Opera Ensemble presents: The Many Faces of Divas

Thursday, March 22
8 pm
Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall
FREE!

In most operas, the roles created by the male figures primarily represent in the plot either the “hero,” “villain,” “lover,” “priest,” “brother or “father.” These characters are often one dimensional in contrast to all of the female roles who are given a much wider emotional range to represent. Indeed, many operas revolve almost totally around this female figure; her emotions and desires are the motivating factors for most of the action in one way or another.

To be able to cover the gamut of human emotions from the naive love of a teenager to the mad ravings of a murderess, we needed to include strong female roles from centuries of operatic repertoire. "The Many Faces of Divas" attempts to display the wide variety of emotions expressed by these central figures in full and obvious bloom. The primary emotion desired by each character is indicated in the program after the title for your evaluation and understanding of the music’s intention. We hope that you will enjoy this challenge for our singers to live up to the beautiful singing, sensitive acting, and emotional rollercoaster honoring these “Divas.”

The Program:

DON GIOVANNI (Don Juan) – Wolfgang A. Mozart (1787)

“Ah! Chi mi dici mai?” (Ah, who speaks to me never?) Act 1, scene 1- Vengeance/Pride

'Oh, who will tell me where my cruel lover has gone because I wish to tear his eyes out!' sings Donna Elvira as she arrives in town to search for Don Giovanni, who has loved and left her, leaving her possibly in an interesting condition as well. So many operatic women have sung their hearts out longing for vengeance on men who have abandoned them, or worse, never loved them in the first place.

DON GIOVANNI (Don Juan) – Wolfgang A. Mozart (1787)

“Batti, batti, o bel Masetto” (Beat me, beat me, oh good Masetto) Act 1, scene 4 – Repentance/Manipulation

Very few women in opera have actually demanded to be beaten, as the young peasant girl Zerlina does in this aria, and while she possibly deserves it, she doesn't really mean it either. She has been flirting with Don Giovanni on the very day of her wedding to Masetto, who has naturally taken it in bad part. 'But he didn't do anything!' she exclaims. When Masetto declines to believe her she tells him to do his worst, when he tries to, she does a quick turn around and sues for peace. All of this in the name of restoring his wounded pride. 'Look how this little witch can seduce me' says Masetto proudly afterwards, so all those feminine wiles were in a good cause.

ROMEO ET JULIETTE (Romeo and Juliet) – Charles-Francois Gounod (1867)

“Je Veux Vivre” (I want to live) Act 1 – Exuberance/Youthful, Naive Romance

Sometimes opera divas even get to be happy, however briefly. In this charming waltz, the young Juliet tells her nurse that she is not ready to marry the Count Paris, as her father has arranged. 'I want to live!' she says,' Far from the winter of reality, in dreams scented with roses.'

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA (Rustic Chivalry) – Pietro Mascagni (1890)

Lola’s Scene-“Fior di gaggiolo” (Flower of Iris) - Jealousy/Infidelity/Seduction

What would opera be without its fallen women and its seductresses? In this scene we have both. Lola, who was enamored with young Turiddu until he went off to military service, marries the well–to-do blacksmith of the village, Alfio. To console himself, Turiddu turns to Santuzza, compromising her but promising to marry her, until Lola, jealous of his attentions to another woman, once more sets out to ensnare him.

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (The Marriage of Figaro) – Wolfgang A. Mozart (1786)

“Dove Sono” (Where are they) Act 3 - Melancholy/Determination

In stark contrast to Lola, in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro we have a beautiful portrait of the faithful wife. "Where are they, those beautiful moments of sweetness and pleasure that once we shared?" says the Countess, bemoaning her husband's ongoing infidelities. However, she turns out to be made of sterner stuff in the second part of the aria, assuring us that her constancy should count for something and she determines to do her best to get her errant husband back.

PETER GRIMES – Benjamin Britten (1945)

“From the gutter” Act 2 – Regret/Helplessness

'Do we smile or do we weep or wait quietly, til they sleep?' The four women from the cast of Britten's Peter Grimes, Auntie the innkeeper (and procuress) and her two 'nieces', as well as Ellen Orford, the respectable school teacher in love with Peter Grimes, sing of the role of women, so often relegated to patient waiting and passive acceptance.

SUOR ANGELICA (Sister Angelica) – Giacomo Puccini (1918)

“Senza Mamma, bimbo, tu sei morto” (Without a mother, baby, you are dead) – Grief/Sadness

Suor Angelica, the second one act opera in Puccini's triptych, as he himself called it, which starts with the Verismo shocker, Il Tabarro, and finishes with the hilarious comedy Gianni Schicchi, tells the story of a young woman sent to a convent for having had a child out of wedlock, who learns from her stern Princess Aunt that her child, whom she has never seen, has died at the age of three. Destroyed by this knowledge, and by her Aunt's stern and unforgiving behavior, she sings this heartbreaking aria to her dead child and determines to join him in heaven.

TURANDOT – Giacomo Puccini (1926)

Liu’s Death Scene “Tanto amore segreto/Tu che di gel sei cinta” (So much secret love/You who are bound by ice) – Selfless Sacrifice/Unconditional Love

Even though Calaf has answered Turandot's three riddles correctly she is still determined to remain an ice maiden and refuses to honor her promise to wed the winner of the riddle contest until she sees that Liu, the humble serving maid, is prepared to submit to terrible torture to protect the secret of her master's name. She asks Liu where she gets such strength and Liu tells her the answer is love, 'so much secret love'. Liu loves Calaf with a love she knows to be hopeless, but is still prepared to sacrifice all to get him what he wants: Turandot. She tells the princess 'You will love him too, conquered by the flame of love, but before dawn I will close my tired eyes' At the end of her second aria in this scene, she seizes a dagger from a soldier and ensures her continued silence by stabbing herself to death.

GIANNI SCHICCHI – Giacomo Puccini (1918)

“O mio babbino caro” (Oh my daddy dearest) – Passionate Pleading/Soothing Calm

Lauretta loves Rinuccio, but their families are feuding and her father, Gianni Schicchi is about to storm out, refusing to help Rinuccio's family and forever blighting the young lovers' chance at happiness. Oh my dearest Daddy, sings this quintessential Daddy's girl, if I can't have him I'm going to throw myself in the river. Please, please, p-l-e-a-s-e! Unable to resist her passionate pleading, Daddy prepares to give her what she wants, and by falsifying a will, brings about the poignant end to one of the funniest and most touching operas in the repertoire.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR – Gaetano Donizetti (1835)

“Lucia Mad Scene” Act 3, scene 2 - Total Mental Breakdown

And finally, what would opera be without mad scenes? Perhaps the best known of all is that in Lucia di Lammermoor. Believing that Edgardo, to whom she has secretly sworn vows of eternal faith, has abandoned her, Lucia has, under duress, agreed to marry Arturo to save her family's fortunes and her brother's life. During the wedding ceremony Edgardo returns to confront her with her supposed infidelity. Believing herself to be bigamous in the eyes of God and in despair over Edgardo's rejection, she is driven mad by so many conflicting and irreconcilable emotions that she murders her new husband on her wedding night and returns to the festivities in her blood stained night gown to sing of her lost love and to beg that her grave be covered with flowers.

Program synopses by Kathryn Wright