ORC28

in association with

Box cover: Waiting for the King’s Favourite, Laslett John Pott Booklet cover: Luigia Boccabadati-Gazzuoli, the first Francesca di Foix Opposite: Gaetano Donizetti CD face: King Ferdinando II of Spain

–1– Gaetano Donizetti FRANCESCA DI FOIX giocoso by

Il Re The King, in the flower of his life...... Pietro Spagnoli Il Conte The Count...... Alfonso Antoniozzi La Contessa, The Countess, Francesca di Foix...... Annick Massis Il Duca The Duke...... Bruce Ford Il Paggio The Page, Edmondo...... Jennifer Larmore

Knights, Ladies, Peasants, Squires, Members of the Countess’s Household Geoffrey Mitchell Choir

London Philharmonic Orchestra Leader, Pieter Schoeman

Antonello Allemandi, conductor

–2– Producer and Artistic Director: Patric Schmid

Managing Director: Stephen Revell

Assistant producer: Jacqui Compton Assistant conductor: Robin Newton Répétiteur: Nicholas Bosworth Italian coach: Maria Cleva Assistant to the producer: Gunnar Pruessner

Article, synopsis and libretto: Jeremy Commons

Recording Engineer: Chris Braclik Assistant Engineer: Chris Bowman Editing: Patric Schmid, Jacqui Compton and Chris Braclik

Recorded at Henry Wood Hall, London March 2004

–3– CONTENTS

Francesca di Foix by Jeremy Commons...... Page 9

The Story...... Page 32

Résumé de l’intrigue...... Page 37

Die Handlung...... Page 42

La Vicenda...... Page 47

Libretto...... Page 52

–4– Patric Schmid (Producer) with Annick Massis FRANCESCA DI FOIX

Dur Page Introduzione – Il Duca, Il Paggio, Il Conte, Il Re, Coro [1] Coro – Senti senti... Già l’eco ripete 2’42 53 [2] Duetto – Quest’è il loco stabilito 5’16 53 [3] Scena – Ecco il Conte... 2’48 55 [4] – Grato accolse i vostri accenti 2’29 60 [5] Cabaletta – Oh quale apporta all’anima 3’26 61 Recitative – Il Re, Il Duca, Il Conte, Il Paggio [6] Duca, è così?... 2’16 61 Recitative – Il Duca, Il Conte, Il Paggio [7] Voi non seguite il Re? 1’35 63 Cavatina – La Contessa [8] Aria – Ah! ti ottenni alfin 2’19 66 [9] Cabaletta – Donzelle, se vi stimola 3’30 66 Recitative – La Contessa, Il Duca [10] Quest’è l’anello... 1’52 67 Duetto – La Contessa, Il Paggio, Il Duca [11] Signore, a dirvi il vero 3’52 69 [12] Che siete una sciocca 2’15 71 [13] Quante son delle civette 3’16 74 Recitative – Il Conte, La Contessa, Il Duca [14] Oh! Duca, mi rallegro!... 1’50 75 Canzonetta del Paggio, Coro [15] Vieni, e narra o bel paggetto 1’59 80 [16] E’ una giovane straniera... 1’00 80

-6- Dur Page [17] Che dan vita ad ogni festa 1’47 81 Recitative – Il Paggio, Il Conte, Il Re, Il Duca [18] Edmondo?... Edmondo?... 3’51 82 Terzetto – Il Re, Il Conte, La Contessa [19] Vi presento, o Baronessa 4’04 87 [20] Stretta – Questo acciar che il Sovrano vi affida 3’59 90 Recitative, Romanza – Il Duca [21] Ve’ come il Conte segue al gran Tornéo 0’50 91 [22] Donne, che ognor più bella 4’23 93 Marcia – Coro [23] La vaga straniera 2’41 93 Finale – Il Paggio, Il Conte, Il Duca, La Contessa, Il Re [24] Scena – Ma via rasserenatevi... 2’23 94 [25] Marcia (reprise) 0’52 97 [26] Recitativo – Or sia l’opra appien compita 0’48 97 [27] Cantabile – Fausto sempre splenda il Sole 4’09 99 [28] Rondo – Per voi di gelosia 4’19 102

The performing edition for this recording was made by Patric Schmid and Robert Roberts from a copy of Donizetti’s autograph manuscript. This manuscript is in the library of San Pietro a Majella at the Conservatory of Music,

-7- Antonello Allemandi FRANCESCA DI FOIX

MOST OF US are so accustomed to finding with titles like , Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, Beatrice di Tenda, Elena da Feltre and Emma d’Antiochia that, encountering for the first time one of Donizetti’s least-known works, Francesca di Foix, we may be forgiven if we expect yet another romantic tragedy, with the heroine eventually expiring either in an effusion of elegiac lyricism or in a paroxysm of impassioned protest!

But the libretto of Francesca di Foix came from the pen of Domenico Gilardoni, perhaps not one of the most able but certainly one of the more imaginative, exploratory and eagerly experimental of Donizetti’s librettists; and the text that he supplied on this occasion quite simply defeats all expectation. Described in the printed text as a melodramma, it turns out to be an semiseria rather than a tragedia lirica, and, what is even more remarkable, a witty and often wry little satirical comedy. Donizetti himself defines it, on the first page of his autograph score, as a melodramma giocoso, ‘a comic (‘jocular’) melodrama’. It is a salutory lesson for jealous husbands who, far from trusting their wives, try to restrict their favours to themselves by keeping them shut up at home away from public notice and the gaze of prying eyes. It was, for 1831, a highly unusual choice of subject, much more French than Italian in its intellectual climate, and there is no denying that the resulting opera remains a quirky odd-man-out in Donizetti’s output.

–9– LUIGIA BOCCABADATI-GAZZUOLI

The first Francesca

This is remembered mainly as a Donizetti interpreter. She sang in many of his operas throughout her career. This work with the composer began in Naples where she created five of his operas:

1829 Il castello di Kenilworth

1830

1831 Francesca di Foix La romanzesca e l’uomo nero Originally conceived under what may well strike us as the more appropriate title of Il paggio e l’anello (‘The Page and the Ring’), it was based on a French opéra-comique libretto, Françoise de Foix, written by Bouilly and Dupaty and set by Berton in 1809. Quite apart from its setting at a Renaissance French court, the wit, urbanity and pithy concision of the dialogue – the thrust and parry of repartee as the characters size each other up – unmistakably proclaim its French origins. The King who presides over the action is, intriguingly, almost certainly the same François Ier (1494- 1547) who was 21 years later to be the original of the Duke of Mantova in Verdi’s Rigoletto. But if Victor Hugo shows us his supercilious and inconsiderate libertarianism, Gilardoni shows us a rather more scrupulous and benevolent figure, still a man of intrigue, flirtation and gallantry, but ultimately also a king who is concerned for the happiness and well-being of those around him. At the end of the opera Francesca pays tribute to him in these words:

COUNTESS to the King Per voi di gelosia With your help the chains Son frante le catene; Of jealousy have been broken; Per voi godrò d’un bene, With your help I shall enjoy a benefit Che mai potea sperar! Which I could never previously have hoped for!

–11– They are sentiments which, appropriate here, would be inconceivable in the context of Rigoletto. Two fascinatingly different portraits, therefore, of the same figure, a figure whom history records as the archetypal Renaissance king, a man of cultivated intelligence, with a sincere passion for and appreciation of letters and art, but also a man of innumerable dalliances and amatory peccadilloes.

There is no denying that Francesca di Foix was a slightly odd subject for an opera, but as some of the above remarks will suggest, it was by no means unsuited to delicately and wittily nuanced treatment and intimate presentation. Yet was this the right subject for Donizetti in 1831? Only a few months earlier, on 26 December 1830, he had scored a momentous success with in Milan. The success had been so great that it had altered the opinion of his music hitherto held by some of Italy’s most influential critics, and had opened up new horizons for him: indeed the years from 1830 to 1838 were to see a succession of remarkable tragedie liriche, showing his powers at their most sensitive and lyrical: (Florence, 1833), (Milan, 1833), Rosmonda d’Inghilterra (Florence, 1834), (composed for Naples in 1834 but given in Milan at the end of 1835), (Milan, 1834), (Paris, 1835), Lucia di Lammermoor (Naples, 1835), (Venice, 1836), Pia de’ Tolomei (Venice, 1837), (Naples, 1837) and (composed for Naples in 1838, but not seen in Italy until ten years later, Naples 1848). Placed alongside these soon-to-follow tragic operas, Francesca di Foix looks more quirky than ever: an oddity the like of

–12– which Donizetti was never to tackle again after the death of Gilardoni late in this same year, 1831. We should probably be justified if we were to see both this opera and the farsa which followed it, La romanzesca e l’uomo nero, primarily as attempts to fulfil – in the quickest and easiest manner possible – the requirements of a long-standing but increasingly irksome contract with the impresario Domenico Barbaja. In the words of William Ashbrook, ‘Both [these operas] seem to express Donizetti’s desire to wind up this phase of his Neapolitan career with the minimum exertion.’1 The fact that there is not a single reference to Francesca di Foix in the composer’s collected correspondence would seem to confirm that he probably entertained but scant regard for it.

If we are justified, then, in doubting whether Francesca di Foix was the right subject for Donizetti at this time, we may also query whether it was a suitable choice for Naples in the intellectual climate of 1831. Ferdinando II, the young, diffident and excessively earnest king of Naples, had come to the throne in 1830, and in 1832 he was to marry Maria Cristina of Savoy, a princess whose nun-like devotions were rapidly to make the court resemble a cloister. Her influence led the censorship of the day to embark upon a strict and most unsmiling castigation of morals: ballet dancers were no longer permitted to appear in scanty and diaphanous costumes; subjects such as incest and suicide were all but banished from the stage; and even such a faintly risqué and titillating subject as Francesca di Foix would have ______1 William Ashbrook, Donizetti and his Operas (1982), p. 68.

–13– been considered meretricious and erring towards the immoral. Permitted in 1831, it could well have been prohibited by the censors of 1832 or 1833.

The fortunes of the opera were, moreover, certainly not helped by the fact that it was composed for performance at the Teatro S. Carlo, the great royal theatre of Naples, on the name-day of the new king on 30 May 1831. Many established composers tried to avoid composing for gala occasions such as this, for they knew full well that precious little attention would be paid to their music. There are several instances on record of occasions when impresarios were reduced to engaging inexperienced – and in the event, all too often inept – composers to write for royal galas; and the texts chosen were not infrequently short one-acters, slight of proportion and therefore as undemanding as possible in their demands upon the audience’s powers of concentration. But in this instance it was not only the occasion that was unpropitious: so, too, was the actual theatre. As the press reviews that followed the premiere made clear, the work was lost in the wastes of a vast auditorium. The critic of the official Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie (9 June 1831) remarked that it ‘seemed too small for the Teatro S. Carlo’, while one of the many more ephemeral journals of Naples, Il Caffè del Molo (Anno 1831, no. 36), advised the impresario of the S. Carlo ‘to make a present of this melodramma to his colleague of the ’, a minuscule theatre by comparison with either of the two royal theatres of Naples, the S. Carlo and the Fondo. After two performances it was in fact transferred to the Fondo, a considerably more intimate auditorium, where, we are assured by yet another journal, L’Indifferente (July 1831), ‘it met with

–14– Creator of the role of Il Re A voice of great beauty and flexibility combined with an appealing stage presence made this outstanding an essential part of these Donizetti premieres:

Chiara e Serafina – 1822 L’ajo nell’ imbarazzo – 1824 – 1826 Le regina di Golconda – 1828 Gianni da Calais – 1828 Francesca di Foix – 1831 La romanzesca e l’uomo nero – 1831 – 1832 Marino Falliero – 1835 – 1843 a better reception than upon the stage of the S. Carlo’. The Fondo would, indeed, have been a kinder venue right from the start. Yet after only two performances there, it was – for reasons unknown – taken back to the S. Carlo. There it survived for another three performances, almost certainly all ill-attended and unappreciated, before being finally and definitively withdrawn from the boards. A total of only seven performances, therefore, of which five were given in the larger and less appropriate theatre…

This confusion and unfortunate choice of venue was all the more regrettable since the opera would seem to have been interpreted by a strong cast. All the evidence suggests that Luigia Boccabadati would have been an ideal Contessa Francesca. Aged about 30, she is believed to have made her debut about the year 1817, but really made her mark when she returned to Italy in 1823 from an engagement in Munich. Now at the height of her powers, she was one of two reigning divas in Naples, vying for the favour of the public with . And whereas Tosi concentrated upon opera seria to the exclusion of , Boccabadati had established her reputation in her early years in comic opera, and was now equally at home in either genre. Described as dry and dark of complexion, she was a spry little woman with a great sense of humour and a winning personality, who would have relished the spirited role of the Countess, handling its dramatic demands with aplomb and tossing off her roulades with confidence and agility.

