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Home , Donna non vidi mai, Manon Lescaut, Manon Lescaut (Auber), Manon Lescaut (Puccini), Tosca, Turandot

PUCCINI'S LESCAUT STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

BY CARLO DELFRATI 3

STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Each published in the series “Vox Ima- ing to an obstinate child with the appropri- go” is a response to a challenge: how to bring ate words (ability). young people closer to opera and its special With one qualification: askill is not absolute. language? The repertoire and language of There are as many degrees of skill as each opera are usually quite different from the mu- person is able to attain. In everything, even sical genres that interest them, so they are in music. rarely very familiar with it. In music, for example, knowledge means The purpose of this guide, like the previous knowing that Puccini’s was ones in the same series, is to offer teachers first performed in Turin in February 1893, ideas and suggestions that will help break where it was a resounding success by the down the barrier that separates the fans of immediacy of its expression and especially popular music from appreciating opera. In its rich melodic vein. The success was all the this case with Manon Lescaut, as in previous more deserved if one thinks that others be- years with The Magic Flute, Nabucco, La tra- fore Puccini had set the same story to music: viata, Fidelio and the Barbiere di Siviglia. Halévy, Auber, and above all the composer who surpassed them all with his Manon: Jules A preamble: skills Massenet. In planning their work, teachers have long This volume of “Vox Imago” contains a rich been urged by educationists to direct their set of materials which, in one way or anoth- work in such a way that students will be er, can all be presented educationally, as an equipped not just with knowledge, but also opportunity for so many units of scholastic the resources enabling them to find their own work, so much knowledge that can be used way forward creatively in the face of the ever to master skills. new tasks awaiting them in life. Whenever the We can start from the novel by the Abbé Education Minister changes the terminology Prévost, on which the is based, and likewise changes, but the basic principle re- which enchanted Puccini when he heard the mains the same. operatic version composed by Jules Mass- The keyword launched in the new millenni- enet in 1884. um is skill, understood as the ability to joint- Unlike the knowledge which can be achieved ly use the knowledge and skills acquired to by reading a text, abilities require participa- successfully deal with a new specific task. A tion in listening, active listening (or reading physician is skillful if, after observing small the score in the case of an advanced skill). signs, he or she is capable of predicting the These are such things as being able to rec- course of the illness in the patient (ability), ognize whether the piece you are listening and knows how to identify the appropriate to is in binary or ternary meter; whether the medicine (knowledge). The plumber knows movement is brisk or slow; whether the mode how a water pipe is made (knowledge) and is major or minor; whether the pattern follows is capable of dealing with it (ability). The an ascending rather than a descending line, educator knows the possible reactions of a and so forth. These are perceptual abilities: © 2017 Musicom.it S.r.l. child (knowledge) and is capable of speak- they are all the more valuable the higher the 4 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 5

skill that one wishes or is able to attain. pupil’s literary skills. For instance: you might jewels stolen from his overflowing coffers. their happy endings, and Beethoven’s unique We can speak of skill in the case of anyone choose some point of the story as Prévost The act is fatal: Geronte discovers them and Fidelio, followed by a study of the heroines of who, in one way or another, has formed per- tells it, let’s say the death of Manon. Divide immediately has Manon arrested, while Des Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi (all creating prec- sonal ideas about any experience that he has: the students into groups, and suggest each Grieux manages to escape. edents for Puccini!). Then, leaving Romantic opera in our case. The opportunity to listen to group reduces it to a dialogue between the In Act III Manon has been condemned to de- opera, they could examine the realism of Bi- tunes, even if they are no more than the jin- two unfortunate lovers, then compare the portation to the New World. She is waiting zet or Strauss, or the of Leoncavallo gles in commercials, elicits the first glimpse dialogue each group produces with that of to embark in the port of , togeth- and Mascagni, leading to the summit repre- of a connection between a certain kind of the Italian and/or French librettists. (There is er with a group of prostitutes. Lescaut and sented by Alban Berg’s Lulu and Wozzeck. Al- music and particular impressions, emotions, a rhythmic Italian translation of the latter, to Des Grieux try to help her escape but fail. In though this could only be done by sampling or ideas: what is termed in the jargon com- which Manon was regularly sung in until despair Des Grieux begs the captain to be some scenes, such a study would require ex- mon skill. a few decades ago.) allowed to embark on the same ship sailing tensive classroom time. But at least in a high A skill that goes beyond this elementary form In the music classes we are dealing with here, for the Louisiana. school where the students specialize in mu- develops when individuals, whether simple we only need to know the lyrics that Puccini And it is here, in the desert where the two sic, it would offer strong motivation to study listeners or students of composition, know had before his eyes and set to music. lovers have fled for the last time, that in Act the history of music, removing it from mere how to apply what they have learned to a IV poor Manon dies of hardship, while Des knowledge and raising it to the possession specific case that is new to them. In the case The story Grieux despairs, helpless to save her. of skills. of our pupils, this might be listening to Pucci- The opera is divided into four acts, set in so Manon was the first woman in a series that ni’s Manon Lescaut for the first time. many places. Act I is set outside a coaching in different settings would be embodied as Of flowers and trellises A first obvious kind of knowledge concerns inn in . The youthful Manon gets out La bohème, , , Suor To fix the pupils’ attention on a crucial point the plot. In the volume of “Vox Imago” you of from a carriage together with her brother Angelica, (as Liù in this last opera): of opera — we could call it the issue of issues can read an account of the hectic composi- Lescaut, who is taking her to become a nun. the fantastic projection of a chimerical world — a comparison could be useful. Try imagin- tion of the libretto, with at least five writers The girl immediately attracts the attention of which seems to offer an escape from every- ing a carpenter who builds a latticework to putting their hands to it, one after the other. the bystanders. She receives the overpow- day banality, presented to the compassion set against the wall of a house. Once finished And you will find the basic plot described ering attentions of the aging rake Geronte of audiences. The death of the heroines of all it makes a fine show in itself. Then a skillful clearly and commented on as it appears in and a passionate declaration from the young, his is not punishment or a form of mi- gardener grows some wonderful climbing the primary source, the novel by the Abbé penniless Chevalier Des Grieux. As soon as sogyny, as some have claimed. Rather it is a plants that twine around it and cover it in Prévost, from which the libretto at times dif- he discovers that the old man intends to ab- chimerical dream projected by the suffering flowers. This is rather like the relationship be- fers markedly. duct her and carry her off to , Des Grieux and death of the frailest and most helpless tween the libretto of the opera and its musical A literature teacher (if the idea appears use- persuades her to give up the plan to enter a beings, so arousing the audience’s sympathy setting. The libretto may be a masterpiece, ful) could retrace the development from convent, which was actually no part of her and compassion — the important point as far or it may be wretchedly cobbled together, the novel to Puccini’s libretto, as well as the dreams, and run away with him. as Puccini was concerned. and the same may be true of our trellis. But libretto by Meilhac and Gille used by Jules In Act II we find Manon in Paris, not in the However the critics interpret Puccini’s ideas its workmanship may pass unnoticed or be Massenet for his own opera, Manon, per- arms of Des Grieux but in Geronte’s luxuri- of the female condition in his works, or the re- disregarded when it is buried in the mass of formed nine years earlier. Puccini knew the ous house. He has ensnared her with the al- lation between his work and his life, listening flowers growing over it, meaning the intensity opera well: in fact it was Massenet’s success lurements of a life of luxury. But Manon has to Manon Lescaut offers a chance for a group of the musical setting of the words. — naturally as well as the subject, so conge- not forgotten her first love. When her brother discussion in class of the image of women as This means that opera is not the libretto, nial to him — that prompted him to devise brings Des Grieux to visit her while Geronte it changes in the history of opera. An over- as we will have to explain to our students. his own personal interpretation of the story. is momentarily absent, their passion flares up view might start from the beginnings of the Sometimes music critics themselves seem Reducing a literary text to short, concise dia- again. The couple decide to escape together, in Monteverdi’s Euridice, then to confuse the issue when they explain a logues could be very helpful in developing a but not before Manon has filled her bag with take in operas by Scarlattti or Haendel with passage in an opera by drawing information 6 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 7

