The First "Mefistofele" Author(s): Jay Nicolaisen Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Mar., 1978), pp. 221-232 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746412 Accessed: 10-05-2016 09:57 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to 19th-Century Music

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The First Mefistofele

JAY NICOLAISEN

A chronicler of opera in Italy in the nine- friends in the margins of his libretto, and he teenth century learns to deal cautiously was one of the few spectators still actually try- with disastrous premieres. Rossini, Bellini, ing to hear.' The theater had invested weeks Donizetti, and Verdi all witnessed the initial of rehearsal in the lengthy work and was un- failure of works later judged to be among their willing to drop it after just one performance; best. These composers were prolific and could but in effect the opera's fate was sealed when count at least as many successes as failures. the decision was made to divide it in two, pre- It was Boito's particular misfortune to see senting the Prologue and Acts I-III on the sec- the one opera he completed during his ond evening and the Prologue and Acts IV and long lifetime fail utterly at its premiere. V on the third. A ballet, Brahma by Dall'Ar- Mefistofele, first presented at La Scala in 1868, gine, would accompany each performance. For suffered what may have been that theater's all intents and purposes the management had most memorable fiasco. From his place at the abandoned Boito. After the third evening the podium the young poet-composer-conductor work in its original form was heard no more; witnessed the attitude of the audience turn but the journalistic polemics it inspired con- gradually from intense interest to disappoint- tinued for weeks. ment and, finally, to antipathy. By the fourth act, the performers unnerved and the audience openly hostile, the music was no longer audi- ble beyond the proscenium. "Non ho capito 'Marco Sala, quoted by Piero Nardi, Vita di Arrigo Boito una nota," wrote one of the composer's (Milan, 1944), p. 271.

221

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH There is little doubt that Boito's own tac- opera which underwent substantial modifica- CENTURY tical errors contributed to the disaster. In pub- tion in the years following its premiere, repre- MUSIC lishing his libretto well in advance of the sents the composer's final thoughts. For an premiere, in choosing to conduct the opera idea of what the opera may have been like at himself, in allowing his friends and sym- its initial performance, one must turn to pathizers full rein to organize themselves into material in the Cary Collection at the Pier- what amounted to a claque, he made himself a pont Morgan Library in New York.4 Some of ready target for the traditionalists, who most this material consists of melodic ideas quickly represented the Milanese public of the late jotted down or rough drafts for entire pieces; 1860s.2 Furthermore, he had so widely adver- but there are also many pages of full orchestral tised his own futurist sympathies that it is un- score which undoubtedly formed part of the likely he could have scored an uncontested original autograph before its dismemberment. success, no matter what the merits of his The score put forward today by Ricordi as the music or the quality of the performance. autograph of La Gioconda is a composite, Nevertheless, the failure of Mefistofele must created by conflating those portions of the have come as a major blow, and more than original score which underwent no change one biographer has seen in it the explanation with newer material representing the revised for Boito's inability to bring his other opera, portions of the opera. Nerone, to completion. According to Piero The autograph score of Mefistofele appears Nardi, whose Vita di Arrigo Boito is an to have been created in just this way. A exhaustive study of Boito as man, poet, and number of paper types are present, but two critic, if not as musician, the composer de- predominate. The first to appear (Paper Type stroyed all traces of the original Mefistofele II) is yellowish, with clearly drawn systems; except for two pieces which were published the second (Paper Type I) is whitish, with sys- separately. Thus, says Nardi, we have only the tems that are often difficult to make out. For libretto from which to judge the opera in its the following reasons it is clear that those por- original state.3 Following Nardi's lead, recent tions of the score written on Paper Type I are literature on the subject has confined itself to remnants of the original 1868 autograph: comments on the second, successful version, 1) Many portions of the original libretto produced in Bologna in 1875. were incorporated into the final version of the The autograph scores of most important opera with little or no revision. The music for late nineteenth-century Italian operas, Mefi- those portions is almost invariably written on stofele included, reside in the Archivio storico Paper Type I. Where there were major textual of G. Ricordi and Co. in Milan. In most cases changes, the music is never written on Type I. with which I am familiar, there is but one 2) The Faust of 1868 was a baritone, not a score per opera. No matter how many revi- tenor. In those portions of the score which ap- sions the work may have been subjected to, pear on Paper Type I, Faust's part has been the autograph score at Ricordi corresponds to written in bass clef, then crossed out and re- the published version. For example, the auto- written, wherever it could be fitted, in tenor graph of Ponchielli's La Gioconda (1876), an clef. In those portions of the score which do not appear on Paper Type I, Faust's part is written directly in tenor clef. 3) All sources agree that several pieces 2Nardi gives the fullest account of the premiere, the pre- were added to the opera after 1868-the duet parations for it, and its aftermath (pp. 249-94). 3"Della musica del Mefistofele del '68 non restano che l'Intermezzo sinfonico in una riduzione per pianoforte e il duetto di Elena e Faust per piano e canto; sopravvive in- vece il testo poetico nella sua interezza. Di questo solo 4The Gioconda material bears manuscript no. 162 in the possiamo dunque dare giudizio complessivo diretto." Mary Flagler Cary Music Collection of the Pierpont Mor- Nardi, p. 295. gan Library.

