An Operatic Bridge
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The Cornish Bridge Across the Connecticut River |
To its west, Cornish
borders Vermont just across the Connecticut River. Once known as ‘Mast
Camp,’ Cornish was the
shipping point for the tall masts floated down the Connecticut River by English settlers. While driving alongside the
river’s shoreline, we came upon the historic Cornish-Windsor
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Inside the Cornish Bridge |
bridge. We’d seen and driven across covered bridges before but none as expansive as this one. I pulled over beside the bridge to learn that it was the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States, and the second-longest two-span covered bridge in the world. With one of its spans extending 204 ft, it also holds the distinction of being the longest single covered span to still accommodate daily automobile traffic. Built in 1866 at a cost of $9,000 and re-built in 1988 at a cost in excess of $4 million, it has been designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark. All told, Cornish is home to four covered bridges. No town in New Hampshire has more.
A plaque beside the bridge
recounted that on June 28, 1825, former French General the Marquis de Lafayette
crossed a predecessor of the present bridge (1824-28) on his way to Burlington,
Vermont. This crossing was during his
return visit to the US as part of a 50-year remembrance of the American
Revolutionary War in which he’d valiantly taken part in support of American
independence.
Passing on the opportunity to cross into Vermont, we continued north, following the river. Ours was a different destination in Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, a few miles ahead. This park is host to Blow-Me-Down Farm (BMD Farm).
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Aerial View Across Blow-Me-Down Farm |
Sitting beneath towering trees awaiting
the start of the performance, we spooned the cooling refreshment of ice
slushies, similar to an Italian granita.
Our farmstand granitas were more like snow cones flavored with artificial
sugary syrups from squirt bottles. They
fell short of a refined Italian ice, which is flaky yet delicate and melts
beautifully in your mouth, and features real fruit flavors. However, each spoonful, along with our
anticipation of Rigoletto, brought back memories of our experience at
the opera La Traviata, which we had attended in Venice. Though it had been some time since we attended
that performance, time had not diminished its memory. It was a spectacular memory that will last
forever. That evening in Venice, we’d
been new to opera. To us, mere
neophytes, it was just another Italian word equivalent to lavoro,
meaning “work.”
Opera was introduced in Venice during the
Renaissance with the opening of the first public opera house, Teatro San
Cassiano, in 1637. Its opening began
the transformation of Venice into Europe’s opera center that soon spread from
Italy across Western Europe.3
Both La Traviata and
Rigoletto
were composed by the king of opera, Giuseppe Verdi. Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi took his
first breath on October 9, 1813, in the hamlet of Le Roncole (today
known as Roncole Verdi), in the province of Parma, Italy.1 His father, Carlo, was a local innkeeper,
while his mother worked at spinning yarn.
Giuseppe began studying musical composition at an early age. At 19 he applied for admission to the Milan
Conservatory but was rejected due to his age.
Resolute in his determination for a career composing
music, he began studying under Vincenzo Lavigna, a famous composer from
Milan. His first break came in 1833 when
he was hired as a conductor at the Philharmonic Society in Busseto, a nearby
city. His first opera, Oberto,
written over a period of four years, debuted in November 1839 at La Scala
in Milan. It was successfully
received.
During this period, his success was painfully overshadowed by a cascade of family tragedies, beginning with the tragic death of his two infant children, a daughter in August 1838 and his son a year
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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) |
later. It culminated with the death of his wife, Margherita, in June 1840 at age 26 after suffering from a brain infection.1 He went on to overcome his grief by applying himself to his only remaining love, opera. His first, following his family catastrophe, was Nabucco in 1842. What followed was a string of successes, including Otello, set in 16th Century wartime Venice, and Aida, set in ancient Egypt. He also introduced theatrical effects to opera and was celebrated for his skill in creating melodies.
Verdi died on January 27,
1901, in Milan, Italy.1 He is quoted to have said, “You may have
the universe if I may have Italy.”