from the libretto, analyzing what the libret- A logic of its own From experience to novelty in itself but can also be a good groundwork to expresses in words and stage directions. A third important scholar helps us with some Another basic principle suggested to us by a for guiding pupils to discover that the same In opera the librettist is not in charge. “The enlightening observations. Music dynamic teaching method is to guide pupils functions are found in opera. In the table be- composer is the dramatist,” writes a highly to assimilate what they do not know yet, a low we compare, as a simple example, on the respected scholar who is well aware of this can and mostly does raise melodrama to a skill they do not yet possess, by starting from left scenes in classical films with the particu- outstanding fact.1 Who in turn quotes anoth- higher plane. It can even turn melodrama their experience. An experience familiar to lar functions of the music. After listening to er scholar, E. T. Cone: “In any opera we may into drama or tragedy, as in Aida, Carmen every pupil is the presence of music in movie the film soundtracks, on the right are the pas- find that musical and verbal messages seem and Butterfly. Music has an ennobling and soundtracks. Exploring the various functions sages in Manon Lescaut where we can then to reinforce or to contradict one another; but idealizing power. It can tone down (but of music in a movie is not only an experience find similar functions. also intensify) excess on the stage: It can whether the one or the other, we must always add emotional and psychological depth to rely on the music as our guide towards an un- the characters, and because it needs room derstanding of the composer’s conception to assert its lyrical quality it has a retarding Functions of music Examples in films Manon Lescaut of the text. It is this conception, not the bare effect on rapid action. An opera in which At the start of a film, Trading Places Introduction text itself, that is authoritative in defining the music is no more than the servant of the music suggests its overall ultimate meaning of the work.” action would be intolerable. Furthermore, character: for example, It is not even true that without a libretto there genuine dramatic music has its own logic, whether we are about would be no opera. The musician needs the it can bridge gaps and camouflage flaws to watch a thriller rather libretto to give a voice to his inspiration; just in the dramatic structure and psychologi- than a light comedy as the gardener could not grow his floral cal motivation. There are, indeed, precious or a comic movie rather few operas with a libretto watertight in jewels without the support of the carpen- than a Western... every respect, least of all where the plot ter. To continue the comparison, one might is a melodramatic one; yet fused with the At the end: a sort Saving Private Ryan Manon’s death think that without the support of the libretto music it appears watertight or its faults of moral of the story the composer would produce purely instru- seem to matter little, as we shall see in the just told mental music. On the other hand, nothing detailed discussion of Puccini’s operas. prevents you from studying the libretto for Melodrama and music in the hands of a Evocations, leitmotifs: Star Wars itself, its forms and contents, or the ways it born dramatic composer coalesce into an music can evoke derives from important works, as in the case entity which is not only more than the sum situations already encountered of Manon Lescaut, set to a libretto taken from of its two constituent parts but indeed dif- the novel by the Abbé Prévost. The study of ferent from them. It is in that new entity that musical drama has its being. The ma- The character’s feelings Cinema Paradiso “In quelle has an illustrious tradition, which jority of audiences have found this entirely trine morbide” has developed valid analytical and herme- acceptable, the proof of which is the un- Settings: places and times Barry Lyndon Minuet neutic tools. To bring the simile to an end, diminished popularity enjoyed by operas these are the tools of the craftsman working based on libretti which with our modern Anticipating the scene: The Shining Introduction to Act IV in wood, not the master gardener. contempt of melodrama and our demands preparing audiences for It is clearly foreseeable that what the two for psychological verisimilitude we should something that has not scholars quoted complained about could reject out of hand on the spoken stage.2 yet appeared on screen happen in class: the characters and their ac- tions may be discussed simply by reading the The splendid flowering creeper can grow Reinforcing the action: Cartoons Manon’s and Des Grieux’s at times simply by the attempt to escape dialogues. Our task will be to shift the focus of luxuriantly, even if the trellis supporting it is a rhythm of the music Geronte’s house our observations from words to music. shoddy piece of work. 8 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 9

Atmospheres “little house” does the mode peacefully re- sung by the violins: Comparison with a fi lm helps pupils in their start of each of the four acts, each with a dif- turn to the related major key, with the theme approach to the unfamiliar art of opera. It is ferent setting. useful it because it plays on the element in an The fi rst setting is unmistakable: outside an inn opera that raises fewest problems: the instru- where a variety of people of all ages are loaf- Example 3 Andantino mosso mental music. ing, drinking, playing cards, or shouting: rather Before the characters appear on stage, the like night life in our own time. This is evoked # œ # 2 œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ ˙ & 4 3 orchestra usually suffi ces to give us an elo- by the brilliant Allegro that Puccini composed, con semplicità quent picture of the overall atmosphere of the use of violins and woodwinds in this lively π the scene. In Manon Lescaut it does this at the passage and the “sobbing” of the grace notes: Act III still again opens in a minor mode. But than one beat per second). The colors are two other factors place us before a setting dull: horns and in the deep re- Example 1 Manon Lescaut. Musica 1 very different from both Act I and Act II. This gion support the pathetic melody sung by Allegro brillante is the timbre and coloring of the music. The the horns and violas with dampers: j rhythm is slow (48 writes Puccini, hence less # # œ œ œ. œ. œ. œ . . - & # 43 ® œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. ‰ ƒ Example 4 Andante mesto

