Giuseppe Verdi Otello CONDUCTOR Semyon Bychkov PRODUCTION Elijah Moshinsky SET DESIGNER Michael Yeargan Opera in four acts Libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on the play by William Shakespeare Saturday, October 13, 2012, 8:00 11:05 pm COSTUME DESIGNER Peter J. Hall LIGHTING DESIGNER Duane Schuler CHOREOGRAPHER Eleanor Fazan STAGE DIRECTOR David Kneuss The production of Otello was made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Donald D. Harrington The revival of this production is made possible by a gift from Rolex GENERAL MANAGER Peter Gelb MUSIC DIRECTOR James Levine PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR Fabio Luisi
2012 13 Season The 316th Metropolitan Opera performance of Giuseppe Verdi s Otello Conductor Semyon Bychkov in order of vocal appearance Montano Stephen Gaertner Cassio Michael Fabiano Iago Falk Struckmann Roderigo Eduardo Valdes Otello Johan Botha Desdemona Renée Fleming Emilia Renée Tatum * A herald Luthando Qave * Lodovico James Morris Saturday, October 13, 2012, 8:00 11:05 pm
Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera PHOTO CREDIT A scene from Verdi s Otello Chorus Master Donald Palumbo Fight Director B.H. Barry Musical Preparation Joan Dornemann, Dennis Giauque, Paul Nadler, and Howard Watkins Assistant Stage Directors Eric Einhorn and J. Knighten Smit Stage Band Conductor Gregory Buchalter Prompter Joan Dornemann Italian Coach Hemdi Kfir Met Titles Sonya Friedman Children s Chorus Director Anthony Piccolo Scenery, properties, and electrical props constructed and painted in Metropolitan Opera Shops Costumes executed by Metropolitan Opera Costume Department Wigs by Metropolitan Opera Wig Department This performance is made possible in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. This production uses fire, lightning, and strobe effects. Before the performance begins, please switch off cell phones and other electronic devices. * Member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program Yamaha is the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera. Latecomers will not be admitted during the performance. Visit metopera.org Met Titles To activate, press the red button to the right of the screen in front of your seat and follow the instructions provided. To turn off the display, press the red button once again. If you have questions please ask an usher at intermission.
Synopsis Cyprus, late 15th century Act I scene 1 The storm-battered ramparts scene 2 Outside Otello s castle Act II Otello s headquarters Intermission (AT APPROXIMATELY 9:15 PM) Act III scene 1 The castle garden scene 2 The great reception hall of the castle Act IV Desdemona s bedroom Act I Cypriots watch anxiously from the shore as a fierce storm batters the Venetian fleet sent to defend their island from the invading Turks. The Moor Otello, a Venetian general and governor of Cyprus, lands his flagship safely in the port and announces the destruction of the Turkish fleet. Iago, Otello s ensign, confers with the wealthy Roderigo, who is in love with Desdemona, a Venetian beauty recently married to Otello. Promising to help him, Iago assures Roderigo that Desdemona will soon tire of her husband. He reveals his hatred for Otello, who passed him over for advancement, promoting Cassio instead. While the citizens celebrate the governor s victory and his safe return home, Iago proposes a toast. Cassio declines to drink, but Iago argues he cannot refuse to salute Otello s new wife. Cassio consents and grows tipsy as Iago provokes Roderigo to get into a fight with Cassio. Montano, the former governor, tries to separate the two, but Cassio attacks him as well. Otello appears from the castle to restore order, furious about his soldiers behavior. When he sees Desdemona disturbed by the commotion, he takes away Cassio s recent promotion and commands everyone to leave. Alone, the lovers recall their courtship and assure each other of their love. Act II Iago advises Cassio to present his case to Desdemona. He argues that her influence on the general will certainly get Cassio reinstated. As soon as Cassio 39
