Joseph Brent
Opera on
Film
Dr. Link
Term Paper –
Tosca
Character Study of Puccini’s Mario Cavaradossi
The aim of this essay is to present the research and
analysis on the character Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca. This essay represents the
footwork in preparation for the singing-actor approaching this tenor role.
Dramatic and musical considerations are the primary concern, but the opera’s
reception is inextricably attached to its characters and therefore included
throughout the essay. Additionally, the essay would be flawed if detailed
attention was not given to the Mario Cavaradossi of Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca, the play on which Tosca is based. As Tosca is one of the first operas of twentieth century, the voices
of those tenors who originated the role are persevered and available for
consideration. Therefore there will be a brief critique of the first Mario
Cavaradossis.
The earliest forerunner of the libretto for Tosca was a translation and reworking of
Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca by Luigi
Illica for the Ricordi publishing company. Both Ricordi and Illica originally
had the composer Alberto Franchetti in mind1. However with the
success of La Boheme a third level of
separation developed with the addition of Giuseppe Giacosa’s rewording and
versification of Illica’s libretto for Puccini. Finally Puccini included his
own epistolary stamp on the text and plot2. Despite the several
degrees of separation between the play La
Tosca, and Puccini’s verismo opera there is a recapitulatory return in the
final product. Puccini worked extensively with the seventy-year-old Sardou who
said that the opera was an improvement on his play3. Despite the
operatic adaptation that necessarily truncates the play, the important and
dramatic elements are maintained. After Illica, Giacosa and Puccini’s pruning
the audience is left with the elemental characters, the Tosca trichotomy:
Floria Tosca, Barron Scarpia and the primary subject of the essay Mario
Cavaradossi.
The characters that constitute the Tosca trichotomy are
fictional. Sardou mixes historically accurate (and inaccurate) detail with his
dramatic fiction in La Tosca, which
subsequently translates into the opera Tosca.
The play was set during the period just after Napoleon assumed First Consul in
France, specifically on the day of the Battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800. The political atmosphere in Rome circa
1800 was turbulent. This period was known as the “sede vacante”4 or vacant seat, meaning there was no one
at the throne of the papacy. Rome was controlled or “pursued” by the Austrians,
Neapolitans, English and Russians until the eventual reestablishment of the
papal authority5. In the absence of a ruling authority and with
Napoleon’s success in the north and the French Revolution coming to a climax the
ancient city was in a state of unrest “where no hand clearly holds the reigns.”6
Sardou blatantly exposes the hostility rampant in the
political chaos of Rome. Early in the drama the Sacristan aptly accuses
Cavaradossi of being a Jacobin, Republican sympathizer; this form of
vilification makes clear the relation between politics and religion. In
Cavaradossi’s own words, explaining to the fleeing Angelotti, describes himself
in terms of the Roman vogue “You know in Rome, as in Naples, anyone who doesn’t
wear a powdered wig, knee breeches or buckled shoes, anyone who dresses and has
his hair cut short in the French style is looked at with jaundice eye. Hair won
in the manner of Titus makes me out as an extreme liberal, having a beard shows
I’m a free thinker, and wearing these top boots brands me as a revolutionist.
Had I not figured out a subterfuge, I would already have had a run-in with
Scarpia.”7 In Sardou’s historical drama Mario Cavaradossi’s
political, philosophical, romantic and religious practices are woven deeply
into the fabric of the drama.