Careful listening will soon pick out a less row- midst of the crowd, on a special, more deli- b 3 & 4 œ. œ. dy moment: as if a lens were focusing, in the cate situation: con sordinanœ nœ #œ nœ nœ #œ

Example 2 Nothing is obligatory in a composer’s work. the same moment in the drama as Massenet The atmosphere Puccini creates at the start treats it in his opera to admit a composer’s # # # 3 œ œ œ. œ. of Act III is highly “suitable” for a lover who unlimited choice: a few slow, quiet chords. & 4 dolceœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ p longs to see and set free his beloved, en- For ten bars we do not even know if the closed in a seedy prison. But “suitable” is a mode is major or minor, lacking the third de- dangerous verb in reading an exegesis: be- gree. As soon as the sinister minor emerges, The two motifs reappear and are joined by (did Puccini perhaps have in his ears the pre- cause any other solution would have been the drum rolls and the motif prepare us for a third. This reveals, right from the start, the lude to Act III of Carmen?). “suitable.” Neither the music critic nor the a setting remote from Puccini’s: it becomes inexhaustible richness of Puccini’s melodic The setting is refi ned and elegant: a dandy listener can decide what the “suitable” mu- even clearer in the “military” fl ute and pic- vein, a gift that makes him the most popular hairdresser is taking care of the young wom- sic would be. In fact, we need only listen to colo motif: opera composer, and not just in Italy. an’s locks and makeup; but the musical set- The setting evoked at the opening of the ting remains the same. The minor does not opera is many-sided. It contrasts with the evoke here what we usually associate with Example 5 Allegro moderato musical setting of Act II. As compared with the minor, an emotion between melancholy j . . œ . œ. . Ÿ~~~~j the fl owing melody of Act I, with the full or- and suffering, but rather a state of boredom. nœ œ œ nœ œ œ œ œ nœ œ œ œ. . ˙ œ œ b b 2 œ œ œ nœ nœ ˙ œ œ chestra, unexpectedly this opens in a minor Only after her brother Lescaut appears to & b b 4 ‰ ‰ Œ π J mode: a short prelude entrusted to the fl ute boast he has freed her from Des Grieux’s Ÿ~~~~ 10 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 11

So why would a military atmosphere be “un- returns on E, and a dynamic that grows from try would probably leave your students To those who make very different choices we suitable” as an introduction to the last act? pianissimo to fortissimo and then returns to indifferent. The hope of enabling them to will say that they are a “creative”! Because The fourth setting that the music offers to pianissimo in two beats. It is diffi cult to say take an active part and — most important- all choices are equally valid. Then, since we our imagination, the “boundlass land” and whether in this short instrumental introduc- ly — persuade them to listen attentively are working on Manon Lescaut and the ex- the “arid, rolling ground,” is just as radically tion Puccini was thinking of the physical set- to the various operatic passages could be pressive world of Puccini, it will prove useful different from the previous ones. Again a mi- ting or rather of the deeply sighing effect frustrated by lack of interest. But things will and important to discover how he paired nor key and only slightly more animated, but that it imitates: change if we ask them questions before- of a certain piece of music with a particular a full orchestra. A leap from F#3 to F#5, with hand and independently about what they scene. are going to listen to. Manon Lescaut contains numerous, brief Teachers fully understand the secret of in- instrumental introductions. They are ta- Example 6 volvement: it means turning information bled here, each with its scenic situation. into questions, transforming the answers The teacher will choose the four to fi ve that œ ˙. into questions. Simply the application of a most appropriate ones to present in the in- # # 3 heuristic teaching method, by search and terplay of associations between music and & # 4 ˙ . cresc. dim. discovery. setting: π ƒ Consider an approach that experience says is feasible from the fi rst days of secondary school. The objective (knowledge to be de- Throughout his career Puccini was sensitive “Technical” observations such as those on veloped into skills) is to understand how an to the settings of his scenes. Often quoted is melody, tone, mode and so forth, are meant orchestral motif relates to the episode of the opening of the third tableau of Bohème, to guide students step by step to achieve the work (Manon Lescaut in our case) which with those “ungrammatical” empty fi fths one of the most important musical skills: it introduces. It would be perfectly easy, in that fall parallel: the violation of the elemen- the ability to attribute meaning to the music just a few sentences, to explain how Pucci- tary harmonic rule (parallel fi fths) has rarely they are listening to, justifying it by qualities ni deals with the problem and so achieves evoked so expressively an “atmospheric” found in the music. This is what is known as his purpose. But the students will be more content: snow and frost, “in the uncertain analysis in the conservatoire’s teaching sys- actively involved if the topic is posed as a light of early dawn,” as the stage direction in tem: there it is sometimes taken to sophis- question and their opinions canvassed. the libretto states. ticated levels, but equally valuable, with the Simply, we present a list of situations in the There is no France, at least on this page of appropriate adaptations, all the way from opera, play their orchestral introductions in Bohème. As there was no France in Manon the primary levels. a different order, and ask the students to Lescaut. Other geographical allusions are decide which orchestral music they think explicit in the three works set in distant land. Heuristic method is most “suitable” to each of the scenes in- An abundance of Japanese and Chinese On the previous pages the teacher will have troduced. Each student will give a different scales respectively in Madama Butterfl y and found simple comments and interpreta- answer. Together we will then discuss the Turandot. There are Yankee allusions in La tions. More will be found on the following meaning that any introduction, chosen by fanciulla del West. Not to forget the Florence pages. Here is a suggestion: offer them to the students, might project onto the scene evoked by “Firenze bella” in Gianni Schic- the students rather as questions, as prob- that follows it. And then compare it with chi. (And Mascagni had already elicited the lems to which they should try to fi nd likely Puccini’s own choice. scents of Sicily for audiences of Cavalleria solutions. To say, for example, that Puccini To those who confi rm Puccini’s own choice, rusticana three years before.) sets each of his operas in a different coun- we will say that they are like Puccini at heart. 12 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 13

