Programs · Episode

VERDI: A Masked Ball

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, July 8, 2023 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

The original version of Verdi's A Masked Ball portrayed illicit love and backstabbing among European royals – and it so offended Italian censors that Verdi eventually gave in and moved the opera’s setting all the way to Boston!  No matter the setting, the story is bolstered by one of Verdi's most heartfelt scores, and a love affair that ranks among the most passionate in any of his operas. At the Opera features a recording from the early 1980s, with tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Margaret Price, plus a 1966 release starring Leontyne Price and Carlo Bergonzi.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Beginning in the late 1800's with a crusading committee known as the Watch and Ward Society, Boston became known as a place where it paid to watch one's moral "P's and Q's."  The Society railed against what they regarded as offensive literature and entertainment — ranging from Voltaire to Walt Whitman — and the phrase "Banned in Boston" became so familiar that savvy publishers began using it as a marketing tool.

All of that makes the history of Giuseppe Verdi's once-controversial opera Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) seem more than a little bit ironic.

Verdi composed the opera in the late 1850's using a libretto called "Gustave III." The story was based on the real-life assassination of King Gustavus III of Sweden, in 1792.  The opera was meant for a premiere in Naples.

But the censors frowned on the depiction of a king being assassinated in his own court. They also took a dim view of Verdi's major addition to the story; in the opera, the assassin is an aggrieved husband who finds his wife alone with the king, and in a compromising position.

The censors banned the opera, pending some drastic changes. They said the king had to become a mere duke. The story had to be reset to take place hundreds of years earlier. And the woman this duke fell for couldn't be his best friend's wife. Instead, she would be the friend's unmarried sister. Fed up with the Neopolitan demands, Verdi decided to move the opera's debut to Rome.  Censors there were a bit more lenient, but still demanded changes.

To get the opera to the stage, Verdi and his librettist kept their story but changed the setting. The opera's hero became an English nobleman, serving as a colonial governor, and the whole story was moved to Massachusetts.  Apparently, illicit love and murder were perfectly acceptable when taking place on the opposite side of the Atlantic, and the censors' objections were promptly withdrawn.  Instead of being "Banned in Boston," Verdi's drama was exiled to Boston.

By now, the opera's original setting is no longer a problem, and many modern productions move the action back to Sweden.  But Verdi seemed content to have his opera set in Massachusetts, and that's how we hear it on AT THE OPERA. 

Host Lisa Simeone brings us extended scenes from two recordings of A Masked Ball. In a release from the early 1980s, tenor Luciano Pavarotti is Riccardo, the governor, with baritone Renato Bruson as Renato, and soprano Margaret Price as Amelia, the woman who loves one of the men but is married to the other. Also, from 1966, we'll hear legendary conductor Erich Leinsdorf leading a stellar cast featuring Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill, and Leontyne Price.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Georg Solti, conductor
National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus
CAST: Luciano Pavarotti (Riccardo); Margaret Price (Amelia); Renato Bruson (Renato); Christa Ludwig (Ulrica); Kathleen Battle (Oscar)
(London 410 210)

Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus
CAST: Carlo Bergonzi (Riccardo); Leontyne Price (Amelia); Robert Merrill (Renato); Shirley Verrett (Ulrica); Reri Grist (Oscar)
(BMG 6645)

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