Exploring the Life and Music of Donizetti: Episode 4 Summary

Welcome to the fourth episode of Lives in Song, a series from Opera with me, Flora Wilson, looking at the lives of

composers and other musicians through their music. It's great to have you with us tonight. If you haven't already done

so, do subscribe and hit the notification bell to make sure you don't miss any future episodes. You can also

find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Just search for Opera on your favorite platform. Well, in this series,

we're looking at one of opera's most prolific composers, Gitano Doniteti. He wrote almost 70 operas. But this time,

we're looking at another aspect of his musical talents, his gift for writing songs. Today we'll be listening to one

song in particular, Amora Emort, Love and Death, which gives you some sense of the state that Donutetti was in as we

follow him to Paris in the late 1830s. As ever, I'm joined here in the Creative Kin studio in London by opera scholar

Roger Parker, the driving force behind the recent opera uh opera's recent Donati songs project. There is, as ever,

loads to talk about, so let's get started. [Music]

Roger, it's great to see you again here in the studio. Um, we we went free range last time. We've been at Kadugen Hall

together for another chat about Don ati and indeed bellows. Yeah, that was that was really fascinating actually. I loved

the the the mixture of those two composers was some there was something compelling about it actually even for me

who'd sort of planned it but it worked incredible you'd expected. Yeah. Yeah. Really amazing. Well, today we need to

think right back to our first episode um when we talked about the death of Donati's beloved wife Virginia. Uh that

was in 1837, wasn't it? Yeah. And um there's there's all sorts of reasons for thinking it was the seinal event in

Doniteti's later life. After that he didn't see for a long time I think he he said he didn't see the point of

composing anymore. He didn't see the point of making a living. And gradually what this became associated with was uh

was Italy itself. And increasingly after his wife died, he was thinking of moving away from Italy. The memories were too

much for him. So what were in brief, what were the kind of long-term impacts of this tragedy for him? In practical

terms, what happened? Well, in practical terms, uh, he, I say, fell out of love with Italy and the obvious place to go,

which he immediately started thinking of, was Paris. Um there's a long history of Italian composers going to Paris.

Famously Rossini was was there and was a very important influence there. I mean he wasn't just there. I mean he was

actually running one of the theater one of the opera houses for a while italier the the Italian theater there and Doneti

had been there already in 1835 1836 not a huge success but his Italian operas were beginning increasingly to be

performed there. And so what better to to move to Paris and you could make a better living in Paris than you could in

Italy. So it had all sorts of you know a change of scene was good for his mental health should we say but also for his

financial health. Do we know whether did he already have a kind of social network there? Did he know people in Paris when

he moved? Um Paris was famously at that time a sort of cosmopolitan center. So yes, definitely there there were people

and there was this this this kind of aristocratic network that seemed constantly to be moving around and

giving each other letters of introduction and so on. So he certainly had he had doors open to him uh already

there. Okay. So so that's what's going on for him sort of professionally and personally. What about in musical terms?

What impact did Virginia's death have for his music effectively? Yeah. Um, look, it it's quite dangerous to start

talking about these things because music is abstract in all sorts of ways and also oporatic characters obey laws which

are not necessarily going to be personal uh or going to immediately reflect a composer's personality. But I think

there's no doubt that his musical language was changing gradually at this time. And if it was changing, it was

increasingly less uncomplicated melodic inspiration. And what tends to happen in the later

operas, particularly in the late 1830s, 1840s, is his musical language becomes more fragmentaryary. It becomes more

complex harmonically. It becomes less continuous melodically. All right. Well, let's get a handle on that by actually

listening to an extract from one of Donatetti's operas from around this period. Um, what have you picked for us

to listen to today, Roger? Yeah, well, I I chose Maria de Ruden de Ruden, which is from