Another application. Recount the can take the two exits of Des Grieux in Act I: Score Music Situations heuristic plot until the end of Act III and ask them to 1. “Tra voi belle, brune e bionde”: only the Act I. Opening Allegro brillante, A lively public square imagine how it ends: not just the story of the strings support the melody at the opening violins and woodwinds two lovers (provided they do not already of the song, but in counter time, and in piz- know this, of course) but also with what zicato; Puccini replaces them in the second Act I. No. 49 Allegro vivo, con fuoco, Lescaut and students full orchestra playing cards musical choices, what phrasing (agogics), section (Poco più mosso on “Palesatemi instruments, melodies... il destino”) with woodwinds and harp. He Act I. No. 52 The opening vivo like Manon enters then reprises the instrumentation of the the above, then andantino Instruments and song opening at the return to “Tra voi belle...” and becoming ever The previous studies have all dealt with pure- 2. “”: here the violins dou- more cantabile ly instrumental sections of the opera. So, ble the song to , in the top oc- Act II. Opening Allegretto moderato. Manon in Geronte’s house apart from introducing the sung parts, how tave. But the whole passage is a refi ned Motif for fl ute only. will the instruments relate to the them? interweaving of chromatic arrangements: In B minor They can do this in several ways. The most opening with the chords for harp, again elementary is to double the song line, or the syncopations of the woodwinds, lead- Act II. No. 13 Minuet. Only strings A ball in Geronte’s house even simply to support it harmoniously ing to the fullness of the whole orchestra, with dampers (with chords). Opera composers of previous where the violins abandon the direct line Act II. No. 54 Vivacissimo and Manon’s arrest generations had accustomed listeners to a of the song and then make it emerge from fortissimo. Full orchestra musical setting that only backed the song the interweaving of chords (rather as the line. Puccini often doubles his most beauti- Romantic composers had accustomed us Act III. No. 15 Andante animato. Des Grieux waits ful melodies in this way, but he always does to hearing in their piano works, or let’s say Dolcissimo. Theme for for Manon’s release something more. If the students have already the polyphonists of the eighteenth centu- violins, harp arpeggios played the game of associations described ry, with Bach at their head). Act III. No. 28 Andante sostenuto. Des Grieux persuades above, we can invite them to display the de- It hardly needs saying that it would be in vain Fortissimo with the captain to let him on gree of skill acquired by giving them the task to seek in Puccini for the elemental oom-pah- full orchestra board with the deportees of discovering how Puccini uses the instru- pah that simply represented the pitch of the ments in some of its fi nest . Firstly he melody. In the attack of the aria “In quelle Act IV. Opening . A boundless desert Andante sostenuto does not use his instruments at random, but trine morbide,” the fl utes, clarinets, Moments from pp to ff to pp carefully chooses those that feel best suited and then accompany the song in Act IV. No. 7 Allegro, very energetic. In the desert. Des Grieux to the expressive climate of the melody. We counter time: Tutta forza, con violenza runs in search of water e stringendo Example 7 Act IV. No. 9 Lento, very calm Des Grieux assists Manon Moderato con moto Flauti b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & b b c ‰ J J J The heuristic method has a second advan- matters if their answers differ from the solu- π tage: it stimulates young people’s creativity. tions adopted by Puccini. It is much more im- Being asked to imagine how the composer portant for them to show they understand b ˙ œ œ & b b c J œ œ œ J œ ˙ would deal with a dramatic situation encour- the various formal principles that guide a p In quel-leJ triJ - neJ mor-biJ - de ages them to think for themselves. It hardly composer. 14 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 15

An anxious sighing effect, which is appeased umìle,” when piccolo, and violin take the We can hear this in any instrumental piece; only by the sweet memories of the “dimora main part: but now it is time to set aside the instru- Example 10a ments and consider the second dimension of opera, the singing. That music that pieces # j & # 43 œ ˙ œ ‰ Example 8 the words and guides their meaning, leading L'a - mor J œ them wherever the composer chooses as he Example 10b b b b 2 œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ œ. œ ˙ shapes them with that melodic pattern. Tell & b b b 4 3 dolce me how you sing, we might almost ask the # œ π & # 43 J j operatic character, and we will tell you what Ba - ieœ b b b 2 œ œ. œ œ œ ˙ œ you have in your mind. Example 10c & b b b 4 J R Œ p O mia di - mo - ra u - mi - - - le # œ œ ˙ Ear training & # 43 œ All the knowledge that we can make avail- La spe - ran - - za. Instrumentation is only one of the structural moment in Act IV (Lento espressivo). There able to our students fails in the task of pro- factors or expressive means which the com- it was the whole orchestra burst fortissimo viding them with skills, if the perceptual Accompany the music with a hand ges- poser selects and manipulates to express the into the theme of what I called, for the sake abilities are not suffi ciently developed. The ture: upward if the interval is ascending, meaning. Compare the fi nale of Act III with a of convenience, falling in love: teacher knows how important it is in the syl- downward if it is descending. The students labus to cultivate these abilities with prop- repeat the song and the gesture. er ear training, to use the jargon current in 3. Sing other intervals, without any hand Example 9 teaching method, so as to fi x attention on gesture. The students repeat the song, but Andante sostenuto this ancient need (which is not just British). together they perform the correct hand 3 3 # >œ > > The fi rst elementary ability is to recognize, movement each time. ## # 3 œ œ & 4 œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ while listening, the direction of an interval 4. Very slowly play “Donna non vidi mai simile tutta forza > > > > > > > > ƒ > > and a melodic passage, whether ascending, a questa.” The students raise or lower their descending or horizontal. This already en- hands following the sound pattern. ables one to grasp the expressive meaning 5. The opposite of the previous one. Move Now the same theme is entrusted only to fl ow ofcantabile tunes that haunt the mind. of a musical passage and hence to grasp your hand up and down. In turn, each stu- the muted violins (this is another touch that Each conveys certain narrative-expressive the meaning of the episode, the state of dent will sing the sounds he or she wants, affects the timbre) and the harp. The mu- situations, as might be done by a particu- mind of the singer, and so forth. It is a case while respecting the direction indicated by sic is no longer fortissimo but pianissimo; lar brushstroke (straight, curved, upward, of relaunching a specifi c set of exercises by the hand. no longer Andante sostenuto but Lento, continuous, broken...) in a painting. But exploiting Puccini’s melodies. 6. Two students will freely improvise, one fol- and the meaning changes radically. Des while the student’s eye can easily pick out For example: lowing the movement of your right hand, Grieux’s enthusiasm for the captain’s con- the interweaving of lines in a picture, an in- 1. We alternate two sounds chosen at will. the other the movement of your left. Never cession gives way to an unmistakable, fatal adequate musical education can make it The students move their right hand when mind if the result is not much like Puccini. sorrow. diffi cult to grasp the melodic pattern. Here they hear the higher sound played, and the 7. The teacher or a student performs a short is an example of how a lack of perceptual left when they hear the lower. Whenever melody two or three times. For example From instruments to song ability prevents the development of a skill: the two sounds coincide: the students (again from Act I): “Tra voi belle, brune e The greatest merit the critics attribute to mastering the fundamental contribution of should move both hands. bionde.” At the end, another member of Puccini, and Manon Lescaut in particular, the melos to the expressive result of a piece 2. We sing or play some melodic intervals; the class repeats it, moving his hand at the is his rich vein of melody, the continuous of music. for example the following, from Act I: same time. 16 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 17

