Master Peter's Puppet Show
Encyclopedia
El retablo de maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show) is a puppet-opera
in one act with a prologue
and epilogue
, composed by Manuel de Falla
to a Spanish
libretto
based on an episode from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
. The libretto is a faithful adaptation of Cervantes's text, from Chapter 26 of the second part of Don Quixote, with some words edited. Falla composed this opera "in devoted homage to the glory of Miguel de Cervantes" and dedicated it to the Princess de Polignac
, who commissioned the work. Because of its brief length by operatic standards (about 27 minutes), it is not part of the standard operatic repertoire.
Otto Mayer-Serra has described this opera as a work where Falla reached beyond "Andalusianism" for his immediate musical influence and colour and began the transition into the "Hispanic neo-classicism" of his later works.
In 1919 Winnaretta Singer
, aka la Princesse Edmond de Polignac, commissioned from Falla a piece that could be played in her salon, at her own elaborate puppet theater. (Her other commissions included Igor Stravinsky
's Renard
and Erik Satie
's Socrate
, although neither of those works had its premiere in her private theater.) The work was completed in 1923. Falla decided to set an episode from Cervantes's Don Quixote that actually depicts a puppet play. He wrote his own libretto, cutting and splicing from chapters 25 and 26 of Part II. The protagonist watches a puppet show and gets so drawn into the action that he seeks to rescue the damsel in distress, only to destroy poor Master Peter's puppet theater in the process.
Falla's original plan for the Princess's theater was a two-tiered, play-within-a-play approach - large puppets representing Quixote, Master Peter, and the others in attendance, and small figures for Master Peter's puppets. The three singers would be with the orchestra in the pit, rather than onstage. After a concert performance cum dress rehearsal in Seville in March 1923, that is how it was performed with the Princess's puppets in the music room of her Paris estate in June that year, with Vladimir Golschmann
conducting. Hector Dufranne
sang Quijote (Quixote), Wanda Landowska
played the harpsichord (Falla composed his Harpsichord Concerto for her in appreciation), and Ricardo Viñes
and Emilio Pujol
were among the artists and musicians serving as stagehands. Also at the premiere was Francis Poulenc
, who met Landowska for the first time; she asked him to write a harpsichord concerto for her, and his Concert champêtre
was the result.
Paris staged premiere (World staged premiere)
Sets and puppets by Hermenegildo Lanz, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, José Viñes Roda and Hernando Viñes. Staging under the direction of Manuel de Falla.
The premiere was attended by the poets, musicians and painters who comprised the exclusive court of the Princess de Polignac. Five days later, Corpus Barga published a report in El Sol with verbal portraits of some of those present: Paul Valery , " the poet of the day, making gestures like a shipwrecked man drowning in the waves of feminine shoulders'; Stravinsky, "a mouse among the cats " and Pablo Picasso "in evening dress, and mobbed by everybody , [who] seems as though he is resting in a corner with his hat pulled down over one eyebrow ", and the artist José Maria Sert.
in Paris celebrated Falla's 50th birthday with a program consisting of La Vida Breve
, El Amor Brujo
, and El retablo de maese Pedro. That performance used new designs by Falla's close friend, the artist Ignacio Zuloaga
, and new marionettes carved by Zuloaga's brother-in-law, Maxime Dethomas
. For this production singers and extras replaced the large puppets, and Falla and Zuloaga took part personally, with Zuloaga playing Sancho Panza and de Falla playing the innkeeper. Also in 1926, in April, Luis Buñuel
directed the opera in Amsterdam, using real actors for some of the roles. Later performances have frequently used singers and actors to replace the puppets. José Carreras
made his operatic debut at age 11 as the boy narrator, Trujamán, in a 1958 production conducted by José Iturbi
at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
(doubling piccolo
), 2 oboe
s, cor anglais
), clarinet
, bassoon
, 2 horns
, trumpet
, percussion (bell, tenor drum, rattles, tambourine, tam-tam, xylophone), timpani
, harpsichord
, harp-lute (or harp
), string
s.
Score published by J. London & W. Chester
Dedication: “Très respectueusement dédié a Madame la Princesse Edmond de Polignac”
Time: 1615
Setting: the courtyard of an inn at an undetermined place in La Mancha
, Spain
(possibly Ossa de Montiel).