The drama is in a constant spiraling domino effect where
every element superficially – not superfluously – impacts the next, following
the Nineteenth century French pièce bien
faite “well-made play”8 format. As with the reception, a brief
summary of the action and setting is necessary to understand the character’s
plight. Mario Cavaradossi is in Rome; it is June of 1800, painting a portrait
of Mary Magdalen at the Church of St. Andrea Della Valle to be near to his girlfriend, the famed diva Floria Tosca. Angelotti is
an escaped prisoner. He stumbles into Mario, who, feeling a swell of rebellious
fervor and compassion, vows to help him at all costs. Leaving behind a
woman’s fan, which was an accessory to Angelotti’s disguise, the scheming
Scarpia uses it to provoke Tosca’s teeming jealously. Cavaradossi is captured
and brought into the Farnese Palace to be interrogated and ultimately tried as
a conspirator harboring a prisoner. Exploiting Tosca’s relationship with
Cavaradossi Scarpia tortures him to extract the whereabouts of Angelotti, as
well as to feed his sadistic appetite. Tosca confesses in order to save
Cavaradossi’s life, but in the heat of anti-republican rage Scarpia orders him
to be shot. As Cavaradossi is lead to the prison off stage Tosca and Scarpia
quarrel. Tosca eventually murders Scarpia, as a final attempt to save
Cavaradossi and end Scarpia’s tyranny. In the final act Cavaradossi is executed
by the firing squad and Tosca jumps from the parapet of the Castel Sant’Angelo.
Every dramatist personae and libretto acknowledges Mario
Cavaradossi the painter. Cavaradossi is a painter by profession; it is a
necessary - if not obvious - character trait and plot tool. It explains his
business in the Church of St. Andrea Della Valle, underpins his cavatina Recondita Armonia, sets him up to
receive Angelotti and provides for Tosca’s exposition. The singing-actor must
go farther than the beautiful melodies and the obvious. If classic terms could
be applied to verismo opera, Cavaradossi would be the hero. He would also be
seen as the dramatic conduit; the opera takes place in his world. From the
tenor’s perspective Mario Cavaradossi
might have been a more suitable eponym for Sardou’s play and subsequently for
Puccini’s opera. Cavaradossi’s true raison d’être in the drama - which can
bee seen as the opera’s raison d’être - is
the political, philosophical and social atmosphere, mentioned above, of Rome
1800. Susan Vandiver Nicassio
provides the actor approaching Cavaradossi with a detailed, concise
characterization “…image of the ‘artist as revolutionary martyr’ and the
corresponding idea of the inequities of the clerical government… This complex
of ideas formed much of the basis for the character Mario Cavaradossi, radical
artist and hero… he embodies the Gallic irony and charm, the well-bred cultural
superiority and the progressive right-mindedness that Sardou admired...”9
Contrastingly the opera may seem to be a superficial
vehicle for great melodies and orchestration by Puccini as La Tosca was a vehicle for the actress Sarah Bernhardt,10
another reason why the title is taken from the heroine’s name. In fact the
librettist Giacosa would argue that Cavaradossi is indeed a vehicle for the
tenor “… it seems that for [Ricordi] and Puccini Cavaradossi should be nothing
more than a ‘signore tenore,’” (Giacosa to Ricordi September 1898).11
Still, one hundred years later, Susan Vandiver Nicassio writes “Almost all of
this characterization disappeared when Puccini, who had little sympathy with
and less interest in revolutionary politics, translated the play into the
opera.”12 However, from the singing actor’s perspective the elements
of Sardou’s Cavaradossi must be considered in order to create a character of
substance and depth.
Critics
accuse Puccini of not realizing the full potential of the drama:
“Throughout the opera he
[Puccini] plays down the political aspects of the plot, being interested only
in the personal relationships of the characters.”13
“Too
often it is hard to escape the sense that Puccini's most powerful musical
outbursts -- the swellings of intense emotion that tenors and sopranos mine for
the recital hall -- are dramatically unearned. This is the soundest reason
critical resistance to Puccini has lingered.”14
The majority of the critical response to the opera was
unanimously damning. The diatribes and malcontent that permeate the reception
history, contemporaneous to and in years since the opera’s premiere, present a
challenge to the interpreter. How does one approach an opera and specifically a
character found to be so utterly two-dimensional? But these critiques do not
explain the opera’s popularity. It has been a reparatory piece since its
premiere and its arias celebrated by tenors and sopranos for the last century.