Singing opposite her as the King was Antonio Tamburini, overshadowed in Naples through having to follow in the wake of , but –16– nevertheless one of the greatest of all Italian - of the 19th- century, famous for his good looks, the natural flexibility of his voice and his perfect intonation. His wife, Marietta Gioja-Tamburini, the daughter of the noted choreographer Gaetano Gioja, was cast as the page Edmondo, and Lorenzo Bonfigli, a of whom we have had occasion to speak when introducing Mercadante’s Zaira and Federico Ricci’s La prigione di Edimburgo, as the Duke. The all-important part of the jealous husband, the Count, was taken by Giovanni Battista Campagnoli, a bass or bass-baritone who was active at the S. Carlo and the Fondo from 1828 until 1832, creating for Donizetti the roles of Akebare in the ill-fated (1829), and the Colonnello in Il giovedì grasso (1829). Other operas in which he performed included Vaccaj’s Giovanna d’Arco, Julius Benedict’s I Portoghesi in Goa, Rossini’s Le comte Ory and Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi. Despite this far-from-ignominious career, he remains the most obscure and elusive member of the cast.

The extraordinary thing about the reviews of the production, most of them woefully short on detail, is that with only one exception they make no mention of the singers’ performances whatsoever. The one exception was L’Indifferente, and even it confined itself, after remarking that the opera made a better impression at the Fondo than in the S. Carlo, to a single sentence:

There [i.e. at the Fondo] Tamburini’s aria, sung with grace and skill, and Signora Boccabadati’s cavatina were applauded; the rest was heard with pleasure. –17– Regretfully, we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that we are dealing with an opera which caused scarcely a ripple of lasting interest, and which, after its meagre run, sank without trace. The music publisher Guglielmo Cottrau summed up public reaction in a letter presumably written late at night after the premiere, since it bears the same date, 30 May 1831:

For the King’s gala they gave Donizetti’s Francesca di Foix: be it said between us, its music is very feeble.

There is also one piece of indirect evidence which would suggest that Donizetti himself entertained qualified feelings regarding the opera’s viability. In 1839, when another of his minor (and at that stage suppressed) works, Gianni di Parigi, was given an unauthorised first performance in Milan, it was reported in the press that one person in the audience, an unnamed friend of the composer, remembered hearing him frequently say: ‘Perform all my Operas, except Francesca di Foix, Rosamonda [sic], and Gianni di Parigi.’ While it is difficult to account for his including Rosmonda d’Inghilterra in this short list, the mention of Francesca will admit of two interpretations. Fifty years ago, before the Donizetti revival really got under way, it would certainly have been construed as an indication that he was left disillusioned by the scant success of the work and had but little opinion of it. Nowadays, by contrast, we would be inclined to look at the matter rather more analytically. As we shall see later in this introduction, he resorted, in the years following the opera’s brief life in Naples, to using the score as a mine from which to draw items and ideas for subsequent works. The fact

–18– that so much of the score was recycled in this way would almost certainly have left him feeling that, in a musical and theatrical world where audiences were eager to pounce upon reminiscences and self-borrowings, Francesca was compromised: it was no longer a work that could stand, and be regarded as valid, on its own. In support of this latter interpretation we would contend that the very fact that he was prepared to re-use so much of the music argues a regard, rather than a disregard, for its intrinsic value.

Indeed, how justified do we find the generally adverse and dismissive reaction that greeted Francesca di Foix upon its first appearance? Though understandable in the intellectual climate of the day, it would seem to us one of the minor tragedies of theatrical history – certainly of Donizetti’s theatrical career – since, produced in a small theatre before a more worldly and sophisticated audience, it could have been recognised as a sparkling gem of impish satirical wit.

* * * *

We have mentioned that Domenico Gilardoni was one of the more imaginative, exploratory and experimental of Donizetti’s librettists. Even if his lines are often awkward of expression, and not always euphonious to the ear, his work is for several reasons deserving of greater study than has hitherto been accorded it. For he was willing to tackle a wider range of subjects than most of his contemporaries; he brought to them a lively and sensitive feeling for construction and stagecraft; and he was able to match the diversity of his subjects with an appropriate diversity of writing styles. –19– MARIETTA GIOJA-TAMBURINI

Created the Page, Edmondo

The daughter of the choreographer Ferdinando Gioja and wife of the baritone Antonio Tamburini, this sang in three Donizetti premieres: Chiara e Serafina – , 1822 Alahor in Granata – Palermo, 1826 Francesca di Foix – San Carlo, 1831 as well as Mercadante – Maria Stuart – Bologna, 1822 Conti – Giovanna Shore – La Scala, 1822 His choice of subjects, for example, can range from the tragic (Il paria and Fausta), through the romantic (Otto mesi in due ore), the biblical (Il diluvio universale) and the semi-serious (Gianni di Calais), to the satirical (Francesca di Foix and La romanzesca e l’uomo nero), the comic (Il borgomastro di Saardam) and the farcical (Il giovedì grasso and I pazzi per progetto).

His command of styles is similarly broad. Il paria and Il diluvio universale, for example, show that in moments of heightened dramatic interest, particularly in recitatives, he can achieve a passionate intensity and sincerity of expression which make him a worthy successor of Metastasio and a precursor of Cammarano. At the other end of the scale we would draw attention to his text for the present opera: to the way, in the first tableau (scene six), the Duke plays upon the Countess’s feminine vanity and virtually piques her into allowing herself to be presented at court; to the masterly manner in which they together handle – and admonish – the Count in the following short scene; and, in the second tableau, to the pointed, playful wit with which the page Edmondo prevaricates and parries enquiry when the courtiers seek to sift him for intelligence concerning the newly arrived and mysterious Countess:

PAGE E’ una giovane straniera... She is a young foreigner – CHORUS E’ straniera... She’s a foreigner...

–21– PAGE Che più tardi ognun vedrà; Whom everyone will see in due course; Come fior di primavera As in a spring flower, Fresca ride in lei beltà: Her beauty sits fresh upon her: Se il suo nome è falso o no, But whether her name is true or false, V’ha del dubbio, non si sa; There’s some doubt, indeed no knowing; S’ella è nubile, o sposò, And whether she’s married or single E’ un’arcana verità! Is a truth still to be revealed! Quel ch’è certo, divertir The one thing that’s certain: the King Il Sovrano si potrà! Is going to amuse himself! CHORUS Ma il perchè?... But what’s the reason behind it all?... PAGE Non si può dir. One cannot say. CHORUS Ma tu il sai... But you’re in the know... PAGE Da me si sa... From me you may learn... Che dan vita ad ogni festa That her two most fetching eyes Due vaghissime pupille, Lend life to every party, Come stille di ruggiada, Just like two drops of dew, Che ravvivan prato e fior! That revive both field and flower!

–22– We have mentioned that Francesca di Foix is described in the printed libretto as a melodramma and is, in fact, an opera semiseria. It is not, however, a typical opera semiseria in which one comic character – in this case the jealous Count – is introduced into an otherwise serious action. Donizetti’s definition of it as a melodramma giocoso places it, instead, in a much smaller category of operas in which the entire subject – action and characters – hovers in a middle region between the serious and the comic. The Count is certainly a comic figure, but an uncomfortably wry one: a would-be serious figure who finds himself subjected to embarrassment and ridicule. And the manner in which the King, the Page, the Duke and ultimately the Countess are all willing to enter into the mischievous plot which has been woven against him places them, too, in this middle ground. They are serious characters who have become involved in a comic ruse. A sensitive director should, we believe, try to achieve an appropriate sense of poise, and show us serious characters who, a little uncharacteristically and unexpectedly, are on holiday – on a spree salutory in purpose and not without a twinge of malice. Such a ‘job description’, we would also suggest, in no way limits a director’s freedom to experiment with the degree to which any of the characters should remain serious or veer towards the comic. We may note that in the present performance the limited ability, real or assumed, of the Count to roll his r’s is put to good effect, and becomes a way of characterising him and rendering him pompous and ineffectual.

A similarly subtle ambiguity surrounds the King. How is one meant to play his first entrance? He proclaims himself the ‘benevolent’ monarch. Do

–23– we take him seriously, and play him absolutely straight, or is Gilardoni, behind this regal posturing, introducing the lightest touch of satirical mockery?

The possible ambivalence of interpretation which can be brought to many moments of the opera make it, we believe, much more suited to the intellectual climate of our own 21st century than to the world of Naples in 1831. Given a subtle interpretation, poised between the serious and the satirical, Francesca di Foix is an opera which could well today capture the imagination of audiences and score the success that so conspicuously eluded it when it was first created.

A first attempt to revive it – the first attempt since its creation in 1831 – took place on 17 March 1982, when presented it in London at the Camden Festival, conducted by David Parry, with Gillian Sullivan as Francesca, Russell Smythe as the King, Donald Maxwell as the Count, Kevin John as the Duke and Della Jones as the Page. On that occasion it was given in English, in a witty translation by Don White. Well received though the production was, amply justifying Don White’s confidence that that the score would reveal a spirited vitality, we must admit that his interpretation turned the action into burlesque and did not aim at the subtlety and poise to which we have referred. Francesca di Foix still awaits a revival which seeks to discover and respect the true semiserious nature of the original.

* * * * –24– And how did Donizetti manage the delicate balancing act between the serious and the comic? To what extent was he able to capture in his music the sly satiric tone of the words? Perhaps it would be asking too much to expect him to have produced a masterpiece in this score – perhaps it would have needed a Rossini, or in different times and in a different country a Chabrier, a Ravel or a Poulenc, to have succeeded as subtly and as wittily as we could wish. But Donizetti’s solutions to the challenges offered him by the libretto are nonetheless, we believe, of considerable interest and add up to a very considerable achievement.

His overall solution is to treat the libretto primarily as comedy. None of the characters – neither the King nor the Duke nor the Countess – rises to, or indeed aims at, the heights of imposing utterance that we should expect in an opera seria. As one item follows another, we are everywhere, we feel, in a world that is much closer to comedy than to serious opera.