"Vengan, vengan, a ver vuesas mercedes..." (Come, come and see, mylords).
The boy adds that the Moors have no due criminal process. Don Quixote takes exception to this and stands up to make his objection: Master Peter tells the boy to keep to the story, without adding his own embellishments. "Niño, niño, seguid vuestra historia en línea recta..." ("Boy, boy: follow your tale in straight way"). The puppeteer returns to his booth and Don Quixote sits down.
The Moors soldiers are pursuing them. Don Quixote is enraged to see Moors in pursuit of the Christian couple. The boy points out the figures now pursuing Don Gayferos and Melisendra, with trumpets and drums, about to catch the fugitives. At this moment, Don Quixote can't distance himself from the violence onstage: convinced the puppets are real, he leaps up, draws his sword and attacks the puppets, destroying the puppet theater. "Alto, malnacida canalla, non les sigáis" ("Stop, damned fool, don't pursue them").
From Celebrating Don Quixote by Joseph Horowitz:
1953. F. Charles Adler
, cond.; Otto Wiener
(baritone), Waldemar Kmentt (tenor), Ilona Steingruber (sop.). Wiener Staatsopernorchester. SPA-Records 43 (1 LP).
1953. Eduard Toldrà
, cond.; Manuel Ausensi (baritone), Gaetano Renon (tenor), Lola Rodríguez de Aragón (sop.). Orc. National de la Radiodiffusion Française (Théatre Champs Elysées). Angel 35089 (2 LP); Columbia FXC 217 (1 LP); Fonit 303 (1 LP); EMI 569 235-2 (4 CD, 1996).
1954. Ernesto Halffter, cond.; Chano González (bass), Francisco Navarro (tenor), Blanca Seoane (sop.). Orc. Théatre Champs Elysées. Ducretet 255 C 070 (1 LP); MCA Classics MCAD 10481 (1 CD).
1958. Ataúlfo Argenta, cond. Raimundo Torres (bass), Carlos Munguía (tenor), Julita Bermejo (sop.). Orquesta Nacional de España. Decca TWS SXL 2260 (1 LP). RCA, London.
1961. Pedro de Freitas Branco, cond.; Renato Cesari (baritone), Pedro Lavirgen (tenor), Teresa Tourné (sop.). Orq. de Conciertos de Madrid. Erato; Grande Musique d'Espagne GME 221 (1 CD)
1966. Ernesto Halffter, cond.; Pedro Farrés (bass), José María Higuero (tenor), Isabel Penagos (sop.). Orq. Radiotelevisión Español. Live from Teatro de la Zarzuela performance. Almaviva (1996) (1 CD).
1973. Odón Alonso, cond.; Pedro Farrés (baritone), Julio Julián (tenor), Isabel Penagos (sop.). Orq. alla Scala of Milan. Zafiro (1 LP).
1977. Charles Dutoit
, cond.; Manuel Bermúdez (bar.), Tomás Cabrera (ten.), Ana Higueras-Aragón (sop.). Instrumental Ensemble. Erato STU 70713.
1980. Simon Rattle
, cond.; Peter Knapp (baritone), Alexander Oliver (tenor), Jennifer Smith (sop.). London Sinfonietta. Argo ZRG 921 (1 LP); Decca 433 908-2 (2 CD).
1990. Josep Pons, cond.; Iñaki Fresán (baritone); Joan Cabero (tenor), Joan Martín (boy treble). Orq. de Cambra del Teatre Lliure (Barcelona). Harmonia Mundi HMC 905213 (1 CD).
1990. Charles Dutoit, cond.; Justino Díaz
(baritone), Joan Cabero (tenor), Xavier Cabero (boy treble). Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. Decca 071 145-1 ½ CDV (Film 27’51).
1991. Robert Ziegler, cond.; Matthew Best (bar.), Adrian Thompson (ten.), Samuel Linay (treble).Matrix Ensemble. ASV CDDCA 758 (1 CD).
1994. Eduardo Mata, cond.; William Alverado (bar.), Miguel Cortez (ten.), Lourdes Ambriz (sop.). Solistas de México. Dorian DOR 90214 (1 CD).
