Sunday Classics: The young Colin Davis gets off to a running start

The early-career Colin Davis

MOZART: The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384: Overture (with concert ending)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. EMI, recorded c1961

by Ken

In this week's preview, I took a stab at describing the "happy traits" of Colin Davis's early career: a natural sense of musical flow coupled with a preference for having the music play with determination and make its points naturally. By way of illustration, I offered the vivid performances of Mozart's Idomeneo and Clemenza di Tito Overtures from CD's c1961 EMI LP of nine Mozart overtures, as contrasted with the still-pretty-good but noticeably more forced performances from his c1989 BMG CD of 12 Mozart overtures. We also heard the Magic Flute Overture from both Mozart overture records along with the performance from Davis's 1984 Philips recording of the complete opera.

As I've said before, very likely a bunch of times (at least I hope so!), there aren't many things I value more in the realm of art than the alert musical instincts of a talented musician. That innate talent still needs a whole lot of developing, including in the direction of expanding, both widening and deepening, in order to provide a true underpinning for an artistically productive career. But without this innate musicality as a starting point, where is there for the would-be musician to develop?


EVENTUALLY WE'LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE
NONDEVELOPMENT OF DAVIS'S GOOD INSTINCTS

However, for this week I want to stick with what he seems to me he have done unarguably well. Like the confident, songful performance of the Abduction from the Seraglio Overture we just heard. If I had to pick, say, four overtures from the Seraphim Mozart LP -- just from memory from all those years of listening -- that exemplify the virtues of those performances, in addition to the Idomeneo and Clemenza Overtures we heard last week, I might well include the Abduction. I would certainly include the Marriage of Figaro Overture, an easy piece to make work on a basic level, but one that isn't often performed at the level of frothy enjoyment that Davis managed here. I don't have that on CD, though, so instead we're going to listen to the Seraphim Così fan tutte Overture, which has similar performance virtues, along with the c1998 Dresden Figaro.

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Overture

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. EMI, recorded c1961
MOZART: The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492: Overture

Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded c1998


AND THEN THERE'S ROSSINI

From the same period as the EMI Mozart overtures there was an LP of Rossini overtures, which again aren't that difficult to make work in a basic way but aren't so easy to make work at the level that Davis did. we're going to hear the frothy Signor Bruschino Overture (the one in which the fiddlers click their bows on their music stands) and L'Italiana in Algeri -- a Sunday Classics favorite, which had the distinction of commanding an entire "Anatomy of an Overture" post in October 2012).

ROSSINI: Il Signor Bruschino: Overture

ROSSINI: L'Italiana in Algeri: Overture

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. EMI, recorded 1961


FINALLY, LET'S HEAR A BIT OF BERLIOZ

Again, eventually we'll have to deal with the "Davis Berlioz" problem, which is to say the strange situation by which a conductor with strikingly little claim to distinction as a Berlioz conductor came to be regarded as the leading Berlioz conductor of his time and the one who spearheaded the widespread appreciation of this previously much undervalued composer. But for now we can focus our attention on his early Berlioz efforts.

Early on, while Davis was still making a name for himself, he was tapped to conduct recordings of L'Enfance du Christ and Béatrice et Bénédict, works that were still little-enough-heralded as to qualify for inclusion on Decca's L'Oiseau-Lyre sub-label devoted to enterprising repertory. In 1962, when the recording of Béatrice was made, the opera was virtually unperformed, though the overture was well established as a concert piece. As I indicated back in June 2010, when we gave Béatrice considerable attention (a Béatrice preview piece and a main post devoted to it and Berlioz's "dramatic symphony" Roméo et Juliette, "Berlioz tackles that most basic and intimate issue, the terrifying vulnerability of owning up to loving"), it's a stupefyingly difficult piece to make work, but the young Davis solved at least some of it the way he did much other repertory he tackled then: by, basically, just doing it.

Not having listened to the Béatrice recording in a while, I had hopes when I got hold of the CD edition that the performance would show up strong. Although that unfortunately hasn't been my impression. Still, some of it does work. The Overture, for example, isn't often performed with more vividness or relish. I thought we would conclude with that.

BERLIOZ: Béatrice et Bénédict, Op. 27: Overture

London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. L'Oiseau-Lyre/Decca, recorded 1962


NEXT WEEK: A SURPRISING SIDE OF SIR COLIN

We're going to return to his somewhat problematic but on the whole surprisingly successful recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

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Sunday Classics preview: Memorable Mozart from the no-nonsense younger Colin Davis

The Seraphim LP issue of the c1961 Colin Davis disc of Mozart overtures I keep going on about, as in this July 2012 preview

by Ken

I've spent a lot of time and effort trying to find a path into Mozart's two mature efforts to resurrect the opera seria, Ideomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito. Though the operas themselves remain for me massive expenditures of genius effort which came to not a whole lot, I love both overtures with an abiding passion. What's more, in the case of the Clemenza Overture in particular, when I finally saw the opera in the flesh for the first time, I was surprised by how effective a theatrical overture it was. If only what followed had lived up to that promise.

MOZART: Idomeneo, K. 366: Overture

MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito, K. 621: Overture

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. EMI, recorded c1961

My abiding affection for these ovrtures must relate to the first performances of them I got to know well -- the ones we just heard, which I hope you'll agree are especially robust and attention-grabbing. They are, of course, from the Colin Davis LP of nine Mozart overtures, long available here as a budget-price Seraphim LP, which I keep going on about, including last week's Colin Davis and Magic Flute "double" preview. (I was pleased to see our friend Philip Munger note in his comment on that post that he wore out his copy of that LP.)


THAT MOZART OVERTURES LP HAD THE HAPPY TRAITS
OF WHAT WE MIGHT CALL "EARLY" COLIN DAVIS

These would be a natural sense of musical flow coupled with a preference for having the music play with determination and make its points naturally. As it happens, by then "Sir" Colin Davis did another disc of Mozart overtures nearly 30 years later (assuming I've got the dates about right), for BMG, with that great Mozart orchestra the Staatskapelle Dresden. It's actually a pretty successful record, and especially in the absence of the early EMI one, I can recommend it, especially with its addition of three more overtures (none of them essential, though).

I thought we'd listen to the later performances of the Idomeneo and Clemenza overtures two overtures -- first in the c1961 EMI recording, then in the c1989 BMG remakes, from a CD that may not be not quite as good as the earlier LP (the performances tend -- some more than others -- to be a little harder-driven, to no particularly good expressive effect), but is still pretty lively, and ups the total from 9 to 12 overtures.



MOZART: Idomeneo, K. 366: Overture

MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito, K. 621: Overture

Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. BMG, recorded c1998

When I assembled the Davis-conducted Magic Flute excerpts we heard in last week's preview, I didn't realize I had the early EMI Overture on CD, and so I went strictly with the complete Magic Flute he recorded in Dresden in 1984, which I described as a pretty good but not great performance. I realized belatedly that I have four of the overtures from the Seraphim LP on the Seraphim CD that contains the William Steinberg-conducted Mozart 40th Symphony from which we heard the Andante a couple of weeks ago.