From perception to skill These are just some examples of exercises love, hate, fl atter, wound, exalt, humiliate... Example 11 to consolidate the perception of the melodic So many moments of an often complex plot. Andante espressivo con moto direction of arias: a skill essential to under- How many songs could be sung in the same œ œ œ standing the particular expressive value of time that a whole opera lasts? Such simple # œ. œ ˙ œ & 42 Œ œ œ œ J J J J ‰ Œ passages from Puccini. topics might overcome any reserves of hos- O a - mo - re! O Ma - non! An elementary and intuitive rule: the more tility to opera in students. intense the emotion of the character, the The zero degree of the melodic movement more the voice ranges between the low and is therefore the song in monotone, which re- But it is not new for Des Grieux to express captain of the ship to let him aboard, he be- high notes, the intensity becomes greater, or veals a switched off, detached, emotionally himself with such a movement of the voice. gins with two almost monochord bars, then more variable, the timbre becomes harsh and inert mood. This is the tonus rectus, or tonus When, at the end of Act III, he is begging the bursts into the exasperated plea: strained, and so on. At the other extreme, a communis, in which prayers used to be intro- monotone, always kept at a level between duced: “Dominus vobiscum”; “Et cum spiritu the piano and the mezzo piano, with a steady tuo”; “Oremus”... When praying, the Church Example 12 rhythm and clear timbre, is indicative of emo- Fathers said, one should leave the emotions Largo sostenuto tional restraint, or indifference, coldness, in- outside the church to focus on the eternal U # > r œ ˙. œ œ œ œ œ sensitivity, and so forth. The pupils can check and unchanging reality of the creator of the 12 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ≈ œ œ œ œ R œ œ & 8 R R R R R R R R this not only in singing but in everyday talk: universe. V'im-plo - ro, vi chie - do pie - tà vi chie-do pie - tà Ah! pie - tà. we can clearly tell by the tone of voice alone In Manon Lescaut Puccini uses monotone whether our neighbors are arguing or invit- singing only in a few marginal situations. We ing each other to help themselves to this naturally expect to fi nd them highly suited to Dying in song delicious cake. And as in everyday talk, the the last act, when Manon spends her last en- It may seem strange that a woman dying stand not the outward situation but take us young people can easily grasp the same con- ergies walking into the desert. “Erra le brezza of hardship in a burning desert can get her right inside the character’s mind. cept in songs. nella gran pianura e muore il giorno! Innanzi! voice up to C5. Yet the example is useful as a The situation is striking and should not be The song I giardini di marzo begins: “Il car- Innanzi!” (“In a weaker voice,” writes Pucci- way to refute the naive realism of the student lost. When Manon sings “Erra la brezza…,” vi- retto passava e quell’uomo gridava gelati!” ni). And even more monotonous are her last who might fi nd it ridiculous. The concept the olins and violas accompany this ascending Lucio Battisti continues the story in a mono- words, a few moments before the curtain students have to grasp is that the composer chromatic design up until it rests on the tonic: tone: “E la sera al telefono tu mi chiedevi: suddenly falls: “ma l’amor mio non muore.” submits expression to a clear, precise rule: in a dramatic motif, which continues to express perché non parli?” And then comes the out- Even Des Grieux gave up shortly before, in a case like this, he pushes the voice towards the uselessness of Manon’s extreme physical burst: “Che anno è, che giorno è? Questo è the monotone lament: “Gelo di morte.” He the very edge of its range to make us under- effort as she collapses in exhaustion: il tempo di vivere con te. Le mie mani, come had many other moments to let us know vedi, non tremano più. E ho nell’anima... In of his despair, as when he sang “O amore, o fondo all’anima cieli immensi, e immenso Manon”: and his voice rises to C : Example 13 5 Andante sostenuto amore…” There is no need to have taken a poco rit. course in ear training to grasp the psycho- # # ------& # 43 Œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ logical difference between the fi rst and sec- Er - raJ laJ brezJ - zaJ nelJ - laJ granJ piaJ - nu - ra ond part of Battisti’s I giardini di marzo. In Violini Ÿ - - # œ opera this same mechanism extends from ### 3 #œ ˙ œ œ- nœ- #œ- œ #œ # œ œ œ the glow of a melody lasting a few bars to & 4 the whole fi lm in which a host of characters 18 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 19