1997. Diego Dini Ciacci, cond.; Ismael Pons-Tena (baritone), Jordi Galofré (tenor), Natacha Valladares (soprano). I Cameristi del Teatro alla Scala (Milan). Naxos 8.553499 (1 CD).
2007. Jean-François Heisser, cond.; Jérôme Correas (baritone), Eric Huchet (tenor), Chantal Perraud (sop.). Orch. Poitou-Charentes. Mirare.
in 1992, and features Justino Diaz
as Don Quixote, Xavier Cabero as the Boy, and Joan Cabero as Maese Pedro, with Charles Dutoit
conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
. In this production, the human characters are portrayed by real actors, while the puppets remain puppets. The production, unfortunately, has been released without English subtitles, unlike the original telecast and the VHS edition. In the DVD edition, an English translation of the opera is included in the accompanying booklet.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in one act with a prologue
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
and epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
, composed by Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
to a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
based on an episode from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
. The libretto is a faithful adaptation of Cervantes's text, from Chapter 26 of the second part of Don Quixote, with some words edited. Falla composed this opera "in devoted homage to the glory of Miguel de Cervantes" and dedicated it to the Princess de Polignac
Winnaretta Singer
Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac was an American musical patron and heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.-Early Life and Family:...
, who commissioned the work. Because of its brief length by operatic standards (about 27 minutes), it is not part of the standard operatic repertoire.
Otto Mayer-Serra has described this opera as a work where Falla reached beyond "Andalusianism" for his immediate musical influence and colour and began the transition into the "Hispanic neo-classicism" of his later works.
Performance History
Winnaretta Singer
Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac was an American musical patron and heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune.-Early Life and Family:...
, aka la Princesse Edmond de Polignac, commissioned from Falla a piece that could be played in her salon, at her own elaborate puppet theater. (Her other commissions included Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Renard
Renard (Stravinsky)
Renard, Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée is a one-act chamber opera-ballet by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1916. The Russian text by the composer was based on Russian folk tales from the collection by Alexander Afanasyev.The full Russian name of the piece is: Ба́йка про лису́, петуха́, кота́, да...
and Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
's Socrate
Socrate
Socrate is a work for voice and piano by Erik Satie. First published in 1919 for voice and piano, in 1920 a different publisher reissued the piece "revised and corrected". A third version of the work exists, for small orchestra and voice, for which the manuscript has disappeared and which is...
, although neither of those works had its premiere in her private theater.) The work was completed in 1923. Falla decided to set an episode from Cervantes's Don Quixote that actually depicts a puppet play. He wrote his own libretto, cutting and splicing from chapters 25 and 26 of Part II. The protagonist watches a puppet show and gets so drawn into the action that he seeks to rescue the damsel in distress, only to destroy poor Master Peter's puppet theater in the process.
Falla's original plan for the Princess's theater was a two-tiered, play-within-a-play approach - large puppets representing Quixote, Master Peter, and the others in attendance, and small figures for Master Peter's puppets. The three singers would be with the orchestra in the pit, rather than onstage. After a concert performance cum dress rehearsal in Seville in March 1923, that is how it was performed with the Princess's puppets in the music room of her Paris estate in June that year, with Vladimir Golschmann
Vladimir Golschmann
Vladimir Golschmann was a French conductor.-Biography:Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris. He studied violin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a notable advocate of the music of the composers known as Les six. In Paris, he had his own concert series, the Concerts Golschmann, which began...
conducting. Hector Dufranne
Hector Dufranne
Hector Dufranne was a Belgian operatic bass-baritone who enjoyed a long career that took him to opera houses throughout Europe and the United States for more than four decades...
sang Quijote (Quixote), Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska was a Polish harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century...
played the harpsichord (Falla composed his Harpsichord Concerto for her in appreciation), and Ricardo Viñes
Ricardo Viñes
Ricardo Viñes was a Spanish pianist. He first publicly performed many important works by Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Manuel de Falla, Déodat de Séverac and Isaac Albéniz. He was also the piano teacher of composer Francis Poulenc and pianist Léo-Pol Morin.He was born in Lleida,...
and Emilio Pujol
Emilio Pujol
Emili Pujol Vilarrubí was a composer and the leading twentieth century musicologist and classical guitar teacher.- Biography :...
were among the artists and musicians serving as stagehands. Also at the premiere was Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
, who met Landowska for the first time; she asked him to write a harpsichord concerto for her, and his Concert champêtre
Concert champêtre
Concert champêtre is a harpsichord concerto by Francis Poulenc, which also exists in a version for piano solo with very slight changes in the solo part....
was the result.