1838, first performed in in Venice. And, uh, if you're looking for for darkness and violence, uh, then you've come to

the right place with this. You know what I'm going to ask next? What's this about? Yeah. Um, well, it's the usual

thing. uh too many um uh too too much indirected love, shall we say? Uh the the baritone was in love with the

soprano but then decided he he wasn't in love with her anymore and so fell in love with another woman and uh it all

gets very complicated after that. But um basically what happens I mean this is an extremely violent

melodramatic plot uh to the extent that uh the main soprano is is stabbed to death at the end of act two. But then

there's act three where she comes back as a ghost and frightens everyone. And then at the last scene reveals that she

wasn't dead after all. She was just very badly wounded and she rips off her bandages and dies in effect in effect

dies a second time at the end of the last All right. Well, some some spoilers there uh and also possibly some content

warnings. Amazing. Let's listen to a bit of that now. Um here is the Romanian soprano Nelly Mira Choyu with the

filimonia orchestra conducted by David Perry in Monstro inquest monster from Doniteti's Maria de

Ruden [Music] away.

[Music] still with [Music]

all of [Music] [Applause]

the [Music] Fore you

[Music] Soprano Nel Troyu digging deep there with David Perry conducting the

Filimonia Orchestra in the Ara Mstro Iniquo from Doniteti's Maria de Rulen. Uh and the complete recording that

extract came from is of course available on the opera label if you'd like to listen to more of it. Um, Roger, that's

it's really powerful lyric writing there. Again, that sort of Belliniish touch, the long lines. Yeah. I mean,

what happens is that um you see there's these sudden interruptions. It's almost like there are there are these

declamatory moments that suddenly interrupt uh the melodic line. And also notice about halfway through there's a

sudden turn to the minor mode, you know. So, so nothing stable for very long. This is obviously a person, you know, in

even by Italian opera standards in sort of deep emotional turbulence. And there's those those string motifs that

kind of pushing along towards the end there that sort of it it's rising panic. Yeah. Nothing nothing simple here.

There's no there's nothing that lasts very long. And it's constant injections of of what we would now call sort of

emotional realism really. Yeah. I mean, is it is it fair to put this also into our cultural box labeled the Gothic? Is

there something of that? I mean, as you were describing the plot, that struck me as, you know, we don't necessarily think

of opera straight away. If we talk about the Gothic, we tend to think of literature first, but actually there's

clearly connections there. There are. And um I think it's it's a sort of it's a key for understanding this kind of

music. You know, if you if you think it's going to be um realistic drama in some way, then it's not. It's it's it's

people put in extreme states and then seeing what happens. It's um Yeah. And I think I mean to to look at it with a

frame of of of Gothic is a way of understanding that immediacy which is always there and it's perhaps worth

reminding us ourselves that this is of course also a period where you know Donati had written Luchia de Lamore

quite recently as again something that came from that literary tradition of of Gothic writing. Yeah. Exactly. So it

fits in well with it. Yeah. Yeah. But the kind of extreme romanticism if you want. Um. Yeah. Not just not just your

basics or the extreme sports of romanticism. All right. So so that's where Donati's got to in oporatic terms.

But what about the songs of this period then? Yeah. It's interesting. I mean in in in some ways uh what's happening the

song repetry as we've talked about before occurs on a different track really. It's this domestic uh um

domestic audience and nothing as extreme as that is going to happen in that domestic context. It would have been

this is I mean the thing that we just heard there that operatic it's it's larger than life right be like I don't

know doing psycho as sherads at Christmas or something. Exactly. So it's not that's not going to work. So there's

a way in which the song repetry is much more contained in all sorts of ways and doesn't have those extremes. But that

doesn't mean that it doesn't uh address the same topics. And there is a sense in which Doniteti's songs in the later

1830s and 1840s tend to become more serious in some ways and uh more demanding for the singers. Uh there's a

slightly different uh atmosphere developing in them. Is there a sense that they're they're gradually for a

slightly different group of people as well? Are there potentially more, should we say, qualified singers going to be

Exactly. It's becoming, it's becoming more professional if you want and a larger domestic space. I mean, a salon

uh experience in in Paris is going to be virtually the same audience that you have in the opera. Yeah. I mean, it's

not a living room like mine or or even yours. You know, we're talking we're talking

big big spaces, grand palatial first floor rooms, which we would which we would regard as public events, not

private events in any realistic sense. All right. I think it's it's time to to bring out our song for this evening.