He certainly made Italy proud during his 80 years filled with
music-making of the highest order.2
Composing more than twenty-five operas during his iconic career, Verdi
was a titan of the theatrical stage earning him recognition as one of the
greatest composers in history.1
Operas are often based on
pre-existing work.3 Keeping with this pattern, Rigoletto’s
Italian text was written by librettist Francesco Maria Piave, who based it on
an 1832 French play written by Victor Hugo, Le Roi
S'amuse (The King Amuses Himself). Francesco transformed the text into poetic
verse, suitable for singing. Verdi then
created the music for the libretto, the text sung in an opera, which
literally means ‘little book’ in Italian.3
Interestingly, the French government wasted little
time and banned further performances of Le Roi S'amuse, following its
first performance on 22 November 1832.
This was due to its reference to the reckless and womanizing escapades
of Francis I of France, and for containing insulting references to then king,
King Louis-Philippe. Hugo brought a
lawsuit to permit further performances of the play. He lost the suit, was forced to pay court
costs, and the play was banned for 50 years. The publicity, however, propelled Victor Hugo into
celebrity as a defender of freedom of speech in France. Verdi's adaptation of the Le Roi S'amuse
storyline to Rigoletto debuted on March 11, 1851, at the La Fenice
Opera House in Venice. It also featured
another burgeoning feature of operatic theater called verismo.
Verismo is an Italian term derived from vero
(meaning true) that expresses "truth" or "realism" in
operatic performances by focusing on the struggles of ordinary people in a
direct manner. La Traviata is one
of the best examples of this verismo movement. Based on a true story, set in a realistic
backdrop, and employing impassioned singing, rousing choruses, stirring
overtures, as well as speech, it is a heartbreaking tale of love, family, and
honor that climaxes in a tragic ending.
Indeed, both these operas end in tragedy. As we would learn, as in the case of La
Traviata, Rigoletto also ends tragically in verismo fashion. Both heroines, Violetta and Gilda, die while
in Aida, the heroine is buried alive with her lover. I wondered if this was systemic in Verdi’s
early tragic operas and possibly a reflection of the personal tragedies Verdi
experienced.
Verdi’s tragedy, Rigoletto, is presented
in three acts that recount the power of a father’s love for his daughter. It revolves around the immoral Duke of Mantua,
his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's daughter Gilda. The opera's original title, La Monterone
(The Curse), refers to a curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by Count
Monterone, whose daughter, the Duke of Mantua seduced with Rigoletto's
encouragement. The curse is fulfilled when
Gilda falls in love with the Duke and sacrifices her life to save him from an
assassin hired by her father to kill the Duke.
Her words, “love is the sun of the soul that brings us closer to the
angels” had unfortunately been realized all because of this curse recalled
in the very last line of the opera as Rigoletto tearing his hair and falling on
his daughter's corpse utters:
There were many excellent performances that evening. Among them were the Duke of Mantua, played by tenor Angel Gomez, and that of Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter, performed by soprano Siyi Yan.
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Maria Elena's Cameo Appearance |
It had been easy finding our way to BMD Farm. In contrast, we recalled how it was getting toward evening as we sought our Venetian venue. Shadows from encroaching buildings deepened the
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One of Many Venetian Bridges |
dwindling light of dusk as we crossed three short bridges to walk the lane beside the narrow Fondamenta Corner Zuguri canal, looking for the entry to Musica a Palazzo located somewhere along a small alley beside this canal.
Our terse instructions said to continue along the fondamenta until we came upon a small alley on the right. By this point, our only remaining clue to its location was to find “the last door to the left at the end of that alley.” The problem was that there were many alleys in this lagoon city, with many seemingly, along our trek. I can still see us searching for it in my mind’s eye. What for a local Venetian may have been a simple matter, for tourists like Maria Elena and me, it was something
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A Narrow City Alley |
We were surprised when we were not assigned seats upon arriving at our palace venue. Its reasoning soon became clear when, following each intermission, accented with flutes of prosecco, we were directed to a different hall and any open seat in a first come, first served fashion. Adding to our surprise, it wasn’t presented on a stage either. Remarkably, the vocalists moved among the audience, allowing us to become part of the scene. The originality of Musica a Palazzo is reflected in this interaction between the players, the musicians, and the audience, breaking down the typical barriers between the groups.
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We Found It |
This feeling is enhanced by the skillful use of not ‘in-the-round’ but an ‘all-round’ performer stage presence that gives the viewer the rare thrill of experiencing the opera from the inside as though it was being performed in your living room.