But it is not simply a case of adopting a comic approach. Everywhere in this score the composer writes with a delicacy and a point which show that he is doing his utmost to achieve the right nuance and the appropriate colouring. His orchestra is the normal theatrical orchestra of the time, and he uses it, to all outward intents and purposes, in a perfectly normal manner. Yet brass and percussion instruments are used sparingly. Horns, in particular, may appropriately establish the royal hunt at the beginning of the opera, and the full orchestra is used to convey the pageantry of the tournament and the presence of the full court at the end. But for much of

–25– the opera, we feel, the burden of the orchestration falls upon the strings and the woodwind. The lightness of the filigree work assigned to the woodwind, especially, bestows an elegance and a courtliness upon the score. It is almost as if the woodwind writing becomes an aural counterpart of Renaissance manners and of the jewel-encrusted silks and brocades of Renaissance costumes. The clearest way of illustrating this is to direct the listener to a passage we already know well from a different context: the chorus for the courtiers which opens the second tableau, and which we know better as the introductory chorus to Act I of L’elisir d’amore. Though the music is the same, there are variants in the instrumentation. It is not a case of one being better than the other. Rather it is a case of each being adapted to a different context. In L’elisir d’amore the use of a drone adapts it to a rustic setting; in Francesca di Foix the writing for the woodwind gives it a more elegant, mischievous and lively character.

In one passage after another in this opera there is a piquancy of detail which shows us a new and aurally sensitive Donizetti. There is a very short but delicate and delicious postlude to the opening chorus; the duet for the Duke and the Page has a distinctly unusual and witty cabaletta; the King’s cavatina is marked by a disarmingly suave elegance; the cabaletta to Francesca’s aria may have plenty of pyrotechnics, but it is almost more French than Italianate in its lightness of touch, closer to Auber than to Rossini.

–26– And so one could go on. The duet for the Countess and the Duke develops in a way that is not even suggested in the original libretto. After the Duke has rehearsed the description of Francesca that has been bruited about the court by the Count, she incredulously repeats his words – a repetition that Gilardoni did not envisage – and invites and receives confirmation of all that has already been said. There is a wit at work here which is wholly Donizetti’s own.

Let us add that Donizetti, never one to let effective music go to waste, did not hesitate to draw upon earlier works when composing Francesca di Foix, and, following its rapid demise, to uplift parts of it for transfer to later operas. William Ashbrook has pointed out that the Duke’s aria, ‘Donne, che ognor più bella’, was almost certainly borrowed from some earlier context, as yet unidentified, since there are, in Donizetti’s manuscript (preserved in the library of S. Pietro a Majella, the Naples Conservatorium of Music), changes in its text and its key which show that it has been modified to accommodate it to this new situation. The text for which the music was originally composed began ‘Questo la vaga intorno…’

There are numerous instances of passages from this score transferred into later operas. The music which accompanies the first appearance of the Count subsequently appeared in two later works: as the opening movement of the first finale in Ugo conte di Parigi, and in exactly the same situation in Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo. The phrase which a little later accompanies the King’s departure for the Palace turns up again in Lucrezia

–27– Borgia. As already mentioned, the melody of the courtiers’ chorus, ‘Vieni, e narra, o bel paggetto’, which opens the second tableau, was used again, a year later, as the introductory chorus, ‘Bel conforto al mietitore’, in L’elisir d’amore; while Edmondo’s song which immediately follows, ‘E’ una giovane straniera’, develops into a staccato theme which later reappeared in the women’s chorus, ‘Saria possibile?’, in Act II of the same opera. The music of the chorus, ‘La vaga straniera’, here for men only – music to which, a little later, Francesca girds the King with the victor’s sword – reappears in L’elisir d’amore as the opening chorus of Act II, ‘Cantiamo, facciam brindisi’.

A particularly intriguing instance of self-borrowing arises in connection with the aria finale, which, unusually, is divided between two characters, the King singing the slow section, and the Countess Francesca the cabaletta. The words of the slow section are identical to those which were printed in the libretto of another Donizetti opera, Gianni di Parigi, when that opera was eventually given a first (unauthorised) production in Milan in 1839. This suggests that, as Donizetti composed Gianni di Parigi, it shared the same aria finale with Francesca. It is, however, unfortunately impossible to be absolutely certain of this, since, when we consult Donizetti’s autograph score of Gianni, preserved in the library of the Naples Conservatorium, S. Pietro a Majella, we find that, interspersed in a score which is predominantly autograph, there are pages where other hands have added or substituted new music, not necessarily by Donizetti at all. This is exactly what happens when we reach the aria finale. Instead of ‘Fausto sempre’ (the

–28– words of the first libretto and of the aria finale in Francesca), we have a new aria of doubtful authenticity, in a hand that is not Donizetti’s. Even assuming that, as Donizetti originally wrote the opera, the aria finale was indeed ‘Fausto sempre’, we are still left with an unanswerable conundrum. Gianni di Parigi is known to have been composed about the same time as Francesca di Foix. But which came first? Is this an aria which was composed for Francesca and then transferred to Gianni? Or vice versa? Put it another way, which was the chicken and which the egg?2

It could well be that there are many other examples of self-borrowing beyond those just listed. Donizetti was an inveterate self-borrower, and until his entire oeuvre has been studied and catalogued, including all his little-known early works, the many revisions he brought to works after they had been produced, and the handful of scores which he left incomplete and unperformed, we can never be certain that in any one work we have traced all examples. But this is a task for scholars of the future…

______2 It is worth adding that ‘Fausto sempre’ was published in Paris (with the same cabaletta as in Francesca di Foix) ‘as sung by Boccabadati’. But unfortunately no opera is mentioned. Is this the aria finale of Francesca (which Boccabadati created), or is it conceivably the aria finale of Gianni di Parigi (which Boccabadati may have introduced into other contexts)? In this version she appears to sing both slow section and cabaletta – it is not an aria shared with another character, as in Francesca. Though, on balance, we feel that the existence of this published version probably supports the theory that the aria was first written for Francesca, it does not provide conclusive proof.

-29- A new Donizetti? That is probably an exaggeration. We would probably do better to regard this opera, and La romanzesca e l’uomo nero, as marking a temporary farewell to the comedies composed during the 1820s. But both operas nevertheless show us an extremely accomplished Donizetti who has achieved the unexpected – achieved such a degree of subtlety that he adds a new dimension to our appreciation of him as a composer. Guglielmo Cottrau may have dismissed the score as ‘very feeble’, but he would have done better, we may well think, to have listened rather more attentively and sympathetically before betraying his own limitations.

© Jeremy Commons, 2004

-30- THE KING

Pietro Spagnoli THE STORY

SCENE 1 In a spot set aside for hunting, close to the Palace of the Louvre, peasants are gathered to greet their King. The Duke and the Page, Edmondo, also appear, for it is here that they hope to meet Francesca, the Countess of Foix, Edmondo’s cousin. The Count, her husband, has proved so jealous and possessive that he has been holding her a virtual prisoner, shut away from the world, but the King, the Duke and Edmondo have concocted a plot to release her. They have managed to duplicate the Count’s ring, briefly removed from his hand while he was asleep, and have sent her the duplicate in her husband’s name, instructing her to come to court. Edmondo insists that she is a model of beauty and winning ways, even though the Count, to avoid having to present her at court, has given out that she is ill-favoured, misshapen and coarse, ‘uglier than any harpy’. The Count, recently appointed Master of the King’s Hunt, rejoices in his demanding duties, but laments that they necessitate his leaving his wife at home on her own – a cause for concern in a world in which he believes the worst of all his fellow-men. The King acknowledges the acclamations of his subjects and flatters the Count, assuring him that a propitious day is dawning for him. He then dismisses the peasants and himself returns to the Palace, but not before whispering to the Duke that, the moment Francesca appears, he should conduct her to court and place her in the care of his sister. The Count departs to attend to his duties, and the Duke and Edmondo mount a nearby hill to see if there is any sign of Francesca’s approach. –32– Francesca has, in fact, arrived by a different route. She makes her entry, rejoicing in her new-found liberty but mystified that her jealous husband should so unexpectedly have changed his mind and summoned her to join him. The Duke and Edmondo, returning, greet her. Edmondo goes to inform the King of her arrival, and the Duke admits that it was the Page and the King who sent her the ring, not her husband. He is unable to explain further, since it is the King who has masterminded the plot and who alone knows its details. Francesca is in two minds whether to stay or whether to return to her prison, but when she hears that her husband has reported her ‘a silly goose, a yokel, and mannerless… foul and lame’, she is quite sufficiently piqued to be eager for revenge. Before they can proceed to court the Count returns. Francesca hastily covers her face with a veil and is presented to him as the Baroness of Linsberg, the Duke’s widowed cousin who has arrived from England. Although her stature and voice arouse the Count’s suspicions, he can only hope that he will have an opportunity of ascertaining her true identity at court, whither they all depart. SCENE 2 In the royal apartments in the Louvre, the courtiers try to sift the Page for information concerning the mysterious new arrival, but Edmondo parries their enquiries, declaring only that it is the King’s intention to amuse himself. He is also tackled by the Count, frustrated since he has had no chance of seeing the lady’s face, even though he grows ever more suspicious that she is really his wife.

–33– The King instructs Edmondo to inform the lady that he wishes to make her acquaintance and conduct her to a tournament which is about to take place. She appears, with both the King and the Count vying with each other – for different reasons – to behold her. It is a moment of supreme – and supremely comic – climax. The King takes delight in presenting Francesca, with exaggerated courtesy, to the Count. She plays up to the situation, commiserating with the Count that his wife should be ‘oppressed in years… a compendium of all ills’, and graciously enquiring after her health. The Count himself writhes in agony, recognising her yet unable, after all he has said, to claim her as his wife. A trumpet call announces the Tournament. The King asks the Countess to accept the task of presenting his sword to the victor. She, in turn, seeks to mollify her husband – or perhaps to goad him still further – by exhorting him to contest the prize and prove himself first in the field. And he can only regret that advancing age precludes the possibility of his fulfilling her wishes. All depart except for the Duke, who lingers a moment to admit that he would probably be just as jealous as the Count, were he himself blessed with such a wife. SCENE 3 The tournament ground outside the Louvre, where the jousting has just concluded. While all comment on Francesca’s charm and beauty, Edmondo continues to taunt the Count who, tortured and miserable since he no longer has any doubts regarding her identity, wonders whether he will ever succeed in recovering her.

–34– THE PAGE

Jennifer Larmore Francesca asks the identity of the unknown knight who has won the tournament, and it is revealed that it is none other than the King himself. She girds him with the victor’s sword, and he, in turn, expresses a wish to see her joined in marriage with someone who has long admired her: the Duke. She consents, but only upon condition that he will not prove as jealous as her previous husband, whom she describes as deceased. As the King gives them his blessing and is about to unite them, it all becomes too much for the Count, who protests that the lady is his wife. He is obliged to eat humble pie, and confess that all he has said about her was a lie. The Page explains the mystery of the duplicated ring, and the opera ends upon a note of celebration as all hope that the Count has learned his lesson and will, in future, show the fair sex greater respect and prove less jealous and severe.

