Re: Mascagni - Guglielmo Ratcliff

[BerlinExpat]

Much has been said on this forum about Mascagni and his Guglielmo Ratcliffe but having just come back from Wexford I can only thoroughly recommend the coming broadcast next Saturday evening (October 31st). I saw Gian-Carlo del Monaco's production in Bonn in 1997 which I thought impressive enough but this production in Wexford knocks all spots off it. From the opening notes I was rivetted by the production which would have been dramtically improved had there been no intervals. The music at the beginning of act 3 almost made my skin creep and Ratcliffe's voice (Angelo Villari) was almost too big for the Wexford stage.
The other two operas being presented this year - Koanga (Delius) and Le Pré aux clercs (Hérold) - will be transmitted on the successive Saturdays by RTÉ Lyrique at 8 p.m. Le Pré aux clercs is a co-production with the Opéra Comique as well as Palazzo Bru zane and is a real unsung!

Mascagni Guglielmo Ratcliffe broadcast on the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06l1v7q

RTÉ Lyric FM Opera Night at 8 p.m.
Saturday 31st October

Niall Carroll presents tonight's opera live from the National Opera House as part of the Wexford Festival Opera 2015 - Mascagni's Guglielmo Ratcliff starring Angelo Villari in the title role, Mariangela Sicilia is Maria, David Stout is Count Douglas, Annunziata Vestri is Margherita and Gianluca Buratto is MacGregor. Francesco Cilluffo conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Wexford Festival Opera.

Saturday 7th November

Niall Carroll presents tonight's opera which was recorded last week at the National Opera House as part of the Wexford Festival Opera 2015 – Delius' Koanga starring Norman Garrett in the title role, Nozuko Teto as Palmyra, Jeff Gwaltney as Simon Perez and Rachel Croash as Renee. Stephen Barlow conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Wexford Festival Opera.

Saturday 14th November

Niall Carroll presents tonight's opera which was recorded at the National Opera House as part of the Wexford Festival Opera 2015 – Herold's Le Pre aux clercs starring Marie Lenormand as Marguerite de Valois, Marie-Eve Munger as Isabelle Montal and Nico Darmanin as Baron de Mergy. Jean-Luc Tingaud conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Wexford Festival Opera.

[Alan Howe]

It'd be great to have this recorded...

[patmos.beje]

Guglielmo Ratcliff is the correct spelling.  It was Mascagni's favourite of his 15 operas.

I hope an off air recording will prove better than the available alternatives (all live except the RAI one of 1963) and that the conclusion of the 4th Act will contain the chorus (off stage?) missing - probably for economic reasons - in some of the alternatives.  We will find out on Saturday evening.

[Alan Howe]

Guglielmo Ratcliff is the correct spelling

Quite. Duly amended. Thanks.

[BerlinExpat]

Thanks for the spelling correction, Alan. It was a typo in the heat of the moment!

patmos.beje's comments about the conclusion to the 4th act made me dig out my vocal score and Agora recording. Surprise, surprise the Scena ultima is missing from the Agora set although the text is printed in the accompanying notes. Oddly enough the Scena ultimo is also missing from the complete libretto on the Mascagni.org website although it is included in the vocal score. On the Agora set there is also a short cut in Margherita's long scene in Act 4, scene 1.
In Fulvio Venturi's text in the Wexford Opera programme he says that Mascagni cut Margherita's great scene in act 4, but he isn't explicit as to whether it's the scene in Act 4 Scene 1 or the Scena ultima. Stand by your vocal scores on Saturday evening!
I anticipate recording all three Wexford productions. Some may argue the 1973 EMI recording of Koanga cannot be bettered, but until Edition singulares issues Hérold's Le Pré aux clercs I don't think there's any competition.

[Alan Howe]

I had the opportunity to listen through to Guglielmo Ratcliff at one sitting this afternoon. It's very obviously in the style of Cavalleria Rusticana, although more through-composed and less 'number-based'.

A major problem, as has been highlighted elsewhere, is the lead tenor rôle: it is extremely strenuous, the tessitura is often mercilessly high and so, frankly, it's hard to think of many tenors who could/can sing it properly rather than descending into bawling and shouting. The Wexford production features the extraordinary spinto voice of the Sicilian, Angelo Villari: connoisseurs of historic recordings may recognise a certain kinship with the great Italian tenor, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi. Their voices share the same quick vibrato and the the ability to soar easily into the higher reaches of their range without shouting or losing focus. Villari, in other words, has all the notes for the rôle.

However, I'm not really sure about the opera itself. Does it have sufficient melodic profile? I'm not sure. Does one want to be battered and harried so much, even if the tenor is up to the job? Again, I'm not sure. I might gaze with wonder at the sheer scale of Mt Everest, but I have absolutely zero desire to climb it. Nevertheless, the Act 3 intermezzo is a thing of rare beauty. Stunning.

One thing is certain: Puccini was the greater tunesmith and a much more savvy man of the theatre. Mascagni apparently thought it his finest opera: I beg to differ. Is it enjoyable? Yes. Is it a lost masterpiece? No. It's not even Mascagni's best opera...

Many, many thanks, though, to BerlinExpat for making the recording available to us.

[gene schiller]

I'm surprised 'Margherita's Racconto' from Act IV is so seldom mentioned as a highlight; with its broadly arching phrases, it's the score's supreme inspiration.  It wasn't exactly cut from the premiere - the mezzo-soprano (Della Rogers) for that performance had lost her voice, so the orchestra played while she mimed her role! 
Actually, Mascagni claimed the orchestral part alone would make a perfect accompaniment to the play, and longed to perform it that way.
And I do think it contains Mascagni's greatest music; esp. from the scene at Black Rock (Act III) to the apocalyptic ending, there's nothing in Italian opera quite like it.

[adriano]

I fully agree with Alan
I too, I never felt very happy listening to this piece - whereas no problems with "L'amico Fritz", "Lodoletta", "Iris" and "Nerone" as far as the music is concerned. The libretti, oh well, sometimes... :-)

[Alan Howe]

Spot-on, Adriano. Perhaps composers don't make the best judges of their own music...

[gene schiller]

Well, you might as well accuse Verdi and Puccini of poor judgment as well.  Verdi praised 'Guglielmo' for its richness of melody and "throbbing passion."  Puccini described it as a giant step forward.

[adriano]

One may, but this is just a personal opinion. In the same spirit I say that there are more juvenile operas by Verdi I don't like - compared to those by Mascagni :-)

[Alan Howe]

Well, you might as well accuse Verdi and Puccini of poor judgment as well.  Verdi praised 'Guglielmo' for its richness of melody and "throbbing passion."  Puccini described it as a giant step forward.

That's a quite different point. I was talking about composers' judgments on their own music.

[edurban]

Some years ago I remember reading (in a discussion of Max Bruch's disgust that his first violin concerto was so overwhelmingly preferred to his second) that composers, like mothers, favor their weaker children...

[Alan Howe]

Interesting...