Synopsis CONTINUED is out of sight, Iago declares his belief that a cruel God created man wicked and that life has no meaning. He watches as Cassio approaches Desdemona in the garden. When Otello enters, the lieutenant makes casual remarks about Desdemona s fidelity. Enchanted by his wife s beauty, Otello greets her lovingly, but when she brings up the question of Cassio s demotion, he is angered and complains of a headache. She offers a handkerchief to cool his forehead, but he throws it to the ground. Her attendant Emilia, who is Iago s wife, picks it up. As Desdemona tries to calm Otello, Iago seizes the handkerchief from Emilia. Otello asks to be alone and everybody leaves, except for Iago, who remains to observe Otello s growing suspicion. To fan the flames, he invents a story of how Cassio spoke of Desdemona in his sleep; he mentions that he saw her handkerchief in Cassio s hand. Exploding with rage and jealousy, Otello swears vengeance, and Iago joins in the oath. Act III A herald informs Otello of the imminent arrival of Venetian ambassadors. Iago tells the general that soon he will have further proof of his wife and Cassio s betrayal. Desdemona enters, and Otello speaks calmly until she revives the subject of Cassio. When Otello demands the handkerchief he gave her, she again pleads for Cassio. Unable to control his fury any longer, Otello accuses her of infidelity and dismisses her. Left alone, he suffers a fit of desperation and self-pity, then hides as Iago returns with Cassio. Iago flashes the handkerchief he stole and leads the conversation with Cassio in such a way that Otello overhears only fragments and incorrectly assumes they are talking about Desdemona. As trumpets announce the dignitaries from Venice, Otello, whose rage continues to grow, vows to kill his wife that very night. He then greets the ambassador Lodovico, who recalls him to Venice and appoints Cassio to govern Cyprus. Losing control at this news, Otello pushes his wife to the floor, hurling insults. He orders everyone out and collapses in a seizure, while Iago gloats over him. Act IV Emilia helps Desdemona prepare for bed. Frightened, Desdemona sings of a maiden forsaken by her lover, then says an emotional goodnight to Emilia and recites her prayers. As soon as she has fallen asleep, Otello enters and wakes Desdemona with a kiss. When Otello starts talking about killing her, she is horrified and protests her innocence, but Otello strangles her. Emilia knocks with news that Cassio has killed Roderigo. Shocked to find the dying Desdemona, she summons help. Iago s plot is finally revealed and Otello realizes what he has done. After reflecting on his past glory he pulls out a dagger and stabs himself, dying with a final kiss for his wife. 40 Visit metopera.org
In Focus Giuseppe Verdi Otello Premiere: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 1887 Often cited as Italian opera s greatest tragedy, Otello is a miraculous union of music and drama. It is a musical masterpiece as profound philosophically as it is thrilling theatrically. Shakespeare s tale of an outsider, a great hero who can t control his jealousy, was carefully molded by the librettist Arrigo Boito into a taut and powerful libretto. Verdi s supreme achievement in this work may be the title role: a pinnacle of the tenor s repertory. All three lead roles are demanding (making Otello a challenge to produce), but the role of Otello, in particular, requires an astounding natural instrument capable of both powerful and delicate sounds, superb musical intelligence, and impressive acting abilities. Many of the greatest tenors have avoided it entirely; very few have mastered it. The Creators In an unparalleled career in the theater spanning six decades, Giuseppe Verdi (1813 1901) composed 28 operas, of which Otello was the penultimate. His role in Italy s cultural and political development has made him an icon in his native country. The remarkable Arrigo Boito (1842 1918) was also a composer (his opera Mefistofele, based on Goethe s Faust, premiered in 1868), as well as a journalist and critic. The plays of William Shakespeare (1564 1616) have inspired a huge number of operatic interpretations. Verdi and Boito would turn to Shakespeare again after Otello for their final masterpiece, Falstaff. The Setting The opera is set on the island of Cyprus in the late 15th century. (Boito jettisoned Shakespeare s Act I, set in Venice, for a tighter and more fluid drama.) The island itself represents an outpost of a European power (Venice) under constant attack from an encroaching, hostile adversary (the Turkish Empire). In a sense, the island of Cyprus could be said to echo Otello s outsider status: he is a foreigner (a Moor, an uncertain term applied indiscriminately at that time to North African Arabs, black Africans, and others) surrounded by suspicious Europeans. The Music The score of Otello is remarkable for its overall intensity and dramatic insight rather than the memorable solo numbers that made Verdi s earlier works so popular. There are arias in this opera, most notably Desdemona s Willow 42
Song and haunting Ave Maria in the last act and the baritone s Credo at the beginning of Act II. But equally important are the shorter vocal solos that cover considerable dramatic territory: the tenor s opening Esultate! in Act I is just a few measures long but reveals many facets of his character. Two notable duets, the tenor soprano love duet that ends Act I and the tenor baritone oath duet that concludes Act II, are remarkable examples of their respective forms. Throughout the score, the orchestra plays a diverse role unprecedented in Italian opera. In the opening storm scene, the power of nature is depicted with full forces, including an organ, playing at the maximum possible volume. In the Act I love duet, subtle psychological detail is revealed when the oboe and clarinet are seamlessly replaced by the darker English horn and bass clarinet as Otello s mind turns to painful memories. The very end of the opera belongs to the orchestra as well, with every instrument playing as softly as possible, pulsing like the last breaths of a dying being. Otello at the Met The great tenor Jean de Reszke gave the Met s first two performances of the title role during the 1891 season the first of which was on tour with the company in Chicago. The opera didn t make a great impact on Met audiences, however, until a new production in 1894 featuring tenor Francesco Tamagno and baritone Victor Maurel (Verdi s choices for Otello and Iago at the world premiere in Milan) established it in the repertory. Conductor Arturo Toscanini, who had played in the orchestra in the world premiere, led 29 performances at the Met between 1909 and 1913, all of which featured Leo Slezak in the title role. Subsequent productions have featured Ettore Panizza conducting Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, and Lawrence Tibbett (1937); Georg Solti in 1963 with Gabriella Tucci, James McCracken, and Robert Merrill; Karl Böhm in 1972 with Teresa Zylis-Gara, McCracken, and Sherrill Milnes; and the 1994 Met debut of Valery Gergiev leading Carol Vaness, Plácido Domingo, and Sergei Leiferkus in the current production by Elijah Moshinsky. Among the other great artists to have made a mark in the title role are Ramón Vinay, Mario Del Monaco, and Jon Vickers. Renata Tebaldi made her Met debut as Desdemona in 1955, and Kiri Te Kanawa was first heard here when she made her company debut in the same role on short notice in 1974. Music Director James Levine, who has led almost 2,500 performances for the Met, has conducted Otello here 82 times more than any other work. Visit metopera.org 43
2012 13 Season NEW PRODUCTIONS L Elisir d Amore The Tempest Un Ballo in Maschera Maria Stuarda Rigoletto Parsifal Giulio Cesare REPERTORY Aida The Barber of Seville Carmen La Clemenza di Tito Le Comte Ory Dialogues des Carmélites Don Carlo Don Giovanni Faust Francesca da Rimini Le Nozze di Figaro Otello La Rondine La Traviata Il Trovatore Les Troyens Turandot DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN Das Rheingold Die Walküre Siegfried Götterdämmerung metopera.org 212.362.6000 Simon Keenlyside in The Tempest photographed by Anne Deniau.
