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Minn Orch July 2016_Minnesota Orch 6/21/16 11:14 AM Page 39 Opera Finale: Verdi’s Otello july 23 Minnesota Orchestra Andrew Litton, conductor Saturday, July 23, 2016, 7:30 Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra Hall Otello, complete opera in concert Setting: On the island of Cyprus at the end of the 15th century Act I: Outside of Otello’s castle on a stormy night, with a view of the harbor and the sea Act II: A hall on the ground floor of the castle, near a garden I N T E R M I S S I O N ca. 20’ Act III: The great hall of the castle Act IV: Desdemona’s bedroom Otello, a Cyprian general Desdemona, Otello’s wife Iago, Otello’s ensign Cassio, Otello’s captain Emilia, Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid Lodovico, the Venetian ambassador Roderigo, a young Venetian Montano, former governor of Cyprus Herald Carl Tanner, tenor Barbara Shirvis, soprano Stephen Powell, baritone Eric Barry, tenor Victoria Vargas, mezzo Adam Lau, bass David Blalock, tenor Benjamin Sieverding, bass Michael Schmidt, bass Minnesota Chorale, Kathy Saltzman Romey, artistic director | Barbara Brooks, choral preparation Minnesota Boychoir, Mark S. Johnson, artistic director Robert Ainsley, rehearsal accompanist Surtitles by Christopher Bergen Performance time, including intermission, is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. Andrew Litton’s profile appears on page 12; profiles and rosters of Minnesota Chorale and Minnesota Boychoir appear on page 44; profiles of additional Otello performers are provided in an insert. OH+ (Orchestra Hall Plus) thank you Concert Preview with Phillip Gainsley and Professor Amy Bolis Saturday, July 23, 5:30 pm, Balcony A Visit minnesotaorchestra.org/ohplus for details about pre- and post-concert musical performances and “Experience Cafés” in the lobby. Sommerfest is presented by U.S. Bank Tonight’s concert is broadcast live on stations of Classical Minnesota Public Radio, including KSJN 99.5 FM in the Twin Cities. SOMMERFEST 2016 MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA 39 Minn Orch July 2016_Minnesota Orch 6/21/16 11:14 AM Page 40 july 23 Program Notes sung-through opera. Gone were the traditional arias, duets and ensembles. Also remarkable is that Verdi and Boito knew their Shakespeare only in translation to Italian. That the works capture the Bard’s essence—a suggestion here, a double entendre there—is a feat attributable mostly to Boito’s brilliance. synopsis Giuseppe Verdi Born: October 10, 1813, La Roncole, near Busseto, Italy Died: January 27, 1901, Milan, Italy Otello ith the successful premiere of his Aida in 1871, Giuseppe Verdi announced that “the account is settled,” and anticipated retirement. The composer who in the 1850s had given the world La Traviata, Il trovatore and Rigoletto—indeed the composer whose very name was synonymous with opera— believed that time had passed him by. Undeniably, many audiences were looking elsewhere, including to Germany, where Richard Wagner had ascended. w Verdi’s publisher, Giulio Ricordi, wasn’t so sure. One night in 1877, over dinner in Milan, Ricordi delicately suggested to Verdi that he might attempt adapting Shakespeare’s Othello. Ricordi suggested as a librettist the composer Arrigo Boito, who was some 30 years Verdi’s junior. Boito was a modernist who had publicly, not to say vulgarly, criticized the great Verdi. Verdi was excited by the notion—having long admired Shakespeare and adapted Macbeth much earlier in his career—and accepted Ricordi’s suggestion. For his part, Boito acknowledged his earlier lapse of judgment, and Verdi had all but forgiven him. A decade elapsed between Verdi’s initial dinner meeting and the premiere of Otello, and the long wait paid off with an unqualified success. On the opening night of February 5, 1887, Milan was ecstatic. Numerous encores, 20 curtain calls and shouts of “Viva Verdi!” filled La Scala and later the Hotel Milano where Verdi was residing. The heartrending tale of the Cyprian general Otello, who is turned murderously against his wife Desdemona by his manipulative ensign Iago, became in one commentator’s words “the crowning glory of Italian tragic opera.” The rapturous response led Verdi and Boito to reunite in 1893 for another Shakespearean opera, Falstaff. Among the unique features of Otello is its musical structure: Verdi departed from his style of the 1850s and composed Otello as a 40 MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA SHOWCASE the “missing” Shakespeare prologue. For the sake of brevity, Verdi’s Otello, comprising four acts, excises the entire opening act of Shakespeare’s five-act Othello. But the omitted material, which sets in motion the events of Verdi’s opera, is worthy of summary. In Shakespeare’s opening act, Othello (“Otello” in the Italian translation), a Cyprian general of Moorish background, has promoted Cassio to be his captain, much to the envy of his ensign Iago. Meanwhile, a young Venetian named Roderigo has fallen in love with Desdemona, the daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio. But word has spread that Desdemona has eloped with Otello. Iago provokes a stir in front of Desdemona’s house. Roderigo, uttering racial slurs, announces to Desdemona’s father that Otello has married his daughter. Brabantio concludes that his daughter was a victim of Otello’s magic “charms” and “witchcraft.” Otello is summoned to the senate to defend himself against charges of sorcery. There he expresses his true love for Desdemona, who joins him before the senate. Otello, now cleared, is appointed to defend Venice against the attacking Turks. act I. Verdi’s opera opens with General Otello, victorious over the Turks, returning to Cyprus. All but the embittered ensign Iago cheer Otello’s victory. Iago confides in young Roderigo of his secret hatred of Otello and promises to help Roderigo win the general’s wife, Desdemona. In a drinking song, Iago circulates a cup of wine. He urges Otello’s