© Jeremy Commons, 2004

–36– RÉSUMÉ DE L’INTRIGUE

SCÈNE 1 Sur un terrain réservé à la chasse, près du palais du Louvre, des paysans se sont réunis pour saluer le roi. Le duc et le page Edmondo se présentent en ce lieu dans l’espoir d’y rencontrer Francesca, cousine d’Edmondo et comtesse de Foix. Le comte, son époux, est si jaloux et possessif qu'il la retient pratiquement prisonnière, à l’écart du monde. Aussi le roi, le duc et Edmondo ont-ils conçu ensemble un plan pour lui rendre la liberté. Ils ont réussi à faire faire un double de la chevalière du comte – qu’on lui a brièvement ôté du doigt pendant son sommeil –, et se sont servi de ce double pour mander la comtesse à la cour. Edmondo n’a que louanges pour la beauté et le charme de sa cousine, que le comte, pour éviter de présenter son épouse à la cour, a décrite comme une femme déplaisante, difforme et vulgaire, « plus laide qu’une harpie ». Le comte, récemment nommé Grand Maître d’équipage par le roi, se félicite de s’être vu confier cette tâche difficile, mais se désole d’avoir à laisser sa femme seule en province – inquiétude d’autant plus grande pour lui qu’il pense le pire de tout le monde. Le roi répond aux acclamations de ses sujets et flatte le comte en l’assurant de sa bonne fortune. Il congédie ensuite les paysans et rentre au palais, non sans avoir ordonné à voix basse au duc de faire conduire Francesca à la cour, dès son arrivée, et de la confier à sa propre sœur. Le comte quitte la scène pour aller remplir ses fonctions, tandis que le duc et Edmondo se rendent au sommet d’une proche colline pour voir approcher Francesca. –37– En fait, Francesca est arrivée par un autre chemin. Heureuse de sa liberté retrouvée, elle se demande toutefois pourquoi son jaloux mari a si brusquement changé d’avis et l’a fait mander. Le duc et Edmondo viennent la saluer. Edmondo va prévenir le roi de l’arrivée de Francesca, tandis que le duc lui avoue que c’est le page et le souverain qui lui ont envoyé la chevalière, et non pas son mari. Il n’en sait guère plus car c’est le roi qui a dirigé le complot et lui seul en connaît les détails. Partagée, Francesca ne sait pas si elle doit rester ou retourner à sa prison, mais lorsqu’on lui dit que son mari la traite publiquement de « dinde, de péquenaude et de rustre… immonde et boiteuse », elle est suffisamment piquée dans son amour- propre pour vouloir se venger. Le comte revient avant qu’ils n’aient pu se rendre à la cour. Francesca se voile rapidement le visage pour ne pas être reconnue et le duc la présente comme sa cousine la baronne de Linsberg, veuve arrivée d’Angleterre. Bien que son apparence et sa voix éveillent les soupçons du comte, il n’a pour seul espoir que de pouvoir s’assurer de sa véritable identité une fois à la cour, vers laquelle ils se dirigent ensemble. SCÈNE 2 A l’intérieur des appartements royaux du Louvre, les courtisans essaient de tirer des renseignements du page concernant la mystérieuse nouvelle- arrivée, mais Edmondo élude leurs questions en déclarant seulement que le roi a l’intention de s’amuser. Il est aussi interrogé par le comte qui, frustré de n’avoir pu voir le visage de la jeune femme, se doute de plus en plus qu’il s’agit en fait de son épouse.

–38– Le roi dit à Edmondo de faire savoir à la dame qu’il souhaite faire sa connaissance et l’accompagner à un tournoi sur le point de commencer. Lorsqu’elle fait son entrée, le roi et le comte essaient l’un et l’autre désespérément, pour différentes raisons, de découvrir son visage. La scène est d’une intensité dramatique – et d’un comique – absolument extraordinaire. Le roi se délecte à présenter Francesca, avec une courtoisie exagérée, au comte. Elle profite de la situation pour dire au comte combien elle compatit d’apprendre que sa femme « accablée par l’âge … est bien mal lotie », et s’enquiert aimablement de la santé de celle-ci. Le comte, quant à lui, est à l’agonie : il reconnaît bien sa femme mais, après tout ce qu’il a dit d’elle, se trouve dans l’incapacité de la réclamer. Une trompette annonce le début du tournoi. Le roi prie la comtesse de bien vouloir remettre son épée au vainqueur. De son côté, elle cherche à apaiser son époux – ou peut-être à le provoquer davantage – en l’exhortant à participer au tournoi et à faire ses preuves « dans le champ ». Il ne peut que regretter que son âge avancé l’empêche de répondre à ses vœux. Tout le monde quitte la scène sauf le duc, qui s’attarde un instant pour avouer que s’il avait la bonne fortune d’avoir une telle femme, il se montrerait sans doute aussi jaloux que le comte. SCÈNE 3 Le terrain proche du Louvre où le tournoi vient de s’achever. Toute la cour s’extasie sur le charme et la beauté de Francesca. Cependant, Edmondo continue de tourmenter le malheureux comte, qui est au martyre : n’ayant plus aucun doute sur l’identité de Francesca, il se demande s’il réussira jamais à récupérer sa femme.

–39– Francesca s’enquiert de l’identité du chevalier inconnu qui a remporté le tournoi : il s’avère qu’il s’agit du roi en personne. Elle lui passe l’épée du vainqueur à la ceinture et, en retour, il exprime le vœu de la voir épouser un homme qui l’admire depuis longtemps : le duc. Elle consent, mais seulement à condition qu’il ne fasse pas preuve à son endroit de la même jalousie que feu son premier mari. Alors que le roi leur donne sa bénédiction et s’apprête à les prononcer mari et femme, le comte incapable de se retenir plus longtemps déclare en protestant que Francesca est son épouse. Obligé de s'humilier en public, il avoue que tout ce qu’il a dit d’elle était faux. Le page explique le mystère de la chevalière, et l’opéra s’achève sur une note réjouissante et l’espoir que le comte aura compris la leçon et manifestera à l’avenir plus de respect pour le beau sexe, moins de jalousie et plus de douceur.

© Jeremy Commons, 2004

–40– THE DUKE

Bruce Ford DIE HANDLUNG

1. SZENE In einem Jagdgebiet in der Nähe des Louvre-Palasts haben Bauern sich versammelt, um ihrem König zu huldigen. Auch der Herzog und der Page Edmondo stellen sich ein, denn sie hoffen, hier Edmondos Kusine Francesca zu treffen, die Gräfin von Foix. Der Graf, ihr Mann, ist derart eifersüchtig und besitzergreifend, dass er sie praktisch als Gefangene der Welt fern hält. Deshalb haben der König, der Herzog und Edmondo einen Befreiungsplan geschmiedet. Es ist ihnen gelungen, den Ring des Grafen zu kopieren, den sie ihm im Schlaf kurz vom Finger nahmen, und ließen Francesca diese Kopie im Namen ihres Mannes bringen mit der Aufforderung, bei Hofe zu erscheinen. Edmondo beteuert, dass sie der Inbegriff von Schönheit und Liebreiz ist, obwohl der Graf sie als verunstaltet und derb, „hässlicher als eine Hexe” bezeichnet, um sie nicht bei Hof vorstellen zu müssen. Der Graf, der vor kurzem zum Meister der königlichen Jagd ernannt wurde, freut sich über diese anspruchsvolle Aufgabe, ist aber voll Sorge, weil er seine Gemahlin alleine zu Hause lassen muss – und das in einer Welt, in der er von seinen Mitmenschen stets das Schlimmste erwartet. Der König nimmt die Huldigungen seiner Untertanen entgegen und schmeichelt dem Grafen mit der Versicherung, dass ihm ein verheißungsvoller Tag bevorstehe. Dann entlässt er die Bauern und kehrt selbst zum Palast zurück, doch zuvor flüstert er dem Herzog zu, dass dieser Francesca gleich nach ihrem Eintreffen zum Hof geleiten und der Obhut

–42– seiner Schwester anvertrauen soll. Der Graf geht davon, um seinen Aufgaben nachzukommen, während der Herzog und Edmondo auf einen Hügel steigen, um nach Francesca Ausschau zu halten. Diese hat jedoch einen anderen Weg genommen. Sie tritt auf und frohlockt über ihre wiedergewonnene Freiheit, äußert aber auch Erstaunen, dass ihr eifersüchtiger Gemahl so unvermittelt seine Meinung geändert und sie zu sich an den Hof bestellt haben soll. Der Herzog und Edmondo kehren zurück und heißen sie willkommen. Während Edmondo dem König Bericht von Francescas Ankunft erstattet, klärt der Herzog sie auf, dass nicht ihr Gemahl ihr den Ring hat zukommen lassen, sondern der Page und der König. Weitere Erklärungen könne er ihr aber nicht geben, da der König selbst den Plan ausgearbeitet habe und der Einzige sei, der ihn in allen Einzelheiten kenne. Francesca ist unschlüssig, ob sie bleiben oder in ihr Gefängnis zurückkehren soll, doch als sie erfährt, dass ihr Gemahl sie als „dumme Gans, als Landpomeranze ohne jeden Benimm ... abscheulich und lahm" bezeichnet hat, willigt sie aus Zorn in den Racheplan ein. Doch bevor sie zum Hof aufbrechen können, kehrt der Graf zurück. Rasch zieht Francesca einen Schleier vor ihr Gesicht und wird ihm als Baroness von Linsberg vorgestellt, die verwitwete Kusine des Herzogs und soeben aus England eingetroffen. Ob ihrer Gestalt und ihrer Stimme schöpft der Graf sofort Verdacht und hofft, am Hof ihre wahre Identität herausfinden zu können. Gemeinsam brechen sie dorthin auf. 2. SZENE In den königlichen Gemächern im Louvre bedrängen die Höflinge den Pagen nach Auskunft über die geheimnisvolle Dame, aber Edmondo wehrt alle Fragen ab und erklärt nur, der König wolle unterhalten werden. Auch –43– der Graf dringt in ihn, denn bislang hatte er zu seinem Leidwesen noch nicht die Gelegenheit, das Gesicht der Unbekannten zu sehen, auch wenn sein Verdacht wächst, dass es sich bei ihr um seine Gemahlin handelt. Der König trägt Edmondo auf, der Dame mitzuteilen, dass er ihre Bekanntschaft zu machen und sie zu einem Turnier zu geleiten wünsche, das in Kürze beginnen werde. Als sie erscheint, wetteifern sowohl der König als auch der Graf darum, einen Blick auf ihr Gesicht zu werfen – allerdings aus unterschiedlichen Gründen. Es ist ein höchst spannungsreicher und ungemein komischer Moment. Mit großem Vergnügen und übertriebener Höflichkeit stellt der König Francesca dem Grafen vor. Sie spielt das Spiel formvollendet mit, bedauert den Grafen, dass seine Gemahlin „fortgeschritten in Jahren ... ein Inbegriff aller Übel” sei, und erkundigt sich angelegentlich nach ihrer Gesundheit. Der Graf, der sie erkennt, doch nach allem, was er über sie verbreitet hat, unmöglich als seine Gemahlin zu erkennen geben kann, durchleidet Höllenqualen. Ein Fanfarenstoß verkündet den Beginn des Turniers. Der König bittet die Gräfin, dem Sieger am Ende sein Schwert zu überreichen. Sie ihrerseits fordert ihren Gemahl auf – sei es, um ihn zu beschwichtigen, sei es, um ihn noch mehr aufzustacheln –, um den Preis zu kämpfen und sich auf dem Turnierfeld zu behaupten. Bedauernd muss er ablehnen und erklären, sein vorgerücktes Alter gestatte ihm nicht, ihren Wunsch zu erfüllen. Alle treten ab bis auf den Herzog, der einen Moment verweilt und gesteht, dass er vermutlich ebenso eifersüchtig wäre wie der Graf, wenn ihm eine derartige Gemahlin vergönnt wäre.