Program Note Operas on Shakespearean subjects can be traced back to the 17th century, but few were based directly on the works of the great playwright. From Johann Mattheson s Die unglückselige Cleopatra (1704) to Rossini s Otello (1816) and Bellini s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830), most Shakespearean operas were in fact based on other sources, sometimes the same ones Shakespeare used, sometimes later versions that fitted out the tragedies with happy endings. This situation is in part due to the fact that not many operas were written in Shakespeare s native Britain until the late 19th century. Equally, however, it reflects the ignorance of his work in countries with more highly developed operatic cultures. In Italy as in Germany, he was not an age-old classic but a poet who became widely known only in the 19th century, valued by Romantic writers for disregarding the classical theatrical unities in favor of psychological truth. And not until mid-century did Italian audiences begin to encounter him in the theater in fact, Verdi s Macbeth of 1847, a serious attempt to represent Shakespeare s drama rather than merely its story, predated the play s first Italian performance. By that time, Verdi himself probably had not yet experienced Shakespeare on stage, though later that year in London, he saw William Charles Macready as Macbeth. To critics of his Macbeth who said that Verdi did not understand Shakespeare, the composer responded indignantly: No, by God, no. I have had his works in my hands since my earliest youth. I read and re-read him constantly. As early as 1843 he mentioned King Lear as a possible subject, and reconsidered it more than once in later decades, eventually dropping it because adequate singers were not in view. After the 1872 Milan premiere of Aida at La Scala, Verdi made no further plans for theatrical work; that opera s critical reception, with suggestions that Verdi had become an imitator of Wagner, disgruntled him, as did the increasing vogue in Italian theaters of foreign operas, especially Wagner s. The Requiem occupied him in 1873 74, and in subsequent years he conducted it with some frequency. It was during the preparations for a Milan performance in June of 1879 that a plot to lure Verdi back to the theater was put into motion, with a libretto based on Shakespeare s Othello as bait. The conspirators, motivated by considerations of art, commerce, and friendship, were led by Giulio Ricordi, the shrewd, cultured head of the music publishing firm with which Verdi had been allied for most of his career. To Ricordi, the composer s idleness at the height of his creative powers seemed a prodigal waste of artistic genius, national prestige, and potential income. Ricordi s principal instrument was the poet, librettist, and composer Arrigo Boito, who many years earlier had been friendly with Verdi (providing the text for the 1862 Hymn of the Nations) and then had inadvertently offended the supersensitive composer. Also involved were conductor composer Franco Faccio and discreetly Verdi s wife Giuseppina. 45
Program Note CONTINUED This genial conspiracy s patient progress can be followed in the correspondence published by Hans Busch (Verdi s Otello in Letters and Documents, Oxford, 1988): in no need of money, nearing 70 and worried about his strength, Verdi is clearly attracted to the subject, but also testy and quick to take offense, a situation requiring great resources of tact from Boito and Ricordi, while Giuseppina cautiously coaches them via a back channel. The revision of Simon Boccanegra in 1881 became a trial run for the collaboration, but only in 1884 (after also revising Don Carlo) did Verdi begin to compose the much-revised Otello libretto. Completed on November 1, 1886, the opera was presented at Milan s La Scala on February 5, 1887, conducted by Faccio. The work achieved a triumph of legendary proportions. The hand-picked cast included Francesco Tamagno as Otello, Romilda Pantaleoni as Desdemona, and Victor Maurel as Iago. Printed librettos for Verdi s opera often have added a third column to the traditional two, putting parallel passages from Shakespeare s Othello next to the English translation of Boito s libretto an interesting exercise but surely an oversimplification of the transaction involved in the creation of the operatic Otello. Its authors viewed the play through the lens of various Italian translations, continental Romantic criticism, and the Italian theatrical tradition. Though Boito knew some English, he relied principally on the French version by François-Victor Hugo (son of the playwright and novelist) a learned affair with critical introduction, notes and commentary, and even a translation of the play s Italian source. All these influences affected the shaping of the opera, as did the conventions of the Italian operatic stage, still persistent even in their loosened form late in the 19th century. Today, after 125 years, we cannot see and hear Otello the same way that the spectators at La Scala in 1887 did. Its surprises, from the mighty onslaught of sound in the opening storm scene to the subtle interweaving of aria and conversation in Desdemona s Willow Song and the double-bass recitative that introduces Otello into her bedchamber, are not surprising any more, though they have not ceased to be, respectively, awesome, poignant, and chilling. We experience contemporary interpretations of the opera against a background of earlier performances, live or recorded, that include the 1947 version conducted by Arturo Toscanini (who played cello at the world premiere) and stretch all the way back to Tamagno and Maurel of the original cast. David Hamilton Visit metopera.org 47
