Programs · Episode

VERDI: Ernani

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, July 15, 2017 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Verdi's first few operas marked him as a composer with a political message, speaking out for Italian unity and freedom.  When it came to number five he tried something different, dipping into Romantic literature for Ernani, after a play by Victor Hugo.  It touches on politics, but at its heart the story is pure passion, with a title character choosing love over life itself. We'll make our way all the way through the opera, listening to a pair of recordings, with two of opera's all-time greats singing the title role: tenors Placido Domingo and Carlo Bergonzi.

Featured Recordings:

Riccardo Muti, conductor
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
(EMI 47083)
CAST: Placido Domingo (Ernani); Mirella Freni (Elvira); Renato Bruson (Don Carlo); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Silva)

Thomas Schippers, conductor
RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus
(RCA 6503)
CAST: Carlo Bergonzi (Ernani); Leontyne Price (Elvira); Mario Sereni (Don Carlo); Ezio Flagello (Silva)

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

It takes a special sort of creative alchemy to transform great literature into great opera, and nobody did it better than Giuseppe Verdi.

The best example of that may be the dramas of Shakespeare. Of the hundreds of Shakespeare-based operas composed over the centuries, barely a handful have been truly successful. Verdi wrote three of them — Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff.

But Verdi's affinity for great literature didn't stop there. He also wrote three operas based on works by the great German dramatist Friederich von Schiller. Those were I Masnadieri, La Forza del Destino and Don Carlo. Two Verdi operas, Il Corsaro and I Due Foscari have their origins in the works of Lord Byron. Verdi turned to Voltaire for Alzira, to Alexandre Dumas for La Traviata and to a play by Victor Hugo for his popular tragedy Rigoletto. And a drama by Hugo was also at the root of one of Verdi's earliest hits, the romantic potboiler Ernani.

At the beginning of his career, Verdi became known for historical operas with thinly veiled political messages, appealing to Italian nationalism. Those dramas included Nabucco and I Lombardi, both of which had high-profile premieres at La Scala, in Milan. When Nabucco was also a triumph in Venice, Verdi was asked for a brand new opera for that city's historic opera house, La Fenice.

While considering material for the new piece, the composer first looked at a couple of English sources, Shakespeare's King Lear and a story about Cromwell by Sir Walter Scott. Ultimately, Verdi settled on pure romance — Hugo's play Hernani, the story of a single woman loved by three, very different men, all at each other's throats.

The drama gets so caught up in desperate passion and personal vendettas that, for the sake of honor, two of the men offer to have their own heads chopped off — in the same act! It also turned out to be a near perfect vehicle for a confident young composer looking to let out all the emotional stops. The resulting opera took Venice by storm, and set Verdi off on one of the most successful careers in the history of opera.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us on a tour of Ernani with a pair of recordings with two of opera's all-time greats in the title role: tenors Placido Domingo and Carlo Bergonzi. Both singers are joined by casts with plenty of star power. Domingo is paired with the versatile Italian soprano Mirella Freni as Elvira, while Bergonzi teams up with the great American soprano Leontyne Price.

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