Amore immor um tell us a bit about this. Yeah, this um uh there's a genre of of of these um

you could call it the sort of aestheticization of death if you want. the idea of the dying man or woman. Uh

and this actually this poem by Redelli was uh extremely popular very very often sung uh in these salon um circumstances.

And shall I read the text? How would that be? Please do. So this is um the song of a dying man and the opening it

says hear from a dying man hear the final uh sounds of a dying man and then the the the dying man comes in and says

right this faded flower I leave you al as a gift I don't know why it's always vira elvver is a very very popular

addressy at this time so you understand how precious this flower is on the day you became mine I stole it from your

breast So then it was a symbol of our love. Now it's a symbol of sorrow. Place it once more on your breast, this faded

flower, and you will have engraved on your heart how it was stolen from you and now it's returned to you at this

last moment. So there's this sort of lyricization of the dying man. Yeah. Impressive as your live lit reading

combo was, Roger, I think there's there's a lot to discuss here. Let's come back to it in just a moment. But

before we talk in more detail about the text, let's hear how Doniteti actually sets it. So here is Baritone Nicola

Alimo with Opera's artistic director Carlo Ritzi at the piano in Doniteti's Amora Emort, Love and Death.

[Music] water. [Music]

Hold in a strio. [Music] I

see to [Music] thone Nicolola Alimo with Carlo Ritzi at

the piano in the first part of Doneti's Amore Emort and that's from their volume of Donateti songs which is out now from

opera. Um I mean in I'm in danger of saying something really quite vacuous Roger but it's extremely beautiful. Yes.

Um Bellini like in some ways in in that simplicity. It's interesting to um to think about it in comparison with the

oporatic excerpt. Uh one of the things you notice is the range the vocal range is much more restricted. It's virtually

within an octave. So it could be sung, you know, by the daughter of the house, you know, quite easily, but it would be

impressive if she could sustain like Alimod does. Well, yeah. I mean, there there's still, you know, the

professional quality that's brought to it means that you you hear the line. Yeah. Much more clearly. And it's a very

very simple accompaniment. Again, it's got those kind of, you know, those moments of of harmonic. Uh, it's the fly

and the ointment, isn't it? something little turns towards the minor there, which um uh so you can see the same sort

of building blocks as you did in the in the opera, but they're they're they're condensed, you know, which it doesn't

mean simplified necessarily. I think it's condensed, you know, the emotion is still there, but it's it's on a it's on

a smaller bandwidth. Well, it makes it very subtle, doesn't it? There's something incredibly subtle about the

kind of expressivity you get in these songs. And of course the simplicity of the musical surface when it is

relatively simple like that does leave you a lot of space to hear the words. Exactly. And I mean looking at these

listening as you were reading them. I mean this is kind of romanticism 101 isn't it? We've got we've got the faded

flower. We've got nature always there in anything romantic. We've got dying. We've got that comparison with sound as

it dies away and listening. Um you know it's nostalgic to the core. Yeah. It could have been written by Chat GBT,

couldn't it? This I mean, no, it it is absolutely it's a But it's all those tropes mixed together. I mean, I guess

it was written to be fashionable presumably. Exactly. And that's no accident that it did. It captured an

entire generation. So, you think of, you know, countless uh family groups, you know, singing this around the piano. It

it well I guess it's so sort of chased as well that it's very very lowercase are romantic you know it's very

beautiful these these two people who've obviously loved each other but then also it's it's very chased there's nothing

kind of sexy or scary about this as far as parents might be concerned. No exactly and it's it's the yeah the

flower that's passed between them and and so I suppose potentially some euphemism. Yeah. Yeah.