–44– 3. SZENE Der Turnierplatz vor dem Louvre, wo der Kampf soeben zu Ende ging. Während sich alle in Lobpreisungen über Francescas Liebreiz und Schönheit ergehen, reizt Edmondo den Grafen immer mehr, der mittlerweile keinerlei Zweifel mehr an der Identität der Dame hat, Qualen aussteht und sich fragt, ob er sie wohl je wieder zur Seinen wird erklären können. Francesca erkundigt sich nach dem unbekannten Ritter, der soeben das Turnier gewonnen hat, und erfährt, dass es niemand anderer ist als der König selbst. Sie gürtet ihn mit dem Schwert des Siegers, und er spricht von seinem Wunsch, sie mit einem Mann zu vermählen, der schon lange große Bewunderung für sie hege: dem Herzog. Sie willigt ein, aber nur unter der Bedingung, dass dieser nicht ebenso eifersüchtig sei wie ihr erster Gemahl, der ihrer Auskunft nach verstorben sei. Während der König dem Paar seinen Segen erteilt und sie gerade trauen will, platzt der Graf heraus, dass es sich bei der Dame um seine Gemahlin handelt. So ist er gezwungen, zu Kreuze zu kriechen und zu gestehen, dass er bislang nur Lügen über sie verbreitet hat. Der Page erklärt das Geheimnis des kopierten Rings, und die Oper endet auf einer freudigen Note, denn alle hoffen, dass der Graf seine Lektion gelernt hat und dem schwachen Geschlecht in Zukunft mehr Achtung erweisen und sich weniger eifersüchtig und streng verhalten wird.

© Jeremy Commons, 2004

–45– THE COUNT

Alfonso Antoniozzi LA VICENDA

SCENA 1 In una riserva di caccia, vicino al palazzo del Louvre, i contadini sono riuniti per salutare il loro re. Arrivano anche il Duca e il paggio Edmondo, che sperano di incontrare qui Francesca, contessa di Foix e cugina di Edmondo. Il conte suo marito è talmente geloso e possessivo da tenerla praticamente prigioniera, lontana dal mondo, ma il Re, il Duca ed Edmondo hanno architettato un piano per liberarla. Sono riusciti a creare una copia dell’anello del Conte, sottraendolo momentaneamente a lui mentre dormiva, e l’hanno inviata alla donna a nome del marito, chiedendole di recarsi a corte. Edmondo insiste che la donna è un modello di bellezza e modi seducenti, anche se il conte, per evitare di presentarla a corte, ha fatto capire che è sgraziata, deforme e rozza, “brutta più di un’arpia”. Il Conte, di recente nominato capocaccia reale, è lieto dei suoi difficili doveri, ma si lamenta perché lo costringono ad abbandonare sola in casa la moglie; la cosa lo preoccupa, in un mondo in cui è impossibile fidarsi del resto dell’umanità. Il Re ascolta le acclamazioni dei sudditi e lusinga il conte, assicurandolo che per lui questo è un giorno propizio. Poi licenzia i contadini e ritorna al Palazzo, ma non prima di ordinare sottovoce al Duca di condurre a corte Francesca, non appena sarà arrivata, e affidarla alle cure di sua sorella. Il Conte si allontana per adempiere ai suoi compiti e il Duca ed Edmondo si appostano su una collina vicina per spiare il sopraggiungere della donna.

–47– In realtà Francesca è arrivata da un’altra strada. Entra, lieta della ritrovata libertà, ma perplessa dell’inaspettato cambiamento d’idea del geloso marito che le ha chiesto di raggiungerlo. Il Duca ed Edmondo, di ritorno, la salutano. Edmondo va a informare il Re del suo arrivo e il Duca ammette che sono stati il paggio e il re a inviarle l’anello, non il marito. Non è in grado di spiegare altro: il piano è stato architettato dal sovrano, l’unico a conoscerne i particolari. Francesca è combattuta e non sa se rimanere o tornare alla sua prigione, ma quando viene a sapere che il marito l’ha descritta come una donna brutta, sciocca e priva di buone maniere, è sufficientemente risentita da volersi vendicare. Prima che la donna possa proseguire verso la corte, ritorna il Conte. Francesca si copre in fretta il viso con un velo e gli viene presentata con il nome di Baronessa di Linsberg, una cugina del Duca vedova giunta dall’Inghilterra. Sebbene la sua statura e la sua voce suscitino i sospetti del Conte, l’uomo può solo augurarsi di avere una possibilità di accertare la sua vera identità a corte e tutti si allontanano. SCENA 2 Negli appartamenti reali del Louvre i cortigiani cercano di strappare al Paggio informazioni sul misterioso nuovo arrivo, ma Edmondo schiva le domande, dichiarando solo che il Re ha intenzione di divertirsi. Viene anche affrontato dal Conte, spazientito perché non ha avuto la possibilità di vedere in volto la donna, anche se sospetta sempre di più che si tratti veramente di sua moglie. Il sovrano ordina a Edmondo di informare la signora che desidera fare la sua conoscenza e condurla a un torneo che sta per svolgersi. Compare la

–48– donna mentre il Re e il Conte fanno a gara per osservarla, per ragioni diverse. È un momento di grandissima comicità. Il Re si diverte a presentare Francesca, con esagerata cortesia, al Conte. La donna si presta al gioco e compiange il Conte che ha una moglie “oppressa dagli anni… un compendio di tutti i mali” e chiede generosamente notizie della sua salute. Il Conte si contorce tra i tormenti: l’ha riconosciuta, ma non può ammettere che è sua moglie, dopo tutto quello che ha detto prima. Una tromba annuncia il torneo. Il Re chiede alla Contessa di accettare il compito di donare la sua spada al vincitore. La donna, a sua volta, cerca di addolcire il marito, o forse di provocarlo ancora di più, esortandolo a partecipare e dimostrarsi il primo in campo. E l’uomo non può che rimpiangere il fatto che l’età avanzata gli impedisca di poterla soddisfare. Tutti si allontanano, tranne il Duca, che si attarda un momento per ammettere che probabilmente sarebbe geloso come il Conte, se avesse la fortuna di avere una moglie così. SCENA 3 L’arena davanti al Louvre, dove il torneo si è appena concluso. Mentre tutti parlano del fascino e della bellezza di Francesca, Edmondo continua a stuzzicare il Conte il quale, tormentato e infelice dal momento che non ha più dubbi sulla sua identità, si chiede se riuscirà mai a riprenderla. Francesca chiede l’identità dello sconosciuto cavaliere che ha vinto il torneo e si scopre che è il Re in persona. La donna lo aiuta a cingere la spada del vincitore e il re, a sua volta, esprime il desiderio di vederla sposata con una persona che l’ammira da molto tempo: il Duca. La donna acconsente, ma solo a condizione che non si dimostri geloso come il marito precedente,

–49– che definisce defunto. Il Re li benedice e sta per unirli; questo è troppo per il Conte, il quale protesta che la signora è sua moglie. È obbligato a umiliarsi e confessare che tutto ciò che ha detto era falso. Il Paggio spiega il mistero della copia dell’anello e l’opera si conclude con una nota di festeggiamento: tutti si augurano che il Conte abbia imparato la lezione e impari a rispettare il sesso debole, dimostrandosi meno geloso e severo in futuro.

© Jeremy Commons, 2004

–50– THE COUNTESS

Annick Massis FRANCESCA DI FOIX Melodramma in one act Libretto by Domenico Gilardoni First performance 30 May 1831 Teatro San Carlo, Naples

Il Re The King, in the flower of his life……...... Antonio Tamburini Il Conte The Count…..…...... Giovanni Battista Campagnoli La Contessa The Countess, Francesca di Foix...... Luigia Boccabadati Il Duca The Duke...... Lorenzo Bonfigli Il Paggio The Page, Edmondo...... Marietta Gioia-Tamburini

Chorus of Knights, Ladies, and Peasants (both men and women). Squires, Members of the Countess’s household

The action takes place in France, partly in the palace of the Louvre, partly in the environs.

The time is near the beginning of the 16th-century.

Lines of the libretto not set by Donizetti are preceded by double quotation marks.

–52– OPERA IN ONE ACT

A spot set aside for hunting, close to the Palace of the Louvre.

SCENE I

A chorus of peasants of both sexes, all with garlands of flowers in their hands.

[1] CHORUS OF PEASANTS Senti senti... Già l’eco ripete Listen, listen... Already the echo repeats Della caccia il gradito segnale... The welcome call to the hunt... Or la belva cadrà nella rete; Now the wild animal will fall into the net; Di qua lunge il Monarca non è. The King is not far hence. Oh, qual giubilo! Incontragli andiam! Oh, what joy! Let us go to meet him! Qual ei schiude letizia ne’ cori... What joy he excites in our hearts... Non s’indugi; incontrarlo voliamo. Let us not delay, but let us fly to meet him. Questi fiori al suo pie’ deponghiamo, Let us lay these flowers at his feet Sì, come omaggi d’amore, di fe’. Yes, as tokens of love and fidelity. They depart.

SCENE II

The Page, and the Duke

[2] PAGE Quest’è il loco stabilito, This is the place agreed upon, Di già l’ora s’avvicina; Already the hour approaches;

–53– Jennifer Larmore La cugina – prigioniera When my imprisoned cousin Qui suoi ceppi frangerà. Will here break free from her chains. DUKE Oh bisbetico marito, Oh perverse and fantastical husband, Quell’ingiusta gelosia This groundless jealousy of yours E’ pazzia che pria di sera Is a madness of which the King will cure you Il Sovran ti guarirà. Before this evening comes. PAGE Mi figuro la Contessa I can just imagine the Countess Nel ricevere l’anello... As she received the ring... DUKE Dunqu’è bella, proprio bella? She’s beautiful, then – truly beautiful? PAGE E’ un modello She’s a model E di grazia e di beltà. Of grace and winning ways. TOGETHER Dalle donne spesso ottieni Often gentle behaviour will gain you Colle buone affetto e amore; The affection and love of women; Non si compra col rigore The fidelity you hope for La bramata fedeltà. Is not to be bought with severity. [3] PAGE Ecco il Conte... Here comes the Count... DUKE Ecco il geloso... Here’s our jealous man... TOGETHER Pien di fumo e vanità. Filled with self-conceit and vanity.

–55– Bruce Ford and Alfonso Antoniozzi SCENE III

The Count, and those already on stage.

COUNT Che vita, della caccia What a life it is, to be E’ l’esser Direttore!... The Master of the Hunt!... E’ grande in ver l’onore, Great indeed is the honour, Ma immenso è il galoppar! But the galloping hither and yon is endless! (Aver di moglie bella (To have secretly acquired Fatto segreto acquisto; A beautiful wife; Pensar che il mondo è tristo, To reflect on how wicked the world is, Che sola deve star... And that she must be left on her own... E’ un certo crepacuore Oh, to be sure, it’s a heartbreak Da farti disperar!) That will bring you to despair!) Ma l’esser Direttore But to be the Master of the Hunt E’ onore – singolar! Is a singular honour! PAGE Che carica! What a weighty office! DUKE Cospetto! Begad! TOGETHER Ne parla ogni città! Every city in the kingdom is abuzz with it! COUNT Davvero?... (Ma se l’ho detto, Really?... (But though I say it myself, Ch’è somma dignità!) It’s the greatest honour!)

–57– The sound of several hunting horns is heard close at hand.

DUKE Ascoltate? Do you hear? COUNT Altra preda. They’ve made another kill. PAGE Su, corriamo. Come, let’s run. OFF-STAGE CHORUS Viva il nostro Sovran – Viva – Viva. Long life to our Sovereign – Long life! Long life! DUKE Che il Monarca?... It seems the King…? COUNT Egli stesso?... He himself?... PAGE Sì, arriva. Yes, here he comes. DUKE Guarda com’egli è già in gravità! Look how serious he looks already! COUNT Il Sovrano!... Ci vuol gravità! The Sovereign!... It’s time for us to be serious! ALL Viva il Re! Viva il Re! Long live the King! Long live the King!

–58– Pietro Spagnoli SCENE IV

The King, followed by the peasantry and by his guards, and those already on stage.

[4] KING Grato accolse i vostri accenti O my faithful friends, he who rules over you, Chi voi regge, o fidi amici, He who will spend his life Chi per rendervi felici Trying to make you happy, La sua vita spenderà! Gratefully receives your acclamations! Conte, evviva... Count, long life to you… to the Duke Molto esperto He’s highly qualified Nel suo ramo?... Duca, è vero?... In his field?... Duke, is that not true?... to the Count E per voi, di più, lo accerto, I confirm, what’s more, that this day Questo giorno brillerà. Will shine propitiously upon you. PAGE & DUKE to the Count Quanto siete fortunato; How fortune smiles upon you; Certo, ognun v’invidierà! Certainly, everyone will envy you! COUNT Sono in ver mortificato; I am indeed humbled; E’ bontà di Sua Maestà! Such generosity upon Your Majesty’s part! CHORUS Questo giorno avventurato This momentous day Mai più bello tornerà! Will remain unparalleled!

–60– [5] KING Oh quale apporta all’anima Oh how it brings a sweet Soave e bel diletto, And welcome delight to my soul Veder felice il popolo, To see my people happy Lieto per me gioir! And rejoicing on my account! Al par degl’anni accrescere I feel that my affection for you Sento per voi l’affetto; Will increase with the passing of the years; In voi regnare e vivere My one and only desire E’ il solo mio desir! Is to live and reign for you! ALL Oh come l’alme inebria Oh how his fair and flattering words Quel lusinghiero detto; Set our spirits rejoicing: Mille ridenti immagini We read a thousand smiling Leggiam nell’avvenir! Pictures in the future!

[6] KING Duca, è così?... La vostra vedovetta Duke, is it as I hear?... Your young widowed Cugina, a quel che par, non vi Cousin, it seems, has not kept mantenne La già data parola?... The promise she made you?... I’m sorry that Mi spiace che al Tornéo manchi She alone will be absent from the ella sola. Tournament. DUKE A che pensar non so. I do not know what to think of it. KING Conte, e voi sempre Count, will you always

–61– Persisterete nel privar noi tutti Persist in depriving us all Del piacer di conoscer vostra moglie? Of the pleasure of knowing your wife? COUNT (E siam da capo!) Maestà, vel dissi, (Here we go again!) Your Majesty, I’ve told you, E’ così sconcia, scontrafatta, rozza, She’s so ill-favoured, ill-formed and coarse, Più brutta d’un’arpia, Uglier than any harpy, Che men vergogno... That I feel ashamed of her... PAGE (Un schiaffo ogni bugia!) (A box on his ear for every lie!) KING Davvero?... Is it truly so?... COUNT Dimandate Ask Al Paggio. The Page. KING (Che costanza!) E’ tarda l’ora; (What steadfastness!1) But the hour is late; Al Palagio io ritorno. It is time I returned to the Palace. to the peasants Il vostro puro affetto My loyal people, I shall keep your disinterested Scolpito serberò, miei fidi, in petto. Affection written in my heart. They depart. The King then turns back to the Duke, and says in an undertone: ______1 A pun. We take it that the King comments on the Count’s ‘constancy’ to such a wife, and upon his ‘consistency’ in the accounts he gives of her. –62– (Soli vi lascio in questo loco. (I leave you alone in this place. indicating the Page Appena The moment Arrivi la Contessa The Countess arrives, Da mia sorella voi la condurrete. You will conduct her to my sister. Vo’ dar una lezione I wish to teach her jealous consort Al geloso consorte!) A lesson!) Conte, mio Duca, a rivederci in Count, Duke, till I see you again at Corte. Court. He departs, followed by the guards.

[7] DUKE to the Count Voi non seguite il Re? You do not follow the King? COUNT Per or la nuova carica mel vieta... For the moment my new duties prevent me... DUKE Che! Forse qui restate?... What! Do you perhaps intend staying here?... COUNT Ci aveste qualche intrigo? Have you some intrigue in progress? DUKE Eh!... Eh!... COUNT Vado via... I’ll go away... to the Page (Edmondo, segretezza!... (Edmondo, be secret!...

–63– Se parlan di mia moglie If they talk about my wife, say that Di’ ch’è più brutta ancor di quel che She’s even uglier than I’ve suggested!) ho detto!) PAGE Ho capito. I understand. The Count departs.

Geloso maledetto! Cursed jealous husband! DUKE In somma, tu quel fosti che l’anello To recapitulate, it was you who stole Rubò al Conte?... The ring from the Count?... PAGE Sì, quello. Yes, it was I. DUKE E pensasti ad averne?... And what did you think to gain by it?... PAGE Un altro eguale, To have another copied, identical, Per liberar l’amata mia cugina In order to liberate my beloved cousin Dal castello in cui chiusa From the castle in which the most jealous Count Il Conte gelosissimo l’avea, Had incarcerated her – it was only E sol con questo mezzo uscir potea! By this means that she could be released! DUKE Dunque a veder andiamo Well then, shall we go and climb Sull’altura vicina, The nearby eminence, to see Se giunga? If she’s approaching?

–64– Annick Massis PAGE Sì, vediam dalla collina. Yes, let’s keep a lookout from the hill. They leave.

SCENE V

The Countess, followed by a few members of her household.

[8] COUNTESS Ah! ti ottenni alfin, beata, Ah! blessed, longed-for liberty! Sospirata – libertà! I have secured you at last! Ma... donarmela ad un tratto!... But... to grant it to me so suddenly!... Questo fatto – come va?... How has this come about?... Mentre a doppia sentinella While my husband was having me watched Me vegliar facea lo sposo, And under double guard, Sospettando ognor geloso, Ever jealously suspecting Ch’io mancassi di virtù, That I might be found wanting in virtue, Da inattesa e ignota mano By an unexpected and unknown hand M’ebbi un foglio, in cui rinvenni I had a letter, in which I found Quel felice talismano, This ring – this happy talisman – Che mi tolse a schiavitù! Which delivered me from my thraldom! [9] Donzelle, se vi stimola Young women, if you should be stimulated Desìo di farvi spose, By the itch to make yourselves wives, Fuggite ognor quegli uomini Forever shun those men

–66– Gelosi nell’amor. Who are jealous in love. Son aspidi, son vipere They are serpents, they are vipers, Malvage, velenose: Wicked and poisonous: Fia meglio l’esser libere, You would do better to remain at liberty Che vittime di lor! Than fall victim to them! [10] Quest’è l’anello... Il designato loco This is the ring... this the appointed place E’ questo, in cui dovea Where I must meet the person Ritrovar chi mi avesse addotta Who is to introduce me at Court... in Corte... E chi fuor del consorte esser potria?... And who, apart from my husband, could that be?... Ei di me sì geloso!... He who is so jealous of me! Ma... intanto alcun non vedo... But... as yet I don’t see anybody... Che trascorsa What if L’ora fosse?... The hour were already past?...

SCENE VI

The Page, the Duke, and the Countess.

PAGE to the Duke Venite... Come... DUKE E’ dessa? Is this she? PAGE Appunto. Exactly.

–67– DUKE (E noi l’aspettavam dalla collina.) (And we were waiting for her on the hill.) COUNTESS Edmondo, qui sei tu?... Edmondo, you here?... PAGE running to embrace her Sì, mia cugina... Yes, cousin... Sei sprigionata alfine... You’re free from your prison at last... Oh quanto rideremo... Oh, how we’re going to laugh about this... Il Duca t’accompagna... The Duke will escort you... COUNTESS to the Duke2 Come!... voi?... How’s this!... You?... PAGE Vo’ ad avvertirne il Re… I am off to inform the King... COUNTESS Ma... senti... But… listen… PAGE making his escape Poi. Later. He departs.

COUNTESS E il mio marito?... And my husband?... DUKE Nulla sa... He knows nothing of this... ______2 sic: but it might make even better sense if this were addressed to the Page.

–68– COUNTESS Che dite?... What do you say?... E l’anello ch’io m’ebbi?... And the ring which I received?... DUKE Edmondo istesso Edmondo himself Ve lo spedì. Sent it to you. COUNTESS L’oggetto?... To what purpose? DUKE E’ al Re sol noto. The King alone knows that. COUNTESS (Che ascolto!) (What is this I hear!) DUKE Vi turbate?... You are upset?... Il Sovran vi desia... The Sovereign wishes you... COUNTESS (Oh Cielo!... E quale imbroglio!...) (Oh Heavens!... What a confused tangle!...) DUKE Volete?... Do you want...? COUNTESS In ver... che so... voglio... Truly... I don’t know... I want... and I e non voglio!... don’t want!... [11] Signore, a dirvi il vero, Sir, to tell you the truth, Qui non ci vedo schietto... I do not see clearly here at all... Mi nasce nel pensiero – There arises in my thoughts – Che so? – qualche sospetto... I know not – some suspicion…

–69– Conosco il mio consorte... I know my husband... Ah s’ei mi vede in Corte! Ah! if he sees me at Court! Che imbarazzo!... Ohimè!... What an embarrassment!... Alas!... Ritorno?... Resto?... Vo’?... Shall I go back?... Shall I stay?... What is it I want?... Ah più non sono in me... Ah! I’m no longer in my right mind... Risolvermi non so! I don’t know what to decide! DUKE Signora, incerta siete?... My Lady, are you uncertain?... Il Re veder vi brama... The King wishes to see you... Voi che in beltà vincete You who in beauty eclipse Ogni più bella Dama, All other fair Ladies, A torto vi smarrite; You are wrong to be disconcerted like this; Al gran Tornéo venite... Come to the great Tournament... Quel palpitar perchè?... Why should you tremble in this way?... Deh non mi dite no; Pray do not deny me: Ah! fidatevi di me: Ah! entrust yourself to me: Il Conte io placherò. I shall placate the Count. COUNTESS on the point of leaving Non posso… I cannot... DUKE Che! vorreste?... What! would you really wish...? COUNTESS Sì... Duca... perdonate... Yes... Duke... forgive me... Riedo al Castel... I am returning to the Castle... DUKE Che fate?... What are you doing?...

–70– COUNTESS Decisi. Io vo’ partir. I have decided. I wish to leave. DUKE E il Re? And the King? COUNTESS Vo’ partir. I wish to leave. DUKE Partendo affermerete If you leave you will confirm Ciò che di voi si dice... What people say about you... COUNTESS Di me?... About me?... DUKE Di voi. About you. COUNTESS Se lice, If I may ask, Di me che dir si può? What are they able to say about me? [12] DUKE Che siete una sciocca, That you’re a silly goose, Villana, sgarbata; A yokel, and mannerless; Che al fuso, e alla rocca That you seem to have been born Sembrate voi nata; For the spindle and the distaff; Che lurida e zoppa That nature created you Formovvi natura; Foul and lame; Che fate paura, That you put folk to fright, Destate pietà! That you are an object of pity! COUNTESS with repressed anger Io? Di me tutto questo?... Me? All this they say about me?...