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The Cast Semyon Bychkov conductor (st. petersburg, russia) this season Otello at the Met, a concert with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Tokyo s NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic, among others. met appearances Boris Godunov (debut, 2004). career highlights He has been the music director of the Orchestre de Paris, principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, principal guest conductor of Maggio Musicale, Florence, chief conductor of WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, and chief conductor of Dresden s Semperoper. At London s Covent Garden he has led Elektra (for his debut in 2003), Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, Lohengrin, Don Carlo, Tannhäuser, and La Bohème. He has also conducted Elektra, Tristan und Isolde, Daphne, and Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera, Der Rosenkavalier at the Salzburg Festival, Un Ballo in Maschera and Tristan und Isolde at the Paris Opera, Elektra in Madrid, Tosca and Elektra at La Scala, and Jen ufa, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and Schubert s Fierrabras in Florence. Renée Fleming soprano (indiana, pennsylvania) this season Desdemona in Otello at the Met; Blanche Dubois in Previn s A Streetcar Named Desire with Lyric Opera of Chicago and in concert at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke s; the Countess in Capriccio with the Vienna State Opera; concert engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and New York Philharmonic; and recitals throughout South America, Europe, Asia, and the United States. met appearances Title roles of Rodelinda, Armida, Thaïs, Rusalka, Manon, Arabella, and Susannah, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, Violetta in La Traviata, Desdemona, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (debut, 1991) and Capriccio, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Rosina in the world premiere of Corigliano s The Ghosts of Versailles, Imogene in Il Pirata, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and Marguerite in Faust. career highlights She has appeared in all the world s leading opera houses, is the recipient of three Grammy Awards, and was awarded the titles Chevalier de la Légion d Honneur and Commandeur de l Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. She was a 1988 winner of the Met s National Council Auditions. 49
The Cast CONTINUED Johan Botha tenor (rustenburg, south africa) this season Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Otello, and Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Vienna State Opera, Otello at the Met and with Munich s Bavarian State Opera, Walther with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Parsifal at the Salzburg Easter Festival, and Siegmund at the Bayreuth Festival. met appearances Radamès in Aida, Siegmund, Canio in Pagliacci (debut, 1997), Lohengrin, Walther, Florestan in Fidelio, Calàf in Turandot, and the title role of Don Carlo. career highlights He recently sang Lohengrin at Bucharest s Enescu Festival, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and Radamès in Hamburg, Pollione in Norma in Berlin, Apollo in Strauss s Daphne and the title role of Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera, and the Emperor in Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala. He has also been heard at Barcelona s Liceu, Geneva s Grand Théâtre, Covent Garden, Los Angeles Opera, and Paris s Bastille Opera and Châtelet. Falk Struckmann bass-baritone (heilbronn, germany) this season Iago in Otello at the Met, Scarpia in Tosca in Bilbao, and King Henry in Lohengrin in Frankfurt. met appearances Wozzeck (debut, 1997), Scarpia, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, Telramund in Lohengrin, Abimélech in Samson et Dalila, and Amfortas in Parsifal. career highlights He recently sang Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten and Scarpia at La Scala, Borromeo in Pfitzner s Palestrina and Wotan in Wagner s Ring cycle at the Hamburg State Opera, and Scarpia, Amfortas, and Iago at the Vienna State Opera. He has also sung Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde and Wotan at the Bayreuth Festival; the Wanderer in Siegfried at La Scala; Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer, and Telramund at the Vienna State Opera; Borromeo with Munich s Bavarian State Opera and in Frankfurt; and Orest in Elektra, Kurwenal, the Dutchman, Telramund, Hans Sachs, Wotan, Amfortas, and Don Pizarro at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. 50 Visit metopera.org