This week Im pleased to present a twentieth-century masterpiece on the Opera House: Igor Stravinskys The Rake’s Progress. Starting in the 1920s, Stravinsky turned to neoclassicism, a genre that frequently concealed a vein of intense emotion beneath a surface appearance of detachment or austerity, and often paid tribute to the music of earlier masters. Stravinsky completed The Rake’s Progress to a libretto by W. H. Auden based on etchings of William Hogarth that he had seen in a 1947 Chicago exhibition. The opera was first performed in Venice on September 11, 1951. Tom Rakewell (tenor Jerry Hadley) leaves Anne Trulove (soprano Dawn Upshaw) to go to London when Nick Shadow (bass Samuel Ramey) appears with news of sudden wealth. His physical pleasures palling, Tom is easily tempted by Shadow, now his servant, first to marry the fantastic bearded lady Baba the Turk (mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry) and then to place his trust in a fake machine for turning stones into bread. He goes bankrupt, and all his effects are sold. The year and a day stipulated by Shadow for their association being at an end, Shadow reveals himself as the Devil and claims Toms soul. But Shadow suggests a gamble for Toms soul, and Tom wins. Shadow sinks into the ground, but makes Tom mad. The final scene finds Tom in an insane asylum, believing himself to be Adonis. Anne now takes her last leave of him. In the Epilogue the characters point to this moral: For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds a work to do. Kent Nagano conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Lyon Opera in this 1996 Erato recording, CD number 12715. From a 1975 Glyndebourne Opera performance, Samuel Ramey sings I burn, I freeze: youtu.be/flN9OBlfsjg. Celebrating the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, who is believed to have been born on this date in 1813, well hear excerpts from three of his works: I Lombardi, La Traviata, and Falstaff--featuring June Anderson, Cheryl Studer, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons, Bryn Terfel, and Samuel Ramey. James Levine conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. During the next two Thursday evenings well be asking listeners to show your new or continuing support for the Opera House. Ill be playing arias, choruses, and ensembles from our extensive library of recorded operas, and well be featuring highlights from our thank-you gifts: tenor Juan Diego Flórezs new CD, LAmour, and a four-DVD set of light operas by the British team of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Opera House is heard every Thursday evening at 7 o’clock in the Eastern time zone on 89.7 FM in central North Carolina, and we’re streamed online at theclassicalstation.org.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:52:57 +0000
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