Um well we probably it's a family show here. Exactly. One one could certainly I mean this exchange of flowers famously

become something. Yeah. All that traviata. Yeah. So of course yeah okay I mean let's pan out a little more from

this because there is there's something very powerful about the idea of death in 19th century culture isn't it? There's

this poem is by no means the only instance of death being I suppose we rather grandly might say aestheticized

turned into something immensely beautiful and certainly worth kind of cultural effort. Yes. And it's something

that is um right there. I mean it's almost the the opposite. I mean endlessly people talk today about the

way that you know death has been hidden away from from from society. um in those days I mean this this this tremendous

sort of concentration uh uh on the on thinking about the moment of death and making it beautiful

and making it something which which can which can communicate it can be a sort of cultural act if you want you know

within society that must just thinking emotionally for a minute that must have been so necessary at a time when

mortality rates all over Europe were sort of dreadful compared to today for and you know Donati's own children had

died extraordinarily young and of course his wife had died and that wasn't unusual. I think that's the thing that's

hard for us to grasp isn't it now? No, I mean absolutely. So in some way this is this is a way of coming to terms with

that coming to terms with the with the violence that was was surrounding everyone but it was also in some way

comforting as well. So it's a very complicated emotions that this this well especially I think from today looking

back you know 19th century opera one of the great cliches is it's just full of women dying extravagantly

um we do often think of of that sort of death obsession in the 19th century being very much about the sort of

magnificent moments of female death and yet here we have we have a man yeah and it's interesting that um the opera that

we listen to Maria de Ruden the the tenor the the the one of the the the main lovers uh was Napoleon Morani who

was known as Ilenor de laorte the tenor of the beautiful death. So he he specialized in death really

well. Yeah. Yeah. He specialized he did a good stagger you know and all those kind of things and a good you know sort

of uh sorrowful u uh vocal technique. So, you know, the idea that you you'd have the nickname

of Mort is is exotic for us. It's a it's a very surprising kind of way of acting. Well, it's a kind of it's a reminder, I

suppose, that we are talking about a period before realism took hold in opera that okay, we we can see traces of it

perhaps back then, but ultimately singing and also dying dramatically were not mutually exclusive at all. And I

think one of the things with this song, mostly most of these songs that were written for the salon performance, most

of them would have been sung by women uh by the daughters of the house, you know. So they'd be they'd be singing this

song, which is supposedly the last moments of a man dying, but the you know, a 17-year-old girl would would

sing it. No one would worry about that because you're taking a position, an aesthetic position. Yeah. Yeah. I think

it's time to hear the second half of this song. So, here it is from that new recording by baritone Nicola Alimo and

pianist Carlo Ritzy. [Music] to apples are redee. Imper.

[Music] of [Music]

[Music] you go. No honor. [Music]

No. Uh, that's the second half of Doniteti's song Amore Emort in an extract from Opera's recent release,

Donatetti Songs Volume 2, performed by Nicola Alimo and Carlo Ritzy. Um, Roger, the first time I heard that I was really

taken aback. I hadn't seen it coming. put it that way as a musical shift of atmosphere. Yeah. What do you mean the

shift to the major? Exactly. It's very interesting because in the main manuscript of this song, it was clearly

something Doneti was uh uncertain of. Oh, interesting. Because he left the accompiment in the minor, but the vocal

the vocal note was in the major. So, I mean, it's obviously interchangeable in some ways. I mean, but you can see what

was happening. And it's very common in these ones that in these songs that examine death that very often you get

this kind of beatotific ending which is your rising to the bosom of the angels or whatever. So there's always that that

that moment of of repose if you want with the air. Well, I mean I think as you listen to it, it certainly it feels

like you know like someone switched the lights on or something. It's it the texture becomes suddenly more luminous

because of that those touches of major and then the official sort of landing of it. Yeah. Yeah. So again I mean you you

get the same things we were talking about earlier. Get harmonic complexity which is something that happens to

Doneti as time goes on but it's used in a in a much more transparent way this Yeah. So yeah I suppose that leaves us

once again with the question you know is this a beautiful death? Is it straightforward? Is it has it been

rescued from being tragic after all? You know, can your daughter sing this and everyone can feel good about it? Yes and

no to all those questions. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, that's that's the point of it that it leaves

you. Yeah. It leaves you in this place that you're you're sort of weeping but but happy, you know. It's back to the

idea of these songs are subtle that in their own small way they actually they're quite difficult to pin down

actually. they perform something interesting. Yeah. So, okay, let's let's talk nitty-gritty for a few minutes.