I thought it might be fun to hear the three recordings of the Magic Flute Overture. In the middle one, the one from the complete Magic Flute which we heard last week, Davis seems to me to be trying to get "fancy" -- he seems prepared to allow more to happen inside those powerful phrases. Unfortunately, this is just the sort of thing he doesn't seem to have been terribly good at, and the performance doesn't seem to me to flow as confidently as the early EMI one. It's all tightened up in the later Dresden recording, but without the sense of space and unforced flow of the early EMI one.

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Overture

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Davis, cond. EMI, recorded c1961

Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984

Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. BMG, recorded c1998

They're all good performances, mind you, but there's no question in my mind which I'm happiest to return to.


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

We're going to hear more of "the early Colin Davis," mostly if not entirely in the form of overture performances. More Mozart, and also some Rossini and Berlioz.

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Sunday Classics: "Good night, thou false world!" -- (final) exit Papageno?

"Good night, thou false world!"

PAPAGENO: Right, then, that's still how it is!
Since there is nothing holding me back,
good night, thou false world!

-- most of our Magic Flute translations by Robert A. Jordan

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964

Or in English: "Fare thee well, thou world of pain!"

[in English] John Brownlee (b), Papageno; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Dec. 26, 1942

by Ken

We were just looking at Mozart's and Beethoven's exceptional use of minor keys for opening movements of symphonies and concertos, and one point I could have made more explicit is how frequently -- among these admittedly infrequent cases -- the "thematic" material that inspires such a plan is more "motivic" than really melodic -- think of Mozart's D minor Piano Concerto (No. 20) or of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies.

But of course the minor mode doesn't preclude great tunes, and I think that's what planted the thought of this great moment from The Magic Flute in my head. It's the moment when Papageno the lowly bird-catcher is driven by his loneliness to the ultimate despair, and I think the Fischer-Dieskau performance in particular makes it clear that Mozart plays this moment "for real." (Not to worry, we're going to hear the complete scene, er, eventually.)

As I suggested in Friday night's "double preview," "Enter the bird-catcher; exit Sir Colin Davis," we're focusing this week on Papageno, though as we often do, we're going to start with the Overture.


OUR THREE PRINCIPAL PAPAGENOS
AND THEIR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCTORS

Friday night, since we were also previewing future posts devoted to the late Colin Davis, we heard the Overture and Papageno's two treasured songs from Davis's 1984 Philps Magic Flute, and I mentioned that we had already heard the Overture. That happened in a March 2011 post in the "Remembering Margaret Price" series, "In search of Pamina in The Magic Flute," which featured a number of Pamina-centric excerpts focusing on the late Welsh soprano. I observed that Davis's Magic Flute is a pretty good performance but far from a great one. In the two songs, for example, you could hear that Davis didn't want to do them as mere burlesques, but there isn't much sense of what he wants to do them as.

Thanks to historic broadcasts and recordings, we're going to hear snatches of the Papagenos of such distinguished mid-20th-century baritones as Gehard Hüsch, Willi Domgraf-Fassbänder (yes, the father of the eminent mezzo Brigitte Fassbaender, whom we heard as Wolfram in Wagner's Tannhäuser), Karl Schmitt-Walter, and the still vocally vital Alfred Poell. But we're going to focus on three very different eminent baritones of the later 20th century, in important recordings of The Magic Flute made in the five year period 1964-69.

Walter Berry and Hermann Prey both sang Papageno a fair amount; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau recorded the role twice but never sang it onstage -- he explained once that at his six-foot-plus height he thought he would look ridiculous as the bird-catcher. Prey's hammy play-to-the-crowd style is apparently sharply tempered by his conductor, Georg Solti. It's a curious fact, by the way, that one of Solti's early experiences was assisting Arturo Toscanini with his late-'30s Salzburg productions of The Magic Flute and Verdi's Falstaff; it could be just a coincidence, but he retained a close involvement with and deep feeling for both of these operas throughout his long career.

The folksiness of Berry's Papageno is also held in check by his conductor, Otto Klemperer, at this late stage in his life making only his second opera recording, folowing the Fidelio that he clearly felt had been hijacked by EMI producer Walter Legge. Klemperer famously set the condition that Legge couldn't particpate in the Magic Flute rehearsals, and Legge declared sniffily that under such circumstances he couldn't possibly produce the recording, and whatever reservations one may have about his remaining EMI opera (and non-opera) recordings, they clearly reflect his musical wishes in a way that the Legge-produced recordings don't necessasrily.

Finally, we have the glorious Böhm-DG Magic Flute, one of my favorite recordings, in which just about everything came together splendidly -- not least Fischer-Dieskau's Papageno, surely one of his most treasurable recordings. The voice is in great shape, and the artistic command is rich and deep.


ONE CURIOUS SIDELIGHT REGARDING
FISCHER-DIESKAU'S PAPAGENO WITH BÖHM

In High Fidelity Conrad L. Osborne took notice of the "otherworldly" experience of reviewing it in quick succession with his Gunther in the now-legendary Solti-conducted first-ever studio recording of the culmination of Wagner's Ring cycle, Götterduammerung. Since we can, we're going to listen to a snatch of the latter.

We pick up just after the ecstatic climax of the Brünnhilde-Siegfried Prologue duet, with the whole of "Siegfried's Rhine Journey" (our tracks 1-2), which transitions us musically to the opening of Act I (our track 3), where we meet the rather dim king and queen of the Gibichungs, Gunther and his sister Gutrune, in the company of their chilling half-brother, Hagen. (I'm sorry to say that given Gutrune's tendency not to be terribly chatty, it's awhile before she opens her mouth and in our tiny excerpt we won't be hearing her.)

WAGNER: Götterdämmerung: Prologue: "Siegfried's Rhine Journey"; and opening of Act I

Orchestral Interlude: Siegfried's Rhine Journey

Act I

The hall of the Gibichungs by the Rhine. This is open at the back, and a stretch of shore can be seen leading down to the river. GUNTHER and GUTRUNE are seated on a throne to one side, before which is a table with drinking vessels. HAGEN is sitting on the other side of the table.

GUNTHER: Now hearken, Hagen,
tell me, hero,
is my standing on the Rhine
worthy of the fame of the Gibichungs?
HAGEN: You, the true-born,
I esteem and envy;
she who bore us brothers,
Lady Grimhild' taught me your worth.
GUNTHER: I envy you;
you need not envy me.
As the first-born I inherited,
but wisdom came to you alone;
dissension between half-brothers
was never better overcome.
I speak but in praise of your counsel
when I ask you of my fame.
HAGEN: Then I must chide my counsel,
since your fame is still poor;
for I know of rarer goods
that the Gibichung has not yet won.
GUNTHER: If you keep them secret,
I will chide you too.
HAGEN: In the ripe strength of summer
I see the house of Gibich,
you, Gunther, still unmarried,
you, Gutrun', without a husband.