222

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms JAY "Lontano lontano lontano," Margarita's lyric drama of Boito's time required. As poetry NICOLAISEN "Spunta l'aurora pallida," and the Infernal it reads well today. The following lines, for The First Mefistofele Fugue which concludes Act II.s No portion of example, in which Faust looks back sadly over these three pieces is written on Paper Type I. his long and eventful life, are among the most Contrary to what has been believed for poignant ever placed at the disposal of an more than a century, then, it would appear operatic composer: that large sections of the original Mefistofele do exist. If we cannot know much about the Ghermii pel crine il desiderio alato, music Boito discarded, we can at least know Ho bramato, ho gioito e poi bramato Novellamente, ed ho cosi compita which portions of the original work he consid- La carriera fatal della mia vita. ered worth retaining with little or no altera- Fui sovrumano, possente, trionfale, tion. Combined with additional evidence-the Tutto conobbi: il Real, l'Ideale, original libretto, descriptions of the initial per- L'Amore della vergine e l'Amore Della Dea. Si. Ma il Real fu dolore formance, and an analysis of the score written E l'Ideal fu sogno. by Giulio Ricordi shortly after the opera's fail- ure6-that knowledge makes it possible to I grasped at the locks of winged desire, discuss the first Mefistofele in some detail. I lusted, enjoyed, and then lusted Again, and thus I completed II The fatal course of my life. I was superhuman, powerful, triumphant, The libretto of 1868 was an ambitious and I experienced all things: the Real, the Ideal, surprisingly successful attempt to reduce Parts The Love of a virgin and the Love I and II of Faust to the few short scenes that a Of a Goddess. Yes. But the Real was sorrow And the Ideal a dream.

As a synthesis of Faust, the merits of Boito's 5That these three pieces did not form part of the original libretto are not unquestionable, but it stands score has been common knowledge for a century now. Their texts were not present in the libretto of 1868 and head and shoulders above other attempts at their subsequent inclusion was a subject of comment by adapting Goethe's masterpiece. When Antonio nearly all critics who heard the opera in its revised form. Ghislanzoni, Verdi's librettist for Aida, first 6The original libretto, with its lengthy preface and notes to each scene, is available today in Arrigo Boito, Tutti gli read the text, he was astonished-not that a scritti, ed. Piero Nardi (Milan, 1942). Nardi's biography is twenty-six-year-old could have managed to an excellent source of contemporary descriptions of the translate the whole of Faust so successfully premiere, particularly by the composer's acquaintances. Ricordi's article appeared in the Gazzetta musicale di into operatic terms, but that anyone could Milano on 15 March 1868. All subsequent quotations have done so.7 from Ricordi, either direct or indirect, are drawn from this In revising the opera, Boito did little ac- article. Other reviews I have consulted appeared in: La Lombardia, 6 March 1868, anno X, n. 65. La Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 8 March 1868, anno XXIII, n. 10 (signed "A.G."-the editor, Antonio Ghislan- zoni). Ibid., 10 October 1875, anno XXX, n. 41. mention other treatments of the subject. Boito's Spectator Ibid., 14 and 28 November 1875, anno XXX, nn. 46 and 48 offers advice that--considering the pedantic notes ap- (reprinting in Italian a lengthy review that appeared first pended to each scene of the original libretto and the in the Musical World of London). lengthy philosophical discussions Faust enters into-the La Perseveranza, 26 May 1881, anno XXIII, n. 7759. composer did not take seriously until he revised the Corriere della sera, 26-27 May 1881, anno VI, n. 144. opera: La Lombardia, 27 May 1881, anno XXIII, n. 145. Teorie, commenti, dimostrazioni: tutte bellissime La Perseveranza, 27 May 1881, anno XXIII, n. 7760. cose che io non voglio sapere, quando assisto ad La Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 29 May 1881, anno un'opera d'arte. Datemi delle forti emozioni e allon- XXXVI, n. 22. tanate da me la noia, ecco tutto quel che vi chiedo, e Nardi's biography is an additional source of contemporary se riescirete a cib con quattro note e con quattro versi reviews. oppure mettendo mano al cielo, alla terra e all'in- The preface to the original libretto takes the form of a ferno, io ve ne sar6 egualmente grato (Tutti gli scritti, discussion between the Author, a Critic, and a Spectator. p. 101). It permits Boito to dilate upon Goethe's Faust and to 7Antonio Ghislanzoni, quoted by Nardi, p. 252.

