THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE
Rossini’s "La Donna del Lago" and Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette"
Setting and plot could hardly be more different in these two works. In the first, the bitter struggle for power between King James V and the insubordinate clans takes place in the Scottish highlands with their dark lakes and sombre castles; in the second, the scene is set in northern Italy, where the smouldering conflict between two families at enmity with each other flares up into a conflagration of disastrous events. And nevertheless the two works have certain similarities, both in structure and inspiration. For one thing, they both rely on English literary sources – something that was common among Romance opera composers in the nineteenth century.
Reason and emotion
Walter Scott’s verse narrative, The Lady of the Lake, which appeared in 1810 as a run-up, as it were, to his famous historical novels, was an extraordinarily popular work. Written in balladic style, the scenes described in the poem – in particular, the mountain lake Loch Katrine – soon became centres of great tourist attraction. This style of writing, with its mixture of scenic panorama, extended oratorical contests and sentimental solutions to awkward predicaments, interspersed with ballads and songs, is completely unpalatable to modern literary tastes. That these very songs once enjoyed great popularity even in German translation can be seen, for example, from the fact that certain elements of Ellen’s song, better known as the Ave Maria, were set to music by Franz Schubert. Scott’s poetic narration also provided Andrea Leone Tottona, Gioacchino Rossini’s librettist, with a wealth of material for portraying the favoured antitheses between love and hate, respect and contempt, reason and emotion. When Elena/Ellen, despite all the perils she encounters, remains faithful to her Malcolm, maintains at the same time her loyalty to her father, Archibald Douglas, and even refuses her hand to her father’s powerful ally, Roderigo di Dhu/Roderick, King Giacomo V/James V, who himself is in love with her, is very impressed by such integrity and strength of character. Renouncing his own interests, he brings the two young lovers together and even forgives the aged Douglas, his former adviser. As the flowery lines at the end of the poem express it: “His chain of gold the King unstrung, The links o’er Malcolm’s neck he flung, Then gently drew the glittering band, And laid the clasp on Ellen’s hand”.
Entrenched positions
Throughout Rossini’s opera – and the poem on which it is based – the hope is always present that the enduring hatred will one day be resolved and that the young lovers will finally be united. When the time is ripe this hope is fulfilled. But in Shakespeare’s tragedy – and Gounod’s lyrical music drama – things turn out differently. The ancient family feud keeps flaring up at regular intervals, blood is spilled, and positions become more and more entrenched. The two lovers who are destined for each other are the helpless victims. The only denouement possible is a transcendental one, one that is not of this earth. In accordance with the aesthetic ideals of the nineteenth century, and in contrast to Shakespeare, Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet are afforded enough stage time, and are endowed with sufficient emotional strength, to go together into a voluntary death: “This moment is bliss! Supreme, everlasting joy, to die with you! Come! A kiss! I love you!”.As it is of no ethical or aesthetic significance whether or not the Montagues and Capulets become reconciled with each other after this demise, the libretto leaves out the final words of the play, spoken by the Prince – Schlegel/Tieck’s German translation of the passage is well known – “For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo”.
Oswald Panagl
Alfred Hrdlicka,
Fidelio, 1990
Charles Gounod
Roméo et Juliette
Concert performance in French
Conductor Bertrand de Billy
Chorus Rupert Huber
Romeo Roberto Alagma
Juliet Angela Gheorghiu
Capulet Philippe Rouillon
Tybalt Vicente Ombuena
Mercutio Manuel Lanza
Friar Lawrence/Duke of Verona
Roberto Scandiuzzi
Benvolio Dietmar Kerschbaum
Stefano Daniela Barcellona
Count Paris Markus Eiche
Gertrude Katharine Goeldner
Gregory, servant Boaz Daniel
Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna
Concert Association of the
Vienna State Opera Chorus
20 and 24 August 2002 Performances begin at 7 p.m.
Both performances are sold out
Telephone: 0043 662 8045-500
Telefax: 0043 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at