-- English translation by G. M. Holland

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Gunther; Gottlob Frick (bs), Hagen; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May-Nov. 1964

GETTING BACK TO THE MAGIC FLUTE, WE HEAR
THE OVERTURE FROM OUR "KEY" RECORDINGS

The leap between Karl Böhm's agreeable earlier Decca Magic Flute and this glorious 1964 one is startling. There are also countless broadcast performances, and we're going to hear a bit of a 1941 one. In the case of Sir Georg Solti, although we'll be hearing a snatch of his fine later Magic Flute, a more streamlined performance with a more homogeneous cast, otherwise we're going to be hearing the really lovely 1969 recording, with its peculiarly assorted cast, in which everyone has genuine credentials for his/her role but they're such a strange mix that you wouldn't necessarily expect to encounter any two of them in the same performance.

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Overture

Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969

Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964


LET'S LISTEN AGAIN TO PAPAGENO'S TWO FOLKLIKE
SONGS, AND TO THE DUET WITH PAMINA IN BETWEEN

In ancient Egypt, Tamino, a prince from a distant land, . . .

is thrown together with the humble bird-catcher Papageno on a mission to rescue Pamina, the daughter of the Star-Flaming Queen of the Night, from the clutches of the evil Sarastro.

At curtain rise, Tamino is in flight from a giant serpent. He faints just before the serpent strikes, and at the same moment the Three Ladies of the Queen of the Night appear and smite the serpent. It's at this point that the Papageno wanders in, with a supply of bird to sell to the Three Ladies.

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Song, Papageno,
"Der Vogelfänger bin ich, ja" ("The bird-catcher, thats me!")

During the introduction PAPAGENO comes down a path, carrying on his back a large bird cage containing various birds. He holds a panpipe in both hands.

PAPAGENO: The bird-catcher, that's me,
always cheerful, hip hooray!
As a bird-catcher I'm known
to young and old throughout the land.
I know how to set about luring
and how to be good at piping.
That's why I can be merry and cheerful,
for all the birds are surely mine.

The bird-catcher, that's me,
always cheerful, hip hooray!
As a bird-catcher I'm known
to young and old throughout the land.
I'd like a net for girls.
I'd catch them by the dozen for myself!
Then I'd lock them up with me,
and all the girls would be mine!

If all the girls were mine,
I'd barter plenty of sugar:
the one I like best,
I'd give her the sugar at once.
And if she kissed me tenderly then,
she would be my wife and I her husband.
She'd fall asleep at my side,
and I'd rock her like a child.

Gerhard Hüsch (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. EMI, recorded Feb.-Mar. 1938

Hermann Prey (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969

Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964


Tamino and Papageno arrive in Sarastro's realm . . .

and are startled to find that it's the Temple of Wisdom. Papageno actually finds Pamina, who commiserates with him over his singleness and assures him that he will find a companion.

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Duet, Pamina-Papageno,
"Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen" ("In men who feel love")

PAMINA: In men who feel love,
a good heart, too, is never lacking.
PAPAGENO: Sharing these sweet urges
is then women's first duty.
PAMINA and PAPAGENO: We want to enjoy love;
it is through love alone that we live.
PAMINA: Love sweetens every sorrow;
every creature pays homage to it.
PAPAGENO: It gives relish to the days of our life,
it acts in the cycle of nature.
PAMINA and PAPAGENO: Its high purpose clearly proclaims:
there is nothing nobler than woman and man.
Man and woman, and woman and man,
reach towards the deity.

Maria Reining (s), Pamina; Alfred Poell (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 2, 1941

Pilar Lorengar (s), Pamina; Hermann Prey (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969

Gundula Janowitz (s), Pamina; Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Evelyn Lear (s), Pamina; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964


In Act II, Tamino and Pamina begin to undergo . . .

a series of trials to test their worthiness for a higher consciousness. Papageno, never cut out for higher consciousness, stresses that he aspires to no higher goal than a wife to be his life companion.

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Song, Papageno,
"Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" ("A girl or a little wife")

PAPAGENO: A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
Then I should eat and drink with relish,
then I could hold my own with princes,
enjoy life in my wisdom,
and be as if in Elysium.

A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
Ah, can't I find one then, amongst all
the lovely girls, who would love me?
Let just one help me out of my misery,
or I shall truly die of grief.

A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
If no one will offer me love,
then the fire must consume me,
but if a woman's lips kiss me,
I shall be well again straightaway!

Gerhard Hüsch (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. EMI, recorded Nov. 8-15, 1937

Hermann Prey (b), Papageno; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969

Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964


In the course of his wanderings, Papageno . . .

meets a young woman who would be his ideal mate, but is told that he is as yet unworthy of her. With no signs of approaching worthiness, he's finally ready to succumb to despair, intending to use a rope to put himself out of his misery. Which brings us to --

WHICH BRINGS US (FINALLY) TO OUR
GOAL: PAPAGENO'S SUICIDE SCENE

In the first part of the scene . . .

Papageno measures his desperation level and declares himself unwilling to continue this existence. However, he declares, if there is a woman prepared to look kindly upon him, he will spare himself. He gives his unknown rescuer a count of three, which he proceeds to execute with as much drawing out as he can muster. Tradition has allowed Papagenos to really stretch the count out by adding fractions ("two and a half") and units of time ("half past two," "quarter of three," "five minutes to three").

Eventually it's impossible to draw out the three count any longer, and Papageno, reaching bottom, sings the despairing lines we heard at the top of the post.

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Papageno's Suicide Scene, part 1

A garden. PAPAGENO enters.

PAPAGENO: Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!
Little wife! Little dove! My pretty!
No use! Ah, she is lost!
I was born for misfortune.
I have been chattering, and that was wrong,
and so I am getting my desserts.
Ever since I tasted that wine . . .
since I saw the pretty little woman,
my little heart has been burning,
with twinges here, twinges there.
Papagena, little wife of my heart!
Papagena, dear little dove!
It's no good, it is useless!
I've had enough of my life!
Death puts an end to love,
however much my heart is on fire.
[He takes a rope.]
I will grace that tree there,
tie my neck to it,
because life is not to my liking.
Good night, thou black world!
Because you treat me ill,
sending me no pretty child,
it's all over; I shall die.
Pretty girls, think of me.
If in my misery one of you will
yet take pity on me before I hang,
well and good, this time I'll leave it at that!
Just call yes or no!
No one hears me; everything is quiet!
So is it your will?
Papageno up there smartly!
Ende your life's course!
Now I'll still wait, let's say
until once counts one, two, three
[Pipes.] One.
[Pipes slower.] Two.
[Pipes still slower.] Three.
Right, then, that's still how it is!
Since there is nothing holding me back,
good night, thou false world!
[He goes to hang himself.]

Karl Schmitt-Walter (b), Papageno; Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, cond. Broadcast performance, December 1937

Thomas Allen (b), Papageno; Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Telarc, recorded July 13-22, 1991


In the next part of the scene . . .

At the last moment, the Three Boys who have served as Tamino's and Papageno's guides on their journey stay his hand, and remind him about the magic bells with which he was equipped by the Three Ladies of the Queen. He chides himself for forgetting about the bells.

We're going to backtrack to Papageno's "one-two-three" countdown. (Note that in the Toscanini-Salzburg performance, that is presumably the young Georg Solti -- who conducts our later performance -- playing the glockenspiel.)

