Il Trovatore
DRAMMA LIRICO IN FOUR PARTS
BY GIUSEPPE VERDI
LIBRETTO BY SALVATORE CAMMARANO
Romantic love, deadly jealousy and an overwhelming desire for revenge – these are the elements driving the drama of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore, which will be the opera on the Floating Stage at Bregenz in the 2005/06 seasons. It will follow on from the 2003/2004 hit production West Side Story.
The romantic drama of the opera on the Floating Stage in 2005/06, Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore, revolves around two men who are rivals: Count Luna and Manrico, the troubadour and rebel, who is allegedly the son of the gipsy Azucena.
The two men are not only political enemies, but they are both vying for the love of Countess Leonore. "Il trovatore is an opera that was made for the Floating Stage at Bregenz. The music has a wonderful wild energy, the spectacular vocal parts convey powerful emotions, and the gripping story is full of drama and passion," explains David Pountney, artistic director of the festival. In Il trovatore Giuseppe Verdi achieved the musical mastery and expressive power of his middle period: the opera is fascinating from the first moment for its extraordinarily expressive music, its psychologically wellrounded characters and its varied and exotic locations.
Synopsis
Act One: The Duel
Soldiers stand on guard outside the guard room of Aliaferia Palace. To keep them awake, the captain, Ferrando, tells them a story from the recent history of the Count’s family. The father of the present Count di Luna had two sons. The younger of them was bewitched by a Gypsy woman, who was therefore burned at the stake. In revenge, the gypsy’s daughter snatched the younger son and threw him into the flames; the charred remains of a child were indeed found among the old Gypsy’s ashes. However, Ferrando says, the old Count remained convinced his younger son was still alive and before his death, commanded his other son to search for him and the Gypsy. That evening in the grounds of Sargasto Palace, Countess Leonore tells Inez, her confidante, of her love for the troubadour (trovatore) Manrico. Count di Luna is also a suitor for Leonore’s hand. Leonore hears Manrico singing some way off and rushes to greet him - but in the darkness finds herself in the Count’s arms. When Manrico then enters, both men realise that they are not only rivals in love, but also political adversaries, because Manrico is fighting for the rebellious Count of Urgel. Leonore cannot prevent them from fighting a duel.
Act Two: The Gypsy Woman
The Gypsies have returned to their camp after a battle. There Azucena - the Gypsy’s daughter described by Ferrando - relives her mother’s cruel execution. Overcome by emotion, she reveals to Manrico that she had hurled her own son into the flames by mistake, but she avoids answering her adopted son’s more searching questions about his background. Azucena cannot understand why Manrico had spared the Count’s life when he prevailed in their duel. The Count continues to pursue him, partly for political reasons. The messenger Ruiz informs Manrico of his appointment as commander and of Leonore’s intention to enter a monastery since she thinks her beloved has been killed on the battlefield. Manrico rushes away to prevent her from carrying through her resolve. The Count and his soldiers are about to abduct Leonore, but Manrico and his men manage to thwart them just in time. Count di Luna swears revenge on Manrico.
Act Three: The Son of the Gypsy Woman
Di Luna’s forces are encamped before the castle of Castellor, poised to attack. Manrico and Leonore have taken refuge there. Azucena has been captured, and Captain Ferrando recognises her as the Gypsy who stole the Count’s younger brother. She is now to be burnt at the stake. Inside the castle, Leonore and Manrico prepare to wed. Ruiz reports the capture of Azucena. To rescue his mother, Manrico orders an attack on the enemy camp.
Act Four: Revenge
Manrico’s attack failed and he has been been taken prisoner by Di Luna. He now awaits execution with Azucena in a dungeon at Aliaferia Palace. Leonore managed to escape. To secure her beloved’s release, she agrees to give herself to the Count, but secretly she takes poison. She brings Manrico news of his release. Manrico refuses to leave because she will not go with him, and he believes she has betrayed him. When she explains her actions and then collapses dead before him, he realises she had remained faithful to him. Furious at being cheated by Leonore’s death, Count di Luna sends Manrico to the executioner. Azucena, forced by Di Luna to watch Manrico’s beheading, cries out, "He was your brother. Now you are avenged, mother!" Manrico was Di Luna’s younger brother who had been abducted.
Fire and flame on Lake Constance
Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece Il Trovatore, which was seen by more than 170,000 visitors last summer and thus has been the most popular opera on the Floating Stage since 1998 except for the musical West Side Story, will return for a second season in the unique setting of the Floating Stage at Bregenz. The premiere of the Opera on the Floating Stage is on 20 July 2006.
Stage director Robert Carsen and set designer Paul Steinberg have transported Verdi's tragic opera of jealousy, revenge and fratricide into a world that is both a fortress and an industrial plant. The staging makes spectacular use of the fire that is mentioned repeatedly in the libretto and makes the background to Il Trovatore topical for present-day audiences. The idea was enthusiastically received by the press as much as by the public: 'The stage set for Giuseppe Verdi's opera is not at all overshadowed by a host of brilliant predecessors. The drilling rig really does resemble the fortress that is envisaged in the libretto, and the built-in criticism that (Bush's) wars are in the end only about oil does actually work,' as the newspaper Münchner Merkur reported, for example. For the Stuttgarter Zeitung it was 'striking how this opera - which is something of an old war-horse trotted out for service all over the place - when transferred to an original, arcane locale, can come to life all over again and can be infused with a totally new vitality. How clear everything now becomes! How convincing what seemed unconvincing suddenly appears! (...) The charge has often enough been levelled at this Verdi opera that, while the music is glorious, to be sure, the libretto is a disaster. Now that is no longer the case. It seems it was necessary for Robert Carsen to engulf the Bregenz Festival refinery in flames for us finally to see the light on this point.'
The musical director of the opera on the Floating Stage in 2006 is Fabio Luisi, who has been chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since October 2005. The production is directed by the well-known Canadian opera director Robert Carsen, and the stage is the creation of New York stage designer Paul Steinberg. The costumes are the work of Miruna Boruzescu, the light design is by Patrick Woodroffe and the choreography is by Philippe Giraudeau, who is already an old hand on the Floating (having created the choreography for A Masked Ball in 1999/2000 and La Bohème in 2001/02). Returning to the stage for its second season, Verdi's gripping drama of romantic love, deadly jealousy and crazed revenge premieres on 20 July 2006.
Credits:
Producer: Bregenzer Festspiele GmbH | Director: Robert Carsen | Set Design: Paul Steinberg Lighting Design: Patrick Woodroffe | Date of Production: 07/20/2006 to 08/19/2006 | Location: Water Stage Bregenz, Austria
Facts about the stage:
56 x 46 m
711 tons
15 m high silos
Source of information: http://www.bregenzerfestspiele.com/
Druckversion