A few years later, Puccini made a more com- places a radically different scene before us In Cavalleria and I can find noth- Portraits. Des Grieux plex and dramatically exemplary choice in (Schubert made the second choice, giving ing but Donizettian opera rationalized, In a previous paragraph, we tried to make it the finale ofBohème . As Mimì sings her last Mr. Death a glacial monotone). condensed, filled in, and thoroughly clear how a composer uses special musical words (in the inevitable degree zero of mel- Introducing Schubert in an approach to brought up to date; but in Manon Lescaut means to create atmospheres and settings. ody), “Qui… amor… sempre con te! Le mani… Manon Lescaut, as before Mimì or even Bat- the domain of is enlarged by But Puccini’s music is particularly attentive an annexation of German territory. The al caldo… e… dormire,” the orchestra repeats tisti, is not meant as a divagation, but a fur- to the setting (not being confined to brief first act, which is as gay and effective and the motifs from Act I, taking the thoughts of ther example of the teaching method exem- romantic as the opening of any version of opening passages of instrumental music, but the two lovers and the audience — inevitably plified when we spoke of the cinema: reach- Manon need be, is also unmistakably sym- encompassing pretty well the whole act in moved to tears — back to the happy time of ing the result from what already our pupils phonic in its treatment. There is genuine its mood). But while the setting is one of the their early love. already know. symphonic modification, development, expressive possibilities of music, the portrait Des Grieux’s melodic leaps are remote from and occasionally combination of the the- is a much more crucial point, and an audi- this degree zero of intonation: an unmis- The heir of Verdi matic material, all in a dramatic way, but ence will focus on this in particular. Music has takable sign of his passion. It breaks out Not all the music critics noticed the extraor- also in a musically homogeneous way, so the power to convey the personalities of the at Manon’s first appearance (if not before, dinary contribution Puccini made to opera. that the act is really a single movement characters, their moods and purposes. when he is joking with “le belle brune e bion- His harshest detractor, the severe musicol- with episodes instead of being a succes- The prodigious wealth of Puccini’s melod- sion of separate numbers, linked together, de” at the inn). And it is exhausted only af- ogist Fausto Torrefranca, devoted a whole ic resources means that he can devote long to conform to the modern fashion ... . ter it has to yield to the monotone “Gelo di pamphlet to showing his radical inability to scenes of the opera to each of the characters. morte!” But “l’amor mio non muore,” Manon grasp the values that even a scholar with- And again: We can play just the most memorable ones declares at the end. And just as in so many out much sympathy for Puccini could hardly to our students, beginning with Des Grieux, of Verdi’s finales, Puccini’s unhappy couple help acknowledging: “the almost inexhaust- Further, the experiments in harmony and who is, in a sense, the simpler of the two. We syncopation, reminding one often of the raise the last celebration of their love to the ible stream of his melodic inspiration, sen- see him come on stage almost immediately in intellectual curiosities which abound heaven of the scale with “tu fiamma d’amore suous warmth and passionate eloquence Act I in the bustling scene with the students. in Schumann’s less popular pianoforte eterna.” of his lyrical invention, and the comparative works, show a strong technical interest He indulges in a little unconvincing flirting 3 Monotone as against soaring: an elementary modernity of his harmonic language.” which is, in Italian music, a most refresh- with the young women present: we realize dialectic that can be cultivated even outside Many years before him, the playwright ing symptom of mental vigor, even when it is pure gallantry, to which he is playfully opera, as we saw in the case of Lucio Bat- George Bernard Shaw wrote a regular col- it is not strictly to the real artistic point. ... spurred by the group of students to a grace- tisti. A different case, a repertoire even fur- umn on music in London with a skill and wit Puccini, at least, shews no signs of atro- ful waltz step on the pizzicato strings. This is ther from the public’s taste, and worth link- that still elicit admiration in the almost 3000 phy of the melodic faculty: he breaks out not the Des Grieux who emerges in the rest of ing to opera, is offered by Schubert in one pages of his collected reviews. At the London into catching melodies quite in the vein of the opera. Then as soon as Manon appears: of his most famous lieder, Der Tod und Das premiere of Manon Lescaut, he showed he Verdi: for example, “Tra voi, belle,” in the “Donna non vidi mai simile a questa!” It is a first act ofManon , has all the charm of the Maedchen, Death and the Maiden (“Death” already understood what our musicologist classic case of love at first sight. The passion tunes beloved by the old operatic guard. is grammatically masculine in German). Mr. was deaf to: the place Puccini would hold in kindled here is never extinguished. It contin- On that and other accounts, Puccini looks Death invites the girl into his arms, and she the history of opera: to me more like the heir of Verdi than any ues to burn brightly through all the different politely turns him down. It is easy to imagine of his rivals.4 situations that arise. In the aria “Donna non that one of the two characters is very agitat- vidi mai simile a questa!” Puccini expresses ed, the other calm. We can ask our students And Shaw wrote this impeccable prophecy his innermost thoughts. The tempo is Lento: to predict which Schubert’s chooses, or sim- when Bohème, Tosca, Butterfly and the oth- the young man is still rapt. The words “Manon ply express their personal preferences. De- ers were still to come! Lescaut mi chiamo” have numbed his facul- pending on the two choices (Death agitated, ty of comprehension, but not his will. What the Maiden calm, or vice versa), the singing he wants is elementary: the young woman’s 20 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 21

exclusive love. He tells her this, as soon as she which he start his aria, performed by cello, cor The high notes are repeated shortly after on: derlies Manon’s psychological development. reappears, not in words, but in the motif with anglais, and bass : “O immensa delizia mia tu fi amma d’amore The young man appears on stage provoked eterna.” into fl irting with the “belle brune e bionde.” The passion burning in Des Grieux emerges He is not yet the passionate lover revealed Example 14 clearly from these high notes, something that soon after. Even Manon is far from what we Andantino no one would hazard in real life while assisting will know when she supplies the mumbled a dying person. Once again: the music speaks, information “Domani all’alba io parto. Un b 9 j ˙ œ œ œ. œ. œ œ ˙. & b 8 œ. ˙. œ œ . J J revealing a feeling that goes far beyond the chiostro m’attende… La mia stella tramon- appassionato concrete situation: it penetrates to the heart ta.” Instead, her star has not yet risen. And of the character as no other art can do. it continues to remain concealed at Des Grieux’s fi rst urging to escape. The melodic The fi re burning in Des Grieux’s heart takes pleading, in the silence of the orchestra. Burn- Portraits. Manon line of the reply is equally humble and un- two forms. We feel them both towards the ing passion and despair are the two poles be- A structure rather similar to Des Grieux’s un- assuming: end of Act I when he is trying to persuade tween which his soul wavers. Manon to elope with him. The fi rst form is the He is still complaining when he recounts to fl uttering swirling we recognize by thefortis- Manon the “giornate buie e desolate” that fell Example 17 simo and accelerando of the whole orchestra. upon him when he was forsaken: The second, immediately after, is a hopeless Allegretto gaio bb 2 ‰ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ #œ œ. j j œ œ œ ˙ œ œ ‰ & 4 J J J J J œ œ J J J J Example 15 e al vo - stro pre - go be - ni - gna - men - te op - por - re il mio ri - fiu - to

Allegro moderato ˙ œ œ. j bbbb 2 ˙ J œ œ nœ œ œ. œ œ. œ ˙ œ Though her response to Des Grieux’s insis- song that begins to break out soon after, or & b 4 R J R Ta - ci ta ci tu il cor mi fran - gi, il cor mi fran - gi tence is so subdued, she gives him a glimpse in the loving Andante amoroso of the tender of her vibrant emotional sensitivity: it is diffi - fl ute melody: cult to say whether this appears more in the The last act mingles overwhelming despair Grieux attends her helplessly. “Con passione and passion, as we could easily foresee, infi nita,” Puccini writes in the score, as if pro- without allowing a moment’s respite. It is jecting the song above the lines of the staff, Example 18 wholly frozen by Manon’s agony, while Des literally: Andante amoroso b œ œ œ œ œ. œ & b 86 œ œ œ œ J Example 16