In his review of Julian Budden’s Puccini:
His Life and Works, Gary Tomlinson reproaches the critical response with “… musicologists have continued to resist [Puccini]. There are several
reasons for this. Foremost, probably, is a discomfort academics tend to feel in
the presence of a plangent sentimentality like Puccini's. It is high time to
set this aside in a field that devotes itself more and more to the basic
emotional impact of musical repertories of all sorts. Even if Puccini were a composer
of tenor showstoppers and soprano weepies and nothing more -- he is not -- it
would be worthwhile to understand the sources of their power.”15
Unfortunately this search to understand Puccini’s “power,” or rather the
power of the, what he later calls “showstoppers,” also presents the interpreter
with a difficulty. How does one approach standard repertoire and familiar
repertoire in order to make the most successful music and drama?
Having absorbed the Mario Cavaradossi of Sardou’s drama
the singing-actor can use the character’s atheist, republican philosophies to
create his perspective. It is the
mission of the singer to “understand the sources of their power.” In spite of
Susan Vandiver Nicassio critique “pointless since we are dealing with projections
backward from a century earlier.”16 Here an analysis of
Cavaradossi’s music in the context of the opera becomes a prime focus for
character development.
According to the Fach system Mario Cavaradossi is aptly
performed by “jugendlicher heldentenor,” similar to the “spinto tenor.” The
Fach System according to UGA IPA Source goes on to explain: “the voice
demanded is one which has great metal and ring, a secure top and a considerable
amount of staying power… The color of the voice is likely to be more slanted
toward the German metallic singing than the Italian sound of the heavy spinto
tenor.”17 The modern audience and singing-actor is lucky to have
recordings of the first tenors to sing the role, singers that Puccini
handpicked. According to Puccini singers like Emilio Di Marchi (the first
Cavaradossi), Giuseppe Borgatti (the second) and Fernando de Lucia (the third
“Puccini’s first choice for Rodlfo in
Boheme”18 were the type of tenor voices to be singing Mario
Cavaradossi. The sound-bites and extracted arias recorded by these singers do
not provide enough information for the researcher. In order to present a
sympathetic character the singing-actor must take a perspective on the role. A
look into what makes this role suitable for or definable as “youthful heroic
tenor,” ought to be represented in the music.
The opera is framed by Cavaradossi’s two arias and
ariettas, which – as mentioned above - have become standard repertoire for the
operatic tenor. The role itself spans a range from b¢ down to e, however both
arias tend to stay in a high tessitura. Carner writes, “both arias arise
directly from the situation, and both express Cavaradossi’s love for Tosca.”19
The opera’s “bookend” arias are the cavatina: Recondita Armonia and the aria E
lucevan le Stelle, which Carner calls the farewell aria. Besides these bookend arias
Cavaradossi’s music not only punctuates the second act, it dramatically alters
the course of the opera.
Several authors feel it prudent to point out that the
musical setting of Recondita Armonia “shows no ‘recondite’ harmony…”20
In analysis of the music I would argue that the text is set with rhetorical
sophistication. The Italian adjective recondita
is the feminine form of recondito
which Garzanti Linguistica explains has it root “Dal lat. recondi°tu(m),
part. pass. di reconde°re 'custodire, nascondere'” (from the Latin reconditum, past participle of the verb recondere to keep as in to guard or
preserve/take care of, to hide/conceal). The first Italian definition given by
Garzanti is “lontano” which translates into “far/far-off/distant;” the
adjective recondito is translated as “hidden, concealed” but more importantly “(profondo)
[deep] innermost, inmost.”21 Armonia
is translated to harmony; therefore, in the context from which the title is
derived, the opening line of poetry Recondita
armonia di belleze diverse! becomes Innermost
harmony of two different beauties.
Where “mysterious” is the popular translation, used by both Ricordi and
The Metropolitan Opera; reading “innermost” might make for a more effective
rhetorical analysis and a more potent realization of the poetry. Moreover, in
the recapitulatory section m. 276 Giacosa writes L’arte nel suo mistero le diverse bellezze insiem confonde - In art’s mystery the different beauties mix
together (or together confuse) –
at this moment he clearly means mysterious and the two words, recondite and
mysterious, are put in sharp relief of one another.