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Papageno's Suicide Scene, part 2

[Pipes.] One.
[Pipes slower.] Two.
[Pipes still slower.] Three.
Right, then, that's still how it is!
Since there is nothing holding me back,
good night, thou false world!
[He goes to hang himself.]
THE THREE BOYS [descending from above]:
Stop, Papageno, and be smart!
One lives only once; let this one be enough for you!
PAPAGENO: It's easy for you to talk; it's easy to jest.
Yet if your hearts burned like mine,
you too would go after girls.
THE THREE BOYS: Then play your little bells;
this will bring your little wife to you.
PAPAGENO: I'm a fool to have forgotten those pieces of magic.
[Takes out his glockenspiel.]
Ring, chimes, ring!
I must see my darling girl!
[The Three Boys fetch PAPAGENA.]
Tinkle, little bells, tinkle!
Bring my little wife here!
THE THREE BOYS [as they fly up]:
Now, Papageno, look around you.

Willi-Domgraf-Fassbänder (b), Papageno; Regensburg Cathedral Choirboys, Three Boys; Vienna Philharmonic, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, July 30, 1937

Michael Kraus (b), Papageno; Michael Rausch, Markus Leitner, and Wolfgang Schmidt (trebles), Three Boys; Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded May and Dec. 1990


In the final part of the scene . . .

The bells, working their magic, restore Papagena to Papageno.

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Papageno and Papagena are united

We're going to dispense with line-by-line translation here, as the happy couple register their astonishment and delight at being finally reunited and look ahead to their future happiness and to the eventual coming of "a little Papageno" and "a little Papagena" and another and another . . . .

Erich Kunz (b), Papageno; Emmy Loose (s), Papagena; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded November 1950

Christian Boesch (b), Papageno; Elizabeth Kales (s), Papagena; Vienna Philharmonic, James Levine, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded Sept. 1-4, 1980

THE COMPLETE "SUICIDE" SCENE

I thought we would add to our "key" recordings the English-language broadcast performance from which we heard a snatch at the top of this post -- with the crucial stipulation that our Papageno, John Brownless, is emphatically not one of my favorite singers. (Hey, I could have made you listen to him a decade later, which would be even less fun.)

The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Papageno's Suicide Scene, "Papagena! Papagena! Papagena!"

[in English] John Brownlee (b), Papageno; Marita Farell (s), Helen Olheim (ms), and Mona Paulee (ms), Three Boys; Lillian Raymondi (s), Papagena; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Dec. 26, 1942

Hermann Prey (b), Papageno; members of the Vienna Choirboys, Three Boys; Renate Holm (s), Papagena; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1969

Walter Berry (bs-b), Papageno; Agnes Giebel (s), Anna Reynolds (ms), and Josephine Veasey (ms), Three Boys; Ruth-Margret Pütz (s), Papagena; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Papageno; Rosl Schwaiger (s), Antonia Fahberg (ms), and Raili Kostia (ms), Three Boys; Lisa Otto (s), Papagena; Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded June 1964

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Sunday Classics (double) preview: Enter the bird-catcher; exit Sir Colin Davis

Colin Davis (1927-2013) at home

by Ken

As I must have mentioned, one of my core LPs in the early getting-to-know-music stage was a budget Seraphim issue of a disc of Mozart overtures conducted by Colin Davis early in his career. There were fine performances of all these indispensable pieces, and my recollection is that I played that LP a lot.

The subject of my complicated feelings about Sir Colin, who died on April 15 at 85, as a conductor has come up occasionally in these posts, and I'm afraid I'm going to need to rehash it in order to memorialize him properly, though I'm going to want to stress the truly wonderful things he did. The thing is, those truly wonderful things, which were often quite unexpected (who, for example, would have expected a great recording of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde from him?) tended to be a lot less heralded than a lot of stick-waving hackery.

I don't have those fine old EMI Mozart overtures on CD, and so tonight, since I happen to have some consideration of one of the characters of Mozart's Magic Flute in mind, I thought we'd let Sir Colin give us a taste from his 1984 Philips recording of the opera -- not a great performance by any means, but a pretty good one. We hear first Davis's Overture, which we've actually heard before.

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Overture

Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984

Now we hear the bird-catcher Papageno's two ever-familiar, ever-beloved ditty-like songs.

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act I, Song, Papageno,
"Der Vogelfänger bin ich, ja"

During the introduction PAPAGENO comes down a path, carrying on his back a large bird cage containing various birds. He holds a panpipe in both hands.

PAPAGENO: The bird-catcher, that's me,
always cheerful, hip hooray!
As a bird-catcher I'm known
to young and old throughout the land.
I know how to set about luring
and how to be good at piping.
That's why I can be merry and cheerful,
for all the birds are surely mine.

The bird-catcher, that's me,
always cheerful, hip hooray!
As a bird-catcher I'm known
to young and old throughout the land.
I'd like a net for girls.
I'd catch them by the dozen for myself!
Then I'd lock them up with me,
and all the girls would be mine!

If all the girls were mine,
I'd barter plenty of sugar:
the one I like best,
I'd give her the sugar at once.
And if she kissed me tenderly then,
she would be my wife and I her husband.
She'd fall asleep at my side,
and I'd rock her like a child.

-- English translations (mostly) by Robert A. Jordan

Mikael Melbye (b), Papageno; Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Song, Papageno,
"Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"

PAPAGENO: A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
Then I should eat and drink with relish,
then I could hold my own with princes,
enjoy life in my wisdom,
and be as if in Elysium.

A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
Ah, can't I find one then, amongst all
the lovely girls, who would love me?
Let just one help me out of my misery,
or I shall truly die of grief.

A girl or a little wife
is what Papageno desires.
Oh, a sweet little dove like that
would be bliss for me!
If no one will offer me love,
then the fire must consume me,
but if a woman's lips kiss me,
I shall be well again straightaway!

Mikael Melbye (b), Papageno; Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips, recorded January 1984


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

More of Papageno, as the bird-catcher is driven to ultimate despair.

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Sunday Classics: What comes after Mozart's and Beethoven's minor-key symphonic opening movements?

What comes after the monumental, mysterious opening movement of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, which we heard last week? At the link, Christian Thielemann conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in what seems to me a grindingly prosaic rendering of the thunderingly dramatic scherzo.

by Ken

I realize I should have been saying more about this amazing music we've been hearing, dipping into the two symphonies apiece for which Mozart and Beethoven composed opening movements in the minor mode. But really, when it comes to an incandescent movement like the opening one of Mozart's great later G minor symphony, No. 40, could I really have said anything more helpful than, say, "Wouldja listen to that?" And ditto when it comes to the opening movements of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies. I mean, we're talking here about two of the monuments of human civilization, and I thought talking should take distant second place to listening.

What we began pursuing in this week's preview is the question I raised last week: Where do you go from there?

My point was, if we accept that writing a minor-mode symphonic first movement is an uncommon and nervy thing to do, and is likely to happen only if a composer has been seized by some gripping musical material that requires it, where does he want to take his audience next?

Consider, for example, the most modest of the four Mozart and Beethoven symphonies we began last week: Mozart's earlier G minor symphony, No. 25. Let's add the second movement to the performances we heard last week of the first.

