opera. Ha diretto concerti al festival di Tivoli. Nella sua prima stagione a Basilea, ha diretto un allestimento di grande successo della Frau ohne Schatten. Altre opere in concerto comprendono Fidelio con la City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Elektra e Der fliegende Holländer con la Royal Scottish National Orchestra ed Eugenio Onieghin a Copenaghen. La discografia comprende le sinfonie di Prokof ’ev e Rachmaninov, il Concerto per Orchestra di Bartók, le Danze di Lachi di Janáč ek, la Sinfonia n. 1 di Rachmaninov, a Sinfonia n. 4 di Bruckner e, per Chandos, le Sinfonie e i concerti per pianoforte di Beethoven (con John Lill) e le sinfonie di Mendelssohn. Per Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation ha diretto una registrazione di Grandi arie da operetta con Bruce Ford. Bill Cooper CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd Diana Montague as Romeo in a scene from Bellini’s The Capuleti and the Montecchi at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 42 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 44 And yet, if no one hear me, no, ne’er a soul to hear me, I talk of love alone. from The Marriage of Figaro Cherubino’s Aria 1 Cherubino Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me, and with feverish ecstasy thrills me? At the sight of a woman I tremble, and my heart seems to burst into flame. Love! That word sets me hoping and fearing. Love! That word that I always am hearing! Love! Ah, love! How can I dissemble those desires that I hardly dare name? English version by Edward J. Dent, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press from The Clemency of Titus Sextus’s Aria 2 Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me, and with feverish ecstasy thrills me? At the sight of a woman I tremble, and my heart seems to burst into flame. Sextus Send me, but, my beloved never reject me in anger. For you I shall be stronger: I shall do all you ask. Look at me once, I beg you: I go as your avenger. That glance so sweet and tender will ease the fateful hour. All day for love I languish, dream of delicious anguish! To ev’ry vale and mountain, to stream, to lake, and fountain, for love, for love I’m sighing; and Nature’s voice replying… echoes my tender moan. All day for love I languish, dream of delicious anguish! To ev’ry vale and mountain, to stream, to lake, and fountain, wherever I wander for love, for love I’m sighing; and Nature’s voice replying… echoes my tender moan. Send me, but, my beloved never reject me in anger. For you I shall be stronger: I shall do all you ask. Look at me, look at me! That glance so sweet and tender will ease the fateful hour. Look at me once, I beg you: I go as your avenger. Heaven must treasure beauty to grant so great a pow’r. Mazzolà after Metastasio, translation by David Parry 44 from Iphigenia in Tauris Once we hoped that Orestes would come! But he is dead: Now ev’ry hope has fled, endless grief lies before us! Priestesses’ Chorus and Iphigenia’s Aria 3 Chorus of Priestesses Farewell, beloved homeland, ah, from this alien shore we longed to return to Mycenae, but we’ve lost you for evermore! N.F. Guillard and Du Roullet, translation by Andrew Porter from Iphigenia in Tauris Iphigenia’s Aria Iphigenia No hope remains in my affliction, my dear fatherland lost now forever, lost, ah, lost forever! (to the Priestesses) Your mighty King is dead, those I love are all slain; so raise your plaintive cries and share my grief and pain: your mighty King is dead, those I loved have been slain! Ah, no hope remains, ah, no hope in my affliction! Land and kindred lost forever! Your mighty King is dead, those I love have been slain! So raise your plaintive cries, share all my grief and pain! Your mighty King lies died, those I love all are slain. 4 Iphigenia I implore thee and tremble, O relentless Diana! Now inspire in my heart furious desire to kill. Extinguish every tender sigh, the plaintive voice of human nature! Alas! No crueller fate could the gods have in store: as a priestess of bloodshed, a sad, unwilling victim, I obey! Tho’ my heart will be torn by remorse, but my heart will be torn by remorse. N.F. Guillard and Du Roullet, translation by Andrew Porter from Alcina Ruggiero’s Aria Chorus of Priestesses We raise out plaintive cries to share your grief and pain! 5 45 Ruggiero Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands, all your beauty will decay. CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 46 Perfumed flowers, clear flowing rivers though you invite me, and delight me, ’tis your fate to fade away. Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands, all your beauty will decay: what I loved and longed to cherish is as dust, destined to perish and return to barren clay. from Così fan tutte 8 translation by Amanda Holden from Atalanta Meleagro’s Aria 6 Dorabella Ah! Leave me now, beware the dangerous madness of a desperate woman! Go and close the shutters. I hate the daylight. I hate the air that I’m breathing… I hate myself ! Who makes fun of my despair? Who dares console me? Now go, for pity’s sake, leave me. Ah, for pity’s sake, leave me to suffer. Torture and agony, fiercely tormenting, now do your worst to me, without relenting, until your tyranny has brought my death. You fatal Destinies who scourge and punish, take what is left of me when life has vanished, when my despairing cries cease with my breath. Meleagro Noble forests, sombre and shady, burning passion fills my heart! translation by David Parry Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso’s Trio from Così fan tutte Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Don Alfonso Blow gently, you breezes, lie quietly, great ocean, for Heaven surely pleases to grant them protection and guide them to shore Dorabella and Fiordiligi’s Duet 9 Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund Dorabella He will say ‘For you I languish.’ 46 ?Da Ponte translation by David Parry Fiordiligi He will say ‘Ah, soothe my anguish.’ from Così fan tutte Guglielmo and Dorabella’s Duet Dorabella and Fiordiligi This adventure will be risky, but I know we’ll have some fun! 12 Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund 10 Dorabella I will take the handsome, dark one, for he has a wicked mind. Fiordiligi Well, in that case I’ll take the fair one, for his wit is so refined. He’s angry, or he’s jealous, afraid, suspicious, in love. You know, you gods who hear this, how pure the love I bear is; wipe from my soul, I beg you, the agony of doubt. Wipe from my soul, I beg you, the agony of love. Fiordiligi I shall imitate his sighing and his tragic lover’s style. Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund from Così fan tutte 7 Dorabella If he writes me ardent verses I will tease him with a smile. Dorabella’s Recitative and Aria Concert Aria Banished, rejected, God save me! Where will my torment guide me, where will my weeping find me if heav’nly mercy fails? Dorabella You gave it, I take it, but mine, I’ll not give it; I cannot command it, my heart is not mine. Love, deep and strange within me, show me the way to follow; soothe all the pain and sorrow which fills my heart with doubt. Guglielmo But a heart here is beating; now how can that be? Dorabella How can your heart be beating? You gave it to me? ?Da Ponte, translation by David Parry 11 Guglielmo My heart here I give you, a pledge and a token. As mine you have taken, give yours in return. Concert Aria Who knows what feeling my lover is concealing? Guglielmo What is beating, beating here? 47 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 48 Dorabella What is beating, beating here? Dorabella and Guglielmo What is beating, beating here? It’s my heart that’s beating, it’s with me no longer, it’s living with you now, it beats there for you. Guglielmo Look closely, look closely, rejoice in the sight. No, no, no I’ll go exploring high and low till I find my lady fair. So let’s start over there! Henri Thank heaven, we meet at last! Oh! Tell me quickly, who you are! Dorabella and Guglielmo How happy these changes of hearts and affections, what strange new sensations, what painful delight. Hortense (entering, wearing a mask) This is the clock, no sign of Henri, but he’ll come… without a doubt, though it could be a tricky problem if his cash has all run out! I’m pretty sure he has no notion who wrote the billet-doux. And