223

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH tual rewriting of the poetry. On the whole his ACT III A prison. Margarita, now demented, de- CENTURY approach was to prune, abbreviate, and nies having killed her mother and baby. Outside MUSIC simplify. Faust's lengthy monologues were Faust laments her fate and implores Mefistofele to save her; Mefistofele gives Faust the jailor's keys. shortened to a few brief lines, and the episodes Faust tells Margarita he has come to save her. In a which the audiences of 1868 found least com- moment of lucidity she admits to having poisoned prehensible-the scene of the Imperial Palace her mother and having drowned her child. Faust and the Intermezzo Sinfonico (the battle begs her to depart with him. [They sing of a distant scene) -disappeared entirely. In the following land where they will live united and happy.] Mefis- composite synopsis of the 1868 and 1875 tofele urges them to hurry, but Margarita refuses to go. [She recognizes that her final day is breaking versions, I have attempted to trace the and asks the Lord for forgiveness.] Heavenly music changes by placing deletions in italics and en- is heard, and the celestial voices announce that closing additions in square brackets. With the Margarita is saved. Faust and Mefistofele exit. final scene, the two versions differ so drasti- cally that a separate description of each is ACT IV, SCENE i The throne room. Mefistofele, dressed as a buffoon, kneels before the Emperor necessary: and describes the jester's trade. The crowd mur- murs its fear and suspicion of this new jester. Me- PROLOGUE The setting is heaven. A celestial choir fistofele advises the Emperor on the problems of the praises the Lord. Mefistofele enters and describes royal treasury and makes the Astrologer predict mankind in ironic terms. The Lord, speaking the eventual solution of these problems according through a "Chorus Mysticus," agrees to a wager to the jester's advice. The crowd becomes more res- with Mefistofele involving Faust's soul. As the tive. Mefistofele offers an entertainment-the ab- devil departs, the Seraphim, the earthly Penitents, duction of Helen by Paris. Faust is enraptured by and the heavenly choir sing of eternal love. Helen and forgets Margarita; as the abduction is carried out, he rushes forward to save Helen. The ACT I, SCENE i Easter Sunday in Frankfurt. As magical entertainment vanishes, an explosion oc- groups of citizens pass back and forth, Faust and curs, Faust faints, and the Astrologer flees. The Wagner enter. The chorus sings and dances the stage goes dark as the crowd first mills blindly Obertas. Wagner and Faust discuss the real-ideal about, then disperses. dichotomy. Faust is frightened and disgusted by a SCENE ii (1875: ACT IV) The chorus [Helen "Frate grigio" who advances toward him. Wagner and Pantalis] sing a classical song expressing seren- tries to reassure him. ity and contentment. Faust and Mefistofele go their SCENE ii Faust sings of being at peace, of separate ways, Faust crying out disconsolately to feeling the love of man and God. He opens his Gos- the Sphinxes for the lost Helen and Mefistofele ad- pel and meditates. Mefistofele appears and intro- dressing the Sphinxes with irony. The devil de- duces himself. A pact is concluded, and the two fly parts. Helen enters and, rapt in a vision, describes away together on the devil's enchanted cape. the ruin of Troy. Faust kneels before her, calling her the purest, ideal form of eternal beauty. The two sing of love. ACT II, SCENE i A garden. Faust courts Margarita, Mefistofele courts Marta. Faust gives Margarita the potion which is to put her mother to sleep and INTERMEZZO SINFONICO A battle between the allow the lovers a moment together. forces of the Emperor, directed by Faust and Mefi- SCENE ii A wild and deserted setting in the stofele, and those of the Anti-Emperor. The Emperor valley of Schirk. Faust and Mefistofele enter, Faust is victorious. The crowd cries "Viva la Chiesa!" describing the awesome setting and expressing his fear. The distant voices of witches announce the ACT v (1875: EPILOGUE) 1868: Faust, now ex- Night of the Sabbath. The few witches who have tremely old, contemplates his past at length. Speak- already arrived encounter Lilith and question her; ing to the "moment," he says the fatal (for Mefisto- then the whole crowd of witches erupts onto the fele) words "Rallentati, sei bello!" and dies quietly. scene. They make way for Mefistofele, their king, Mefistofele tries to seize Faust's soul, but the re- and then sing a sort of Miserere. Mefistofele pokes turn of the heavenly voices signifies his salvation. fun at mankind in the aria "Ecco il mondo." As the 1875: Faust, now extremely old, contemplates crowd of demons celebrates, Faust sees Margarita in his past briefly, as Mefistofele makes ironic com- a vision. Mefistofele tries to divert him. Lilith ments. Faust hears heavenly voices. Mefistofele walks through the crowd, hawking "gli avanzi del tries to draw him back to the realm of earthly plea- mondo sepolto." All celebrate the ruin of the world. sure, but Faust speaks the fatal words and, dying, is [The Infernal Fugue.] saved.

