!9

RE TIIE PLOT

Every brave atlempl to rcduce this heavily subpime, bt t poignant, cri-de- ceur oI a play lo manageable p.oportrons involv6 factual loss together with (h gh risk) dramalic gEins. The libretto by Antonio GhblaEoni for Antonio Cagnoni shows ils colouB at fE slart thmogh als lisl of Pdncipals: they are six in Leu, , R6S@8, tt Matu. Edgatu and Glrster, that is to say baritone-soprano-mzcsopano-tenorbass,^unber tog€lhet Mth six conpnnari 1 one or lwo of whom have srzable roles and lhe others iust a few wods: they aE - Ganenla, D@ di CMovaglia. Conte di Kent, Edmondo, Duca di J Boryogna, Drca di Albania - ie soprano-lenor-bass-bass, the remaining tlvo beins indeterminalo vo€lly. As a r*ult of which dislibution, however, Cagnoni's "pelsoraggri"suggests a certain opulent belcntisl logic. Hls Swa, Sorg s indeed lhis is what Re tear epresents in Cagnoni's cateet ' is a tagedia li.ica in 4 afli e 7 padi and a nuge sco.e, one oI gEnd op6la dimensions, rcpleb wnh bng episodes of dancing and feasting, a plethora ol barde and substanlial inst umenlal in&nudes under slormy skies amid Lishltul rccl(s and cavems, omillins only lhe sruesome Shakespearian Grand Guignol which would nol have gone down we[ an Ae[e Epoque italy. Cruelly is implicil ralher lhan explicit and tak6 place off-stage. ln tota contGsl, faithfullo the billianlly modish ovs-lie-top hastrionic semaphoring of the day (we arc in lhe era or Duse and Bemhardt wilh lheir silent screen sestures) nol one ioia of emotion fails io be squeezed'out to the ve,y lasl gasp. Guessing what is happening is lhe problem, conlinuity faltels in lhe lace or such a dense score and plot, il is one or those operas heavly dependent on the satirav in lhe lap. Act t Al the sta oi lhe ope6 almGt everylhing remaans more or l6s as dictated by the play: Lear divides his Kingdom and allols husbands lo has daughterc as imprcvidently as Siralford demanded, lhe whole acl walh its slalely background to belrayal is a dM ise to insensate fury as the aged monarch { beg ns to go oif has head. Sel in lhe Royal Palace. and Goneil llatter Lear; Cordelia demu6, is laken lo lask and reieted in a prclongued bout of J anger. At lhe climax of the act Regan and Gonedl get their bloody domains and husbands and a torering suflus€d L€r ends off the dissenting Gloucesler and his soi to follow Codelia inlo exile 1.Corc d lnlroduzione Sdve, Salve: ti ari@tu' 2. Ensemble: Lear/Gonerilla/CodeliarRegana./Edgaro/Gloster lconemla. 'Pin de a tuce, v ano, o Siqnorc\ Ioofielia: lo-..nulla Sisnore-.-Mio Re, nio padre ebbida voi la vital lleat a Co.delia.:'Vai ti cela agli o6tti miei 1 19

3. (concedalo a 9): cord/t alto/Reg/Gon/ouca dicorn/Lear/Glo€dgL/Edmondo @n coro Act ll Unlamiliar with lhe ways ol llalian opera Shakespeare would have been astonished to rind lhat his inesolute Edgar, son and hear orGloucester, (now Et1garc, pnno aer@) has been lransformed into a macho swain wilh Cordelia in his sighis. h lhis acl, the li6t scene of which is *t in his father's Casile near Dover. he qoes to find her: she having contemptuouslv r€iected the hand ot the Duke of Burgundy, is nM lhe Oueen of Frane: s. 1 1. Recii: Edgarc/Kenl 2. Nia Codelia Se di Cordelia it nM' 3. Ouetto Edgaro/codelia (primo lempo) 'Lascia che conpiasi h nia t emenda sode (cantabile) 'La net eq.ale patem.rstello (skella) 'Un'ora, ilciet, ditregua @nsente Sc2 A vivacious rcunion(not rmlly lmol{n lo Shakespeare) in the Castle ol Regana (not ): tarda, roislering guests,lhe music ofthe dance dominates uniil rhe entry of the (ll lvtaflo, sopram): 4. Coto Oro e poter, vino e Piacef 5. Aia con coro Regana A, gbvani, ai roli t'inwo ctet nondo 6. Nia Ma\o'Viva il lusso a I abbond za Lear ente6 bul repulsed by Regam and he.9u6ts, he b€gins an unbalanced

