14 The Stuarts and their kith and kin Alexander Weatherson Elis No- Figlia impura della Guisa, parli tu di disonore? Meretfice indegna oscena in te cada il mio rcssore. Profanato i il suolo Scozzese. vil puttana dal tuo piA. The other side oflhe coin? Not before dme I dare sav, and anvwav Queen Elizabeth has soi it dgh1, Scotland's soil was about 1o be Profaned by a stream ofoperas that bore the footprint ofher rival Wletherhistory should, or should not, be called brn* is a matter ofopinion but ought nor be left in the hands ofa cabal ofcerman melodramatic queens - withoul Mary Sruan Scotland miSht have been l€ii in peace. yil bellarda'l a species of Sruaft indusiry rvas a rcsult of her inlervention, in ltaly alone in the earliest decades ofthe nineieenth century there was a Scotch broth of operas by Aspa, Capecelalro, Carafa, Csrlini, Casalini, Casella, Coccia. Donizeui,-Gabrieili, Mazzucato, Mercadanter, Nicolini, Pacini, Pavesi, Pugni, Rajentroph, the Riccis, Rossini, Sogner and Vaocai - and this isjust a scraich upon the su ace ofthe European infatuation with the decapitated Stuar! and/or her nodern fastness which boiled-up in rhe bloodbath finale of the eight€€nth century, op€ras often rabid and inconsequential, full offashionable confrontations and artificial conflicts, politically molivatd, repetitious and soon forgotten At the heart ofthe plot, however, lay an ltalian, th€ puh plays and novels of Carniuo Federici (1749-1802) a former acror whose prolific vulgarisations of Schiller and Kotzebue sel ltalian librellisls scribbling for four decades Indeed, without ,ifl it is to bc suspected ihat Sir walter Scolt would never have captured the imaginaiion ofso many poets, nor for so long. Among his egrEgious popularisations was a tersion of August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue's'Edoardo Stuart in Scozia', stooping ro conquei a credulous audience which Federici attempled to hilch to a Napoleonic bandwagon - vaunting the valour of a French invasion ofan uhra-peddious Albion (and omitting to notice thal his hero failed 1A few of these masters passed her on to their pupils: Mer.adante's pupil Canepa staged a David Rizio in fi72 and Palumbo a Mor"io Stuarda in 1874, Donizetti's pupil Asnelli wrote a Cronrell {which renained unperformed), and De Giosa a .ontroversial ,e due regine which was staged in 1891 15 abjectly). ft was Federici, rarher than Kotzebue, who supplied the Edoado ih Lcozia (or S.ozra) $hich Domenico Gilardoni put into verse for Carlo Coccia in 1831, muddling history as only the most sentimental romantic operas could do. The improbable amows of Prince Charles Edward Stuart with "llda Makdonal" (Flora Ms.Donald) bear som€ ofthe taint of "Hello" or Paris Match which is a shame as Co.cia's energetic score ;s tull ofmerit as well as genuine local colour and Gilardoni's libretto (almost his lart) is paintully noble and touching. An endemic contusion betw€en King Charles 11 and Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonny Prince Charlie) 1wo Stlarts in flight - was in evidence from the firsl, with a bizarre appearance of Cromwell "Crunvello" now and then (though seldom in person - he lack€d cha sna) as a klnd ot atbiter plucked from timc to pump up the plot. An historical blip that risk€d real hilarity before it finally bore operatic fruii. F€derici's shadow should nol be torally discount€d how€ver, il actually bore down on legilimale Rossinian masler?ieces like Elisabeua 2 rcgina d'tnghiltena and La donna del laEa, as \\ell as on l'acini's yallace (of \he sar,],e ilk in I 820), even on contemporary Boumonville ballets and thos€ French ,pi,ds coniques like La Dahe Blanche \\hich pinned together the kilt on the Parisian stage. His imprint was remaikably indelible. Listing these StuM effusions is a strange experience. Most of them are purely decorative with a fashionable ossianic flavour, Highland mist, sporrans and lransferable to oth€r climes and even more exotic heros and heroines wiihout undue effort. In man) insrances Scotland was a courtry of last resort: Pacini's Mal|ina .li Saozia was an atlempt lo avoid th€ ukale applied ro the plol of InCs de Castro (this did not prevent the composer from indulging in a quite threatening array of bagpipes!), for Bellini, Scorland was a us€tully remote spot on which Fernando could pret€nd to be dead (Bianca e Fenando). A tartan curtain was drawr ovel operalic imaSination at frequent int€rvals, both Coccia aDd Vacoai consjdered that the geo$aphical obscurity of Scotland offered a satving refuge from everyday life; Coccia's I r,1i7ali of 1811, and vaccai"s I solitati di Scozra of 1815 (both bas€d on the same play by Giovanni De Gamena of I 80 I ) equally favour the Hebridean coudryside as a suitable place of monaslic retreat for misanthmpic-males (which view continues 10 attract support sourh of the Border). 16 Allan Cameron, C/ umvello, ar.d La luga di Carlo Stuart ln amongst th€ annals ofmusical incesl rife in the primo Oltocento - rhe name of Clunl'e o ot Cromwe o sh\Jles o\t\ ar tegular iniervals. That is 10 say, il lhrows a sinisler light on the hoary mix represented bv Verdi's Piave' Vojected Altan Caheron of 1841 with a rext by Francesco Maria based on a "scofderived" Parisian confection which the maestro Lmderstood to refer to the flighl of Charles II of England, and the machinations alltoo obvious in the watching briefofciovanni Pacini and lhe susceptibilities of the more ven€rable Cario Coccia. The 'Allan Cameron'on which the Verdioperawould be based was a Gallic travesrv by Piene-Auguste Caller and Jarelin Paenon I l84l ) which clarmed ro be transtation oi Scon s wood*ock or The Cavalier (l82or' ' verdr's haokering afler th€ ilnancial potential and kudos ofvictor HuSo put paid to the project, after insisting upon renaming the proposed libretto "Cronwell' and lrying to insert at least an €cho of Hugo's plav 'Cromwell' (1827) into Piave's second act, hejettisoned the enlire projecl in favour ofE/tran, with HuSo in undiluted ascendance. This left,'{/14, Cameron to fall into the hands of Giovanni Pacini Five vears lat€r it mede an appearance. It has rc Le said at once rhat the Pacini/Piave,4llah Caneton' as bom under an unpromising star, intended for La Fenice on 21 March 1848 ils d6but was under threat from the start owing to the political disorders of that Year of Revolutions. lhough it pas actualiy staged, if brieflv, il passed more-or-less unnoticed in rhe insurrectional floodtide that swept over the watery city, Pacini almosl forgeh ir in his memoirs. Its true l.iru came th]ee years later in that same theatre on 1l January 1851 with much the same oast as originally intended - a casi of rare distinclion with lhe title role being taken by the reno*ned (Verdian) badtone Felice Varesi; that ofthe tugitive monarch Charles II (Carlo) bv the Neapolitan tenor Rafaele Mirate (who had replaced the voiceless Domenico Conti afier one single ignominious altempl to sing the title role), but with one notable change - Annelta De la Crange who had sung like an angel in the chaos of 1848 had been replaced in 1851 by Teresina Brarnbilla (Verdi's first Gilda and &e wife of Amilcare Ponchielli) whose Editta proved no less spectacutar. Two momhs later this very sme team would em€rge as r r;rr Julian tsudden'The Operas ofverdivol 1'[London 1973) 140' Budden doubts the claim of the autho.s, adding, in a footnote "A$uming' however' a contusion between the two Charleses, ie Charles II and the Young Pretender, ali,, Cafieror could be seen as a remote descendent.f lvaverley." I 93 Dr qudslo lihcr. - tercn& ftolcr Cr, f,bh.n, tr'oFdr roi, rl purc .scddtuo - gardio irDo.lale. U.rir! 3i Qdt' L'er.roo aodooo - pre'rio cotr rL (6mno rro sld'h ) lsoa. rn 6ntut @nE, aoptrinn tonkn, SCEN,I YII. d tt picciior /fdni, cit poi Io@ici'B inb d 6hfu{ !tiin.) ChiBtra at'erb d,lld r n!tu'bhdsis.F@;rht. Xode !sli .mp'r... rll,mir.,. mdrr.l... .tcol d.ln la anryogre ttto tlutm tt o Yin rtliool YiYr il ro c! ol&/'rtutrn rtuirlE nrr @tto.ht nvtt lthpncLd t. tolo: Qitri 6.id.l-.. il gedlorcl... [niJn{'t$t." pio -E I tlhr. Er. Cht mai 6.r f.r^ od d&8.) Coro d:. httitdi n.l ntacru d.I trrn|io. L Crdronc gueric. dcl Signo.c La sui rlndr lrc,nctr'li imPoAtrd! SCIIIA ULTIIIA. ll. Od l,onc t iuri it \ilure Di fitsle l. lorLr fd8i', ornr, lluio d B!r!o, nsriri d ,tonronnri, lut, Di Crcnrdlo i trqnici cadrarno, Doatu,. hn"totj otMti di tui.ht,rnbi e fiotnp-rt? Cono li'glie cb. il g.lo colPi. luqd@h @ddit di Ed to-tttokt tktti i n4o- Pirri iodrmo, .rrcA .hiedc.ade, Or. lorr l edrcmo lor di. ]l [islia Di.r (.h6ro6iddoro) \rttnno tln;nr d'tuu n it ,.i,,rB rdr6ttur' 0n6li lrodi D'litr s,]vdo. co"lot corPconi olld [email protected]) S.n0 il ciel di noi pi.ti Loio Or d.l re !.etrik il falo. SC€NA 1'III, Fimh. n .i.i J Dlft[.ra ED, lh det co.r it rDLo B,rta ltu i roldlti wnbni a tutd.ttn olb .tdo ,ooalri.no al Dio'.n.nL. supreDoj .I$rind,n.o,girnra h al][ teno,ai.n trrthnnrn.