Where was this song actually published? What do we know about that for this one? Yeah, this was um something that

happened to Doneti increasingly as he became more and more famous. The publishers wanted collections of songs

from him and this was one of those collections. It's called Suare Don. So, it's you know the evening, autumn

evenings, nostalgic. Yeah. nostalgic things and they're published in Venice but with French titles they give that

kind of exoticism and these actually made him uh quite considerable amount of money actually these publications I mean

his operas weren't weren't published you know they they they went around in manuscript and just published vocal

scores but these could sell multiple copies in the domestic market and actually paid him reasonably well one of

these one of these publications might pay him as much as writing a complete opera for a theater. So that's really

interesting. Like an artist producing kind of limited edition prints which normal mortals can afford rather than

the massive oil painting which there's only the one. Exactly. So it's the beginning of a kind of you could say a

sort of uh bourgeoa dissemination of these uh of this cultural product. So um it was done in that way. But actually

this song also exists in an autograph which he wrote. Uh again typically for Doniseti he obviously he was remembering

the published version probably wrote it out again. Oh so there's an actual second version. So there's an actual

second version which is much more obvious about ending in the major this time. presumably most people had decided

to end it in the major. And he writes this kind of um he writes uh a que in here that the the the poet dies and then

he writes reququiam next to it which is a kind of joke. You know he's obviously seeing this as uh well look we all know

this is a bit over the top but it's earning me money and it has a cultural function. Yeah. really really

interesting that I mean I think you've told me once before that it's also there's a difference in accompaniment

with the other versions because clearly I mean the in all these songs uh you could say that the accompiment is the

most fluid aspect of it and if you get two versions of a song inevitably what will change is the accompiment and

clearly I think what was happening a lot of the time is that Donny said he would just would just improvise an accompiment

himself and then if he was writing it out he would write out what his improvisation was. So, inevitably it

changed. So, the the the kind of textural status, if you want, of the piano part is less secure than the vocal

part, which tends to be the same in different way. So, it's all it's all really quite slippery with the songs,

isn't it? Whether it's to do with Donatessie's mood or whether it's to do with the actual the stability of the

text. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're harder to hang on to than operas in interesting ways. And they Yeah. They're less

mediated if you want, you know, the they're they're things which uh often exist for a specific occasion. These

these ones that are handwritten. Yeah. Okay. Well, in our next episode, we will of course have time for more songs and

indeed more opera from Donati. We'll be looking to Donati's final years in Paris. Amazing to think that that

episode will be our penultimate one in this season. Roger. Um, in the meantime though, it's time for our regular ask

opera slot, uh, when we give you the chance to ask us questions and direct our discussion. So, if you would like to

get in touch with a query of your own, please do email us. Doesn't matter how large or small the question, uh, email

us at ask opera.com or use the hashtag ask opera on our social media channels. Um, the

links are also in the show notes and we love to hear from you and do answer every question that we get. So, please

do get in touch. Well, Roger, we've had some intriguing queries from our listeners this week. Um, the first I've

got for you is in fact about the concert that we were talking about at the very beginning. Uh, this is a question from

Andrew um from the recent live from the Kadugen Hall broadcast on Opera's YouTube channel. Um, this was of the

Michael Spires, Mali Nicole Yamur and Julio Sappa concert. And he writes, "Are Oparara doing a bellow song project

next? I would definitely support making this a series. Both Mozart and Rossini wrote songs, duets, concert aratas, etc.