Premieres
Seville concert premiere (World premiere)- Date: 23 March 1923
- Place: Teatro San Fernando, SevilleSevilleSeville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... - Conductor: Manuel de FallaManuel de FallaManuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
Paris staged premiere (World staged premiere)
- Date: 25 June 1923
- Place: Palace of the Princess of Polignac, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... - Conductor: Vladimir Golschmann
Sets and puppets by Hermenegildo Lanz, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, José Viñes Roda and Hernando Viñes. Staging under the direction of Manuel de Falla.
The premiere was attended by the poets, musicians and painters who comprised the exclusive court of the Princess de Polignac. Five days later, Corpus Barga published a report in El Sol with verbal portraits of some of those present: Paul Valery , " the poet of the day, making gestures like a shipwrecked man drowning in the waves of feminine shoulders'; Stravinsky, "a mouse among the cats " and Pablo Picasso "in evening dress, and mobbed by everybody , [who] seems as though he is resting in a corner with his hat pulled down over one eyebrow ", and the artist José Maria Sert.
Later performances
Falla went on to tour the piece quite successfully throughout Spain with the Orquesta Bética, a chamber orchestra he had founded in 1922. El retablo de maese Pedro was a great success for Falla, with performances and new productions all over Europe within a few years of the premiere. In 1926 the Opéra ComiqueOpera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in Paris celebrated Falla's 50th birthday with a program consisting of La Vida Breve
La vida breve
La vida breve is an opera in two acts and four scenes by Manuel de Falla to an original Spanish libretto by Carlos Fernández-Shaw...
, El Amor Brujo
El amor brujo
El amor brujo is a piece of music originally composed by Manuel de Falla for a chamber group, then re-scored as a symphonic suite, and eventually as a ballet...
, and El retablo de maese Pedro. That performance used new designs by Falla's close friend, the artist Ignacio Zuloaga
Ignacio Zuloaga
Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta was a Basque Spanish painter, born in Eibar, near the monastery of Loyola. He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and director of the royal armoury in Madrid.-Biography:In his youth, he drew and worked in his father's...
, and new marionettes carved by Zuloaga's brother-in-law, Maxime Dethomas
Maxime Dethomas
Maxime Pierre Dethomas was a painter, draughtsman, pastellist, lithographer, illustrator, and was "among the best known metteurs en scene and decorators" of theatres. As an artist, Dethomas was highly regarded by his contemporaries and exhibited widely, both within France and abroad...
. For this production singers and extras replaced the large puppets, and Falla and Zuloaga took part personally, with Zuloaga playing Sancho Panza and de Falla playing the innkeeper. Also in 1926, in April, Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
directed the opera in Amsterdam, using real actors for some of the roles. Later performances have frequently used singers and actors to replace the puppets. José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
made his operatic debut at age 11 as the boy narrator, Trujamán, in a 1958 production conducted by José Iturbi
José Iturbi
José Iturbi was a Spanish conductor, harpsichordist and pianist. He appeared in several Hollywood films of the 1940s, notably playing himself in the 1943 musical, Thousands Cheer and in the 1945 film, Anchors Aweigh...
at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 25 June 1923 (Conductor: Vladimir Golschmann Vladimir Golschmann Vladimir Golschmann was a French conductor.-Biography:Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris. He studied violin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a notable advocate of the music of the composers known as Les six. In Paris, he had his own concert series, the Concerts Golschmann, which began... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Don Quijote (Don Quixote) | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... or baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Hector Dufranne Hector Dufranne Hector Dufranne was a Belgian operatic bass-baritone who enjoyed a long career that took him to opera houses throughout Europe and the United States for more than four decades... |
| Maese Pedro (Master Peter) | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
|
| Trujamán, the boy | treble Boy soprano A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily... or soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
|
| Sancho Panza | non-singing | |
| The innkeeper | non-singing | |
| A student | non-singing | |
| The page | non-singing | |
| Men with lances and halberds | ||
Scoring
Ensemble: fluteFlute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
(doubling piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
), clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, 2 horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, percussion (bell, tenor drum, rattles, tambourine, tam-tam, xylophone), timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, harp-lute (or harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
), string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
s.
Score published by J. London & W. Chester
Dedication: “Très respectueusement dédié a Madame la Princesse Edmond de Polignac”
Synopsis
Setting: the courtyard of an inn at an undetermined place in La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(possibly Ossa de Montiel).
- El Pregón (The announcement): Don Quixote and Sancho Panza witness a puppet show presented by Master Peter the puppeteer. He appears ringing a bell, with a monkey on his shoulder. He calls for attention and announces the performance of "The Tale of Melisendra", a story about the adoptive daughter of Charlemagne who has been abducted by the Moors and taken to Saragossa. The show, performed by smaller puppets, enacts the following.
"Vengan, vengan, a ver vuesas mercedes..." (Come, come and see, mylords).
- La Sinfonía de maese Pedro (Master Peter's symphony). The audience comes in, Don Quixote being bowed to a place in the front row, his long legs stretched in front of him or crossed during the following performance.
- Historia de la libertad de Melisendra (Tale of the rescue of Melisendra, introduction): The narration is sung by Master Peter's apprentice (the Boy or Trujamán): he begins introducing the subject. "Esta verdadera historia..." (This true story...).
- Scene I. La corte de Carlomagno (Charlemagne's court): The palace of Charlemagne. Melisendra, the emperor’s adoptive daughter, is held captive in Saragossa by the Moorish king Marsilio. Her husband Don Gayferos, however, remains idle, preoccupied with his games of chess. The scene is now revealed of the court of Charlemagne, where Don Gayferos is playing chess with Don Roland. The boy draws attention to Charlemagne himself, who is angry and urges Don Gayferos to action. The latter refuses the help of Roland and will set out himself to rescue Melisendra. The scene is acted after the narrative explanation, the two knights rising from their game as the Emperor enters to appropriately stately music and confronts Don Gayferos, striking him with his sceptre, before turning away. Left alone, the two knights quarrel and Don Gayferos storms out in anger.
- Scene II. Melisendra. "Ahora verán la torre del Alcázar de Zaragoza..." (Now, you are seeing the tower of the castle of Zaragoza"). A tower at the castle of Saragossa: there is the captive Melisendra thinking of her husband and Paris. A Moorish soldier approaches stealthily and steals a kiss from her. She calls for help, tearing her hair, and the Moor is seized by the guards. The boy continues the story, telling how the Moor is taken through the streets to the town square, where he will be given two hundred blows, condemned almost as soon as the crime had been committed.
The boy adds that the Moors have no due criminal process. Don Quixote takes exception to this and stands up to make his objection: Master Peter tells the boy to keep to the story, without adding his own embellishments. "Niño, niño, seguid vuestra historia en línea recta..." ("Boy, boy: follow your tale in straight way"). The puppeteer returns to his booth and Don Quixote sits down.
- Scene III. El suplicio del moro (The Moorish's punishment): The Moorish soldier is punished: the blows of the executioners in time with the music. The Moor falls and is dragged away by the guards.
- Scene IV. Los Pirineos (The Pyrenees): Don Gayferos rides through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees. He is wrapped in a long cloak and carries a hunting-horn, which he blows now and again. The curtain closes again and the boy describes how Melisendra, at the window of her tower, talks to a stranger in the street below, asking him to ask in Paris for Don Gayferos: the knight reveals his identity and sets her on his horse, riding now to Paris once more.
- Scene V. La fuga (The escape): Melisendra is rescued by Gayferos. They ride off toward Paris. The boy wishes them well, with happiness in lives as long as Nestor's, a comment that induces Master Peter to tell him to keep to the point. "Llaneza, muchacho, no te encumbres, que toda afectación es mala" (Simplicity, boy, don't climb too much, that any affectation is bad). The curtain now opens for the last time, showing King Marsilio summoning his guards, the boy pointing with his wand to the figures, as he tells the story. The Moors realize the escape and raise the alarm.
- Scene VI. La persecución (The pursuit): All the city is in turmoil, with bells ringing from the minarets. Don Quixote jumps up to object, since the Moors do not have church bells, but drums and shawms. ("Eso no, que es un gran disparate": "That is not, it is a great nonsense"). Master Peter pokes his head out of the booth to tell Don Quixote not to be such a stickler for accuracy, since plays are always full of inaccuracies of this kind. Don Quixote agrees and sits down again.
The Moors soldiers are pursuing them. Don Quixote is enraged to see Moors in pursuit of the Christian couple. The boy points out the figures now pursuing Don Gayferos and Melisendra, with trumpets and drums, about to catch the fugitives. At this moment, Don Quixote can't distance himself from the violence onstage: convinced the puppets are real, he leaps up, draws his sword and attacks the puppets, destroying the puppet theater. "Alto, malnacida canalla, non les sigáis" ("Stop, damned fool, don't pursue them").
- Finale: He declares himself a knight errant in thrall to the fair Dulcinea. ("Y vosotros: caballero Don Gaiferos, hermosa y bella señora Melisendra..." ("And you: knight Don Gaiferos, beautiful lady Melisendra"). He sings his love for Dulcinea: "Oh, Dulcinea, señora de mi vida" ("Oh, Dulcinea, lady of my life")and his own exploit and those of the knights of old, while Master Peter can only stare in despair at the havoc wrought on his puppets.
Musical analysis
The musical idiom abandons the Andalusian taste of Falla's earlier work in favor of medieval and Renaissance sources; for his narrator, Falla adapted the sung public proclamations, or "pregones", of the old Spanish villages. Falla borrowed themes from the Baroque guitarist Gaspar Sanz, the 16th-century organist and theorist Francisco Salinas, and Spanish folk traditions (but Castilian folk music, not Andalusian), in addition to his own evocative inventions. His scoring, for a small orchestra featuring the then-unfamiliar sound of the harpsichord, was lean, pungent, neo-classical in a highly personal and original way, and pointedly virtuosic. The output is a completely original music, apparently simple, but of a great richness. The match of music and text is one of the greatest achievements of the work: as never before Spanish language finds here its genuine musical expression.From Celebrating Don Quixote by Joseph Horowitz:
- "The work is surprisingly theatrical. It bristles with wit and limitless panache. It percolates with such subtle details as Don Quixote's long and ungainly legs - the only part of him which remains visible once Master Peter's production begins;'during the show, Falla specifies, 'they will remain in view, sometimes at rest, sometimes crossed over one another.' Beyond praise is Falla's juxtaposition of his two puppet casts and the pacing that propels their climactic convergence when Don Quixote rises to intervene for Melisandra (at which point the other puppet spectators crane their necks to better observe the action). This peak, cunningly scaled, recedes to an equally precise denouement: Don Quixote's closing salutation to knights errant (culled from a different chapter of the novel), with which he finally and fully pre-empts center stage."
Recordings
1950. Ataúlfo Argenta, cond.; E. D. Bovi (baritone), E. de la Vara (tenor), Lola Rodríguez de Aragón (sop.). Orq. Nacional de España. Columbia RG 16109-12 (1 disc 78 rpm).1953. F. Charles Adler
Frederick Charles Adler
Frederick Charles Adler was an English-German conductor....
, cond.; Otto Wiener
Otto Wiener
Otto Wiener was an Austrian baritone, notable for his performances in the operas of Richard Wagner.He was born in Vienna, joined the Vienna Boys' Choir at the age of six, and started his adult career as a concert singer before making his stage debut in 1953 at Graz in the title-role of Simon...
(baritone), Waldemar Kmentt (tenor), Ilona Steingruber (sop.). Wiener Staatsopernorchester. SPA-Records 43 (1 LP).
1953. Eduard Toldrà
Eduard Toldrà
Eduard Toldrà Soler was a Spanish Catalan conductor and composer.Toldrà played an important role in the Culture of Barcelona. In 1944 he founded the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where his deputy in 1957 was his friend Ricardo Lamote de Grignon...
, cond.; Manuel Ausensi (baritone), Gaetano Renon (tenor), Lola Rodríguez de Aragón (sop.). Orc. National de la Radiodiffusion Française (Théatre Champs Elysées). Angel 35089 (2 LP); Columbia FXC 217 (1 LP); Fonit 303 (1 LP); EMI 569 235-2 (4 CD, 1996).
1954. Ernesto Halffter, cond.; Chano González (bass), Francisco Navarro (tenor), Blanca Seoane (sop.). Orc. Théatre Champs Elysées. Ducretet 255 C 070 (1 LP); MCA Classics MCAD 10481 (1 CD).
1958. Ataúlfo Argenta, cond. Raimundo Torres (bass), Carlos Munguía (tenor), Julita Bermejo (sop.). Orquesta Nacional de España. Decca TWS SXL 2260 (1 LP). RCA, London.
1961. Pedro de Freitas Branco, cond.; Renato Cesari (baritone), Pedro Lavirgen (tenor), Teresa Tourné (sop.). Orq. de Conciertos de Madrid. Erato; Grande Musique d'Espagne GME 221 (1 CD)
1966. Ernesto Halffter, cond.; Pedro Farrés (bass), José María Higuero (tenor), Isabel Penagos (sop.). Orq. Radiotelevisión Español. Live from Teatro de la Zarzuela performance. Almaviva (1996) (1 CD).
1973. Odón Alonso, cond.; Pedro Farrés (baritone), Julio Julián (tenor), Isabel Penagos (sop.). Orq. alla Scala of Milan. Zafiro (1 LP).
1977. Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
, cond.; Manuel Bermúdez (bar.), Tomás Cabrera (ten.), Ana Higueras-Aragón (sop.). Instrumental Ensemble. Erato STU 70713.
1980. Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
, cond.; Peter Knapp (baritone), Alexander Oliver (tenor), Jennifer Smith (sop.). London Sinfonietta. Argo ZRG 921 (1 LP); Decca 433 908-2 (2 CD).
1990. Josep Pons, cond.; Iñaki Fresán (baritone); Joan Cabero (tenor), Joan Martín (boy treble). Orq. de Cambra del Teatre Lliure (Barcelona). Harmonia Mundi HMC 905213 (1 CD).
1990. Charles Dutoit, cond.; Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz is an internationally renowned bass-baritone opera singer. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the "first" Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto...
(baritone), Joan Cabero (tenor), Xavier Cabero (boy treble). Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. Decca 071 145-1 ½ CDV (Film 27’51).
1991. Robert Ziegler, cond.; Matthew Best (bar.), Adrian Thompson (ten.), Samuel Linay (treble).Matrix Ensemble. ASV CDDCA 758 (1 CD).
1994. Eduardo Mata, cond.; William Alverado (bar.), Miguel Cortez (ten.), Lourdes Ambriz (sop.). Solistas de México. Dorian DOR 90214 (1 CD).
1997. Diego Dini Ciacci, cond.; Ismael Pons-Tena (baritone), Jordi Galofré (tenor), Natacha Valladares (soprano). I Cameristi del Teatro alla Scala (Milan). Naxos 8.553499 (1 CD).
2007. Jean-François Heisser, cond.; Jérôme Correas (baritone), Eric Huchet (tenor), Chantal Perraud (sop.). Orch. Poitou-Charentes. Mirare.
DVD release
A filmed version in color of the opera is included on the DVD release Nights in the Gardens of Spain. This is the same film version which was telecast by A&EA&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
in 1992, and features Justino Diaz
Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz is an internationally renowned bass-baritone opera singer. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the "first" Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto...
as Don Quixote, Xavier Cabero as the Boy, and Joan Cabero as Maese Pedro, with Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
. In this production, the human characters are portrayed by real actors, while the puppets remain puppets. The production, unfortunately, has been released without English subtitles, unlike the original telecast and the VHS edition. In the DVD edition, an English translation of the opera is included in the accompanying booklet.
External links
- Liner Notes including synopsis from the 1997 Naxos recording.
- Begoña Lolo (translated by Jacqueline Minett), The Presence of Don Quixote in Music - Beyond the Centenary Celebrations, Goldberg MagazineGoldberg MagazineGoldberg Magazine was a Spanish-based publication devoted to early music and Baroque music. The magazine was initially published in bilingual English/Spanish and English/French versions...
, December/January 2005.