"It Trittico," by Puccini, is a triptych of operas. An evening of three stories in one. The first is "Il Tabarro," the second is "Suor Angelica," and the third is "Gianni Schicchi."
Since nothing grabbed me on Broadway, our trip to The Met, to see this, was my birthday present this year. I felt like Cher as Loretta Castorini in "Moonstruck." Each offered degrees of comedy and tragedy, with the center piece the most tragic.
"Il Tabarro--" At heart, a very simple tale of adultery. A fisherman and his wife live on the river in Paris. The wife wants a different life, a house, land, freedom, and her marriage is at a stale point. So, she becomes enamored with, and carries on with her husband's least competent worker, Luigi. Of course, the husband finds out, and, with the title meaning "the cloak," enfolds Luigi in it, kills him, and then, coming on to his wife, thrusts her into the cloak where she falls onto Luigi's body in eternal grief. Basic opera, but very effective. We just loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Suor Angelica--" Oh, my God, girls, this is the one that did a number on me! If you were raised Catholic, you have GOT to see "Suor Angelica;" it is Catholicism 101. Angelica is actually from a well to do family. But she gets knocked up, by whom is not known, but I am sure her family considers him trash, and she a disgrace to their heritage. So, she is tossed into a convent, where, when the story has begins, she has been for the past seven years. She has been praying for the Holy Virgin, for visitors, receiving none, and the nuns do their almost choreographed rituals onstage, as they pray to the Virgin. Finally Suour Angelica gets a visitor; it is her aunt, The Princess, but this is is not a happy occasion. The Aunt, and clearly this is the Gladys Cooper part here, is a nasty piece of work. She wants Angelica, who, presumably has vowed poverty, anyway, to give up her share of the estate to her younger sister, who is about to marry. The Aunt is real nasty, saying how she has disgraced the family. Angelica signs, but when she asks about her son, and if she can see him--she held him, after birth, bonded, but he was snatched from her--the nasty bitch aunt tells him the child is dead. He died two years before, at the age of five. What follows is a mad scene, a stunning aria that makes Fantine's "I Dreamed A Dream" seem child's play. At the aria's culmination Angelica's inconsolable grief causes her to ingest poisonous flowers from the garden to be reunited, in death, with her son. Only two late does she realize suicide is an unforgivable sin, and so she implores the Virgin, as a mother, to intervene, and forgive her. When the convent doors, now representing the gates of Heaven, part, and mist emerges, the spirit of the dead son appears, and welcomes Angelica to Heaven, where she is reunited with him, in happiness.
This did a number on me. From the aria, I was sobbing in my seat. As a Catholic, it brought up all my guilt--lapseness, being gay, not being the saints my ancestors were, fear of Hell fire, all of that. I was so wiped out by this opera I was so tired when we got home, at bedtime, I fell asleep, something I rarely do. This is the ONE opera of the three that MUST be seen!
"Gianni Schicchi--"After the guilt inducing trauma of Catholicism that "Suor Angelica" offers up, something refreshing is needed to cleanse the palette. "Gianni Schicchi" is just that, a sort of Italian version of "The Little Foxes," played for laughs, as an Italian family connives to coax from their dying patriarch a change to his will, wherein the estate will go not to the monks, as the deceased wanted, but to them. They enlist the shyster lawyer, Gianni Schicchi, who does what he is asked, but guess what--he leaves it all to himself, and the relatives claw at him, and each other! And, yes, we saw Placido Domingo sing the title role!!!!!!! Better to emerge into the daylight from this, than falling on your knees outside over "Suor Angelica."
My beloved, David, said "Il Trittico," is an excellent introduction for someone never having been exposed to opera, and he is right. Each story lasts about an hour, and there are long intermissions to while away the time waiting for the next.
I wanted to return and kick the can in the Brooklyn street, to the strains of "La Boheme." So, thanks to David, and my birthday, another item on my bucket list has been filled. I doubt if I will return to "Il Trittico," but an initial experience of it, is well worth it, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But you will NEVER forget "Suor Angelica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Oh, and by the way, we were in the Orchestra. Those nasty, Vicious Opera Queens are always up in the Fourth Ring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment