Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Verdi: Ernani

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani (1844) sets forth a tale of political intrigue in Spain at the time of the conquistadors. The story centers upon a nobleman of Aragon, one Don Juan, called Ernani, who has been forced to turn outlaw. Amidst the struggle between rivals for the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, Ernani is also a rival for the hand of Donna Elvira. The bandit/nobleman becomes entangled in an assassination plot. In the end a fateful oath binds him to commit suicide. Ernani is as bombastic as nineteenth century romantic opera can be. Its improbable sequence of twists and turns was derived from a play by the French playwright Victor Hugo. Another playwright and music critic, George Bernard Shaw, had a special affection for this opera. He recognized that in Ernani the young Verdi had created a score full of passionate melody. Ernani established Verdi's international reputation.

Way back on Sunday, March 10, 1985 I presented an EMI/Angel recording of Ernani made live in performance in 1982 at Milan's famous La Scala opera house. Riccardo Muti was conducting the La Scala orchestra and chorus. Cast in the title role was the superstar tenor, Placido Domingo. After more than three decades that old Angel LP issue has acquired a certain historical significance, but of truly historic value is the recording made live in performance at the Metropolitan Opera house in New York, December 1, 1962. Thomas Schippers was directing the Met's orchestra and chorus, and the star of the show was the now recently deceased Italian tenor, Carlo Bergonzi. Opposite him as Donna Elvira was the American soprano, Leontyne Price. This recording is actually an airtape of a radio broadcast from the Met. Sony Classical gained access to the Met's archives and has included this audio document of Ernani in its recent series of vintage releases, "The Metropolitan Opera." Sony has delved as far back in the archives as the 1940's, giving us today the opportunity to hear voices from the period in the mid twentieth century that many opera lovers regard as the Golden Age of opera singing. Ernani came out in Sony's series in 2012 on two compact discs.

My broadcast of Ernani falls on the last day of the WWUH Fall Fundraiser week. I'll be breaking in on mike at certain junctures in my time-slot to urge you to donate your dollars to the fundraising drive. You faithful listeners have never failed to help this station meet or even exceed its fundraising goals in past seasonal efforts, so I thank you in advance for your generosity.