Verdi: The Troubadour ( Verdi: Il Trovatore )

Verdi: The Troubadour (DVD) (*)

~~$57.99~~ $48.96

Original Title: Verdi: Il Trovatore
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Mono )
Italian ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/NTSC/Region 0 )

Running Time:
125 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1957 and produced in:
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Claudio Fino

Written By:
Claudio Fino

Actors:
Leyla Gencer
Mario del Monaco
Fedora Barbieri
Fernando Previtali
Ettore Bastianini

Synopsis:

Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Set in the mountains of Medieval Northern Spain, "Il Trovatore" (the Troubadour) is a chanting warrior named Manrico. Manrico's enemy in the region is led by the Count di Luna. From the outset, these two opposing forces are in conflict.

When Italian television was launched at the end of the Fifties, grand opera was prominent among its offerings, proving that in those days opera was so popular it could be shown to the growing number of television viewers who were not necessarily opera-goers. Of the operas filmed then-mostly with poor equipment and always in playback this Trovatore stood out at once, and continues to stand out, as one of the most memorable performances of the epoch, for it brought together four voices of superlative quality. The most prominent singer in those years was without question Mario Del Monaco. As Otello the tenor from Florence was hugely popular, and he was eagerly awaited in the role of Manrico. However, he postponed his stage debut in that role. Scheduled to play Manrico opposite Callas in Verona in 1955, he later withdrew and Andrea Chenier replaced Trovatore in the season's program. In the following year he sang Manrico in a recording for Decca Records, thus confirming his interest in the role but suggesting also, perhaps, that he hesitated to perform it live, which of course he needn't do in the recording studio. But precisely in this recording Del Monaco seems to have found a more daring, soaring style than ever, presenting a Manrico of overwhelming heroic impact, highly sculpted and dramatic in accent; his voice rises securely to the high notes, among them the traditional re bemolle at the end of Act One, surely the highest note recorded by this voice, which is usually classified as more of a baritone-tenor than a high tenor. And this soaring interpretation accurately reflects the character of Manrico, with his blazing eyes and heroic postures, the authentic hero of a cape-and-sword melodrama. At this time the myth of the Verdi voice still prevailed. Del Monaco had one-an excellent bronze voice of great volume and epic phrasing-but so did other voices in this style that was disappearing. In this performance of Trovatore we hear two of them, Fedora Barbieri and Ettore Bastianini, the former for more than fifteen years one of the most illustrious post-war mezzo-sopranos, the latter only six years as a first-rate baritone after having spent six years as a bass. Barbieri, in the density of her timbre and the full power of her voice, excellent in both low notes and high, was the latest example of a Verdi mezzosoprano leaning toward alto, a type of voice whose recent exemplars had been Besanzoni, Casazza, and Elmo. The richness of her singing, sumptuous and flowing,, not only suited her voice with its exceptional timbre but also accorded with her impetuous, dominating personality. Her Azucena, recorded the year before with von Karajan and Callas, is a strongly colored character, crazy and tormented, sinister and at the same time maternal, each gesture reflecting her words-a highly sculpted, lacerating portrayal. For his part, the timbre of Bastianini's voice is equally rich and intense, extremely vibrant in the whole range from high to low. His Count di Luna is dark and masculine, a strong counterpoint to the athletic Manrico of Del Monaco, and with an attractive-indeed, sensitive-dimension in his arias. But the authoritative force of the most important baritone voice of the Fifties is such that with its richness and beauty it dominates the stage, so that the captivating quality of Bastianini's performance is due almost entirely to his singing. In this production of Trovatore, so compact and massive in the unity of its coloring and the harmony of its intentions, the Leonora of Leyla Gencer finds its fitting setting. Gencer, a young Turkish soprano who at this time had been active on the Italian stage for barely four years, was nonetheless well launched on RAI, having performed in some radio concerts and in a televised production of Werther (reissued as a Hardy Classic video) two years earlier. In this production of Trovatore she was making her debut in Verdi opera, in a role that was to become one of her standbys and a benchmark for Leonoras who came after her. Following in the footsteps of Callas-but bringing different vocal and expressive characteristics to the role, thereby putting her own personal imprint on it-Gencer presents (and presents as something better) an absolutely new, modern type of Verdian voice. No longer is the Verdian voice to be judged for volume and coloring, ardency and resonance; now it is to be judged for polish, lightness, and delicate shading, in a style that recovers the belcanto origins of the part. Never before this performance had a Leonora so lunar and dreamy been heard, with such piercing soft notes and such a noble style. Callas herself was different in this opera, presenting a more impetuous and dramatic Leonora along with her magnificent vocal rendering. Gencer, like no one before her, recovers the marvellous poetic spirit of the two arias and the ensemble in the second act. At the same time, despite the fact that her voice is light and transparent, she has an elegant, penetrating way of sculpting the tense phrasings of the trio, the "Miserere," and the duet with the Count, and also the superb recitatives that introduce her two solos. Hers is a memorable performance, despite the ingenuous mise-en-scene in which she performs, with its expressionistic tendencies and exuberant feminine head-gear. Hers is a performance that remains one of the primary reasons for cherishing this historic, unrepeatable video recording.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 14 April, 2016.