EVENINGS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC - BAHRAIN - |
PROGRAMME FOR 24 SEPTEMBER 2003 |
LA GIOCONDA |
Opera in Four Acts by Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-86) Libretto: Arrigo Boito, after Victor Hugo's Angélo, Tyran de Padoue. First Performance: 8 April 1876, Milan CAST Gioconda - Eva Marton Enzo - Placido Domingo Barnaba - Matteo Manuguerra Laura - Ludmilla Semtschuck Alvise - Kurt Rydl La Cieca - Margarita Lilowa Zuane - Alfred Sramek A Minstrel - Alfred Burgstaller Isepo - Jorge Pita A Pilot - Goran Simic A Monk - Francisco Valls 1st Gondolier - Benedikt Kobel 2nd Gondolier - Peter Köves Orchestra and Chorus of the Vienna State Opera Conductor - Adam Fischer Recorded at the Vienna State Opera (1986) Produced by Filippo Sanjust Sung in Italian with English sub-titles |
Synopsis The story is set in Venice in the 17th century. Act One - The Lion's Mouth Amidst the lively bustle of the carnival festivities at St Mark's Square, Barnaba, a spy in the guise of a street singer, approaches La Gioconda, a real street singer with whom he is in love. His advances spurned, he swears revenge and wins the confidence and services of the gondolier Zuàne, who has just suffered a humiliating defeat in the festival regatta under the critical gaze of the whole of Venice. Barnaba informs the boatman that he had no chance in the race on account of the fact that Gioconda's blind mother (known as La Cieca = "The Blind Woman") had placed him under a spell. The crowds take up the matter on Zuàne's behalf, calling for the old woman to be burnt at the stake as a witch. But, just in time, Gioconda arrives to intervene with her lover Enzo Grimaldo, a prince from Genoa. The Genoese aristocrat had once been banished from Venice by the State Inquisitor, Alvise Badoero, but has now secretly returned to the city dressed as a Dalmatian sea captain. At that moment Alvise Badoero and his Genoese wife Laura Adorno are returning home from a masked ball. Laura begs her husband to show mercy on the blind old woman, whose piety they recognise in her rosary. When set free by the Inquisitor, La Cieca gives the rosary to his wife as a mark of her gratitude. By this time, however, Barnaba has recognised Enzo Grimaldo and calls him to his face by his true name. Revealing himself to be an influential servant of the High Council, Barnaba says he can arrange for Grimaldo to meet his childhood sweetheart Laura - who married Alvise Badoero against her wishes - on board one of the ships. Knowing that Gioconda is in love with Enzo, he hopes that this action will wound her deeply. Enzo curses the spy and leaves, but no sooner has he gone than Barnaba immediately begins to dictate a letter to the public scribe Isepo: "this night, on one of the Dalmatian ships " and drops it into the bocca del leone - the notorious lion's mouth repository in the courtyard of the Doge's Palace in which all anonymous denunciations are left for the Inquisition. Barnaba's plan works - having overheard everything, Gioconda is bitterly upset that Enzo should betray her for another. Act Two - The rosary Under the watchful eye of Barnaba, now disguised as a boatman, the sailors aboard Enzo's ship are preparing to set sail. Enzo, the captain, appears from his cabin and on seeing the night sky in all its majesty he is unable to contain his feelings of expectation and love. At a prearranged signal from Barnaba, he helps Laura aboard the ship and takes her in his arms. They plan their elopement, and while Laura prays to the Virgin to protect the two of them, Enzo gives the ship a final check before departure. Suddenly Gioconda appears, ready to do battle for Enzo's affection. She is on the point of stabbing her rival with a dagger when she recognises her mother's rosary in Laura's hands. The rosary saves Laura's life, for Gioconda spontaneously repays the kindness Laura had shown her mother by warning her that Alvise's boat is approaching rapidly and by helping her to make good her escape. Gioconda tells Enzo, on the other hand, that Laura has gone because she no longer loves him. He recognises in Gioconda's declaration of love nothing other than sheer hatred - he simply cannot take her at her word. She then informs him that as Barnaba has already denounced him he has not much longer to live. Enzo takes hold of a torch and sets fire to his ship. With the name of Laura on his lips, he dives into the water, opting to swim rather than surrender to Alvise and his accomplices. Act Three - Ca' d'oro In his palace, the Ca' d'oro, situated beside the Grand Canal, Alvise, now apoplectic with rage, has Laura thrown into a chamber specially prepared for her death. He leaves for her a vial of poison with which she is to commit suicide. But Gioconda has secretly broken into the palace and, out of love for Enzo, she once again saves Laura by slipping her a sleeping draft with which she can feign her suicide. In the neighbouring ballroom, Alvise receives his important guests, offering them as entertainment a performance of the ballet The Dance of the Hours. At this point Barnaba bursts in, dragging behind him La Cieca, whom he has found inside the palace. She insists that she had merely been praying for the dying - "for Laura" - he says, loudly enough to be overheard by Enzo, who has also made his way to the palace. This is the moment for Enzo to reveal to Alvise his true identity as a Grimaldo and to demand from him satisfaction for the "theft of his home and his beloved". Alvise triumphantly opens the door to the death chamber to reveal what appears to be Laura's corpse lying on the catafalque; she has been punished for besmirching his honour, he says. The guards move in to arrest Enzo and in the scuffle which ensues, Gioconda promises herself to Barnaba if he succeeds in saving Enzo. . Act Four - The Orfano Canal Two of Gioconda's friends transfer the apparently lifeless body of Laura to the ruined palace, which serves as Gioconda's home, on the island of Giudecca. Desperate and in utter turmoil, Gioconda holds in front of her the vial of poison Alvise had given his wife. She cannot decide whether to kill herself or throw Laura, over whom she now has complete power, into the Orfano Canal. In the end, her love for Enzo leaves her just one option - suicide. By now Enzo has been released and has made his way to Gioconda's palace, where he is at first greeted warmly. But when he shows interest only in Laura, she invents the lie that she had stolen the corpse; her intention, however, is to arouse his anger and thus to incite him to strike her a fatal blow. But at that moment Laura wakes up and tells Enzo of the selflessness she had been shown by Gioconda. Gioconda arranges for the couple to escape in a waiting boat. When Barnaba then returns to claim his part of the bargain, she takes a dagger to her heart. The monstrous Barnaba calls out that he has murdered her mother, but it is too late - oblivious to his cries, La Gioconda sinks to the ground. |
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