Tea at Trianon: Il Tabarro

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Il Tabarro

Puccini's Il Tabarro debuted in New York City in 1918. Due to the ravages of World War I, an Italian debut was out of the question. Il Tabarro ("The Cloak") was originally staged as part of Il Trittico (“The Triptych”), which included three short operas of Puccini, the two others being Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. Il Tabarro is an example of verismo, which departed from the usual focus of opera on the rich and powerful. Based on the French play La houppelande by Didier Gold, Il Tabarro takes place on the quays of Paris, focusing on the woes of an elderly barge owner Michele, his young wife Giorgetta, and her lover Luigi, the stevedore. In spite of the love story there is little that is truly romantic about Il Tabarro. The liaison between Giorgetta and Luigi arises from the desire to escape existence on the waterfront rather than from any deep affinity. Nevertheless, Puccini's music probes with sensitivity the feelings of anguish, of nostalgia, and of longing for a better life, all while conjuring up the mud and mist of the Seine. The docks are not all dreary; there is music, laughter and gleams of hope. However, since lust and adultery so often lead to murder and death, especially in the operatic world, Il Tabarro comes to a horrific finale. Puccini reveals once again how human passions, when allowed to run rampant, leave a wake of destruction.