captain Cassio, whom he knows cannot hold his alcohol, to consume. A drunken brawl ensues, and Iago sends Roderigo to spread word of a revolt. A stunned Otello appears and asks Iago the cause of this uproar; Iago denies knowledge. Desdemona arrives, disturbed by the commotion. Otello, upset at her distress, revokes Cassio’s promotion. The crowd retreats, leaving alone Otello and Desdemona. Together they recall Otello’s battles and Desdemona’s love of him. The stirred Otello is passionate: “Un bacio, ancora un bacio!” (“A kiss, another kiss!”) act II. The disgraced Cassio converses with the dishonorable Iago, who falsely pledges to help Cassio regain his former rank. Desdemona is “the general’s general,” he says, so Cassio must Minn Orch July 2016_Minnesota Orch 6/21/16 11:14 AM Page 41 Program Notes take his cause to her. In a departure from Shakespeare’s play, Iago, left alone, states his “Credo,” his only aria, summing up his malevolence revealed in Shakespeare’s first act. He puts that malice to work, and suggests to Otello by various word-games that Desdemona is unfaithful, and that Cassio is her lover. When Otello angrily succumbs to Iago’s accusations, the latter reinforces them with a feigned caution of jealousy’s dangers. Otello then demands proof of Desdemona’s infidelity. Desdemona enters, surrounded by women of Cyprus, children and sailors. They offer her flowers and sing to her. Otello is so taken by the scene that he utters to himself, “If she be false to me, then heaven mocks itself.” Cassio has enlisted Desdemona’s assistance, following Iago’s suggestion, and now she pleads Cassio’s case to Otello. Otello rejects her and becomes increasingly hostile. When Desdemona offers to wipe his brow with her handkerchief, il fazzoletto (the one he gave to her “as my first token of love”), he throws it to the ground. Emilia, Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s maid, picks up the handkerchief. Seizing the opportunity, Iago demands the handkerchief from Emilia, who suspects he will use it mischievously. Otello is delirious: He believes his wife true, but he believes her false. Iago’s plan works perfectly as Otello forcefully dismisses his newlywed. Iago is not finished. He now tells Otello that he heard Cassio sleep-talking, uttering “Sweet Desdemona, let us hide our love.” None of this is true, of course. Iago seals it all by telling Otello that he has seen Cassio in possession of the handkerchief Otello had given to Desdemona. The act ends with Iago and Otello swearing vengeance. act III. Preparations are being made to greet Lodovico, the Venetian ambassador. But first, Desdemona pleads Otello to pardon Cassio, to which Otello complains of the pain to his forehead he suffered in the previous act. This time, though, he asks for the handkerchief, rather than to discard it. Desdemona offers a handkerchief, but it is not the handkerchief. Otello asks what became of it, and when Desdemona says she does not have it about her, he warns her: “Take heed! To lose it, or give it away, were perdition!”—a significant response, given the references to witchcraft in Shakespeare’s first act. Totally out of control, Otello sees the “blackest of crimes on your lily forehead.” Desdemona has no hint of the cause of her husband’s deterioration. july 23 tiously displays it to Otello. Otello needs no more proof; the only question in his mind is how to kill Desdemona. Iago responds that she should die in the bed where she “sinned.” This choice so impresses the mad Otello that, there and then, he promotes Iago to captain. Otello announces the Duke’s proclamation that he has been recalled to Venice. Cassio is named Otello’s successor in Cyprus, thereby eliminating Iago. Iago, however, suggests to Roderigo that, should anything befall Cassio, Otello and, of course, Desdemona, he would need to remain in Cyprus. Roderigo sets off to act on that suggestion. The die is cast: Roderigo will kill Cassio; Otello will smother Desdemona. Otello orders everyone away, and, with repeated cries of “il fazzoletto” (“the handkerchief”) he collapses, unconscious. Iago sneers to all: “Ecco il leone!” (“Here is your lion!”) act IV. Desdemona, in her bedchambers, knows her fate as she readies for bed, but still knows not the cause. Almost in rote, she recites a story learned from her mother, the famed “Willow Song.” She cries a pathetic farewell to Emilia. She recites the Ave Maria. Upon her “Amen,” she falls asleep and Otello enters. He kisses her once, again, and then again. When Desdemona awakens, he asks her if she had offered her prayers, for she is about to die a sinner. “Cassio is your lover!” he accuses. Her denials are in vain. When she asks for Cassio to vouch for her, Otello says that he has been forever silenced. “I am undone and he is betrayed,” she cries. After further dreadful protests, Desdemona is smothered. “As quiet as the grave,” observes Otello. Emilia knocks frantically on the door, and from this point on, as Iago’s scheme unravels, Verdi serially accompanies each character’s unwitting involvement in this tragedy. When Iago is asked why he engaged in this dreadful plot to prove the dying Desdemona unfaithful, he responds, simply, “I thought her so.” Iago escapes, and all that remains is for Otello to die at his own hand. His final words: “Before I killed thee, wife, I kissed thee thus. Now dying... in the shadow where I lie...a kiss...another kiss...ah!...another kiss...” Program note and synopsis by Phillip Gainsley. Visit minnesotaorchestra.org/showcase to read an extended version of this program note. To comply with Otello’s demand for “proof,” Iago has arranged to meet with Cassio, within Otello’s earshot. Iago slyly leads Cassio to make certain utterances aloud, and even to laugh, which the paranoid Otello assumes is at him. Then, Cassio produces Desdemona’s handkerchief that he found innocently in his quarters, placed there, we know, by Iago. Iago surreptiSOMMERFEST 2016 MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA 41