224

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms JAY In reducing the size of his work, and in dis- forty-four-measure passage. The choirs would NICOLAISEN carding what must have seemed its most have sung their first lines in alternation, just The First abstract portions, Boito produced a new li- as the two halves of the single choir do now; Mefistofele bretto which stood far closer to the conven- the last lines would have been sung simul- tions of the period. The work now revolves taneously. around two romantic episodes-Faust's en- In the passage following Mefistofele's exit, counters with Margarita and Elena-and the ensemble beginning with the Penitents' Goethe's complex vision has been simplified chorus almost certainly differed from that of to a couple of typically Boitian antitheses: the present version, for the poetry was ar- good and evil, the real and the ideal. Tending ranged in four nine-line verses instead of the further to conventionalize the work were the present two verses of fourteen and seven lines sometimes patently contrived opportunities respectively.8 Then as now, however, the en- for additional set pieces. Thus in turning back semble formed part of a gradual crescendo, to the Mefistofele of 1868, we turn back to a "[un] crescendo lentissimo dalle forme molto work of greater dimensions and higher pur- larghe" (Ricordi), leading to the reprise of the pose. The musical differences between this opening chorus. and the later Mefistofele are as significant as In general outline, then, the prologue of those between the two texts, as I hope to 1875 was not much different from that of demonstrate. Those who are unfamiliar with 1868. The reduction of text in the opening Boito's opera may wish to skip this attempted chorus may have been a response to criticisms reconstruction of the original score in favor of of overcomplexity. The nature of the musical the more general discussion which follows at changes in the Penitents' ensemble remains the end of this article. obscure.

PROLOGUE In 1868 Boito's prologue received ACT I SCENES i and ii Several portions of Act more approbation than any other portion of I are written on Paper Type I: the introduction the score. Seven years later no critic noted any to, and approximately the last half of, the major change in the music. Whether the in- Obertas (the chorus in G to which this tradi- strumental prelude underwent revision is not tional Polish dance is performed); the scene possible to tell. Changes in the libretto, how- between Faust and Mefistofele, beginning at ever, lead one to suspect at least minor musi- Mefistofele's first speech and continuing cal alterations in the rest of the prologue. through his aria "Son lo spirito che nega"; the The central episode, Mefistofele's wager first strophe of the concluding duet (sung by with God, is written on Paper Type I. So is the Mefistofele alone); and the final fifteen mea- concluding eight-line chorus "Ave signor," sures of the act (Mefistofele's "Pur ch'io dis- which amounts to a textual and musical reprise tenda questo mantel I/noi viaggerem sull'aria" of the beginning of the scene. According to and the orchestral close). Giulio Ricordi, it was a musical reprise in Giulio Ricordi criticized the opening of 1868 as well. The problematic portions, then, the act for failing to evoke the happy tumult are the choral sections immediately preceding of an Easter Sunday in Frankfurt, in spite of and following the central episode. The final the variety of groups present on stage. Judging version opens with a divided heavenly choir from the libretto, Boito rewrote this passage singing one eight-line speech, but the original libretto contained verses for three celestial falangi. Since the verses for the second and 8However, the versions may not have been as dissimilar third of these were patterned after the first as the differing line counts would seem to indicate. The eight-line speech and since the opening chorus original libretto contained four verses of 9 lines each; we as we now know it contains considerable tex- do not know how they were set. The revised libretto con- tained three 9-line stanzas, but Boito chose to ignore his tual repetition, it seems entirely possible that own poetic structure, deleting some of the text and rear- all three verses were sung during the same ranging what remained in two groups of 14 and 7 lines.

225

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH completely, for the students and girls, the practical the large-scale cancelling and rewrit- CENTURY "Borghese" and the "Mendicante cieco" of the ing that would be necessary were pages of the MUSIC first version become a nearly faceless festive original score to be retained, and in any case crowd in the second, and Faust's long speech once the graceful allegretto quartet ("Dio preceding the Obertas is shortened by half. clemente") began there would be no space into After the Obertas, thirty-eight lines of Faust's which to transfer Faust's part. conversation with Wagner (musings on the real-ideal dichotomy, set according to Ricordi ACT II, SCENE ii Of all the scenes Boito re- as a "recitativo interminabile") disappear, as tained for the version of 1875, the Romantic does Faust's meditation following his aria Sabbath underwent the most drastic pruning "Dai campi, dai prati." In the encounter be- and simplification. As in previous scenes, tween Faust and Mefistofele, the passage be- however, the basic outlines remain the same, ginning "Strano figlio del Caos" (marked "re- as evidenced by the libretto and by those por- cit." in the present score) must have been tions of the autograph written on Paper Type shortened considerably between 1868 and I-the first eighty-one measures; Mefistofele's 1875, for there are substantial cuts in the li- speech, "Largo, largo"; the "Danzante" of the bretto. In the final version of the opera, the witches; Mefistofele's speech, "Popoli!"-"Ma closing piece ("Fin da sta notte") is sung first voglio il mondo intero nel pugnal mio serrar"; by Mefistofele alone and then a fourth higher all of the aria "Ecco il mondo"; and all of the by him and Faust together. Neither libretto following Allegro focoso, right through Faust's indicates that Faust is to participate in this vision of Margarita and up to the Infernal duet-possibly a sign that Boito originally en- Fugue. visioned the piece as a solo for Mefistofele. Between the first eighty-one measures and Mefistofele's "Largo, largo," it is not possible ACT II, SCENE i Nearly half of this scene to know exactly what musical changes may (through Faust's line "Ascolta, vezzoso angiol have occurred. They undoubtedly included fedel") is written on Paper Type I. The music is major cuts, however, for the original libretto conceived as a pair of duets (Faust-Margarita, contains a lengthy dialogue between Faust and Mefistofele-Marta) which proceed in alterna- Mefistofele, as well as an even lengthier sec- tion. Thus Faust and Mefistofele never sing tion involving the witches and Lilith, a together and Boito could conveniently rewrite character not retained in the final version. Ac- Faust's lines, transposing the clef from bass to cording to Giulio Ricordi, the act originally tenor, in the space normally reserved for Me- ended with a reprise of the "Riddiamo" chorus fistofele. Except for being moved from clef to (the material immediately following Mefisto- clef, most of Faust's music remained un- fele's "Ecco il mondo"); the present conclu- changed. In only one or two places, such as at sion-the Infernal Fugue-was first heard at the line beginning "Non vo' turbar le fedi," Venice in 1876. Whether or not this piece was did the composer need to alter the melody the inspiration for the fugue which ends slightly in order to lift it up out of the low Falstaff, Verdi can scarcely have failed to re- baritone range. member that Boito had already attempted the In the rest of the scene the textual changes same sort of thing seventeen years earlier. are few and minor, leading one to suspect that the music underwent little alteration. Faust's ACT iii If the scene of the Romantic Sabbath vocal line was undoubtedly rewritten to make underwent the most drastic abbreviation, Act it more comfortable for the tenor, but it still III, the scene of Margarita's death, underwent lies surprisingly low at many points. We the greatest expansion. Two of the pieces in might have expected to find this part of the the present score had no place in the original scene written on Paper Type I; it was probably Mefistofele: the duet "Lontano lontano lon- rewritten for practical reasons-Faust's tano" was an addition of 1875, taken from the speeches beginning at "Ascolta, vezzoso an- composer's abortive opera Ero e Leandro of giol fedel" are of such length as to make im- 1871; and the aria "Spunta l'aurora pallida"