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Our Venetian Violetta and Lover Alfredo |
La Traviata (The Woman Led Astray), based on real-life Parisian society courtesan Marie Duplessis and a staple of operatic repertoire, is the tragic tale about two lovers. Violetta, suffering from tuberculosis (derived from the Latin tabes of ancient Rome), knows her death is certain and attempts to leave love and life behind.2 Innocent and optimistic Alfredo stands apart from the opera’s fashionable city crowd. His father, working to keep them apart, convinces Violetta to leave Alfredo for the sake of his family's reputation. They are ultimately separated forever as Violetta succumbs to her tuberculosis in Act III, as we sat teary-eyed around her bed.
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An Impressive Rigoletto Orchestra |
Early on in Act I of La Traviata, we see
merriment and
are entertained by the unforgettable score Bindisi (The
Drinking Song), a favorite to this day [click to hear], when the partygoers sing “Drink to love inspired
by a passing glance” and “to kisses inflamed by wine.”2 The vocals were supported by an ensemble of
three talented musicians, their number determined by the number of singers
needing support.3 With two
primary La Traviata vocalists in need of support, it worked well. With a larger cast, we were not surprised
that the New Hampshire Rigoletto performance hosted a fully complemented
orchestra from oboe to large kettle drums
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Our In-the-Round Rigoletto Tent |
Inside the lagoon palace, we purchased a booklet explaining
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The Blow-Me-Down Tent's Interior |
the opera in both English and Italian. Act by act, it allowed us to follow the story, which made a huge difference in our understanding and enjoyment. Likewise, we received a similar CliffsNotes style booklet at the Cornish farm, which offered a synopsis of each act. Here, however, there was an unexpected added twist when technology asserted itself. Computer-style monitors, easily visible from any seat, were mounted around the center stage. As the characters sang their roles in Italian, singularly or in unison, their dialogue scrolled across the screens in English. This negated the need for non-Italian speakers to know the story in advance. Being presented in the round, with elevated seating, guaranteed every attendee had line of sight to the monitors, ensuring there wasn’t a
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Monitors Present Gilda's Final Words |
As a matter of personal taste,
instead of the original setting in the sixteenth-century Italian city of
Mantua, which Shakespeare also chose as his setting for Romeo and Juliet,
Rigoletto’s modern producers chose to locate the action in Sicily four
hundred years later, in 1939 with Mafia overtones a la Cosa Nostra. It is not clear how this date is apparent in
the performance. Their stated
justification was to make the story more significant to “modern audiences,”
though I doubt that moving the timeframe forward 380 years achieved that,
though it may have lowered the cost of set design and certainly costumes. This modification cascaded into a change in
the character of Rigoletto, who morphed from a deformed, hunchbacked court
jester into the victim of a Mafia bosses’ oppression, to reinforce a modern
theme of the power of the “haves” over the “have nots.” I didn’t buy their stated revisionism and
wondered, after reading the justification, if Verdi would have agreed.
We’d passed on the opportunity to
cross the famous Cornish covered bridge, but in a way, we’d made a ‘crossing.’ However, ours had been a different type of
crossing, taking the form of an inspirational connective bridge or link with
this operatic art form. I doubt we fully
appreciated opera following La Traviata in Venice. Still new to opera, we were overcome by the
intimate spectacle and likely more mesmerized than appreciative following that
performance. Maybe it was just a matter
of exposure to this expressive form of storytelling that encapsulates sung text
and musical scores in a theatrical setting.
In attending Rigoletto, we’d bridged a sort of ‘moat’ in our
understanding and appreciation of opera that had separated us. It was well worth
the crossing.
Paolo
1. Giuseppe
Verdi, https://www.biography.com/musicians/giuseppe-verdi
2. Ten
10 Greatest Pieces of Music by Verdi, Ranked, https://www.classicfm.com/composers/verdi/best-pieces-music-opera-ranked/
3. The
Beginners Guide To Opera, https://www.eno.org/discover-opera/the-beginners-guide-to-opera/
4. Rigoletto
Libretto (Italian and English), https://www.murashev.com/opera/Rigoletto_libretto_Italian_English
