When the Philips label issued their
1998 recording of Verdi’s Jerusalem
it marked a partial landmark in
that, for the first time, all of the
composer’s 28 named operas were available
on one recording medium. It was partial
in that Les Vêpres Siciliennes,
Verdi’s twentieth title was only represented
in its later Italian translation of
I Vespri Siciliani. With their
usual modesty Opera Rara do not emblazon
the box with the words ‘World Premiere
Recording’. After all, most of the company’s
opera recordings could carry
that insignia. Such modesty is welcome
in an industry that often makes a Himalayan
range out of a pinhead. This is Opera
Rara’s third issue in a series of five
performances of original text Verdi
operas recorded and broadcast by the
BBC. Like the others in the series we
owe thanks for its appearance to the
support of the Peter Moores foundation.
The first two issues, Macbeth
and Simon
Boccanegra , are significantly
different than their more commonly heard
later rewrites. The other two of the
five, Don Carlos and La Forza
del Destino, will be issued in May
2005 and in 2006. Both of those original
texts, again involving significant re-writing
in later versions, already have recordings
in the catalogue.
With this issue Verdi
enthusiasts can really celebrate that
the whole of the composer’s operatic
canon is accessible on disc. Jerusalem
was of course a rewrite of Verdi’s
fourth opera, I Lombardi, and
was presented at the Paris Opera in
November 1847. By then the pre-eminent
Italian opera composer, Verdi followed
the example of Rossini and Donizetti
in re-working a successful piece for
his first assault on Paris. Like his
illustrious predecessors he was tempted
to that city by the superior musical
standards, greater money available for
productions and, in Verdi’s case, the
lack of censorship that plagued his
work in Italy, then under foreign occupation.
These qualities were sufficient to keep
Verdi interested in The Opera, whilst
Jerusalem was sufficiently successful
to keep the theatre management interested
in the composer. Jerusalem was
to have been followed by a completely
new operatic work by Verdi. The dramatic
upheavals in France, leading to the
Second Empire in 1848, made that impossible.
Verdi did not return to Paris until
1852 when, during the gestation of Il
Trovatore, he returned to negotiate
a new contract. The Opera were desperate
for a new Grand Opera, a work of four
or five acts with full ballet. Fully
aware of his own value in the international
market, Verdi drove a hard bargain.
The full resources of the theatre were
to be put at his disposal and no other
new opera was to be performed at the
theatre that year. Further, Verdi would
choose all the cast himself and there
would be forty performances guaranteed.
The composer was also to enjoy the services
of Eugène Scribe as librettist.
Scribe had been librettist for Halévy
and Meyerbeer for their ‘Grand Operas’
prepared for The Opera.
As the brief booklet
essay by Mark Everist notes, Verdi’s
first ‘Grand Opera’ had a chequered
fate and was not heard in France in
its original language after 1865. The
whole genesis of the work and its later
translations and performances in Italian
is interesting. It is a pity that Opera
Rara haven’t graced this recording with
the extensive and scholarly essay that
they normally provide for their complete
opera issues. Verdi was hindered in
the composition of the opera by Scribe
who tried to palm him off with a libretto
that had been turned down by Hálevy
and later partially set to music by
the then ailing Donizetti as Le Duc
d’Albe. Scribe further persistently
failed to provide Verdi with a dramatically
taut final act to the extent that the
composer demanded release from the contract,
as its terms as originally stipulated
by him had not been met. Eventually
the matters were resolved and the composer
and poet reconciled their differences
with the plot being set in Palermo,
Sicily, in 1292 at the time of the French
occupation and the St Bartholomew massacre.
The French Governor,
Guy de Montfort, recognises in Hélène,
whose brother has been executed by the
French, a potential insurgent and warns
Henri to keep away from her palace.
Henri loves Hélène and
when Procida returns to the island to
raise the populace against the occupation
the three plot to kill Montfort. In
a confrontation Montfort and Henri realise
they are father and son. The son saves
the life of his father when the plotters,
lead by Hélène and Procida
strike, and is denounced by them. Hélène
forgives Henri when he reveals his paternity.
Montfort allows them all their freedom
and gives his blessing to the marriage
of the lovers. It is only as they are
about to enter the church for the ceremony
that Procida reveals that the bells
will be the signal for the Sicilians
to rise against their oppressors and
slaughter the French..
Whilst Verdi is renowned
for his operas examining the father-daughter
relationship, Les Vepres Siciliennes
is one of the few in which the composer
focuses on that between father and son.
Different facets of this relationship
are to be found in his 6th
opera, I due Foscari (1844),
his 11th, I Masnadieri
(1847) and 15th Luisa
Miller (1847). Montfort is, however,
the very first of Verdi’s lonely figures
of authority who have to weigh their
love of wife, grand-daughter or son
alongside their duties to the state.
Successors are Simon Boccanegra (1857)
and King Philip in Verdi’s other grand
Opera for Paris, Don Carlos (1864).
Neilson Taylor sings
the role of Montfort in this recording.