226

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms JAY was added still later for the Venetian premiere certain musical changes. The return of the ce- NICOLAISEN in 1876. lestial music from the prologue, which we The First The showpiece of the opera as we know it know from the 1875 score, was doubtless al- Mefistofele today is "L'altra notte in fondo al mar," a ready present in 1868, for the libretto of that strophic aria with fioriture that is likely to tax year contains the words "armonie celesti" in the lyric soprano who normally takes the part parentheses after the first line of Margarita's of Margarita. Although the text for the piece, final speech. in a slightly lengthier version, was present in The scene of Margarita's death, then, went the original libretto, the music must have dif- through two revisions. In the first (1875) Mar- fered considerably, for it occasioned no com- garita's aria was rewritten, the prose dialogue ment from most critics. Giulio Ricordi called of Faust and Mefistofele largely deleted, and it "una monodia, senza forme spiccate, senza the duet "Lontano lontano lontano" added. In ritmo, nella quale la stranezza dell'armoniz- the second (1876) the aria "Spunta l'aurora zare e vinta dalla stranezza dei vocalizzi." A pallida" was inserted, possibly with attendant discerning critic, Ricordi must have been de- musical changes. All in all, rather a piecemeal scribing music that has not survived, for only construction for a scene that today receives the final three words of his comment could be nearly unanimous critical approval. considered at all applicable to the aria as it stands today. ACT IV, SCENE i (1875: deleted) It was with As in the present version, Margarita's aria the scene of the Imperial Palace that Boito lost is followed by the entrance of Faust and Me- his audience's sympathies once and for all. fistofele. Boito chose to write their dialogue in The scene played an indispensable role in the prose-a serious mistake, Ricordi felt, for it poetic design, introducing Helen both to us led the composer to set this key passage as rec- and to Faust, and laying the basis for Faust's itative. As if heeding Ricordi's criticism in later and otherwise inexplicable dream of his revision, Boito deleted most of the prose, being a benevolent king. But this may not skipping down to Faust's cry "Salvala!" and have been apparent to those spectators who pushing what remained into versi sciolti. But were unfamiliar with Goethe's Faust or who from the moment Faust sets foot in the prison had failed to study Boito's libretto beforehand. (marked agitato in the present score) through In any case his music not only failed to con- the first half of Margarita's narration, the vince them of the scene's importance, it music is again on Paper Type I. The last half aroused their active and vocal hostility. When of Margarita's speech, set so affectingly with a Boito revised the opera seven years later, this bare English horn accompaniment in the ver- was the one scene he deleted entirely. We sion we now know, may have been somewhat must therefore depend on the negative com- different originally-though even then Ricordi ments of the critics for any idea of the nature found it "un momento interessantissimo." of the music. Ricordi's description is typical, Faust's speech beginning "Deh! ti scongiuro" though not very informative: is written on Paper Type I, but the introduc- tion to "Lontano lontano lontano" and the Nella prima parte dell'atto quarto ci troviamo nel palazzo Imperiale: questo brano necessario al duet itself, of course, are not. dramma, perche spiega la ragione del Sabba clas- Most of the following trio (from Mefisto- sico, non presenta interesse alcuno n6 dramma- fele's "Cessate, cessate" through Margarita's ticamente, ne musicalmente. Ad esso potrebbonsi "la scure ah! brill") must stand as it origi- applicare le parole istesse colle quali il poeta chiude questa scena: tenebre, confusione, grida. nally did, for it too is written on Paper Type I. The rest of the scene, except for a sixteen- In the first part of Act IV we find ourselves in the measure passage beginning at Margarita's Imperial Palace. This piece, so necessary to the drama because it explains the presence of the Clas- question "Chi s'erge?," is on Paper Type II. sical Sabbath, presents no interest whatsoever, Though in this section the two libretti are neither dramatically nor musically. We might apply nearly identical, the insertion of Margarita's to it the same words with which the poet concludes "Spunta l'aurora pallida" may have occasioned the scene: gloom, confusion, cries.