They could also be interesting. What do you reckon? Uh they could and uh they have been uh Oprahara tries to do music

which hasn't been done much before. These Donizetti songs huge number of them haven't been heard since the 19th

century. Belellios is out there. Um, Mozart is out there. There there are complete editions of of their work.

Rossini as well. So the bar for rarity is quite high in other words. And u so we you know we we would always I think

try not necessarily to do a work that's never ever been performed before but we want to be sure that we can put it in a

completely different historical light. So I doubt that we're going to be doing Bios in the in the future or Mozart, but

I think the the way in which we've tried to sort of blend these better known composers with Donicetti has been very

interesting both for for them and for the light it sheds on them and also on Donetti. So I thought that that Beerios

Donicetti concert was really fascinating in that way. Yeah. Yeah, me too. And glad you enjoyed it, Andrew. Um all

right, second question. Um, this is from Jessica in London who asks, "I've noticed in my recording booklet that

some songs have multiple names, like the song with Harmonium on the new Lemure album, La Lovis. Why is that? Some of

them have titles uh and some of them don't have titles and it's as simple as that. It actually is quite difficult um

cataloging these things because we should we should clarify if a song doesn't have a title, the convention is

to use the first line of its text. as its title. Yeah. So sometimes uh particularly if they're published

actually the songs they tend to have titles. Um but actually there's a third thing going on here because there are

sometimes lenovo that's a title and then there's the inch bit you know the first line but it may also have what we call a

generic title like canoneta or romano. So sometimes there are three things going on a generic title then a

title then the inipit. Uh yeah. Um so that's how to get confused with a catalog if you want to get really nerdy

about it. Yeah, cataloging is very difficult because of those multiple titles actually. All right, speaking of

nerdiness, uh this question is magnificent in its attention to detail. Um thank you to Enrio for this. Uh this

came from our YouTube channel. Um and is specifically in reference to the Donati song Lamore Festo, which is on Nicolo's

um Alimo's album. Um, Enrico writes, "Bravisimi, the colors you've extracted are full of the right pathos. This is a

masterful performance." I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that. Enrico, is the cello's counterpoint original? Now, that

is a specific question, Roger. Yeah, there. Look, there are a bunch of songs um which most of which we've now

recorded where they're written for a so-called obligato instrument for as well as the piano. So, that's like a

solo instrument along with sometimes clarinet. There's one for harmonium. That's the Len Noise. Um, now there is

um, so there there is a song which is just simply for voice and piano, but there's also a version of it with solo

cello or possibly solo horn as well. You can decide now. Um, I think that's probably Doniteti. It's one of these

songs because he he wanted a a series of six with these obligato instruments, but actually there's no autograph of

Doneti's version with the cello. Uh so it's possible that it was invented by a publisher. Um we don't know exactly. I

included in in the edition partly because it's one of the most famous I mean Dietri Fisher Dcow famously famous

famously recorded it. Um it's probably by Doniti, but I'm not absolutely sure that it is amazing. Well, there are alas

some questions that even Roger can't answer for sure. Um, that's it for this episode. Um, thank you Roger as ever for

sharing your expertise. Um, thank you for watching. It's been a pleasure to have you with us. Um, links to all of

the music featured in today's episode will of course be in our show notes on Opera's website. That's

www.operyenara.com. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel, of course. Maybe even give this video a like. It

helps us to reach other people who might enjoy lives in song as well. And of course, it's a quick and easy way to

support the show. Do join us next time finally as we continue to explore Donatetti's life and talk about his

operas and of course his many songs. I'm Flora Wilson and my co-host today was Opera's repertoire consultant Roger

Parker. Lives in Song is produced for Opera by CreativeKin. To find out more, visit creativekin.co.uk.

Special thanks to our output editor Jason Caffrey. This show's producer is Millie March and the executive producer

is Zachary Vanderberg. Today's show was made possible by the generous support of Andrea Pacino at Opera's 2024 25 season

donates song supporter with additional support from Opera's Donati syndicate. The Donatetti song project is supported

by the Coinston Charitable Trust and the Cocaine Grants for the Arts at the London Community Foundation.

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