IL TROVATORE SYNOPSIS

ΤΗΕ TEXT IS PROPERTY OF MUSICWITH EASE.BY NO MEANS IT IS TO BE COPIED AND PUBLISHED TO BLOGS OR MAGAZINES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MUSICWITHEASE Il Trovatore - Synopsis An Opera by Giuseppe Verdi KINDLY OFFERED BY MUSIC WITH EASE CHARACTERS COUNT DI LUNA, a young noble of Aragon………………… Baritone FERRANDO, DI LUNA’s captain of the guard………………. Bass MANRICO, a chieftain under the Prince of Biscay, and reputed Son of AZUCENA…………………………….. Tenor RUIZ, a soldier in MANRICO’S service………………………. Tenor AN OLD GYPSY…………………………………………………… Baritone DUCHESS LEONORA, lady-in waiting to a Princess Aragon… Soprano INEZ, confidante of LEONORA……………………………….…… Soprano AZECENA, a Biscayan gypsy woman………………………..…… Mezzo-Soprano Followers of COUNT DI LUNA and MANRICO; messenger, gaoler, soldiers, nuns, gypsies. Time: Fifteenth century. Place: Biscay and Aragon. For many years "Il Trovatore" has been an opera of worldwide popularity, and for a long time could be accounted the most popular work in the operatic repertoire of practically every land. While it cannot be said to retain its former vogue in this country, it is still a good drawing card, and, with special excellences of cast, an exceptional one. The libretto of "Il Trovatore" is considered the acme of absurdity; and the popularity of the opera, notwithstanding, is believed to be entirely due to the almost unbroken melodiousness of Verdi’s score. While it is true, however, that the story of this opera seems to be a good deal of a mix-up, it is also fact that, under the spur of Verdi’s music, even a person who has not a clear grasp of the plot can sense the dramatic power of many of the scenes. It is an opera of immense verve, of temperament almost unbridled, of genius for the melodramatic so unerring that its composer has taken dance rhythms, like those of mazurka and waltz, and on them developed melodies most passionate in expression and dramatic in effect. Swift, spontaneous, and stirring is the music of "Il Trovatore." Absurdities, complexities, unintelligibilities of story are swept away in its unrelenting progress. "Il Trovatore" is the Verdi of forty working at white heat. One reason why the plot of "Il Trovatore" seems such a jumbled-up affair is that a considerable part of the story is supposed to have transpired before the curtain goes up. These events are narrated by Ferrando, the Count di Luna’s captain of the guard, soon after the opera begins. But as even spoken narrative on the stage makes little impression, narrative when sung may be said to make none at all. Could the audience know what Ferrando is singing about, the subsequent proceeding would not appear so hopelessly involved, or appeal so strongly to humorous rhymesters, who usually begin their parodies on the opera with, This is the story Of "Il Trovatore." What is supposed to have happened before the curtain goes up on the opera is as follows: The old Count di Luna, sometime deceased, had two sons nearly of the same age. One night, when they still were infants, and asleep, in a nurse’s charge in an apartment in the old Count’s castle, a gypsy hag, having gained stealthy entrance into the chamber, was discovered leaning over the cradle of the younger child, Garzia. Though she was instantly driven away, the child’s health began to fail and she was believed to have bewitched it. She was pursued, apprehended and burned alive at the stake. Her daughter, Azucena, at that time a young gypsy woman with a child of her own in her arms, was a witness to the death of her mother, which she swore to avenge. During the following night she stole into the castle, snatched the younger child of the Count di Luna from its cradle, and hurried back to the scene of execution, intending to throw the baby boy into the flames that still raged over the spot where they had consumed her mother. Almost bereft of her senses, however, by her memory of the horrible scene she had witnessed, she seized and hurled into the flames her own child, instead of the young Count (thus preserving, with an almost supernatural instinct for opera, the baby that was destined to grow up into a tenor with a voice high enough to sing "Di quella pira"). Thwarted for the moment in her vengeance, Azucena was not to be completely baffled. With the infant Count in her arms she fled and rejoined her tribe, entrusting her secret to no one, but bringing him up -- Manrico, the Troubadour -- as her own son; and always with the thought that through him she might wreak vengeance upon his own kindred. When the opera opens, Manrico has gown up; she has become old and wrinkled, but is still unrelenting in her quest of vengeance. The old Count has died, leaving the elder son, Count di Luna of the opera, sole heir to his title and possessions, but always doubting the death of the younger, despite the heap of infant’s bones found among the ashes about the stake. "After this preliminary knowledge," quaintly says the English libretto, "we now come to the actual business of the piece." Each of the four acts of this "piece" has a title: Act I, "Il Duello" (The Duel); Act II, "La Gitana" (The Gypsy); Act. III, "Il Figlio della Zingara" (The Gypsy’s Son); Act IV, "Il Supplizio" (The Penalty). Act I. Atrium of the palace of Aliaferia, with a door leading to the apartments of the Count di Luna. Ferrando, the captain of the guard, and retainers, are reclining near the door. Armed men are standing guard in the background. It is night. The men are on guard because Count di Luna desires to apprehend a minstrel knight, a troubadour, who has been heard on several occasions to be serenading from the palace garden, the Duchess Loenora, for whom a deep, but unrequited passion sways the Count. Weary of the watch, the retainers beg Ferrando to tell them the story of the count’s brother, the stolen child. This Ferrando proceeds to do in the ballad, "Abbietta zingara" (Sat there a gypsy hag). Ferrando’s gruesome ballad and the comments of the horror-stricken chorus dominate the opening of the opera. The scene is an unusually effective one for a subordinate character like Ferrando. But in "Il Trovatore" Verdi is lavish with his melodies -- more so perhaps, than in any of his other operas. The scene changes to the gardens of the palace. On one side a flight of marble steps leads to Leonora’s apartment. Heavy clouds obscure the moon. Leonora and Inez are in the garden. From the confidante’s questions and Leonora’s answers it is gathered that Leonora is enamoured of an unknown but valiant knight who, lately entering a tourney, won all contests and was crowned victor by her hand. She knows her love is requited, for at night she has heard her Troubadour singing below her window. In the course of this narrative Leonora has two solos. The first of these is the romantic "Tacea la notte placida" (The night calmly and peacefully in beauty seemed reposing). [Music excerpt] It is followed by the graceful and engaging "Di tale amor che dirsi" (Of such a love how vainly), [Music excerpt] with its brilliant cadenza. Leonora and Inez then ascend the steps and retire into the palace. The Count di Luna now come sinto the garden. He has hardly entered before the voice of the troubadour, accompanied on a lute, is heard from a nearby thicket singing the familiar romanza, "Deserto sulla terra" (Lonely on earth abiding). [Music excerpt] From the palace comes Leonora. Mistaking the Count in the shadow of the trees for her Troubadour, she hastens toward him. The moon emerging from a cloud, she sees the figure of a masked cavalier, recognizes it as that of her lover, and turns from the Count toward the Troubadour. Unmasking, the Troubadour now discloses his identity as Manrico, one who, as a follower of the Prince of Biscay, is proscribed in Aragon. The men draw their swords. There is a trio that fairly seethes with passion -- "Di geloso amor spezzato" (Fires of jealous, despised affection). [Music excerpt] These are the words, in which the Count begins the trio. It continues with "Un istante almen dia loco" (One brief moment thy fury restraining). [Music excerpt] The men rush off to fight their duel. Leonora faints. 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