227

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH ACT IV, SCENE ii (1875: ACT IV) Had the pre- appearance, lasting only through the begin- CENTURY ceding scene failed less clamorously, the ning of his speech "Al Brocken, fra le streghe MUSIC Night of the Classical Sabbath might have del Nord." Originally this passage contained served to regain the audience's sympathies, for five lines addressed by Faust to the Sphinxes, a it pleased all the critics-Ricordi called it "il seven-line speech of Mefistofele in which he brano migliore dell'opera"-and actually won too addressed the Sphinxes, and two words considerable applause on the third evening. from the Sphinxes in response. All this disap- A comparison of the two libretti reveals pears-as do the Sphinxes themselves, in only a few changes, mostly cuts; and, as we keeping with Boito's general policy of sim- might expect, most of the act is written on plification. The Choretids' speech "Trionfi ad Paper Type I. At Mefistofele's words "Saggio Elena" is written on Paper Type II, but the consiglio e di spiar ciasciun nostra fortuna per whole of Elena's narrative, right through to opposto sentier," Paper Type II makes its first the Eb seventh chords of the harp introducing

......

..I......

ij*

-_?-?;...... Aim ?IW-;nar

~(ll"ll 7V* "c-i ~ ~ :~~"~~~ 'd ';ij~!~W,~riiu~

-,: t JAN: '#4

Plate I Autograph of Mefistofele, p. 371 ? 1919 by G. Ricordi & C. s. p. a., Milano; reproduced by permission

228

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms JAY the final ensemble, appears on Paper Type I. A fails us at this point, for only the first eight NICOLAISEN major change in the ensemble, evident from a measures of the act are written on a single The First comparison of the libretti, was the addition sheet of Paper Type I. Mefistofele of choral parts during the passage in which Both the libretti and Ricordi's analysis, Elena responds to Faust. The closing section however, suggest that the two musical high- "Amore! misterio celeste" is written on Paper points of the act as we know it now-Faust's Type I. Here Faust's part could not simply be romance "Giunto sul passo estremo" and the moved to a new clef; it had to be rewritten if return of the celestial music of the pro- the tenor was to compete with the soprano in logue-were present in 1868. And Ricordi's expressions of amorous delirium. Boito's solu- analysis tells us something of the nature of tion was to exchange Elena's and Faust's Faust's monologue: melodic lines wherever possible, making the appropriate octave transpositions. This pro- ... il lungo recitativo di Faust, in cui si riode parte cess is readily apparent from plate I, which del preludio. Questo monologo, nel quale Faust descrive shows the bottom half of a page from this sec- tutta la sua vita, stanca oltremodo l'attenzione tion. The lower pair of vocal parts (in soprano dell'uditore, cosicche questi non pu6 ascoltare and bass clefs) was cancelled and superseded pacatamente la romanza di Faust. by the upper pair (soprano and tenor clefs); notice that the tenor high As were originally ... Faust's long recitative, in which we again hear part of the prelude. sung by the soprano. We can hardly blame the This monologue, in which Faust describes his composer for wishing to change as little as entire life, so wearies the attention of the auditor possible a duet which Ricordi, among others, that he cannot listen calmly to Faust's romanza. had found "bella, ispirata, melodica, nuova" and "di sapore veramente arcadico." Once again, then, the revision appears to have been carried out with the purpose of INTERMEZZO SINFONICO (1875: deleted) Like simplifying the drama, reducing the amount of the scene of the Imperial Palace, the inter- recitative, and retaining passages of lyrical ef- mezzo "La Battaglia" was deleted in the ver- fusion (the aria) and structural importance (the sion of 1875. The audience had failed to un- return of material from the prologue). In his derstand its connection with the action of the "Note al prologo" (1868)10 Boito stressed the opera; the critics had found it musically unat- importance of this musical reprise to the en- tractive. Unlike the Imperial Palace scene, tire conception, pointing out that in Goethe however, Boito thought enough of this music "la prima e l'ultima parola di Faust si ricon- to publish it separately in a transcription for giungono in cielo." piano four hands.9 III ACT v (1875: EPILOGUE) This, the scene of In 1875 Boito was no longer the brash Faust's death, can be said to have undergone young musician and critic who had alienated actual rewriting. Faust's lengthy monologue is Verdi with insistent calls for the reform of Ital- reduced to a few lines-to which Mefistofele ian opera. He was thirty-three years old, and adds a new ironical commentary-and Faust's had not yet had a major success either as poet quiet death is replaced by something of a or composer. Translations of foreign libretti struggle for his soul, Mefistofele making ur- gent appeals to him to return to the realm of earthly pleasures. The musical changes must have been substantial, but the autograph score 10See also fn. 6. The notes Boito appended to each act of his 1868 libretto are disconcertingly pedantic, particularly in view of the poet-composer's tender age. In his "Note al prologo" he emphasizes that the musical relationship be- tween prologue and epilogue was suggested to him by the 9No. 41171 in the Ricordi catalogue of 1875. I have been shape of Goethe's poem; he discusses the derivation of the unable to locate a copy either in Italy or the United States, names Mefistofele and Faust; and he defends his use of however. the "metro nonasillabo proibito dai benemeriti."