–71– Annick Massis and Bruce Ford DUKE Non dissi metà. I have not said the half of it. COUNTESS3 Ch’io sono… That I am… DUKE Brutta… Ugly… COUNTESS Ch’io sono… That I’m… DUKE Zoppa. Lame. Villana… A peasant… COUNTESS Villana? A peasant? DUKE Sgarbata… Without manners... COUNTESS Sgarbata… Without manners... DUKE Che al fuso... Born to the spindle... COUNTESS Son nata, Born to the spindle... Che lurida e zoppa That nature created me Formovvi natura, Foul and lame, Che faccio paura, That I put folk to fright, Che desto pietà. That I’m an object of pity. ______3 It should be noted that the following lines, in which the Countess rehearses what the Duke has just said, clearly in incredulity and growing pique, did not form part of the original libretto. The idea of playing upon the lines in this way was almost certainly Donizetti’s. –73– DUKE Sì, che fate paura, Yes, that you put folk to fright, Destate pietà! That you’re an object of pity! COUNTESS Chi fu il menzognero?... Who was it told these lies?... DUKE Il vostro consorte, Your husband, Che il disse alla Corte Who told all this to the Court E al Re... And to the King... COUNTESS Fino al Re!... Even to the King!... (Ingrato!) (Thankless husband!) DUKE (E’ il veleno (The poison’s poured Versato!) To good effect!) COUNTESS (Vendetta, sì vendetta!) (I’ll be revenged, yes, revenged!) DUKE Ebben?... Well then? COUNTESS Alla Reggia Let us bend Rivolgasi il piè... Our steps towards the Court... (Malnato! Bugiardo! (Ill-born wretch! Liar! Dei farla con me! You’ll have to answer to me for this! [13] Quante son delle civette All the arts of coquetry, L’arti fine e più perfette, The most subtle and most perfect wiles, Quante grazie amore aduna All the graces that love brings together –

–74– Vuo’ sfiorarle ad una ad una; I’ll put them into practice one by one; A chi un vezzo, a chi un occhietto, I’ll wheedle this man, cast glances at that, Quei la man, questo il braccetto; Give my hand to that man, go arm in arm with this; E il marito – indispettito And my husband, taunted and teased, Dalla rabbia fremerà!) Will be beside himself with rage!) DUKE (La scintilla ha preso fuoco, (The spark has ignited a flame, Già si spande a poco a poco; Already little by little it spreads; Un incendio in lei divampa, A fire is leaping up inside her, Vedi il volto come avvampa; You can see from her face how she blazes within; Oh marito poveretto, Oh poor mite of a husband, Ti si appresta un bel giochetto; It’s a fine little diversion that’s hatching for you; Quest’inganno – per tuo danno, This deception – be it on your head – Caro assai ti costerà!) Is going to cost you extremely dear!) As they are leaving...

SCENE VII

The Count, the Duke, and the Countess.

[14] COUNT Oh! Duca, mi rallegro!... Oh! Duke, I’m delighted!... COUNTESS (Mio marito!) (My husband!) She covers her face with a veil.

–75– Antonello Allemandi (Conductor), Maria Cleva (Italian coach), Alfonso Antoniozzi and Annick Massis DUKE Grazie, mio Conte... Thanks, my dear Count... to the Countess, in an undertone (Dite che voi siete (Say that you are La Baronessa di Linsberg...) The Baroness of Linsberg...) COUNT Adesso Now Capisco a che soletto I understand why you wished Restar qui volevate... To be left here on your own... Per vagheggiar l’errante pellegrina. To admire this errant pilgrim. COUNTESS Signor, non offendete Sir, do not insult those Ladies Quelle Dame, che ancor non With whom you are not yet acquainted. conoscete. COUNT (Qual voce!... La figura!...) (What voice is that!... That figure!...) COUNTESS E rispettate in me la Baronessa And respect in me the Baroness Di... Of... DUKE (Linsberg...) (Linsberg...) COUNTESS Di Linsberg... Of Linsberg... DUKE La mia cugina My widowed cousin Vedovetta, che vien dall’Inghilterra Who has arrived from England.

–77– COUNT (Qual somiglianza!... Ma l’anello (What a resemblance!.. But the ring’s è qua!...) safely here!...) DUKE Cugina, a che indugiamo?... Cousin, what are we waiting for?... Ci permettete, o Conte?... With your permission, Count... We are Noi partiamo. on our way. COUNT Ed io vi seguo... And I follow behind you... DUKE (Me la pagherai!...) (You will pay me for this!...) The Duke and the Countess leave.

COUNT following the Countess Così bassotta! Giurerei!... Ma in Corte So short of stature! I would swear!... But at Court M’accerterò s’è quella... I’ll make certain whether or not it’s her... E se fosse?... Le spacco le cervella! And if it should be?... I’ll crack her skull open! He leaves.

–78– Nicholas Bosworth (Répétiteur) with Jennifer Larmore SCENE VIII

A private room in the Royal apartments. A table upon which there is a sword. A chorus of Knights, leading on – with a degree of secrecy – the Page.

[15] CHORUS Vieni, e narra, o bel paggetto, Come, and tell us, pretty little page… Giovinetto – d’anni ancor, You who are still young in years, Ma di trappole provetto, But experienced in ruses and traps, Ma perfetto – nell’amor, And expert in the ways of love; Tu saprai chi è quella Dama You will know who the Lady is Arrivata poco fa; Who arrived a short while since; Dillo a noi, come si chiama?... Tell us: what is her name?... A che venne?... Che vorrà? Why has she come?... What does she want? [16] PAGE E’ una giovane straniera... She is a young foreigner – CHORUS E’ straniera... She’s a foreigner... PAGE Che più tardi ognun vedrà; Whom everyone will see in due course; Come fior di primavera As in a spring flower, Fresca ride in lei beltà: Her beauty sits fresh upon her: Se il suo nome è falso o no, But whether her name is true or false, V’ha del dubbio, non si sa; There’s some doubt, indeed no knowing; S’ella è nubile, o sposò, And whether she’s married or single E’ un’arcana verità! Is a truth still to be revealed!

–80– Quel ch’è certo, divertir The one thing that’s certain: the King Il Sovrano si potrà! Is going to amuse himself! CHORUS Ma il perchè?... But what’s the reason behind it all?... PAGE Non si può dir. One cannot say. CHORUS Ma tu il sai... But you’re in the know... PAGE Da me si sa... From me you may learn... [17] Che dan vita ad ogni festa That her two most fetching eyes Due vaghissime pupille, Lend life to every party, Come stille di ruggiada, Just like two drops of dew, Che ravvivan prato e fior! That revive both field and flower! CHORUS Ah sei furbo, o bel paggetto, Ah! but you’re sly, pretty little page, Giovinetto – d’anni ancor, You who are still young in years, Ma di trappole provetto, But experienced in ruses and traps, Ma perfetto – nell’amor! And expert in the ways of love! PAGE Ve lo giuro; il vero ho detto; I swear to you: I have told the truth; Io non sono mentitor! I’m not one to tell fibs! The Chorus leaves.

–81– SCENE IX

The Count, and the Page.

[18] COUNT Edmondo?... Edmondo?... Edmondo?... Edmondo?.... PAGE (Ahimè ci siamo!) (Alas, now we’re in for it!) COUNT Quella That Dama velata... Veiled lady... PAGE La vedeste? Have you seen her? COUNT In volto?... Seen her face?... No... Ma un sospetto... un dubbio... No... But I have a suspicion… a doubt… Dimmi un poco, Just tell me, Avessi tu svelato, Is it possible that you’ve revealed Che mia moglie... That my wife... PAGE Nemmeno per pensiero... Not so much as even in thought... Ma... e perchè?... But... why do you ask?... COUNT Questa dama maledetta This accursed lady Ha un gesto, una statura, Has a way of gesturing, and her stature... Un tutto che a mia moglie raffigura; Everything about her reminds me of my wife; E quando assicurarmene potea, And when the King’s sister could have

–82– La sorella del Re col più bel garbo, Reassured me in the politest fashion, Se la mise a braccetto, She took her arm in arm, E seco la condusse in gabinetto. And led her away into her private apartment. PAGE Ma l’anello?... But what about the ring? COUNT Oh! Sta qui... Se non l’avessi, Oh! that’s here... If I didn’t have it, Non metterei la cosa I would no longer be in any doubt about Più in dubbio... Solamente... The matter... Only.... PAGE Il Re s’avanza. The King approaches.

SCENE X

The King, the Duke, the Count, and the Page.

KING Ecco il geloso! Divertir mi voglio... The jealous husband! Now let me enjoy myself... to the Duke Con segretezza intanto Meantime, prepare my armour L’armadura preparami, ed appena For me secretly, so that as soon as all Saranno i Cavalieri tutti accolti The Knights are assembled, Della tromba lo squillo io senta, I may hear the call of the trumpet Ond’esserne avvertito. And so be duly warned.

–83– DUKE (Or viene il bello! Povero marito!) (Now comes the best moment! Poor husband!) He goes out.

KING Edmondo, se la Dama Edmondo, if the Lady E’ visibile, dille, Is presentable, tell her Ch’io bramo di conoscerla, I wish to make her acquaintance, Di condurla al Tornéo. And lead her to the Tournament. Edmondo goes out.

Conte?... La Baronessa di Linsberg Count... do you find the Baroness of Linsberg E’ bella?... Beautiful?... COUNT E chi la vide?... And who has seen her?... She was so Stava così ravvolta in doppio velo... Wrapped up behind a double veil... KING L’han descritta sì amabile e gentile, They’ve described her as so amiable and well-bred Che desìo di vederla ardentemente! That I desire most ardently to see her! COUNT (Ardentemente!... Se mia moglie fosse, (Most ardently!... If she should prove my wife, Di qua non esce viva!...) She’ll not leave this place alive!...) KING E quando vien?... And when will she be here?...

–84– SCENE XI

The Page, and those already on stage.

PAGE La Baronessa arriva. The Baroness approaches. KING to the Count, who burns with eagerness to see her. Ebbene?... Che cos’è?... Well then?... What’s the matter?... Voi siete più curioso assai di me. You are even more curious than I am. COUNT Sono impaziente di mirarla anch’io, I too am impatient to behold her, A dir la verità, To confess the truth, Se lo permette Vostra Maestà. And if Your Majesty will allow me to. KING Se il permetto?... Che dite?... If I allow you?... What are you saying?... Io stesso presentar vi voglio a lei. I wish to present you to her myself. COUNT Amor! Deh fa ch’abbia tremato invano! O Love! Ah, let my fears prove to have been groundless! KING Eccola, o Conte. Here she is, Count.

–85– Patric Schmid (Producer) with Alfonso Antoniozzi SCENE XII

The King, the Count, the Countess, and the Page.

COUNTESS as she sees the Count (Ahimè!) (Alas!) PAGE to the Countess Quegli è il Sovrano. That one there is the Sovereign. The Page leaves.

[19] KING Vi presento, o Baronessa, I present to you, Baroness, Della caccia il Direttore, The Master of the Hunt, Di mia Corte lo splendore, The splendour of my Court, Primo fior di nobiltà. The first flower of nobility. COUNTESS Troppo onore!... Ah quest’è il Conte, I am excessively honoured!... Ah this is the Count Ch’ha una moglie oppressa d’anni, Who has a wife oppressed in years, Ch’è un compendio di malanni?... A wife who is a compendium of all ills?... Poveretta!... Come sta? Poor dear!... How is she? COUNT (Poffar Bacco!... Son morto!... (Great Heavens!... I’m turned to stone!.. Il mio anello ha partorito!... My ring must have given birth to its double!...