(p morempo) SiiIone. Si tu4 mit Povero core (alleoro leroce) fai tal vendefa di queste .ejede he rushes out,lhunder starts to be heard, the guesls and the heartless sisters resrme lheir celebralions:

(quarielcon coro) RedcorvconvEdmondo 'VNa la giovn@za' Aci lll Scl A wild siretch of countryside nol far from Gloslels Casue. Edgarc is disguised as a beggar undera darkening sky, a big stotm is amminenl: 1. kecitative) 'Oette sva1hre nie @ne PiangEr poftrei? (romanza) 'Matu,cliiE ete.ea tNa' He takes sheller in a cabin and aflempts lo kep his incognito whenioined bv other retuoees. A bedraggled Lear followed bv his fool appea's on a rockv spur iust at the moment when lhe storm breaks. thev des@nd towads the c.bin The old kino is qune mad and geslurB to lhe heavens: 2. Leat lballadr'sofrate aquiloni, nel rin ctol nernbo' he is rccognised by Edsaro who echoes his ihere IEdgarc Gie fin pwonpe dei Nmi Nciatil whicn develops inio a noisy 3. Tio con coro (Matto/Edg/Lear) Iuatlo' Invo|ati a|l i.e| and lhey all lake rctuge in ihe cabin as lhe violent stom reaches its clima( the relugee peasants begqing sofdy for pity 'Lunghi tantasimi spazian per l'eterc' both for themselves and for lhen King (who lhey have nol r@snised lo be in theirmidsl). The stom slowly moving away Glosler, now blinded, is led towa.ds the cabin (in the play Regan's husband lhe Dute of Comwall, has pulled{ut his eves wilh Regan's assislance - a scene happily dispensed with by Ghislanzoni) Iclostet St dlo dell'abissol 6. Ensemble Edsaro/Gloster/Lear/Uatto lEdga'o'Gli intani ancd esPirantul lGl6tet'La cludel Regana vo e , puninil lLeat Bieca ryei due f tasnil lnfll) 'Pazo dlid veroo sPoglb6il lL.ea. Coniano at sote--.'l sc2 The scene is sel by a founlain in lhe garden of Codelia where she has

7. CoroAncelle'Zeflirettogentit' Cordelia has had news of lhe oulragec of Regana: 'O scpgwta--Ed ea desso I nio poverc pad.e The demenled king is brcught to her by the fool. He fails lo recognise her and asks lor waler, which she gives him: Duetio Codelia./Lear (primo tempo) leat'tuendi; nerce t .endar,o cold,elia'Oh! Questo ba.io dissipi le angoscie' (semndo) Cotdelia 'lo nela PoMere, proetami a tuoiginocchi' (canlabile) Lear 'La gbirea e soffidente Cordelia decids lo summon her soldiers to alhct lhe @stles of her siste6 and leaves taking her father wnh her (slrellar 6rc ldentrol) Aidudliferoci si i inl ta guena Act lV Sc, Regana awaits with trepidalior news of Cordelkr's F.ench armv f.om within Glostels Caslle which she ard Cornwall have seized and as now under siege. From her window she sees lhat it is cornplelety surcunded by hostile soldiers: L Recil. Regana Densa nube di poke acopre la Pianum' ?1

Her husband lells her ihat Gone lla has been caplurcd and lhe Ouca di A bania slain, he lells her lhey are lo6t: CoIn.'ln nezzo al anni la node io t oven' Through the windoi/ she walctEs him crcss lhe bridge and vanish under a seething mob ol as ants; Regana calls for her selants, but no one

2. Regana'Cupounlanentoodoedheggial Ida sel 'Chi e quel vegliardo pati.to e bieco---' 'Owl nuovo spettro, ni sorye a lato? 'Pe.cha al nio capo le nan .tistedi?' Edgaro su.prises her, iresoMe, al herwind@ 3. Edgaro Eccola! ...1d nia nd, tu sei' Regana 'Ah! tu- Tanlo colpevote @t padre tuo non fui... She lells him if he kills her, Cordelia willdie at lhe hand of Edmondo, Regana 'Piebdirne, di ne pietA Edgarc 'Q al Dio, qud delwe, ryal Dio ti salven?