229

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH provided his major source of income, and he short but equally virtuosic piece which fixed CENTURY was only just becoming prominent as a libret- the spotlight on her right up to the moment of MUSIC tist for other composers. The success of Mefi- her death. The duet "Lontano lontano lon- stofele in 1875 gave him financial indepen- tano," a delicious musical bonbon and a sec- dence. No longer did he need to depend for his ond addition to the same scene, was forced livelihood on hack work for the major publish- into place only with difficulty: Margarita's ing houses. Nor did he any longer feel the line "Si fuggiamo... gia sogno un incantato need to prove his credentials as a composer asil di pace, dove soavemente uniti ognor viv- and librettist of merit. It is easy to imagine rem" is little more than a red light calling a how much a proud man-as Boito from all ac- temporary halt to the drama while the soprano counts seems to have been-must have longed and tenor step forward to sing their duet. for the success which his revised Mefistofele Probably because of Faust's transformation brought him. And it is equally easy to recog- from baritone to tenor, neither of his actual nize with what precision his revisions were arias appears on Paper Type I; but a compari- calculated to achieve that success. son of the old and new texts for these pieces The work that emerged in 1875 was a reveals only negligible alterations. The main popularized version of the first Mefistofele. musical change was probably an upward With the discovery of remnants of the original transposition. Indeed, Faust's vocal metamor- autograph score, it becomes all the clearer that phosis is a further sign of Boito's newfound Boito planned his revisions with two simple willingness to court popular favor. Ricordi had goals in mind: to discard everything that had had no complaints over the decision to make offended the ears of the La Scala audience of Faust a baritone, but several critics were re- 1868, and to bolster what remained by the ad- lieved to find he had become a tenor in 1875. dition of pieces that were certain to please. In fact, when Mefistofele returned to La Scala The scene of the Imperial Palace and the In- in 1881, Salvatore Farina, editor of the Gaz- termezzo Sinfonico disappeared because they zetta musicale di Milano, called the change had aroused hostility. Their loss damaged the "[una] trasformazione capitale," with the fol- poetic design and removed the dramatic raison lowing priceless gloss: d'etre for Faust's aria "Giunto sul passo es- tremo"; but the aria had pleased, so it re- Noi non neghiamo a chi ha un organo baritonale, il mained, although it now became difficult to diritto di amare e di dichiararlo alla innamorata, ma, per quanto h possibile, fra le quinte. Ai lumini see why Faust should dream of being "Re d'un della ribalta, vogliamo che l'amore canti in chiave placido mondo, / D'una landa infinita, /A un di tenore.11 popolo fecondo." Similarly, much of Faust's conversation with Wagner, his meditation on We don't deny the man with a baritone voice the the Gospel, and his monologue in Act V dis- right to love and to declare it to his beloved; but if possible this should take place in the wings. In the appeared, even though it was precisely these spotlight we want to hear love sing in the tenor clef. passages which had served to transfer the breadth of Goethe's conception to the lyric Casting the hero as a tenor was a convention stage. As "recitativi interminabili" they had Boito had attempted to circumvent in 1868. In bored the audience and so they went the way 1875 he bowed gracefully to tradition. of the Imperial Palace and the Intermezzo. Yet despite the compromises and conces- On the other hand, no opportunities for sions the composer made to popular taste, the set pieces were lost. Mefistofele's two arias work that remained was stylistically the most remained the same in 1875 as they had been seven years earlier. Margarita's "L'altra notte in fondo al mar," whatever it may have been 11Salvatore Farina, La Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 29 in 1868, became in 1875 a strophic piece of May 1881. This was an ingrained prejudice, of course. "Convince yourself once and for all that a baritone cannot high-flying bravura. The soprano was further play a lover," wrote Bellini to Florimo in 1832 (see L. rewarded with "Spunta l'aurora pallida," a Cambi, Bellini: Epistolario [Verona, 1945], p. 159).