Molto sostenuto 3 3 j œ The answer comes from Des Grieux: that ing for love. He grasps it in the musically sim- b œ œ œ nœ œ œ nœ œ nœ œ b bb 3 Œ ‰ J J J J J œ œ œ œ J J J behind the outward appearance of Manon’s plest way: for this reason he sings his declara- & b 4 J J3 J J 3 Un fu - ne - sto de - li - rio ti per - co - te, t'of - fen - de song, in the melody of the fl ute, he grasps her tion of love: “Date all’onde del nuovo incanto il emotional world, far more sincere and long- dolce labbro e il cor.” In other words, the fl ute 22 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 23

expresses Manon’s innermost feelings, her opment of the acts after the fi rst, where the need for love. The fact that Des Grieux ad- protagonists relate directly to each other in Example 19 dresses his pleas to her on this same melody so many duets. shows that he is well aware of what she feels The unexpected appearance of Des Grieux in Allegretto moderato 3 3 3 in the secret of her heart. Manon’s home immediately reveals the pas- œ œ U bb 4 #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ j j j j j j j j r Œ Ó & 4 J J3 J 3 œ œ Manon’s star is starting to shine brightly at sion Manon is capable of, all the more intense J J 3 J #œ œ œ œ Ah! u - na mi - nac - cia fu - neJ -bre io sen - to! Tre-mo a un pe - œri - glioœ cheœ i - gnoœ . - to m'è.œ Des Grieux’s passionate insistence: trembling the more depressing the situation in Geronte’s in “Una fanciulla povera son io…,” anxious at house. She allows only a few bars to the over- the idea of eloping, and fi nally resolute in uni- whelmed Des Grieux before she pours out son with Des Grieux. the torrent of her feelings. As Manon grows Or the desperate cry at the top of her regis- the quayside: The second act unfolds in the profound con- increasingly ecstatic, Des Grieux continues his ter, drowned only by the heaving crowd on trast between the state of the two lovers. violent recriminations, until the inevitable uni- Manon is bored and weary, contrasting with son, interrupted only by the entry of Geronte. the desperation with which Des Grieux forc- Here the frivolous side of Manon’s personali- Example 20 Largo sostenuto es his way into Geronte’s luxurious house to ty reappears. It may sound like a euphemism œ bœ.. cry out his fury at being forsaken. The song to term Manon’s avidity frivolous, and we œ œ œ œ œ bœœ œ & 4 that reveals Manon’s feelings is bare, a worn might easily agree to this if we limited our- Ad - di - o! Ad - di - o! thread in the continuous greyness of an ac- selves to reading the libretto. Once again it companiment that almost never emerges is the music that has to speak. And Puccini’s from the submissive B fl at minor of the or- music here depicts not a vulgar opportun- However superfi cially we listen, we under- critic after George Bernard Shaw: Eugenio chestra. This continues until her thoughts ist, but simply a woman, little more than an stand the emotional state of the two lovers in Montale. This is what the poet wrote in his turn to comparing her debased present with adolescent, unable to experience the slight- the last act. Their desperation is harrowing. review of Manon Lescaut: the past moments spent with her beloved. est anxiety about the dangerous situation in It is not just their dying state that prevents Then everything changes: it takes only a which, as we know from the libretto, she has fl ights across the scale and narrows the range This work, we have seen, presents the fi rst of the series of female fi gures to whom brief chromatic passage, and we fi nd she has placed herself in. of the aria to a few narrow intervals. Puccini owes his greatest reputation. And it shifted into the key of B fl at major. Here the The psychological relationship between is clear that in the series Manon is a portrait orchestra of the woodwinds alone with their Manon and Des Grieux in the later acts re- The other Manon that stands for a kind of restrained musical continual syncopation heightens the intensi- veals a different affi nity between them. Their To convince ourselves and our students — to closure, for a reserve and a repressive sim- ty of the melody (we saw this in example 7). passion turns to despair. Des Grieux’s is vehe- whom the remarks in previous pages are ad- plicity that we will hardly fi nd in her sisters. From the fi rst part of the aria, Puccini takes us ment; Manon’s feelings are more muted. At dressed — that other treatments are possible, Perhaps it was the awareness of Massenet’s to the second with a leap to the key of G fl at the fi rst encounter between the two, Manon we need only listen to most of Verdi’s fi nales, Manon that conferred on the fi gure created major. “The transposition is psychologically also expresses herself with “immensa passio- where the dying characters raise their voices by Puccini this last touch of a woman not sound: [Manon] begins to contrast the chill- ne,” writes Puccini, directing the stage direc- to heaven. Think of the dying moments of yet wholly revealed ... . [Puccini] turned his ing present with the warmth of the past. In this tion, naturally, more at the singer than the Aida and Radamès. back from the start on that eighteenth-cen- tury music that adorns Massenet’s opera. aria the phrase lengths are more regular and public, for whom the music suffi ces to grasp But we have a more interesting compari- Puccini gave an interpretation of the story balanced than those of Des Grieux’s aria her “immensa passione.” son at hand: the last moments of the dying Don- created by the Abbé Prévost that was far na non vidi mai, but Puccini creates the effect The music equally suffi ces to convey Manon’s Manon in Massenet’s opera. To remind us closer to the spirit of nineteenth-century 5 of spontaneity by shifts in tone and scoring.” fear and anxiety when we see the line of her and our students that Puccini felt impelled to Romanticism, and even in this Manon Les- The parallel between the expression of the song dramatically descending through the compose his work after hearing Massenet’s caut represents, in the master’s career, a two lovers becomes predictable in the devel- scale: version, here is another exceptional music approach that was not repeated: the ex- 24 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 25