The aria maintains a clear F major landscape, with only a
single altered scale tone during the tenor’s singing: B-flat becomes a passing
B natural in two adjacent measures (Ex. 1). The lack of “accidentals,” rather
pitch alteration emphasizes the nearly modal setting of the aria. Additionally
the pedal point, quartal/quintal (pentatonic) motives in the winds, and
recitation tones add a layer of antiquated sacredness. (Ex. 2) The “innermost
harmony of different beauties” can be applied to the juxtaposition of
Cavaradossi’s atheism in the church St. Andrea Della Valle, seen in the
contrasting section within each strophe: the static recitation-like setting of
the first two lines contrasted by the desultory leaping of the remaining
strophe. Or as Nicassio believes “Faith and Art are two rival systems for
finding meaning in life…”22
Example
1: Act I, mm. 272 -273.
Example 2: Act I, mm. 245 -257
The formal structure of the aria, however, does support a
reading of recondita as concealed, where the combination of two
contrasting compositional techniques is at hand. Puccini combines the normative
value of theme construction within a structure that echoes the Fibonacci series
thereby emphasizing the golden ratio.
The introduction, which functions more as a ritornello, is thirteen
measures long (ex. 2), the seventh number of the Fibonacci sequence. It is followed by two eight-measure
phrases, each with an additional measure that prepares an anacrusis (ex. 3a;
3b). Neither sixteen nor eighteen are a part of the Fibonacci series, but it is
at this point in which Puccini brings back the opening material.
Example 3a: Act I, mm. 258 – 267.
Example 3b: Act I, mm. 267 - 274
The
five-measure return of the opening music represents the ritornello and begins a
kind of recapitulation (ex. 4); five is the fifth number of the Fibonacci
sequence. The ritornello is followed by an eight-measure phrase leading to the
climactic conclusion of the aria (ex. 5); eight is the sixth number in the
Fibonacci sequence.
Example
4: Act I, mm. 275 – 279
-
Example
5: Act I, mm.
Putting
all of these structural elements together the aria can be seen as a
sixteen-measure contrasting (double) period framed by a thirteen-measure
ritornello and a thirteen-measure recapitulation. The golden ratio exists at
the moment between the sixteen-measure period and the recapitulation where
approximately 61.8% of the aria is complete. The concealed or esoteric
“harmony” that Puccini is combing is the beauty of Italianate repetition
structures and lyricism and centuries old belief on proportion aesthetics.
Taking Recondita
Armonia for its poetry alone and not the setting it is clear that the aria
compares the image of the Marchesa Attavanti (Mary Magdalen) and Tosca.
Cavaradossi equates and differentiates their traits overtly and in this sense
the music is just a tuneful setting of a love song. Ultimately Cavaradossi says that though their beauties are
blended in his art, his only thought is of Tosca. What makes this aria a “show
stopper,” is not its “winning simplicity of an Italian folk song,”23
but the dramatic and exciting moment that every audience member awaits: the
final B flat. M. 286. The B flat is underscored by an orchestra indicated to
play allargando col canto (“spreading, with the singer”) (ex. 5). Allargando is “an instruction
to slow down the tempo and often to develop a fuller and more majestic
performing style.”24 Here Puccini
creates a moment of rhythmic freedom and vocal virtuosity for tenors, who
invariably sustain the Bb and F of “Tosca” and “tu,” rhythmically
disproportionate to the surrounding words and rhythms. In attempts to maintain
the association of musical elements to a possible dramatic reading, this could
be seen as the climax of Cavaradossi’s atheistic, anti-clerical musings.
In their respective books on Tosca, Mosco Carner and
John Bell Young identify Puccini’s carefully designed, dramatic exploitation of
the tenor range. Both authors emphasized Puccini’s use of the b-flat¢:
“…the fact that high B flat is the highest note which a tenor can be relied
upon to sing with security while still sounding in love, as opposed to pain or
patriotic fervour…”25 and “ …as well as to allow the tenor a high B
flat, just as he does in ‘ Recondita Armonia’ which is in F major, this high
note being secure with most tenors…”26 However neither of the
authors take note of the b¢ ten measures after rehearsal number 46 (ex. 6).
Example 6: Act I, mm. 775 - 777
Puccini has the orchestra recall the “Scarpia Theme,” in diminution that
acts as a musical catapult for Cavaradossi’s crescendoing exclamation: “La vita
mi costasse vi salverò” (or the optional “Ne andasse della vita, vi salverò.”27
The musical analysis of this clause does not adequately express the excitement
implicit in the gesture. The passage is an a cappella arpeggiation of a second
inversion E-major triad, marked with a crescendo and an indication deciso, con energia. It is an exposed
and exhilarating expression of Cavaradossi’s belief in the “fraternité” of the
French revolution. It is also one of the few moments in Cavaradossi’s music
that acknowledges his complex origins in the Sardou drama. In the third act
Puccini writes yet another b¢, one measure before rehearsal number twenty-nine (ex.
7). The authors Carner and Young also leave out of their discussion the b¢ sung
in unison (octaves) with Tosca, in the third act. Tosca and Cavaradossi sing
“Armonie di canti! diffonderem…” both the melody and accompanying harmonies in
the orchestra are conventional. On the surface it would seem that the
exhilaration of this passage is purely a reaction to the tessitura.
Example 7: Act III, mm. 392 – 393.
Carner offers a thoughtful analysis of Cavaradossi’s
final aria: E Lucevan le Stelle. “The
text of the aria recalls Dante’s famous line that there is no greater sorrow
than to recall a time of happiness in misery. ‘E lucevan le stelle’ creates the impression of an improvisation, as
though the words came to Cavaradossi on the spur of the moment. This
improvisation dictates the structure of the music… combined with the gypsy-like
rubato, seems a striking reflection of the disturbed state of Cavaradossi’s
mind at this point in the drama.”28 Carner had previously discussed
Cavaradossi’s first aria and though he sets the two arias in contrast to each
other they have much in common. Several scholars, like Carner, acknowledge the
parallels between Act I and III: “the first and last acts are a triumph of
symmetry in which the last functions as a distorted reflection of the first.”29
It is through this comparison that E
Lucevan le Stelle ought to be considered in respect to Recondita armonia.
The musical and dramatic elements that create E Lucevan le Stelle are more easily
understood than that of its first act counter part. To accentuate the contrast
in affect between the two arias Puccini set the lament in a key a tritone way
and in the minor mode. In comparison to his cavatina the harmony of
Cavaradossi’s lament while still triadic is based more on voice leading
parsimony; though it is not without dominant-tonic key confirmations (cadences)
in B minor. Puccini’s voice-leading creates a melancholy, despondent harmonic
stasis. There is no sense of progression just lamentation. The first half of E Lucevan le Stelle is written with a
similar recitation formula to the corresponding sections in Recondita Armonia (ex. 8).
Example 8: Act III, mm. 185 – 189.
Where the cavatina’s contrasting section is based on disjunct motion (ex.
3b) manifested in leaps, the contrasting section of the lament is in conjunct
motion (ex. 9). The melodic contours of the lament are important. The
repetitive setting of each line of text, to the exact melody already
articulated by the clarinet, allows the singing-actor to nuance both melody and
text. The declamatory or recitation style is again evocative of Cavaradossi’s
struggle with religion (ex. 8) The conjunct motion in the second section of E Lucevan le Stelle represents his
defeat, accepting his fate (ex. 9).
Example
9: Act III, mm. 196 – 200.
This can be understood by comparing Cavaradossi’s disjunctly set love
song and his pathetically set lament. The melodic contours of the lament flow
like a sine curve, with occasional spikes, what Carner identifies as
“…‘hoquet-tragique’ – ‘tragic hiccup’…”30 (ex. 10) But there are two
elements beyond the melody that make this lament a “show stopper.” The first
and most obvious show-stopping element corresponds to the cavatina, it is in
the rhythmic freedom that pervades the final line of text and a sustained high
note. The other is more metaphoric.
Example 10: Act III, mm. 206 - 210.