230

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms original Italian opera of the nineteenth cen- falls naturally into two sections: Faust's ad- JAY NICOLAISEN tury. And its originality seems all the greater ventures in the real and romantic spheres con- The First when we consider that many of its most im- stitute Part I, those in the ideal and classic Mefistofele portant elements were present in 1868, about Part II. The drama, however, begins in heaven, the time of Don Carlos. In a period when and it is Margarita's death at the end of Part I Verdi was patiently tinkering with the tradi- which brings an eighteen-measure return of tional structures of Italian romantic opera,12 the soaring chromatic music of the prologue, Boito simply discarded them. Not a single just as it is Faust's death which invites a sec- scene in Mefistofele follows the old four- ond return of the same music (sixty-two mea- movement format (tempo d'attacco, can- sures). Thus the drama ends as it began, tabile, tempo di mezzo, cabaletta), and some Boito's obsession with symmetry comple- scenes-notably the Prologue and the Roman- menting the natural shape of Goethe's poem. tic Sabbath-have no precedent whatsoever The three statements of the heavenly music within the Italian tradition. The arias, duets, are huge pillars upon which the entire musical and trios are often unconventional, as an structure rests. They provide a tonal under- examination of the pieces which comprise the pinning-the key of the opera is E major-and scene of Margarita's death reveals. All are at least an impression of thematic organiza- comparatively small pieces, but the internal tion as well. Their placement within scenes of structures are not correspondingly simple. The an intimate dramatic and musical nature gives aria "L'altra notte in fondo al mar" is laid out them the further important function of tex- in two strophes, in each of which a clearly- tural and timbral contrast, a factor of consid- heralded close in the major is denied at the erable significance in a style the natural ten- last possible moment by a wrenching return to dency of which was toward thin textures and the minor. The duet "Lontano lontano lon- quiet dynamics. As a result of Boito's careful tano" is in one main section, with cadential thematic planning, which encompasses the ef- phrases in which the development of the prin- fective recall of other, less prominent themes cipal rhythmic and melodic motives con- as well, Mefistofele occupies an enviable posi- tinues. Both the trio and "Spunta l'aurora pal- tion as the first Italian opera with a semblance lida" could be considered through-composed, of symphonic logic.13 for though tonally rounded they contain no No Italian had yet written such whimsical reprise. Throughout the opera Boito avoided vocal lines for the male voice. Ricordi found the sometimes enormous duet and trio struc- Mefistofele's "Ecco il mondo" "mal propria tures (A + B + closing section based on A and alla voce umana," yet the style found few de- B + cadential phrases) which Ponchielli, to tractors a quarter century later when Verdi name one of Boito's most successful contem- adopted it for Falstaff. The creeping chromati- poraries, continued to employ right to the end cism and whistles of "Son lo spirito" reflect of his career. Even Verdi found them useful up the malicious side of the devil's personality, through Aida. while the following phrases from the same The use of recurring material was not un- piece can only recall a similar and more fam- common in Italian opera at this time, but no ous passage in Falstaff, Act I (ex. 1): one in Italy, and few outside, had yet wrought such large-scale musical returns in support of 13Other important thematic recurrences may be found in their drama. A four-act work with prologue Act II, scene ii, where the orchestra repeats Faust's decla- and epilogue, Mefistofele, like Goethe's Faust, ration of love to Margarita (first heard in Act II, i) at the moment he sees her in a vision; in Act III, where the quar- tet theme of Act II, i, becomes a parlante accompaniment; and in the Epilogue, where Mefistofele sings the love 12In a recent article Philip Gossett has demonstrated how theme of Helen and Faust in a vain attempt to distract much Verdi still depended upon conventional formulas Faust from his celestial vision. Alone among the major even at the time of Aida: "Verdi, Ghislanzoni, and Aida: characters, Mefistofele has a signature theme (the empty The Uses of Convention," Critical Inquiry 1 (1974), 291- fifths motive heard at his first appearance) which accom- 334. panies some, but not all, of his entrances.

231

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 19TH

CENTURY Pit mosso6%.2. con 6 fuoco1 ji 140_ q MUSIC rv I Mal! Ri do e av - ven- to questa sil - la - ba: "No."

A" U, I 1 0" " w ? " Per,, I . ' ' ,

Strug - go, ten - to, rug- go, si - bi - lo: "No." 01,rA 4- . f A 61H a atempo1tmp

V )A II I I rogIr

Example 1

And finally, no Italian had yet made such furthest outside tradition was the subject mat- a deliberate effort to bring his harmonic idiom ter he had chosen for his work. Goethe was into step with the most progressive style of not Hugo or Schiller. Faust was not Don Carlo the day. The chromaticism of Boito's heavenly or Radames. Boito had turned his back on the choir was present in 1868, as the autograph narrow but eminently adaptable romantic score demonstrates; and innocuous as it may drama which had suited his predecessors and now seem, its first critics found it hard to had attempted to come to grips with a subject swallow. To realize how advanced Boito's of cosmic significance. A comparison of the style must have seemed in the 1860s, we need versions of 1868 and 1875 impresses us with only recall Verdi's reaction eleven years later: just how sincere and determined that effort "listening to the harmonies of that piece, originally was. If the second Mefistofele repre- based almost always on dissonances, I seemed sents a compromise, it is at least one which to be ... not in heaven, certainly!"114 we can thank for letting us still exper- . But the one element which stood Boito ience a truly noble artistic venture. .;

14Giuseppe Verdi, letter to Arrivabene of 20 March 1879; English translation by Frank Walker, The Man Verdi (New York, 1962), p. 473.

232

This content downloaded from 193.204.40.97 on Tue, 10 May 2016 09:57:34 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms