Act III. The market-place in Altdorf. It is the hundredth anniversary
of Austrian rule in Switzerland. Fittingly to celebrate the day _Gessler_ has ordered his hat to be placed on top of a pole. The Swiss are commanded to make obeisance to the hat. _Tell_ comes along holding his son _Jemmy_ by the hand. He refuses to pay homage to the hat. As in him is also recognized the man who saved _Leuthold_, he must be punished. _Gessler_ cynically orders him to shoot an apple from _Jemmy's_ head. The shot succeeds. Fearless, as before, _Tell_ informs _Gessler_ that the second arrow was intended for him, had the first missed its mark. _Tell's_ arrest is ordered, but the armed Swiss, who have risen against Austria, approach. _Gessler_ falls by _Tell's_ shot; the fight ends with the complete victory for the Swiss. _Matilda_ who still loves _Arnold_ finds refuge in his arms.
"Guillaume Tell" is the only opera by an Italian of which it can be said that the overture has gained world-wide fame, and justly so, while the opera itself is so rarely heard that it may almost be said to have passed out of the repertoire. Occasionally it is revived for the benefit of a high tenor like Tamagno. In point of fact, however, it is too good a work to be made the vehicle of a single operatic star. It is a question if, with a fine ensemble, "Guillaume Tell" could not be restored to the list of operas regularly given. Or, is it one of those works more famous than effective; and is that why, at this point I am reminded of a passage in Whistler's "Ten O'clock"? The painter is writing of art and of how little its spirit is affected by the personality of the artist, or even by the character of a whole people.
"A whimsical goddess," he writes, "and a capricious, her strong sense of joy tolerates no dullness, and, live we never so spotlessly, still may she turn her back upon us.
"As, from time immemorial, has she done upon the Swiss in their mountains.
"What more worthy people! Whose every Alpine gap yawns with tradition, and is stocked with noble story; yet, the perverse and scornful one will none of it, and the sons of patriots are left with the clock that turns the mill, and the sudden cuckoo, with difficulty restrained in its box!"
Because we associate Switzerland with tourists, personally conducted and otherwise, with hotels, guides, and a personnel trained to welcome, entertain, and speed the departing guest, is it difficult for us to grasp the heroic strain in "Guillaume Tell"? Surely it is a picturesque opera; and Switzerland has a heroic past. Probably the real reasons for the lack of public interest in the opera are the clumsy libretto and the fact that Rossini, an Italian, was not wholly in his element in composing a grand opera in the French style, which "Guillaume Tell" is. It would be difficult to point out just how and where the style hampered the composer, but there constantly is an undefined feeling that it did--that the score is not as spontaneous as, for example, "The Barber of Seville"; and that, although "Guillaume Tell" is heroic, the "sudden cuckoo, with difficulty restrained in its box," may at any time pop out and join in the proceedings.
The care which Rossini bestowed on this work is seen in the layout and composition of the overture, which as an instrumental number is as fine a _tour de force_ as his "Una voce poco fa," "Bel raggio," or "Giorno d'orrore" are for voice. The slow introduction denotes Alpine calm. There is a beautiful passage for violoncellos, which has been quoted in books on instrumentation. In it Rossini may well have harked back to his student years, when he was a pupil in violoncello playing at the conservatory in Bologna. The calm is followed by a storm and this, in turn, by a "Ranz des Vaches." The final section consists of a trumpet call, followed by a fast movement, which can be played so as to leave the hearer quite breathless. It is supposed to represent the call to arms and the uprising of the Swiss against their Austrian oppressors, whose yoke they threw off.
The most striking musical number in the first act of the opera, is _Arnold's_ "Ah, Matilda."
[Music: Ah! Matilda, io t'amo, t'adoro [Transcriber's Note: original ends with incorrect 'e amoe']]
A tenor with powerful high tones in his voice always can render this with great effect. In fact it is so effective that its coming so early in the work is a fault of construction which in my opinion has been a factor in the non-success of the opera as a whole. Even a tenor like Mierzwinski, "a natural singer of short-lived celebrity," with remarkable high notes, in this number could rouse to a high pitch of enthusiasm an audience that remained comparatively calm the rest of the evening.
The climax of the second act is the trio between _Arnold_, _Tell_, and _Walter_, followed by the assembly of the cantons and the taking of the oath to conquer or die ("La gloria infiammi--i nostri petti"--May glory our hearts with courage exalt).
Its most effective passage begins as follows:
[Music]
Another striking musical number is _Arnold's_ solo in the last act, at sight of his ruined home, "O muto asil" (O, silent abode).
The opera ends with a hymn to liberty, "I boschi, i monti" (Through forests wild, o'er mountain peaks).
At the initial performance of "Guillaume Tell" in Paris, there was no indication that the opera was not destined to remain for many years in the repertoire. It was given fifty-six times. Then, because of the great length of the opera, only the second act was performed in connection with some other work, until the sensational success of Duprez, in 1837, led to a revival.
"Guillaume Tell," given in full, would last nearly five hours. The poor quality of the original libretto by "Jouy" led to the revision by Bis, but even after that there had to be cuts.
"Ah, Maestro," exclaimed an enthusiastic admirer of Rossini to that master, "I heard your 'William Tell' at the Opera last night!"
"What?" asked Rossini. "The whole of it?"
Clever; but by his question Rossini unconsciously put his finger on the weak spot of the opera he intended to be his masterpiece. Be it never so well given, it is long-winded.
Vincenzo Bellini
(1802-1835)
Bellini, born in Catania, Sicily, November 3, 1802, is the composer of "La Sonnambula," one of the most popular works of the old type of Italian opera still found in the repertoire. "I Puritani," another work by him, was given for the opening of two New York opera houses, Palmo's in 1844, and Hammerstein's Manhattan, in 1903. But it maintains itself only precariously. "Norma" is given still more rarely, although it contains "Casta diva," one of the most famous solos for soprano in the entire Italian repertory.
This composer died at the village of Puteaux, France, September 23, 1835, soon after the highly successful production of "I Puritani" in Paris, and while he was working on a commission to compose two operas for the San Carlo Theatre, Naples, which had come to him through the success of "Puritani." He was only thirty-two.
It is not unlikely that had this composer, with his facile and graceful gift for melody, lived longer he would have developed, as Verdi did, a maturer and broader style, and especially have paid more attention to the instrumentation of his operas, a detail which he sadly neglected.
LA SONNAMBULA
THE SLEEPWALKER
Opera in three acts by Bellini, words by Felice Romani. Produced, Carcano Theatre, Milan, March 6, 1831. London, King's Theatre, July 28, 1831; in English, Drury Lane, May 1, 1833. New York, Park Theatre, November 13, 1835, in English, with Brough, Richings, and Mr. and Mrs. Wood; in Italian, Palmo's Opera House, May 11, 1844; frequently sung by Gerster and by Adelina Patti at the Academy of Music, and at the Metropolitan Opera House by Sembrich; at the Manhattan Opera House by Tetrazzini.
CHARACTERS
COUNT RODOLPHO, Lord of the castle _Bass_ TERESA, proprietress of the mill _Soprano_ AMINA, her foster daughter _Soprano_ LISA, proprietress of the village inn _Soprano_ ELVINO, a young farmer _Tenor_ ALESSIO, a villager _Bass_
Notary, Villagers, etc.
_Time_--Early Nineteenth Century.
_Place_--A Village in Switzerland.