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Mascagni's New Opera, Parisina

Translation from the original German text © 2004 Erik Bruchez. Thanks to John for his help proof-reading. Comments, additions, corrections are welcome. See also the German version.

Translation version: 1.2 (2004-08-15)

Scene from the first act of Parisina, by Gaetano Previati.

For weeks now the Italian musical world has been waiting for the premiere of Mascagni's latest opera with the greatest eagerness. One must realize that Italy doesn't only see in Mascagni the creator of "Cavalleria Rusticana", but also holds in high esteem the composer of "Iris", and particularly of the romantic opera "Isabeau", which since its successful premiere two years ago has remained in the repertoire of Italian opera houses. Moreover, interest for the new work has grown due to the fact that none other than Gabriele D'Annunzio has undertaken to provide the libretto to his brother in arms. But for those who haven't yet been drawn by the attraction of those two names, the publicity made by young dynamic publisher Lorenzo Sonzogno should be an indication of the significance of the event. Here one can see in the windows of music stores atmospheric representations of the main scenes of "Parisina" painted by the master hand of Gaetano Previati, strange mystic among the painters of Italy who, living and working in the middle of the big city, has created a peculiar art of the dream. ¹ There the general attention is directed to a life-sized poster by Plinio Nomellini made in the divisionist manner, which represents a scene from the third act, Parisina reading at the light of a lantern ². And then there are the newspaper articles about the great preparations for the performance. The strong choirs of the Theater of La Scala had to be made 100 voices stronger. The orchestra had to obtain new instruments, like bass clarinets and bass flutes. And finally consider the ticket prices for the first performance: 100 lire for orchestra seats, 20 lires even for the back seats of the upper gallery, and 10 lire for standing tickets. The curiosity was therefore at its summit a few days before the representation.

The libretto could really not possibly contain any surprise. D'Annunzio has chosen his subject from the Middle Ages chronicle of Ferrara, which tells of the criminal passion which Ugo of Este, the natural son of count Nicolò, conceived for his stepmother Parisina Malatesta. Florentine novelists Bandello and Casca had, one century after the facts, entertained their contemporaries with a representation of the events with an erotic spirit. Lord Byron understood the deep tragic of the story of the unfortunate lovers and dedicated them an epic poem. Antonio Somma was celebrated for his play "Parisina" from 1834 (almost contemporaneous with Donizetti's opera, which provided music to the laments of the beautiful countess) but, like the opera, it made no lasting impression.

Now how has D'Annunzio worked with the original material, which was for the most part already digested? The following synopsis tries to answer this question and at the same time tries to show that the poet has indeed created a gripping drama.

The first act takes place in a magnificent villa on an island on the Po near Ferrara. Ugo exercises at arbalest shooting, while the women and maids from the court of the count work and sing. Ugo's arrows keep missing the target, and he believes that his weapon is cursed. Aldobrandino tries to calm down his excited friend. But Ugo confesses to him his inner unrest and his yearning for adventure and fighting. Ugo's mother Stella interrupts the dialog of the two youths and laments to her son about her sorrow. She hates Parisina with the relentless hatred of a defeated rival, and forces Ugo to take revenge on her. Ugo explains that he is prepared for the task and obtains from his mother a small bottle containing a slow-acting poison, which he must give to the young wife of his father. At this point she appears and is violently insulted by Stella. Crying, Parisina stands the underserved insult, but demands satisfaction for the shame inflicted upon her to her husband, meanwhile returned from the hunt. Ugo becomes furious, as countess Parisina speaks against his mother words of utter contempt. His father reprimands him, but Ugo doesn't wants to know anything about a reconciliation with the enemy of his mother. He declares that he prefers to leave the court. Parisina bursts in painful sobs... This is how the first act ends.

We find Parisina and her servant, La Verde, in front of the holy house of Loreto. Her husband has answered her wish of making a pilgrimage there, and asked Ugo to accompany her, with the hope of bringing their souls closer. The long stay together during the trip and in Loreto has indeed brought them together and awakened sinful love in their young hearts. That love, so far held back with difficulty, is allowed to erupt as Ugo gets wounded when fighting the pirates who want to steal the miraculous picture of the Madonna of the holy place, and Parisina bandages him. Once again Parisina resists and kneels down with Ugo at the foot of the statue of the immaculate virgin, and prays to be saved from threatening sin. But love doesn't know any respect even in front of the mother of God, and the two praying lovers are overwhelmed by ardent passion and fall in each other's arms. A long kiss seals the love of Ugo and Parisina...

Scene from the third act of Parisina, by Gaetano Previati.

One year passes between the second and third acts, during which the two lovers, undiscovered, can enjoy their love. Once again, Parisina awaits her lover. She is tormented by the fear of being discovered and a presentiment of misfortune. She must think of Francesca, who was killed by her ancestor from the house of the Malatesta in anger over her unfaithfulness. But the arrival of Ugo chases away those bad thoughts. From the garden, the sweet song of the nightingale enters the chamber. At that moment La Verde enters with grave steps and announces the visit of count Nicolò. The scared Ugo hides behind the curtains of the bed. The burning torches of the lord of Ferrara illuminate the terrifying encounter between the husband and the wife. Nicolò draws his sword and wants to strike the robber of his conjugal honor. But Parisina screams and warns him not to kill his own son. Full of hatred and rage, Nicolò grabs Ugo by his hair. But Parisina implores him to release his son. He is not guilty. She has bewitched the young man with spells and love potions, which have robbed him of his senses. Ugo swears that it is not true. She has made him drunk with the divine dream of love, nothing else. Calmly, Nicolò speaks his judgement over the two lovers. Both heads will fall on the same execution block, under the same ax. Again they kneel down like a year earlier and call each other tenderly by their names...