MOZART: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183:
i. Allegro con brio
ii. Andante


Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia, recorded Dec. 10, 1954 (mono)


Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1973


YES, WE'RE COMFORTABLY BACK IN THE MAJOR!

As we are as well in the Symphony No. 40, though here it's a considerably more original and imagination-provoking Andante that Mozart spins. (Note that here we're adding a third performance to the two we heard last week. A lot of people prefer Bruno Walter's early-50s mono Mozart symphonies to the gorgeous autumnal stereo series. I thought this week we'd hear both.)

MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550:
i. Molto allegro
ii. Andante


New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia, recorded Feb. 23, 1953 (mono)


Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded 1959


Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1972

HERE'S THE WHOLE MOZART 40TH SYMPHONY

In the quite lovely prewar recording by Sir Thomas Beecham.

MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550:
i. Molto allegro
ii. Andante
iii. Menuetto: Allegretto
iv. Finale: Allegro assai

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, cond. EMI, recorded 1937 (digital transfer by F. Reeder)

SAY, DOES THE SECOND MOVEMENT OF THE 
BEETHOVEN FIFTH REMIND YOU OF ANYTHING?

Beethoven too followed up his radical C minor opening movement for the Fifth Symphony with a major-key slow movement, a gorgeous theme and variations we might say is ostentatiously "major." In a symphony constructed of miracles, this may be the least noticed of them, but it's surely not the least inspired. And it's always seemed to me that this Beethoven slow movement has its roots in Mozart's.

I thought it would be interesting to continue with the lithe, dramatic Dohnányi performance we began last week, and since we already heard the second movement of Leonard Bernstein's 1977 recording in Friday night's preview (along with his 1961 one), we'll complement it with Sir Georg Solti's more expansive Chicago recording.

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
i. Allegro con brio
ii. Andante con moto


Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Telarc, recorded Sept. 20, 1987

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded October 1986

Of course we haven't heard Beethoven's answers to what comes next, which fascinatingly is a return, in blaring-brass mode, to the minor for the scherzo, and finally a return to the most triumphant major imaginable for the grand finale. I don't see how we can proceed without hearing the whole thing. It's a performance we've already heard.

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
i. Allegro con brio
ii. Andante con moto
iii. Scherzo: Allegro
iv. Allegro

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), George Szell, cond. Philips, recorded November 1966

WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO THE BEETHOVEN NINTH

Again, I should probably say something to help establish the scope of the achievement of these two movements. Wouldja listen to that?

I've chosen two live performances from London which could hardly be more different, except that in the end are they really that different?

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125:
i. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
ii. Molto vivace

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt, cond. BBC Legends, recorded live in the Royal Albert Hall, Sept. 13, 1985

Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Testament, recorded live in the Royal Festival Hall, Nov. 15, 1957


AND HERE'S THE COMPLETE BEETHOVEN NINTH!


Leonard Bernstein conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, joined in the choral finale by the Vienna State Opera Chorus and soloists Gwyneth Jones (soprano), Shirley Verrett (mezzo), Plácido Domingo (tenor), and Martti Talvela (bass).

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Sunday Classics preview: Moving on with those Mozart and Beethoven minor-key symphonic opening movements

Tonight we hear both Leonard Bernstein's 1961 and 1977 recordings of the second movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

by Ken

Last week we heard all of the minor-key symphony opening movements that Mozart and Beethoven wrote -- two apiece. I suggested that one obvious question is: Where do you go from there?

We're going to explore that a little on Sunday. (Last week I said I thought it would be in two weeks -- wrong!) And we're going to start by hearing what comes next in two of those symphonies: emphatically, spaciously major-key slow movements.

MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550:
ii. Andante

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg, cond. Capitol-EMI, recorded 1958

Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded 1955

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
ii. Andante con moto

New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded Sept. 25, 1961

Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG, recorded live, September 1977

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Sunday Classics: The symphonic Mozart and Beethoven open in minor mode

They look so simple, these eight notes, but they form one of the most striking and readily identifiable motifs in all of music -- the opening of one of Beethoven's two minor-key symphonic first movements.

by Ken

In Friday night's preview we listened to all of the first movements among Mozart's 40 or so symphonies which are in minor keys. That's right, both of them, which happen to be in the same key, G minor.

Partly this was out of abiding affection for the masterpiece among them, the great Symphony No. 40, and partly it was as a springboard to listening to the two first movements among Beethoven's nine symphonies which are in minor keys, Nos. 5 (C minor) and 9 (D minor). It seems clear to me that these movements have something in common, something that sets them apart from all their major-key brethren -- and something that even sort of applies to the littler Mozart G minor Symphony, No. 25.

Let's listen again to the Mozart G minor opening movements.

MOZART: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183:
i. Allegro con brio

Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia, recorded Dec. 10, 1954 (mono)

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1973

MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550:
i. Molto allegro

Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded 1959

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1972


I DON'T WANT TO MAKE THIS SOUND MORE
MYSTERIOUS THAN IT ACTUALLY IS

When you take into consideration that the general default position for classical composers is writing in major keys, with the always-available option of dipping into minor ones, it's hardly surprising that minor-key symphonic opening movements generally have a distinctive character. After all, the composer has made a quite deliberate choice to use the minor mode.

Maybe an easy way to illustrate is with music we've already heard. Among Mozart's couple of dozen piano concertos, again only two have minor-key opening movements, and they clearly stand apart from all the rest.

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466:
i. Allegro

András Schiff, piano; Camerata Academica of the Salzburg Mozarteum, Sándor Végh, cond. Decca, recorded c1990

Arthur Rubinstein, piano; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Alfred Wallenstein, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded in New York, Apr. 1, 1961

MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491:
i. Allegro

Rudolf Serkin, piano; London Symphony Orchestra, Claudio Abbado, cond. DG, recorded October 1985

Arthur Rubinstein, piano; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips, cond. RCA-BMG, recorded Apr. 20, 1958

The obvious thing to say is that these two movements really don't resemble each other all that much. And yet they have something in common, something that sets them apart from all of Mozart's other concerto first movements. They aren't necessarily "better," just different.

We spent a fair amount of time with Concerto No. 20 in the company of its major-key fraternal twin, No. 21 in C, in the May 2010 post "After producing six remarkable piano concertos in one year, Mozart was just getting warmed up." Which provides a segue of sorts into our two Beethoven minor-key first movements, because the first of them, one of the best-known pieces of music ever written, also has a fraternal twin: Beethoven composed his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies in a large overlapping cloud of inspiration -- and we listened to them together in an October 2010 post.


BEETHOVEN'S MINOR-KEY SYMPHONIC
OPENING MOVEMENTS

I would never suggest that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is "better" than the Pastoral. But there is that first movement, which I believe I described Friday night as "iconic."

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67:
i. Allegro con brio


Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG, recorded live, September 1977

Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Telarc, recorded Sept. 20, 1987

And if the opening movement of the Beethoven Fifth is iconic, what word is there to describe the colossal opening movement of the Ninth?

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125:
i. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso


Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded live, 1980

Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Arte Nova, recorded Dec. 12 and 14, 1998


WHICH RAISES ONE OBVIOUS QUESTION

Where do you go from there?