I do not recall hearing him in the theatre
in the 1960s or 1970s, which is something
of a surprise to me given the quality
of his singing and portrayal of Montfort.
His tone is rich and secure and he sings
with good expression, legato and long-breathed
phrases in good French (CD 2 tr.2).
In all respects he is superior to the
renowned Sherrill Milnes in the Italian
version conducted by James Levine (RCA
1974). It may be that the role of Montfort,
which is lower in tessitura than most
Verdi baritone roles, suits Neilson
Taylor better. Milnes was renowned for
the top extension of his baritone voice
and has a number of distinguished Verdi
baritone roles in his repertoire and
on record. It is also true that whilst
Taylor doesn’t quite match the vocal
elegance of Zancanaro on the CD for
Muti (EMI 1989), and who is equally
elegant of persona and stature on the
video, he is not far short. His duets
with his son (CD 1 trs. 8-9 and CD 2
trs 3-7) are a highlight of this performance.
The French-Canadian Jean Bonhomme sings
Montfort’s son Henri. A francophone,
his voice has a lean, slightly nasal,
lyric tone. He is youthfully ardent.
He sings with great expressiveness and
with sufficient vocal heft without sounding
as if he is squeezing the top note(s)
out (CD 2 tr.6). In his aria (CD 3 tr.2),
and following duet with Hélène,
his range of expression is exemplary
as he explains to her the predicament
of his paternity (CD 3 trs. 3-4). Whilst
not having the fullness of tone of Domingo
(RCA) he is infinitely better than Merritt
(EMI). I am more equivocal about the
Hélène of Jaqueline Brumaire.
Another francophone she has a quick
vibrato and is rather mature sounding.
She lacks the ideal voice for the rapid
scales and embellishments of her Act
5 showpiece the Sicilienne Merci,
jeunes ami (CD 3 tr. 12). That being
said, Hélène has many
moods and nuances to convey during the
opera. Whilst Mme Brumaire lacks perfection,
she has no squally notes or occluded
tone in her portrayal as would constitute
a distraction from the enjoyment of
the performance. As Procida, the implacable
leader of the insurgency, the Turkish
bass Ayhan Baran has a suitable sonorous
tone in the bass aria Palerme! O
Mon pays (CD 1 Tr. 9). This aria
is greatly loved by all basses in its
Italian manifestation, O patria;
O tu Palermo! Elsewhere, I sometimes
felt he was stretching for the notes
at each end of the scale. Of all the
roles in the opera Procida is the most
difficult to convey as a character and
Ayhan Baran succeeds well enough despite
the minor reservation. The comprimario
roles are well taken by British singers
who could be heard in principal characters
around the U.K., including Covent Garden,
and elsewhere in Europe.
The major conducting
is under the baton of Mario Rossi. I
say major because Ashley Lawrence conducts
The Four Seasons ballet music.
Lawrence conducted many of the ballet
performances at Covent Garden during
this period. He has an obvious feel
for the idiom and gives the pieces (CD
2 trs. 8-12) with ideal pace and feeling,
making them what they are supposed to
be rather than orchestral showpieces
they are often heard as in the concert
hall and found on other recordings.
At the time of this recording Mario
Rossi had a long history of conducting
Verdi operas, particularly in his native
Italy. He brings neither the frenetic
pace nor the dramatic flair of Levine
or Muti in their recordings of the Italian
version. Rossi is more the reliable
‘routinier’ with a sympathetic feel
for Verdian cantilena and who allows
and encourages his singers to breath
and phrase with the music. He conducted
Luisa Miller and Falstaff
for RAI around the 50th
anniversary of Verdi’s death in 1951.
Those performances, of no fewer than
eighteen of the composer’s operas, appeared
as LPs on the Cetra label. They introduced
us to Bergonzi, Taddei and Callas among
others, and are now available on CD
at bargain price from Warner Fonit in
mono sound. The sound on this live performance
is good if not up to the best modern
standard being a little flat. The solo
voices suffer from being set too far
back on the sound-stage. The audience
do intrude with applause, increasingly
so as the opera progresses. It is decorous
applause, not the over-boisterous variety
that mars the dramatic cohesion of many
modern live opera recordings, including
I regret to say, those of Opera Rara.
For the foreseeable
future I suspect this will be the only
original language performance of this
somewhat rambling, but ever interesting,
mature Verdi opera available on CD.
I am grateful that its positive attributes
far outweigh its minor limitations.
I strongly recommend that every Verdian
add this elegantly presented box from
Opera Rara to their collection to join
whichever recording of the Italian version
is already there.
Robert J Farr
Guy de Montfort, Governor of Sicily, Neilson
Taylor (bar); Duchesse Hélène,
sister of Duke Frederic, Jaqueline Brumaire
(sop); Henri, a young Sicilian, Jean Bonhomme
(ten); Jean Procida, a Sicilian doctor, Ayhan
Baran (bass); Béthune, a French officer,
Stafford Dean (bass); Vaudemont, A French officer,
Neil Howlett (bass-bar); Ninetta, Hélène’s
maid, Pamela Bowden (mezzo) 