if I know our young lothario he’s ripe for a rendezvous! (looking at the clock) Where can he be? I can’t wait all night! (looking at the clock again) There he is! Five minutes late, let’s give him a fright! Hortense No, no! Not quite so fast! In a cosy chambre séparée, come, let’s enjoy a tender tête à tête. While we sip champagne our cares will melt away, and who knows what pleasures await. Da Ponte, translation by Anne Ridler reproduced by permission of ENO Benevolent Fund Guglielmo And here let me place it. from The Opera Ball Dorabella It must not stay here. Henri and Hortense’s Duet Guglielmo Oh, come now, don’t tease me. 13 Dorabella What’s happ’ning? Guglielmo Do not look. Dorabella I feel such confusion, but love is to blame. Guglielmo (Forgive me, Ferrando, this cannot be true.) Guglielmo And now turn and face me. Henri This is the clock, she’s not arrived yet, if she’s delayed, what shall I do? The trouble is I’ve no experience with a secret rendezvous! My first attempt to woo a lady, I hope she won’t be long. Oh! How I wonder if she will like me! What will happen if it all goes wrong? (looking at the clock) Where can she be? Should I stand and wait? (looking at the clock again) Oh! I’m on tenterhooks, how could she be late? Who, who, who can advise me what to do? Where on earth should I search? Has she left me in the lurch? Dorabella What is it? 48 Henri (nervously) In a cosy chambre séparée… Hortense Come, let’s enjoy a tender tête à tête… Henri While we sip champagne… (She steps back a bit so she can’t be seen by Henri, and is able stand behind him.) Hortense Our cares will melt away… Henri No sign at all, and I’m at my wits end. Hortense and Henri And who knows what pleasures await! Hortense Why not turn around, my gallant friend? Hortense You’ll follow me? Henri Madame… Henri Yes, anywhere! Hortense Monsieur! Hortense Shh! Quiet, or all the world will hear! 49 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 50 Hortense and Henri Our chambre séparée! Henri I’m so in love I may expire! Soon our lovers will come to join us, and our sorrows all will pass. In the cool and fragrant evening we will quench our thirst at last. translation by Nigel Douglas Hortense Come let’s enjoy… from Prince Igor Henri A tête à tête? Chorus Sunlight dying, night falls fast. Soon we all will quench our thirst at last. Song of the Polovtsian Maiden Hortense And after supper… 14 Henri What joys await! Polovtsian Maiden Tender flower, starved of water, drooping, wilting, in the sunlight burning. Ah. All her leaves are dry and fading, and her rosy petals wither. Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, and the dew is falling fast. Soon the earth will bathe in moisture, and the flower’s sorrow pass. In the cool and fragrant evening she will quench her thirst at last. Hortense Hush! Henri I’m burning with such desire, my blood’s on fire, but here’s a cosy chambre séparée! Hortense Where we’ll enjoy a tender tête à tête ! Chorus Sunlight dying, night falls fast. Dew will fall, and the flower drink at last. As the flower thirsts for water so a maiden yearns for her lover. Henri While we sip champagne… Hortense Our cares will melt away Polovtsian Maiden She will pine and she will languish, and desire her lover’s caresses. Hortense and Henri Who knows what pleasures await! Polovtsian Maiden and Chorus Ah. But the sunlight now is dying, and the night is falling fast. Henri It’s perfect for a tête à tête ! 50 All friends to come and go are free, and all I’ll entertain, but those who will not drink with me shall never come again. One kind of man I can’t endure, the kind that’s simply crass. The chronic pestilential bore who will not drain his glass, and very soon I let him know that my last word is said, I take the glass and throw it so, directly at his head! Borodin, translation by David Lloyd Jones from Die Fledermaus Orlofsky’s Aria 15 When people say ‘That’s surely a curious thing to do.’ I answer them quite simply Chacun à son goût. Na zdarovye. Orlofsky Three score and ten the years we men must suffer here on earth, but I shall try and try again to pass the time in mirth. I ask my friends to join me here, to while away a night. But one thing I make very clear to those whom I invite. I can’t abide the dreary lout who makes himself a bore, and very soon I throw him out, straight thro’ the nearest door. C. Haffner & R. Genée after Meilhac and Halévy, translation by Leonard Hancock and David Pountney from Faust Siébel’s Romance 16 When people say ‘That’s surely a curious thing to do.’ I answer them quite simply Chacun à son goût. Vodka! 51 Siébel When happy days bring you gladness and laughter, seeing your joy my sadness disappears. But if the pain and sorrow follow after, oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, I shed a tear to mingle with your tears! We are two flowers that bloom beside each other; destiny guides us on a single course. CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 52 I share your grief as if I were a brother, oh, Marguerite, oh, Marguerite, blameless and chaste, my selfless love endures! Camille I’ll do my best, I really will! Camille There, where the summer-house awaits we shall whisper words of tender love. Camille Then let me kiss you… Camille Then grant me, my angel, just one parting kiss. Valencienne No one to hear us? My dearest love! Valencienne Now don’t make me angry. Valencienne Not out here. Camille Forgive, forgive me please! Just as the sun awakens the sleepy buds of May so does your beauty inspire me and drive my fears away. This seed that you have sown within my slumb’ring breast, into a flow’r has grown, a flow’r forever blest. Can hearts so newly woken return to sleep again? Should words that spring has spoken dissolve in autumn rain? This flow’r we both must cherish, to beautify our lives. Tho’ all around may perish the pow’r of love survives. Camille See where the summer-house awaits, so suggestive of a rendezvous. There, where that summer-house awaits we could be divinely entre nous! There in the dark of night we could share love’s delight. There, where the summer-house awaits we could kiss the whole night through, we two! Valencienne I know, my love, I don’t mean to tease. Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, translaton by Christopher Cowell from The Merry Widow Valencienne and Camille’s Duet 17 Valencienne My darling, no! O sweetheart, why can’t you let me go? Valencienne Calm down, my friend! Camille Always so distant! Valencienne No ifs and buts, I’m quite insistent! You’ll simply have to get engaged to Hanna! Camille All right, I will. But why maltreat me in this manner? Valencienne Believe me, love, I find it hard. I don’t enjoy these endless quarrels. I’d yield to you with no holds barred, if there were no such thing as morals. Camille So does this mean goodbye forever? Valencienne O Camille! Valencienne It means at least a serious endeavour. Camille Valencienne! 52 Camille and Valencienne There in the dark of night we can share love’s delight. There, where the summer-house awaits we shall kiss the whole night through, we two! Léon & Stein after Meilhac, translation by Nigel Douglas, © Josef Weinberger Ltd Stölzel 18 Valencienne Love calls me… How can I not surrender? If you are near I shall go gladly to Death’s eternal peace and rest. Ah, with what joy my end shall fill me, if your sweet hands are there to still me and close my trusting eyes at last. translation by David Parry 53 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 54 Opera in English on Chandos Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3079(2) CHAN 3086(2) CHAN 3011(2) CHAN 3017(2) CHAN 3027(2) 3:31 pm Page 56 CHAN 3010 CHAN 3035 CHAN 3044 CHAN 3049 CHAN 3076 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3032 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3006 11/4/07 CHAN 3013 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 58 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3052(2) Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3036(2) CHAN 3068(2) CHAN 3030(2) CHAN 3023(2) CHAN 3067 Page 60 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3007 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3004 CHAN 3003 CHAN 3005(2) CHAN 3022 3:31 pm CHAN 3014(3) 11/4/07 CHAN 3057(3) CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 62 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3029 CHAN 3033(2) CHAN 3019(3) CHAN 3042(2) Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3000(2) CHAN 3008(2) CHAN 3070(2) CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 64 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3078 CHAN 3025(2) CHAN 3073 CHAN 3066 Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3077 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 66 Opera in English on Chandos Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3054(3) CHAN 3038(4) CHAN 3045(4) CHAN 3060(5) CHAN 3065(16) CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 68 Opera in English on Chandos Opera in English on Chandos CHAN 3083(2) CHAN 3089(2) CHAN 3074(2) CHAN 3081(2) CHAN 3088 CHAN 3093 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:31 pm Page 70 Opera in English on Chandos Steinway Concert Grand provided and maintained by Steinway & Sons, London Harpsichord supplied by McCartney Music Harmonium supplied by Cambridge Reed Organs Artistic consultant to the Peter Moores Foundation: Patric Schmid Staging consultant and repetiteur: Charles Kilpatrick Language and vocal consultant: Ludmilla Andrew Repertoire consultant: Nigel Douglas CHAN 3091(2) CHAN 3072 Recording producer Brian Couzens Sound engineer Ralph Couzens Assistant engineers Christopher Brooke and Michael Common, and Richard Smoker (track 16) Editors Rachel Smith, and Jonathan Cooper (track 16) Operas administrator Sue Shortridge Recording venue Blackheath Halls, London; 3–10 February 2002; & 27–31 July 1998 (track 16) Front cover Diana Montague in Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro (© Mike Hoban/ArenaPAL) Back cover Session photograph of Walter Weller by Bill Cooper Design Sean Coleman Booklet typeset by Dave Partridge Booklet editor Kara Reed Copyright OUP (track 1), English National Opera (track 2), English National Opera/Anne Ridler Estate (tracks 7–9, & 12), tracks 10 & 11 published by Alkor-Edition-Kassel, Bosworth and Co. Ltd (track 13), Scottish Opera (track 15), Josef Weinberger Ltd (track 17) p 1999, 2003 Chandos Records Ltd c 2003 Chandos Records Ltd Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex, England Printed in the EU 71 CHAN 3093 Inlay.qxd 11/4/07 3:21 pm CHANDOS Diana MONTAGUE 2 12 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1 from The Marriage of Figaro ‘Is it pain, is it pleasure that fills me’ 2 from The Clemency of Titus ‘Send me, but, my beloved’ 3 4 13 6:39 5 6 from Così fan tutte ‘Blow gently, you breezes’ 4:56 14 3:36 4:18 2:05 9 ‘I will take the handsome, dark one’ 3:07 with Orla Boylan soprano 16 from Faust ‘When happy days’ 2:49 17 from The Merry Widow ‘Just as the sun awakens’ 6:55 with Bruce Ford tenor 18 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel ‘If you are near’ 2:54 TT 75:01 Concert Arias 4:50 3:16 Diana Montague mezzo-soprano London Philharmonic Orchestra Walter Weller LC 7038 DDD p 1999, 2003 Chandos Records Ltd c 2003 Chandos Records Ltd Printed in the EU CHANDOS CHAN 3093 CHANDOS CHAN 3093 ‘Who knows what feeling’ 2:46 Charles Gounod Franz Lehár 3:33 3:39 CHANDOS RECORDS LTD Colchester . Essex . England from Die Fledermaus (The Bat) ‘Three score and ten’ with Philharmonia Orchestra • David Parry (20-bit recording) ‘Torture and agony’ 11 5:57 Johann Strauss II 15 with Orla Boylan soprano • Alan Opie baritone ‘Banished, rejected, God save me!’ from Prince Igor ‘Tender flower, starved of water’ with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir 8 10 5:46 with Helen Williams soprano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 7 from The Opera Ball ‘In a cosy chambre séparée’ Alexander Borodin George Frideric Handel from Alcina ‘Verdant pastures, leafy woodlands ’ from Atalanta ‘Noble forests, sombre and shady ’ 4:39 Richard Heuberger 3:07 with Geoffrey Mitchell Choir ‘I implore thee and tremble’ from Così fan tutte ‘My heart here I give you’ with Alan Opie baritone Christoph Willibald von Gluck from Iphigenia in Tauris ‘No hope remains in my affliction’ CHAN 3093 DIGITAL GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS: Diana Montague 2 - Weller GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS: Diana Montague 2 - Weller GREAT OPERATIC ARIAS Page 1