perience of a very restrained opera, almost a classic duet, which he does not hesitate to which has a drum roll and military music. In the 1890s, all composers were familiar with incapable of being resolved into episodes develop into several reprises at A4 in unison. Where Puccini broods over the couple’s fate, the technique, and adopted it to some ex- and notes of color, which are not wholly Only the closing high note is missing! But Massenet offers us a humdrum picture of his tent, showing themselves capable of using absent but immediately absorbed into the Massenet is not Italian. And the Italian Puc- couple: he takes a photograph of the setting, it when needed. Puccini was well acquaint- whole. So Massenet’s Manon can die to a cini closes with the harrowing monotone while Puccini enters into his characters’ state ed with Wagner’s work, and appreciated it waltz tempo, ending with a fade-out, while singing in the central register: a song that of mind. at its true value. He had not the least fear of Puccini’s Manon dies on a desolate moor, dominated by high cliffs, in a landscape gradually crumbles realistically, while the Massenet’s melody must have appear differ- appearing an imitator if he used the master’s out of Tristan und Isolde; and Des Grieux’s fl utes keep alive for a moment the memo- ent to Puccini from his own fi rstly because elementary device. Elementary but fertile as sorrow expands into a fullness of vocal ry of their happy time (Puccini later devel- of the refi nement of the design, and the har- are few others. René Leibowitz wrote that accents that Massenet certainly never al- oped this device even more elaborately in monies that support it. Then, in the classical “the genius of the great musicians is ex- lowed his young chevalier.6 La bohème): construction of the many arias that Massen- plained both by what they owe to the tra- et loved to bend in ABA form, reprising the dition of their art and what they give to it. The French composer closes the opera with opening section at the end. (Des Grieux’s fi rst And there is no exception to the rule that the Example 21 aria is likewise in ABA form, but signifi cantly great artists always begin by adopting and it is a playful moment of fl irtation in a public assimilating in the simplest way the tradition j œ j square.) in which they make their debut, to enrich it # # 3 ˙ nœ nœ œ œ œ n˙ œ œ œ œ œ œ & # 4 J ‰ This is how Manon appears on stage with the with ever bolder innovations. This is the case molto rall. rit. aria, “Je suis... encore... tout étourdie.” This is of Puccini”: he was capable of using recur- # # j j j j j how Massenet depicts the inner drama of his rent thematic motifs as one more color in his & # 43 Œ œ œ b˙ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ La mia col - pa tra - vol - ge - rà l'o - bli - o lover: the lover who in the French opera (as in compositional palette. Prévost’s novel) shuts herself up in a convent: The motifs that return through the four acts “Ah, fuyez douce image.” are always adapted to the new situations œ created by the drama.8 # # ˙ Puccini, by contrast, responded to what We can look at some # ∑ Ó Œ Wagner had taught: the use of recurrent examples that will be clear to our students, & #œ ˙. ˙ cresc. ∏ π ƒ themes, essentially evocative of situations calling them by the name of the character or # # j j j j U j j and places previously experienced. Wagner situation they are fi rst associated with. The & # Œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ Œ Œ œ ‰ ‰ Œ Œ ∑ had made this continuous reprising of mo- theme we can call “Des Grieux,” sung to the ma l'a-mor mi - o non muor.... tifs an almost obsessive technique, system- words “Donna non vidi mai simile a questa,” atically associating them with characters, is heard just before on the violins, as he asks situations, events, abstract concepts, and Manon her name: “Gentile damigella, il priego Puccini himself was well aware of the sub- work. But certainly the heart of his inspiration much else. mio accettate” stantial difference between Massenet’s musi- lies in the vibrant passion in the chords of the cal language and his own, and he expressed it two central fi gures. frankly, though inevitably in reductive terms. This can easily be shown by the different at- Example 22 Massenet would “feel it as a Frenchman, with mospheres in the opening and development powder and minuets. I will feel it in the Italian of the nighttime scene with Des Grieux and Andante lento way, as desperate passion.”7 Puccini likewise Lescaut outside Manon’s prison. Recall the - # 3 œ œ œ œ. œ ˙ introduces “powder and minuets” in Act II of gloomy mood, foreboding tragedy, at the & 4 ˙ œ. œ ˙ J his opera, and one can suppose that this was start of Puccini’s Act III. There is nothing of π an acknowledgment of his predecessor’s the kind in Massenet’s corresponding scene, 26 • CARLO DELFRATI STUDY GUIDE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS • 27

Manon also has her motif: An extension: comparison Asking students to compare how two com- and triumphal monuments. But what a dif- posers have dealt with the same subject is ference there is between them! To name just Example 23 an extremely fruitful way to increase their one, think of the contrast between the bro- 3 skill. The great art historian Heinrich Wölffl in ken and asymmetrical development of the # 3 œ œ œ œ œ œ Œ knew this well and was capable of doing it Russian and the fl uent melody of the Italian. & 4 J 3 œ Ma - non LeJ - scaut miJ chia - moœ extremely adroitly. In the early twentieth cen- Listening simultaneously to two DVD play- tury, he not only built his analytical principles ers, just as Wölffl in projected his two pro- on opposing pairs — linear/painterly, multi- jectors! It would be a brilliant idea if only... it This likewise has a precedent: the tune of from which Manon is about to alight: plicity/unity, open/closed form, and others was possible. This shows the different ways the woodwinds on the arrival of the carriage — but he systematically based his lectures of enjoying a painting compared to a piece on comparisons. He would project two slides of music. When I compare two paintings re- with the images that interested him onto the produced on the page of an art book, my eye Example 24 same screen, contrasting them to train the can switch continually and rapidly from one Andantino eyes of the viewers to grasp their differenc- to the other. When I want to compare two es and, through differences, the identity of pieces of music I have to rely on memory, re- b 9 . > j j . > j j . . & b 8 œ œ. œ œ œ ‰ œ œ. œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ each. Wise musicologists clearly understand calling the music I have just heard so as to J . . J . . J > J > p this approach to research and have used it in compare it with another piece. enlightening writings, as have serious histo- But this is another fascinating subject, which We will fi nd it, or rather motifs developed chromatic descent in the fi nal act: rians in other fi elds. a secondary-school teacher might use to from it, in many situations, until the tragic To clarify the principle, we can add to the help the students take their fi rst steps: ex- cases considered here an example uncon- ploring the powers and limits of each of the nected with opera, with a piece of music two art forms, fi gurative and musical, the art Example 25 3 very popular in secondary education. Re- of space and the art of time. Music requires spighi’s contains a reminis- 3 j Pines of Rome memory training, and the longer the musical & 4 bœ nœ œ #œ nœ cence of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhi- work the greater the training required. This œ nœ œ œ # œ p #œ nœ bition. They both evoke scenes of children is yet another reason to put an experience of playing in a park, moonlit nights, catacombs opera at the center of the school curriculum. The theme of exaltation:

Example 26

Andante sostenuto œ j bbbb 3 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & b 4 J J3 J J J3 Nel - l'oc - chio tu - o proJ - fond - do io leg - go il tu - o deJ - stin

If we remember, this is the same theme that returns, slow and desolate, at the opening breaks out at the close of Act III, and then of Act IV. Translated by Richard Sadleir 28 • CARLO DELFRATI

NOTES

1. , Opera as Drama (Berkeley, Los An- two composers mentioned here, others had set geles: University of California Press, 1990), 21. the story of Manon to music: William Balfe, Daniel 2. , (New York: Alfred Auber, Richard Kleinmichel, Fromental Halévy had Knopf, 1959), 237-238. turned it into a ballet. 3. Mosco Carner, Major and Minor (London: Duck- 7. Quoted by Michele Girardi, Giacomo Puccini. L’arte worth, 1980), 138. internazionale di un musicista italiano (Venice: Mar- 4. George Bernard Shaw, Shaw’s Music. The Complete silio, 2000), 81. Music Criticism, iii (London: The Bodley Head, 1981), 8. Teachers in extending study of the themes of 216-217. Manon Lescaut will find full analyses in the books 5. William Ashbrook, The Operas of Puccini (Oxford: cited by Mosco Carner (442-449), William Ash- Oxford University Press, 1985), 40. brook (38-45), and above all Michele Girardi 6. Eugenio Montale, Prime alla Scala (: Mon- (83-107). I wish to thank Andrea Grassi for his bib- dadori, 1981), 211. Remember that, apart from the liographic advice.