lrcm oulside lhey €n hear the clies d 'Ewiva Cuclelia' Sc2 ln the camp o, the French sokliers lhe peasnts celeb€te vaclory with dancing and singing: 4- oanza @n corc'aI daEe. .li gae @rEon| To the sound oi lhis viclory chanl Kenl reveals thal the rebeating soldie6 of Regana have sized L@r and Codelia in lheir lent and handed them over to Edmondo: lhe singing comes !o a halt winl the anival of the fool pale and

5. Matro tcon colol DMhe ca.lea recisoguett fae dibelia... e noda! E ndtz! A rune€l march is heard approaching Kenl 'Non C pin- Dal peddo E finondo wifu tu The body oi Cordelia is caded slol ly in by her soldaels, foll@ed by Lear. . . 6. Aria linale: Lear 'Utulate utulate- Uminisiete dinacigno... I@to Ei deti.al 'Mio cor, ti sd.oqt in lagNime

Icoto'Sventurata atoce 1 (alla salma) 'Nolor o,] d w de ilcanddo fiot di tua vila e spento ..- dinni cie vM ancor--. Pin nai! Pin non [email protected] yaftlab E te le he falls dead by lhe sid,e oI Itte bier- Edgaro rush6 in having killed Edmondo 'Codetia!...O stzir' atr.@... spenta! E vivere p6s ia? Corc'Pace ata P@ Cotdeha Pa@ al eslinlo Re 22

To sum up: as far as ihe prrl is concerned it is who is hoverng in lhe wings. Not Shak6p@re with his fable of lhe fleeting TudoB and iheir problems ot sucGsion lthe Henrys as LeaA Their vaious women Marcarct of Scotland, Bloody IVary (Regan o. Gonenl?) and Ellzabeth (Lady Jane Grey mssed wilh Mary Tudor ex Ouen of France as Corde ia?) and thetr vaiously horrible husbands togelhe. walh lhe shifty Oukedoms of Albany and Burqundy and olhe, ambitious nonenlities. above all ils abandon lo sound and fury and nolhingl. we donl hde to l@k tar to iind verd s GiLda in Casnoni's opera. his Lady [racbeth and her b.iidisi, her psychopalhic introspection, as well as severcl oI his old men (Foscan, Rgoletto, Boccanegra) and a veslige of lhe Verdian tend But the musc mostly postdales Verdi; Cagnoni would @rlainly have fasinated the Bard had he been alluned to the accents ofan emergenl verismo! alercnd6r w6.therson

NB Th s s a lhrough-@mp6ed opeE lrue lo it6 late nirel@nlh€ntury elhos: the numberc sere m, as a qude to ns adidl.lion

Re l*ar: Might we be about to lose the u i atefantasr opeta?

I supposc we lovers of both opeE and Shakesp@e often speculate holv Verdi's Re Zear might have tumed out. I imagine it would be quite unlike norc recent Lear opers (Reimann: a 8md p&t for the baritonc that commissioned it, but lillle else emerging throuah a storm of nodemist noise - Sallinen: a brave atlempt at lhe comic/tragic irony, but tirtally encumbercd wiih a Suomi texl (it has yet to reeive a performance in Enslish, I thjnk)). Let ne huard a suess at what eeh of us hea6 in the vinual opera house ofour imaginat,ons: Lcar as mismderstood as Philip II. Rege as maligna as Eboli, Clouc€ster a equivocal a falher as Gernonr, Cordelia as pure as any nunber of Leonor6. It is a tcmpting cocktail. and lvhal's more we can'karaoke' the main scenes in the shower (al fresco or domestic). So what happens shen rhe news comes ihar a Re Iea. by Cagnoni (Fom about lhe same period in Italian operalic history) exisrsi never before performed, and will be prem,ered in Manina Frsca this sunmer? Do *e shul il out and relire into our little fanusy 'Don Lea/ or'La ledeltn wo d? Or do we remember Cagnoni's Don Bucelala and 1ry to dismiss him (as ma.y do Donizetti) for being 'not up to such a rrasic subject'? Well. *e sho'rldn't be so craven!

Consider ihe lacrs. Making an open of King L€ar presents some challenees: a buffo sryle story (doddering father puts himself al the mercy of his sraspins daughrersl then there are slienatins evenls (fbr