In the last act, in the darkness of the Tower of the Lion of the castle of Ferrara, Parisina and Ugo await their execution. They do not repent of their love and, ecstatic, praise the happiness they have enjoyed. Stella, the mother of Ugo, approaches sadly and wants to embrace her beloved son a last time. But the two lovers do not hear her voice, until she screams and inveighs at the shameless seducer, who won't even allow her to give her son the ultimate kiss. Parisina soon frees Ugo and reminds him to access to his mother's wish. But he will not let himself be separated from her loved one until the last moment. With a scream of despair, the unfortunate mother turns away. Parisina looks once more in the eyes of her loved one, then covers his head, consecrated by death, in a black cloth. The executioner appears, and Parisina and Ugo kneel down in front of the execution block. And so, united in death, they wait for the executioner's glittering ax.

A short, passionate and moving prelude introduces the opera. When the curtain is raised, the stage reveals a picture of splendidly colored costumes from the Middle Ages. The eyes are fully satisfied, but the ear is strangely touched by the melancholy complaint of La Verde, who depicts the pains and torments of love, a really fitting prelude to this drama of unhappy love. However the powerful introduction of the chorus, which praises the joys of love, soon chases away the initial melancholy. The melody of these songs by the chorus is fresh and original, the interweaving of the voices is elaborate, and the end of the piece, constructed in the manner of a fugue, caused the first warm applause. In the scenes between Ugo and Aldobrandino, as well as between Ugo and his mother, the parlando predominates, while the orchestra depicts the psychology of the characters on stage with lively colors. We also hear various motives, one of the hatred of Stella, another of the presentment of death, and a third one of love, which in the course of the evening will keep reappearing, when Mascagni wants to remember these moments. But he does not expand these motifs to melodies like Richard Wagner. In comparison with his earlier operas, Mascagni's orchestra has gained in diversity and expression. It no longer restricts itself to the excessive prominence of the violins (the "violinate", as the Italians call them), but he works with all the means of the art of modern instrumentation, without however being able to surprise with original sound colors. Often the orchestral effects are of exaggerated realism, and the themes are put together in colorful mosaics, rather than organically merged. The appearance of Parisina is announced by a tender orchestral prelude, which introduces for the first time the motif of the unhappy lady of Ferrara. Mascagni finds strong dramatic accents for this scene between the two rivals, which is interrupted effectively by the joyous hunt song. The song with which Ugo answers his father abounds with youthful power. Here the Mascagni of the old manner comes to mind. Then the chorus of the happy love resounds behind the scene and in the orchestra the cello sadly sobs of yearning passion.

The second act is composed of two parts. In the first one the lyric element rules in the action and in the music, then the battle between the pirates and the men of Ugo starts and leads to the passionate second half of the act. Soft church songs open the act and produce an atmosphere of peaceful tranquility, which is found also in the dialog between Parisina and La Verde. The song with which Parisina consecrates all her jewelry and her clothes of glittering splendor to the holy virgin is sweet and affectionate. On the other hand one would have wished that the portrayal of the battle taking place behind the scene had been more alive. In the scene between the two lovers, the music gains life and strength. A simple, touching melody repeats continually until the orchestra picks it up and powerfully expands it to a culminant song of the endless love...

Gloomy, menacing chords introduce the third act. For the first time, the theme of the ghostly Francesca da Rimini (a couple of passionate moving measures mostly entrusted to the brass instruments) appears. The nightingale song, coming from the garden illuminated with moonlight, appears too long to me and because of this generates more impatience than required to introduce the sweet love scene. The orchestra then tries to move the listener using all its means when Ugo enters and the languishing Parisina embraces him. The fight of the instruments gets wilder and wilder, more and more passionate, until Nicolò deals with his wife and brings silence. First the search for the hidden lover drives the music to a fast tempo again. The lament of the father, who invokes the Savior who let him go through such misfortune, is quite moving.

The short last act presents fairly monotonous dialogs between the two lovers. The plea of the mother to her son is not of much greater effect. Mascagni was right to decide to drop this last act completely, starting with the second representation of the opera. This shortens the opera from a duration of five hours to four hours and fifteen minutes.

The verdict of the audience on Mascagni's latest work was decidedly favorable. Each act was followed with warm applause, and the Maestro had to appear repeatedly. This is definitely a significant work, which shows us a new side of Mascagni as a composer of a drama in music of stronger effect. While not everything is constantly successful in this opera, we have to acknowledge that the long (much too long) score doesn't lack its share of treasures. With the respect owed to the genius of a great musical artist, we must recognize that Mascagni has understood how to provide D'Annunzio's powerful tragedy with appropriate music. If Mascagni hasn't yet reached the ultimate or the highest, we want to rejoice of what he has created and we hope that a new work will bring him the great success that we are hoping for.

The performance of "Parisina" was exemplary in every respect. Ms. Poli-Randaccio was a powerful ambassador of the title role and her acting was on the same level. Young Spanish tenor Ippolito Lazzaro simply did a amazing job as Ugo. Baritone Galeffi as Nicolò and Ms. Luisa Garibaldi as Stella were worthy of completing the ensemble. The famous choirs of La Scala honored their reputation and the orchestra, conducted by Mascagni himself, was excellent. In addition the theater provided magnificent sets, and all those elements worked together to guarantee full success to Mascagni's latest work.

1. Black and white versions of Previati's paintings are available here.
2. This poster by Plinio Nomellini is available here.