And in a separate post, probably in two weeks, we're going to come back to these symphonies and see how Mozart and Beethoven answered the question. [UPDATE: No, actually it's next week.]

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Sunday Classics preview: The symphonic Mozart dips into the minor

Leonard Bernstein prepares listeners for listening afresh to Mozart's Symphony No. 40. (Warning: It's pretty technical.)

by Ken

I had a couple of possible post ideas that started to overlap and scrunch into each other. I had in mind a post where we would listen to the iconic first movements of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, and I was thinking separately about my curious ambivalence about Mozart's symphonies with the notable exception of the G minor, No. 40. And it was hard to escape one thing these three landmark symphonies have in common.

For tonight I thought we'd start by listening to the first movements of the Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and also No. 25, which happens to be in the same key (G minor). Of Mozart's 40-ish symphonies, these are the only ones that have minor-key first movements.

MOZART: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183:
i. Allegro con brio


Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia, recorded Dec. 10, 1954 (mono)

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1973

MOZART: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550:
i. Molto allegro


Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded 1959

Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam), Josef Krips, cond. Philips, recorded June 1972


IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

We'll be pursuing this question of minor-key symphonic first movements and hearing both of Beethoven's.

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Sunday Classics: Our "J" and "K" conductors shine in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and "Così fan tutte"

Eugen Jochum (a few years older in the picture!) conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the Overture to Mozart's Così fan tutte, from his December 1962 DG recording of the complete opera.

by Ken

We're showing off our "J" and "K" conductors in Mozart operas this week. In Friday night's preview we heard both Eugen Jochum and Josef Krips conducting the opening of The Abduction from the Seraglio. Today we're going to hear each in excerpts from one of the great operas Mozart wrote with his supreme librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte: Krips conducting Don Giovanni and Jochum conducting Così fan tutte -- not only my favorite recordings of these much-recorded operas, but two of my all-time favorite opera recordings.

The two performances reflect markedly different sensibilities, but that same quality of basic musicianship -- which I might boil down to discovering how the music wants to move of its own momentum -- I've been trying to highlight in our tributes to Jochum, Krips, and our other "K" conductors, Rudolf Kempe and Rafael Kubelik.

You don't really think of matters of tempo (or at least I don't), because the tempos have been chosen to make scenes happen, and that's where at least this listener's focus is. Nor do you especially register obvious ploys to create rhythmic "momentum"; the point is that the momentum happens from within, with the music always seeming to move of its own volition in accord with the dramatic needs of the moment, while at the same time, cunningly enough, allowing the music to shine fully.

In the booklet for the Decca "Legendary Performances" reissue of the Krips Don Giovanni there's an "evaluation" of this legendary performance, which of course is careful to allow for its "legendary" status (otherwise the author wouldn't have been paid; these people do now how to give their masters what they're looking for) but picks it apart in a "checklist"-type way. Some of the learned-sounding prattle is moderately accurate as far as it goes, which isn't far, while much of it not even that. But almost all of it is innocent of what seems to me the most important, and in some ways only, consideration: how does the music play?

I don't like doing this: spotlighting performances I expressly don't like, all the more so in a case like this, where the recording seems to me to fundamentally misrepresent the performer. But here's the Così Overture again, and performed by Karl Böhm, for whom this opera may be said to represent a specialty. If you were to describe the performance objectively, in terms of tempo and phrasing and articulation, it might sound like "Böhm's Così Overture," but to me it doesn't, at all, because it doesn't move the way "Böhm's Così Overture" did in every other performance I've heard. In this version, much of the life has been squeezed out of the music.

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Overture

Philharmonia Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. EMI, recorded November 1962

Here, by contrast, is a Böhm Così Overture, unfortunately in so-so broadcast-quality mono sound, from just a few months earlier.

MOZART: Così fan tutte, K. 588: Overture

Vienna Philharmonic, Karl Böhm, cond. Recorded live at the Salzburg Festival, Aug. 8, 1962


THAT SAID, LET'S MOVE ON TO THE KRIPS DON
GIOVANNI AND JOCHUM COSÌ RECORDINGS

DON GIOVANNI

Many of these Don Giovanni excerpts (and a number of others as well) we first heard in a May 2010 post called "Mozart understood that empathy was as useful a quality for a composer as for a Supreme Court justice." In the original post I provided a link to an online Italian-English libretto of the opera. Alas, it's no longer there!


MOZART: Don Giovanni, K. 527:
Overture and Opening Scene

Not counting the Overture, this entire scene runs 5:18 in the Krips-Decca performance, 4:45 in the Walter-Met. In this excruciatingly tiny span we have Leporello's aria outside the home of Donna Anna, in which he bemoans his fate as the servant of a reprobate, waiting alone "night and day" in such situations for his master; Donna Anna's ferocious pursuit, from inside the house, of her still-masked intruder, who she insists will get away over her dead body; the entrance from the house of her father, the Commendatore, and the ensuing confrontation in which the Commendatore demands that the masked man submit to a duel, which he's finally (and deeply reluctantly) forced into, in which he wounds the Commendatore; and the trio for three basses as the Commendatore cries in vain for help while the masked man (Don Giovanni, of course) and Leporello look on, until the old man expires.

We hear both performances in two parts. For the Krips-Decca we hear first the Overture leading directly into Leporello's curtain-rise aria, "Notte e giorno faticar,"as we heard them in Friday's preview; then we hear the continuation of the scene, with a little overlap. The Walter-Met performance we heard originally without the Overture, on the theory that we had enough better-sounding performances and didn't need to be listening to a 1942 AM broadcast; now I've added it, so we can hear Walter conduct it in the opera house, but you can easily skip it if you like.

Fernando Corena (bs), Leporello; Suzanne Danco (s), Donna Anna; Cesare Siepi (bs), Don Giovanni; Kurt Böhme (bs), Commendatore; Vienna Philharmonic, Josef Krips, cond. Decca, recorded June 1955


Alexander Kipnis (bs), Leporello; Rose Bampton (s), Donna Anna; Ezio Pinza (bs), Don Giovanni; Norman Cordon (bs), Commendatore; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, March 7, 1942

Act I, Quartet, "Non ti fidar, o misera"

At this point I'm offering somewhat edited versions of comments I made in the May 2010 post. Unsympathetically performed, Donna Elvira can be as big a nuisance to the audience as she is to Don Giovanni, who went so far in his seduction of her as to actually marry her (at least she seems persuaded that he did). Her remarkable response to his abandonment of her is to chase after him, not to exact vengeance, as you might imagine (and as most everybody else in the opera winds up trying to do), but to get him back, and will continue to do so literally up to his very end. The poor creature is still hopelessly in love with him. This could easily make her a figure of ridicule or even scorn, but that would be without reckoning on the music Mozart composed for her.

We're going to listen now to Elvira's "refinding" of the Don (the line that precedes the quartet is "Ah, ti ritrovo ancor, perfido mostro" -- "Ah, I find you yet again perfidious monster"), in the company of Donna Anna and Don Ottavio, who have come to enlist his help, ironically, in tracking down the intruder responsible for the death of Anna's father. And Mozart takes full advantage of the witnesses da Ponte has furnished him; we learn as much about Elvira from their response to her anguish, "Cieli, che aspetto nobile! che dolce maestà" ("Heavens, what noble bearing! what gentle majesty!"), as we do from anything she herself says or sings. Against Elivra's grace, even under the crushing circumstances ordained for her by fate, or her own romantic foolishness (something the rest of us are way too smart to succumb to), even the Don's legendary charm, working at full capacity, is powerless.

Elvira is a role you try to cast with a singer who doesn't just sing beautifully but has that special magnetism and innocence to have an audience instantly on her side, and in today's excerpts we're going to hear three really fine ones: in addition to Krips's Lisa della Casa, Jarmila Novotna and Kiri Te Kanawa.

Lisa della Casa (s), Donna Elvira; Suzanne Danco (s), Donna Anna; Anton Dermota (t), Don Ottavio; Cesare Siepi (bs), Don Giovanni; Vienna Philharmonic, Josef Krips, cond. Decca, recorded June 1955

[from Elvira's "Ah, ti ritrovo ancor"] Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Donna Elvira; Edda Moser (s), Donna Anna; Kenneth Riegel (t), Don Ottavio; Ruggero Raimondi (bs), Don Giovanni; Paris Opera Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded June 22-July 6, 1978

from the Act I finale, Mask Scene, "Bisogna aver coragggio"

In the Act I finale we encounter both noblewomen, Donna Elvira and Donna Anna, with Anna's fiancé Don Ottavio naturally in tow, arriving masked for a grand party to which Don Giovanni has invited one and all having formed a team of sorts. By this point they have formed a team of sorts, which gets us to what for me is probably the most powerful aspect of an opera that functions on a bunch of levels: the effect on the other characters of their unfortunate interactions with Don Giovanni. It's a cold, cruel world out there, and in the end all we have is one another. Eventually this huddling-for-warmth principle will extend across a vast class chasm to encompass the peasants Zerlina and Masetto.

In what I'm calling the Mask Scene, note in particular how Ottavio frames his response to Elvira's exhortation to courage: "L'amica dice bene" -- our friend is right. The very casualness of that "l'amica" underlines the singularity of the bond so quickly formed between these up-till-now strangers.

Lisa della Casa (s), Donna Elvira; Anton Dermota (t), Don Ottavio; Suzanne Danco (s), Donna Anna; Fernando Corena (bs), Leporello; Cesare Siepi (bs), Don Giovanni; Vienna Philharmonic, Josef Krips, cond. Decca, recorded June 1955

Jarmila Novotna (s), Donna Elvira; Charles Kullman (t), Don Ottavio; Rose Bampton (s), Donna Anna; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, March 7, 1942

Act II, Sextet, "Sola, sola, in buio loco"

We come finally to the second of Mozart's sublime sextets, following the one in Act III of The Marriage of Figaro in which Marzellina is transformed, as if by magic, from a hideous old crone who is Figaro's nemesis (and the Count's last best hope for delaying the marriage of Figaro and Susanna) into his long-lost but nevertheless now-fiercely adoring and protective mother, and his sworn enemy Dr. Bartolo into his owning-up papa. (There would be more glorious sextetting ahead in Così fan tutte.)

Significantly, the sextet is made up, basically, of everybody but Don Giovanni, although Elvira, Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina, and Masetto think it's the Don they have in their clutches, because Leporello has been forced by his master, who wants to do some afternoon seducing in down-classed disguise, to swap clothes. What I love more than anything about the sextet, and there's a lot that I love about it, is what seems to me the false bravado of The Gang, which now imagines itself as a lynch mob. Mozart does his best to make them sound like a convincing band of avengers, but there's something in the music -- is it the squareness and rhythmic regularity of their rage? -- that gives the lie to their bravado.

These people, to their eternal credit, would probably be hard put to lynch a housefly. The more seriously they vent their fury, the more amusing it becomes, reaching a peak when they find out they've been tricked and their captive isn't Don Giovanni but Leporello, pleading a mile a minute for pity, until he can do what he does best: escape. I don't think it's my imagination that the collective rage becomes more believable after this revelation. They're safe now, no longer faced with the prospect of offing their victim, and the formerly stilted quality to their anger is magically gone.

Lisa della Casa (s), Donna Elvira; Fernando Corena (bs), Leporello; Anton Dermota (t), Don Ottavio; Suzanne Danco (s), Donna Anna; Hilde Gueden (s), Zerlina; Walter Berry (bs-b), Masetto; Vienna Philharmonic, Josef Krips, cond. Decca, recorded June 1955

Kiri Te Kanawa (s), Donna Elvira; Jose van Dam (bs=b), Leporello; Kenneth Riegel (t), Don Ottavio; Edda Moser (s), Donna Anna; Teresa Berganza (ms), Zerlina; Malcolm King (bs-b), Masetto; Paris Opera Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded June 22-July 6, 1978

Jarmila Novotna (s), Donna Elvira; Alexander Kipnis (bs), Leporello; Charles Kullman (t), Don Ottavio; Rose Bampton (s), Donna Anna; Bidu Sayao (s), Zerlina; Mack Harrell (b), Masetto; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, March 7, 1942

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

Many of these excerpts were first heard either in a July 2012 post, "Listening back to Otto Klemperer's Così fan tutte recording," or in the March 2011 installment in the "Remembering Margaret Price" series, "As Mozart's Fiordiligi." (I went especially wild there with performances of Fiordiligi's two stupendous arias.)

In the case of Così, I think it's interesting to hear the 1962 DG recording alongside this earlier Munich radio performance. Despite the very different context (the broadcast performance, for example, is in German), and numerous superficial differences, what fascinates me is how similar they are in terms of songful quality and forward movement.

In the commercial recording of the opening trio, note that Jochum is "blessed" with two of the more notorious rug-chewers in the operatic profession, Hermann Prey and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. It fascinates me how he manages to let them be themselves without disrupting the balance of the performance; note, for example, that the famously unostentatious tenor Ernst Häfliger isn't at all overwhelmed.

Overture and Trio, Ferrando-Guglielmo-Don Alfonso, "La mia Dorabella capace non è"

FERRANDO: My Dorabella isn't capable of such a thing.
Heaven created her as faithful as she is beautiful.
GUGLIELMO: My Fiordiligi wouldn't know how to betray me.
I believe her constancy is as great as her beauty.
DON ALFONSO: My hair is already gray, so I speak with authority.
But let us finish those arrangements now.
FERRANDO and GUGLIELMO:
No, you have told us they could be unfaithful.
You must prove it if you are an honorable man.
DON ALFONSO: Let's forget about such proofs.
FERRANDO and GUGLIELMO: No, no, we want it,
or out with your sword and we'll end this friendship.
DON ALFONSO: But it's sheer madness
to try to find
that evil which when found
makes us unhappy!
FERRANDO and GUGLIELMO: He cuts me to the quick
who lets fall
from his lips
a word that does her wrong.

Ernst Häfliger (t), Ferrando; Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmnic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded 1962

[in German] Rudolf Schock (t), Ferrando; Horst Guenter (b), Guglielmo; Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. Live performance, February 1957

Act I, Duo, Fiordiligi-Dorabella, "Ah guarda, sorella"

[A garden by the seashore. FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA are both gazing at miniatures hanging round their necks.]

FIORDILIGI: Ah tell me, sister,
If one could ever find
A nobler face,
A sweeter mouth.
DORABELLA: Just look,
See what fire
Is in his eye,
If flames and darts
Do not seem to flash forth!
FIORDILIGI: This is the face
Of a soldier and a lover.
DORABELLA: This is a face
both charming and alarming.
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: How happy I am!
If ever my heart
changes its affection,
may love make me
live in pain.

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Don Alfonso; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond.
Live performance, May 1969

Act I, Quintet, "Sento, o Dio"

GUGLIELMO: O Heaven, I feel my steps falter
In their progress towards you.
FERRANDO: My trembling lips
Cannot utter the words.
DON ALFONSO: In moments of the greatest stress
A hero calls up all his strength.
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: Now that we have heard the news,
One detail remains for you to do;
Be brave, and plunge your blade
Into this heart.
FERRANDO and GUGLIELMO: My love, blame fate
If I must abandon you.
DORABELLA [to GUGLIELMO]: No, no, do not go!
FIORDILIGI [to FERRANDO]: Cruel one, do not leave me!
DORABELLA: I would sooner tear my heart out!
FIORDILIGI: I would sooner die at your feet!
FERRANDO [aside, to DON ALFONSO]: What did I say?
GUGLIELMO [aside, to DON ALFONSO]: Do you see now?
DON ALFONSO [aside]: Patience, friend;
We've not reached the end yet!
ALL: Thus destiny confounds
Our mortal hopes.
Ah who, amid such sorrow,
Can ever more delight in life?

Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Ernst Haefliger (t), Ferrando; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Geraint Evans (b), Guglielmo; Luigi Alva (t), Ferrando; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso; Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; new Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

[in English] Peter van der Bilt (b), Guglielmo; Kurt Westi (t), Ferrando; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969

Act I, Quintet, "Di scrivermi ogni giorno"

Recitative
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: I'm dying of breathlessness.
Quintet
FIORDILIGI [weeping]: Swear that you'll write me
Every day, my love!
DORABELLA [weeping]: Write me twice as often, if you can.
GUGLIELMO: Never doubt me, my dear!
FERRANDO: Rest assured, my love!
DON ALFONSO [to himself]: I'll burst if I don't laugh!
FIORDILIGI: Be true to me alone!
DORABELLA: Remain faithful!
FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA, FERRANDO, and GUGLIELMO: Farewell!
My heart is rent in twain, my love.
Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Ernst Haefliger (t), Ferrando; Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; Luigi Alva (t), Ferrando; Geraint Evans (b), Guglielmo; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Peter van der Bilt (b), Guglielmo; Kurt Westi (t), Ferrando; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969

Act I, Trio, Fioriligi-Dorabella-Don Alfonso, "Soave sia il vento"

FIORDILIGI, DORABELLA, and DON ALFONSO:
Gentle be the breeze,
Calm be the waves,
And every element
Smile in favour
On their wish.

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Ernst Haefliger (t), Ferrando; Hermann Prey (b), Guglielmo; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Don Alfonso; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; Hans Sotin (bs), Don Alfonso: New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

Pilar Lorengar (s), Fiordiligi; Teresa Berganza (ms), Dorabella; Gabriel Bacquier (b), Don Alfonso; London Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded 1973-74

Ellisabeth Schwarzkopf (s), Fiordiligi; Christa Ludwig (ms), Dorabella; Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Philharmonia Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. EMI, recorded November 1962

[in English] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; John Shirley-Quirk (bs-b), Don Alfonso; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969

Act I, Recitative and Aria, Fiordiligi, "Temerari" . . . "Come scoglio"

Recitative
Begone, bold creatures!
Leave this house!
Despina goes out, in a fright.
And with the unwelcome breath of base words
Do not profane our hearts,
Our ears and our affections!
In vain do you, or others, seek to seduce
Our souls; the unsullied faith which
We plighted to our dear loves
We shall know bow to preserve for them
Until death, despite the world and fate.
Aria
Like a rock standing impervious
To winds and tempest,
So stands my heart ever strong
In faith and love.
Between us we have kindled
A flame which warms
And consoles us,
And death alone could
Change my heart's devotion.
Respect this example
Of constancy,
You abject creatures,
And do not let a base hope
Make you so rash again!

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

Leontyne Price (s), Fiordiligi; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Aug.-Sept. 1967

Act II, Recitative and Duo, Fiordiligi-Dorabella, "Questo è ver" . . . "Prenderò quel brunettino"

Recitative
FIORDILIGI: This is true.
DORABELLA: So?
FIORDILIGI: So you go ahead:
But I don't want to be involved
If there should be a scandal.
DORABELLA: How can there be a scandal
When we're taking such precautions?
However, listen, let's come to an agreement:
Which of these two Narcissi do you fancy for yourself?
FIORDILIGI: You decide, sister.
DORABELLA: I've already chosen.
Duet
DORABELLA: I'll take the dark one,
Who seems to me more fun.
FIORDILIGI: And meantime I'll laugh
And joke a bit with the fair one.
DORABELLA: Playfully I'll answer
His sweet words.
FIORDILIGI: Sighing, I'll imitate
The other's sighs.
DORABELLA: He'll say to me:
My love, I'm dying!
FIORDILIGI: He'll say to me:
My dearest treasure!
FIORDILIGI and DORABELLA: And meanwhile
What sport and pleasure
I shall have!

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Nan Merriman (ms), Dorabella; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; Yvonne Minton (ms), Dorabella; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

[in English; recitative begins earlier] Elizabeth Harwood (s), Fiordiligi; Janet Baker (ms), Dorabella; Scottish National Opera Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, cond. Live performance, May 1969

Act II, Recitative and Rondo, Fiordiligi, "Ei parte" . . . "Per pietà, ben mio, perdono"

Recitative
He's left me, listen, ah no! Let him go.
Let my sight be free of the unlucky object
Of my weakness. To what a pass
This cruel man has brought me!
This is a just reward for my sins!
Was this the time
For me to heed the sighs
Of a new lover, to make sport
Of another's sighs? Ah, rightly
You condemn this heart, o just love!
I burn, and my ardour is no longer
The outcome of a virtuous love:
It is madness,
Anguish, remorse, repentance
Fickleness, deceit and betrayal!
Rondo
In pity's name, my dearest, forgive
The misdeed of a loving soul;
Oh God, it shall evermore be hidden
Among these shady bushes.
My courage, my constancy
Will drive away this dishonourable desir
And banish the memory
Which fills me with shame and horror.
And who is it whom
This unworthy heart has betrayed?
Dear heart, your trust deserved
A better reward!

Irmgard Seefried (s), Fiordiligi; Berlin Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded December 1962

Margaret Price (s), Fiordiligi; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded 1971

Renée Fleming (s), Fiordiligi; Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Sir Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded at concert performances in the Royal Festival Hall (London), May 3 and 5, 1994

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