Wilson aptly points out that “Tosca is an opera caught between truth and
lies… insincerity is its main theme: the opera’s principal events are
structured around a series of deceptions that intensify in dramatic power and
consequence over the course of the work.”31 This intensification or
spinning out that he mentions comes to a head before each death. Cavaradossi is
facing truth in his lament. The element that is so effective is the blatant
reality Cavaradossi cannot escape. Whether or not his literal deception of
Scarpia was morally right or wrong Cavaradossi is faced with fatal retribution
and has no option but to give into the truth. It is this element of his lament
that teems pathos. The melodic contours, the harmonic and emotional stasis,
tragic hiccup and the constant fluctuation of tempo provide this rhetorically
appropriate setting to the lament. Whether a continued struggle between his
atheism and his love, or as Nicassio analyses “three distinct mental states:
erotic passion; realization of mortality; the collapse of all hope,”32
the lament is Puccini’s visceral expression of veristic romanticism.
If
the evocative orchestration, melodies of the arias and the “versi scelti”33 poetry are not intrinsically suggestive
Puccini fills his score with stage direction. Puccini’s goal, to create an
organic flowing drama, can be seen in his attention to detail; his mappings of
both stage direction and emotional setting pervade Cavaradossi’s arias and
ariettas. Throughout the first act arietta Qual’occhio
al Mondo (Which Eyes on the Earth), the music and drama spinout “guide
themes” also called reminiscence themes and motifs. Detailed and analytic
scholarship has been published regarding the various themes and motives in Tosca along with their placement and
significance in the opera.34 At a point nearly every two measures
Puccini indicates some type of change. Just before rehearsal number 35, where
the arietta beings, Puccini’s staging is “affectionately holds Tosca close to
him, looking into her eyes.” Two measures later he writes “andante sostenuto
armonioso,” two measures after “con calor,” and the pattern continues such that
in the course of a twenty-one measure solo arietta Puccini includes twelve
different staging or emotional directions. The corresponding solo arietta in
the third act is O Dolci Mani (Oh
Sweet Hands). Here again Puccini indicates stage direction that set up the
arietta: “he lovingly takes Tosca’s hands in his own.” In this sixteen-measure
arietta there are ten different staging/emotional directions.
Having discussed Cavaradossi’s bookend arias, their corresponding ariettas and his exclamatory b¢ the remaining vocally dramatic moment in the opera is the second act’s “Vittoria Vittoria” and its accompanying trio. The forty measures of music between rehearsal umber 42 and 44 contain a latent rebellious passion that expose the humanity in Cavaradossi’s character (ex. 11). Critics complain that it is unprecedented and problematic to the flow of logic and drama. I would argue that the obvious reading of this moment as a breaking point in his restraint is more human and indicative of Sardou’s Cavaradossi. I would also argue that the first act’s “La vita mi costasse vi salverò” provides direct insight to his Sardou origins and is a preview to this “paean of liberty”35 of Act two. In response to the Napoleon’s victory at Marengo and the death of Angelotti, Cavaradossi exclaims a cappella, on an F sharp major arpeggio up to a sustained A sharp, “Vittoria! Vittoria!” The grand pause in the orchestra is marked with a col canto to be performed to the singer’s intention and, from the earliest records, tenors have sustained this A sharp at their will.
Having discussed Cavaradossi’s bookend arias, their corresponding ariettas and his exclamatory b¢ the remaining vocally dramatic moment in the opera is the second act’s “Vittoria Vittoria” and its accompanying trio. The forty measures of music between rehearsal umber 42 and 44 contain a latent rebellious passion that expose the humanity in Cavaradossi’s character (ex. 11). Critics complain that it is unprecedented and problematic to the flow of logic and drama. I would argue that the obvious reading of this moment as a breaking point in his restraint is more human and indicative of Sardou’s Cavaradossi. I would also argue that the first act’s “La vita mi costasse vi salverò” provides direct insight to his Sardou origins and is a preview to this “paean of liberty”35 of Act two. In response to the Napoleon’s victory at Marengo and the death of Angelotti, Cavaradossi exclaims a cappella, on an F sharp major arpeggio up to a sustained A sharp, “Vittoria! Vittoria!” The grand pause in the orchestra is marked with a col canto to be performed to the singer’s intention and, from the earliest records, tenors have sustained this A sharp at their will.
Example 11: Act II, mm 579 – 581.
Puccini provides a stage direction over mm. 573 – 575 preparing
Cavaradossi’s heroic cry “Cavaradossi has listened to Sciarrone's words with
mounting anxiety, in his enthusiasm he finds the strength to leap up and
confront Scarpia threateningly.” Musically it contains a stentorian tenor
melody that spans the height of his range, the texture is dense and
dramatically Cavaradossi is signing his own death sentence. The likelihood or
probability of this moment in the opera being preserved in early recordings is
typically slim to none. It takes place in the middle of the act, it is about a
minute long, it does feature the tenor but it is not an aria or arietta.
Fortunately this moment in the opera happens to be one of the only extant audio
clip of Emilio de Marchi’s Cavaradossi.36
The
recording industry plays an enormous part in the study of operatic characters.
The singing-actor approaching Tosca has the fortune to hear those Tenors who
premiered this role. Tosca was premiered January of 1900 in Rome with Emilio de
Marchi as Cavaradossi.37 Marchi’s name is not well known today and
there are only “fragments” of his Cavaradossi extant from a cylinder recorded
live at the old Metropolitan Opera House. The recording industry was still in
its infancy; it was not until 1902 that
the wildly successful Enrico Caruso would make his first recording for the
Gramophone Company in Milan in 1902.38 Despite Caruso’s
success in the teens and twenties at the premiere Puccini wanted the veteran,
forty-year-old De Marchi. He went
on to sing Cavaradossi “at Covent
Garden (1901, 1905) and the Metropolitan.”39 J.B. Steane describes Marchi’s
recording as carrying “dramatic conviction and ring(s) out well on the high
notes.” It does ring out well on the high notes, however Marchi adds a little
bit of muscle to the ends of his phrases and the dramatic conviction sounds
more like a yell than it does like singing. After the premiere with Marchi in Rome there was Giuseppe Borgatti in Milan. The
Borgatti recordings are bit clearer as they are studio recordings. His E Lucevan le Stelle, accompanied by
piano, follows diligently the indications in score. Rodolfo Celletti describes Borgatti’s voice as “large, robust and of beautiful
timbre… (sung) with delicacy and sweetness… Driven, perhaps, by his intensely
dramatic temperament, he was the first tenor to introduce into the performance
of verismo operas a forcefully emphatic delivery and an incisive,
vehement declamatory manner. This was in contrast to the lyrical approach and
virtuosity still frequently shown by the tenors of the preceding generation,
such as Stagno and De Lucia. These qualities, together with a strong physique,
vigorous acting and remarkable insight into the character of his roles, made
him an exceptional Heldentenor who did much to further the cause of Wagner’s
operas in Italy.”40 His diction is very clear and his voice full of
even legato. His voice does not seem as powerful and vibrant as Marchi but more
controlled and sweet. There is a lot of drama in his tone but unfortunately the
vibrato is lost in the technology and if something as important and distinct as
vibrato is lost it is sad to think of other nuances uncaptured by the primitive
technology.41 Finally there is Fernando de Lucia who was the third
Cavaradossi and premiered the opera at Covent Garden. His recordings of the two
arias are unique; the lament exhibits an incredible control of dynamics and a
powerful ringing voice where the cavatina is unusually slow which makes it seem
clumsy.42 In spite of the slow tempo and somewhat tasteless rubato
his vocal virtuosity is abundantly clear: power and ease, large dynamic range
and evenness throughout each register.43 I chose these three tenors
because they were the first Cavaradossi, were directly connected to the composer
and by luck recordings of them exist. I would have liked to include Giuseppe
Cremonini who premiered Cavaradossi at the Metropolitan Opera House but no
recordings exist. The singing-actor has the choice to use any number of
interpretations from the great tenors of the twentieth century, from Caruso to
Corelli to Jonas Kaufman (in the twenty-first century).
Cavaradossi
does exist within the context of the Fach system. The quality of voice as
presented by the first three Cavaradossi and the demands of the role indicate
the jugendlicher heldentenor fach. It is a dramatic role that demands
extended sections of sweet, loving and tender lyricism (the two ariettas Qual’Occhio al Mondo and O Dolci Mani) and ferocious, thunderous power (Vittoria! Vittoria!).
The two arias taken out of context could be executed well by a tenor in
any fach, but the variety of music that Cavaradossi must sing throughout the
opera - including the five high B flats, the two high B naturals and the
pervading A’s – was designed for this fach. After having cultivated a secure,
well trained jugendlicher heldentenor voice the next step in approaching Cavaradossi, in order to
create a tangible, three-dimensional character, he must consider Cavaradossi’s
dramatic origins. This includes understanding the fictional background that
Sardou provides the French trained, anti-cleric, pro-napoleon Roman painter.
Once the vocal and dramatic intent of Puccini and Sardou is understood the
singing-actor can move on to the implementation of these elements into the
music, realizing these extra musical aspects within the context of the opera.
Cavaradossi is an extremely demanding role and Puccini’s genius masks the
challenges. His exclamations, laments, ardors, passions are all organically set
and the tenor may rely on Puccini’s intuition to guide him through Mario
Cavaradossi.
Notes:
1. Carner, 16.
2. Ibid. 16 – 20.
3. Ibid. 3.
4. Nicassio, 47.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Sardou, La Tosca,
trans., Ahlbrandt, 43-44.
8. Ibid, 8.
9. Nicasso, 65.
10. Sardou, La Tosca,
trans., Ahlbrandt, 7.
11. Nicassio, 275.
12. Ibid. 65.
13. Julian Budden, “The Two Toscas,” in Tosca’s Prism, edited by Deborah Burton,
Susan
Vandiver Nicassio and Agostino Zino, 118.
14. Gary Tomlinson, “Puccini turns respectable: after a century of hostility, experts can bear
to
sit through 'Tosca,'” 14.
15. Ibid.
16. Nicassio, 67.
17. IPA source, “Jugendlicher Heldentenor,” http://www.ipasource.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/tenor
18. Potter, 75.
19. Carner, 102.
20. Ibid.
21. Garzanti Linguistica, http://garzantilinguistica.sapere.it/
21. Garzanti Linguistica, http://garzantilinguistica.sapere.it/
22. Nicassio,137.
23. Carner, 102.
24. David Fallows Grove Music Online David Fallows. "Allargando." In Grove Music Online.
Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/00592
(accessed April 12, 2011)
25. Roger Parker, “Analysis:Act I in perspective,” Giacomo Puccini: Tosca,
Mosco Carner, 127.
26. Ibid, 106.
27. Ricordi, 76.
28. Carner, 102.
29. Nicassio, 135.
30. Carner, 104.
31. Wilson, 69.
32. Nicassio, 235.
33. Parker, “Analysis:Act I in perspective.”
34. See the analyses in Tosca’s Prism, ed. by Deborah Burton, Susan Vandiver Nicassio and Agostino Zino. Also Giacomo Puccini: Tosca, by Mosco Carner; Tosca’s Rome, by Susan Vandiver Nicassio.
35. Carner, 39.
25. Roger Parker, “Analysis:Act I in perspective,” Giacomo Puccini: Tosca,
Mosco Carner, 127.
26. Ibid, 106.
27. Ricordi, 76.
28. Carner, 102.
29. Nicassio, 135.
30. Carner, 104.
31. Wilson, 69.
32. Nicassio, 235.
33. Parker, “Analysis:Act I in perspective.”
34. See the analyses in Tosca’s Prism, ed. by Deborah Burton, Susan Vandiver Nicassio and Agostino Zino. Also Giacomo Puccini: Tosca, by Mosco Carner; Tosca’s Rome, by Susan Vandiver Nicassio.
35. Carner, 39.
36. Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfgiMM9VgCw
37. Steane, "De Marchi, Emilio,” Grove Music Online. Oxford
Music Online.
39. Steane, "De Marchi, Emilio.”
40. Celletti, “Borgatti, Giuseppe,” Grove Music Online. Oxford
Music Online.
41. Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09fw61JP_Cw
42. Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcBB3a29ysg
43. Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ad3T-Wj1ZY
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