–87– Me l’han fatta!... m’han tradito!... They’ve done for me!... betrayed me!... Mi domanda come sta!) And she asks me how she is!) KING Conte?... Ebben?... Quei vaghi rai Count?... Well then?... Is it possible that V’hanno forse sbalordito?... Those fair eyes have rendered you speechless?... Ah! son vinto, anch’io rapito Ah! I am vanquished – I, too, am ravished Dal poter di sua beltà! By the power of her beauty! COUNTESS Ah, Signor, mi confondete... Sire, ah! you fill me with confusion!... (Si contorce; stringe i denti!) (He writhes; he grinds his teeth!) Tai non merto complimenti... I do not deserve such compliments… (Riscaldando ahimè si va!) (Alas! he’s getting more and more worked up!) COUNT (Ahi! che brutta pantomima!... (Ugh! what an ugly pantomime!... Egli fa la controscena!... The King mimics my own infatuation!.. Come incalza! Oh! Che pena! How he pursues her! Oh! What agony! Ehi?... Contessa?... Fatti in qua!) Eh!... Countess?... Come here!) A trumpet call is heard.

KING La tromba... The trumpet... COUNT (Manco male!...) (Just as well!...) KING Al gran Tornéo ci chiama. It summons us to the great Tournament.

–88– Alfonso Antoniozzi and Annick Massis He goes and takes the sword which is on the table. Conte… Count… COUNT Vengo… I’m coming… to the Countess Di grazia?... Bella Dama?... I beg you... Fair Lady?... Anch’ella?... You’re coming, too?... COUNTESS Che vi par?... What do you think?... [20] KING placing himself suddenly between them: to the Countess Questo acciar che il Sovrano vi affida, This sword that your Sovereign entrusts to you, Là sul campo di gloria, d’onore, There on the field of glory and honour Sarà premio dovuto al valore, Will be the prize to be granted to valour: Da voi stessa il più forte l’avrà! The victor will have it from your very self! Oh felice il guerrier che l’ottiene Oh happy the knight who receives it Dalla man di cotanta beltà! From the hand of such a beauty! COUNTESS to the Count Su, correte – Volate al cimento; Away, make haste – Fly to the combat; V’adornate di spada e cimiero; Gird yourself with sword and helmet; Siate in campo tra’ forti il primiero; Be you first in the field, first among the brave; Il piegarvi sarebbe viltà! To capitulate would be cowardice! Ah vincete: e d’un serto la fronte Ah! be you the victor: and this hand will Questa mano fregiarvi saprà! Crown your brow with a garland.

–90– COUNT to the Countess, with bitter irony Fu già un tempo che in mezzo There was a time when in the midst of alle pugne battles Riportava trionfo e vittoria, I carried off triumph and victory, E con questo, sia detto a mia gloria, And for this, be it said to my glory, Mai di serto mi vinse beltà! Beauty never subdued me with a garland! E volete donarmelo adesso?... Yet you wish to give it to me now?... No, Signora, non è più l’età! No, Lady, I’m no longer of an age for such things! (Me la paghi, Contessa briccona!) (You will pay me for this, rascally Countess!) Pronto sono a seguirvi, Maestà. I’m ready to follow you, Your Majesty. They leave.

SCENE XIII

The Duke.

[21] DUKE Ve’ come il Conte segue al gran See how the Count follows the Sovereign Tornéo Il Sovran, la consorte!... And his wife to the great Tournament!... Va là, va pur! che dirle una parola Go, go by all means! for you will not be Non ti sarà concesso!... Allowed to say a word to her!... Ma non a torto in ver, di sì leggiadra Yet in truth it’s not out of place that he should be

–91– Bruce Ford Moglie è vigil custode!... The watchful guardian of such a lissome wife!... Ah forse anch’io ’l sarei, Perhaps I should be just the same Se mi rendesse imene If Hymen were to make me Felice possessor d’un tanto bene! The happy possessor of such a blessing! [22] Donne, che ognor più bella O ye women, you make our lives La vita a noi rendete, Ever more attractive for us; Rose gentili siete, You are gracious roses Che ognun desìa per se; Whom every man wishes for himself; Scherzanvi l’aure intorno, The breezes play about you, Ogni ape in voi si posa!... But every bee alights upon you!... Misero chi riposa Wretched the man who places his trust Sulla giurata fe’! In your sworn faith! He leaves.

SCENE XIV

The exterior of the palace of the Louvre, brilliantly illuminated. The King’s guards are drawn up all around. Chorus of Knights.

[23] CHORUS La vaga straniera The charming foreigner – Non donna ma Dea, Goddess rather than woman – Che in mezzo alle belle Who in the midst of our beauties Più bella splendea, Shone forth more beautiful than they, Destava in pensiero Has awakened in the thoughts Del Franco guerriero Of every French knight

–93– La fervida brama, The fervent wish, Il nobile ardor The noble desire, D’onore, di fama, To win honour, fame, Di gloria, d’amor. Glory, love.

SCENE XV

The Page, the Count, and those already on stage.

[24] PAGE Ma via rasserenatevi... But that will do, calm yourself... COUNT Che parli di sereno?... Non vedesti You tell me to be calm?... Did you not see Quanti l’eran d’intorno?... How many there were clustering round her?... E che appena a parlarle m’accostava, Hardly had I approached to speak to her A guisa di concerto, Than, as if it were planned in advance, Si succedea l’un l’altro, One after another they butted in Facendomi restare sempre in ultimo! So that I was always left last in the queue! PAGE Ma siete poi sicuro, But are you certain, then, Ch’è vostra moglie?... That it’s your wife?... COUNT Va!... Te ne scongiuro!... Oh! Be off with you!... I’ll swear it!... Il dubbio è sol se torni in mano mia!... The only doubt is whether I’ll ever get her back!... Parlo?... Oh, le beffe... Taccio?... If I say anything?... How they’ll mock Inghiotto arsenico.. me… If I remain silent?... It’s like

–94– swallowing arsenic... “L’affare dell’anello è inconcepibile! “The affair of the ring is beyond comprehension! PAGE “E intanto? “And meantime? COUNT “La Signora “My Lady “Commise un tradimento!” “Has betrayed me!” PAGE Eccola. Here she comes. COUNT sempre a fianco supplemento. And forever with her bevy of followers in tow.

SCENE XVI

The Duke, and the Countess, who is followed by another little page carrying the sword upon a rich cushion; and those already on stage.

DUKE La giostra, o Baronessa, Baroness, has the jousting A voi piacque?... Been to your liking?... COUNTESS Moltissimo… amerei Very much... I should like Saper chi fu l’incognito guerriero To know the identity of the unknown knight Vincitore?... Who was the victor…

–95– COUNT (Le piace anche l’incognito!) (Even the unknown pleases her!) DUKE Lo vedrete al momento, You will find out in the moment Che a lui farete il dono della spada. When you award him the sword. PAGE facing the entire assembly Il vincitore del Tornéo. The victor of the Tournament. COUNTESS Dov’è?... Where is he?...

SCENE THE LAST

The King, and all those already on stage.

DUKE Miratelo. Behold him. COUNTESS Il Monarca! The Monarch! COUNT Ei stesso! The Sovereign himself! ALL Il Re! The King! KING Gloria sublime è quella, It is a sublime glory Di più lance spezzar per una bella! To break several lances for a fair lady!

–96– DUKE to the Countess Cingetegli la spada. Gird him with the sword. COUNT (Anche questa!) (Even this I must endure!)

[25] MARCH During the reprise of the march the Countess attaches the sword to the King’s side.

[26] KING to the Countess Or sia l’opra appien compita; Now let our good work reach its conclusion; Per voi già so che il Duca da I know that the Duke has gran tempo long nourished Nutriva amor... A love for you... COUNT (Nuove scoverte!) (Yet new discoveries!) KING Io stesso I myself Vo’ farvi sua consorte. Wish to make you his consort. COUNTESS Son pronta, ma col patto, I am ready, but on one condition: Che di me non diffidi il Duca a torto, That the Duke will not wrongly mistrust me, Nè sia geloso al par di quel ch’è morto! Or be as jealous as him who is dead! DUKE A questa legge in tutto io m’assoggetto. I subject myself utterly to this law.

–97– Pietro Spagnoli COUNT (E in mia presenza va a secondo letto!) (In my presence she goes to her second marriage-bed!) [27] KING taking the Duke and the Countess by the hand Fausto sempre splenda il Sole, May the Sun shine ever kindly upon you, Sempre il fato a voi sorrida; And Fate smile upon you for all time; Di costanza la più fida, May this sacred knot be your reward Sacro nodo sia mercè! For your most faithful constancy! Scorra ognor la vostra vita, May your lives forever run Qual ruscello in via fiorita, Like a stream through flowery meads, Dall’amore fecondata, Rendered fertile by love, Coronata – dalla fe’! And crowned by mutual trust. COUNT (Ora scoppio dalla bile! I’m bursting with gall! Io son quasi fuor di me!) I’m all but beside myself!) COUNTESS (Ora scoppia dalla bile!) (Now he’s bursting with gall!) COUNTESS & DUKE (Me la godo per mia fe’!) (’Pon my faith, I’m enjoying his dicomfiture!) The King is about to unite the Duke and the Countess.

COUNT Ah Sovrano, v’han tradito!... Ah, my Sovereign, they have deceived you!... No, non è la Baronessa... No, that is not the Baroness...

–99– Rehearsal at Henry Wood Hall E’ mia moglie la Contessa, It is my wife, the Countess, Che dal carcere fuggì! Who fled from her prison! KING Siete pazzo!... Vostra moglie You’re mad!... Is not your wife Non è inferma?... Infirm?... COUNT No, Signore... No, Sire… KING Dunque siete un traditore?... Are you then a liar?... COUNT Traditore... Signor, sì... A liar... yes, Sire... Ma l’anello?... But the ring?... PAGE coming forward In una notte, One night, Ch’eravate in sonno assorto, When you were fast asleep, Un artefice il più accorto A most skilled artesan Altro eguale ne formò, Made an exact copy of it, E racchiuso in un viglietto And the King sent it, wrapped Il Sovran glielo mandò. In a note, to the Countess. KING giving the Countess back to the Count Onde apprendervi che a torto To teach you that it was wrong S’oltraggiava un fido cor! To outrage a faithful heart! ALL Questo scherzo l’ha istruito; This joke has taught him his lesson; Deporrà quel suo rigor! He will lay aside his severity!

–101– COUNTESS Dunque, o sposo, sei pentito?... Well then, husband, are you repentant?... COUNT Mi ravvedo dell’error. I acknowledge my wrong-doing. [28] COUNTESS to the King Per voi di gelosia With your help the chains Son frante le catene; Of jealousy have been broken; Per voi godrò d’un bene, With your help I shall enjoy a benefit Che mai potea sperar! Which I could never previously have hoped for! Ah! se da tal follia, Ah! should there still be anyone V’è ancor chi non si arrenda, Who remains undelivered from such madness, Vegga il mio caso, e apprenda Let him witness my case, and learn Le belle a rispettar! To respect the fair sex! ALL Sempre sì lieto e fausto Ever as joyful and as auspicious as this, Di bel sereno adorno, Ever decked with blessed peace, Il declinato giorno May we see the return Si vegga ritornar! Of each declining day!

THE END

–102–

Sir Peter Moores