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Vanessa (opera)
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Vanessa is an opera in three (originally four) acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958, in a production designed by Cecil Beaton and directed by Menotti. Barber revised the opera in 1964, reducing the four acts to the three-act version most commonly performed today.
the Met premiere, Sena Jurinac was contracted to sing the title role.
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Encyclopedia
Vanessa is an opera in three (originally four) acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958, in a production designed by Cecil Beaton and directed by Menotti. Barber revised the opera in 1964, reducing the four acts to the three-act version most commonly performed today.
Performance history
For the Met premiere, Sena Jurinac was contracted to sing the title role. However, she cancelled six weeks before the opening night and Eleanor Steber replaced her, making it her own for a long time. In the role of Erika, Vanessa's niece, was Rosalind Elias, then a young mezzo-soprano. Nicolai Gedda sang the lover Anatol, mezzo Regina Resnik sang the Baroness, Vanessa's mother, while bass, Giorgio Tozzi, sang the old doctor.
The premiere "was an unqualified success with the audience and with many of the critics as well although they were somewhat qualified in their judgment. Of the final quintet, however, New York Times critic Howard Taubman said it is '…a full-blown set-piece that packs an emotional charge and that would be a credit to any composer anywhere today.' ". Other reports substantiate this and it won Barber the Pulitzer Prize. In Europe, however, it met with a chillier reception.
The Met's Cecil Beaton sets were destroyed by fire in 1973 and, after a long period of few revivals, one being in 1988 by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Washington National Opera (in a co-production with the Dallas Opera) revived the work in 1995 using the 1964 revised and more compact version. Elizabeth Holleque sang the title role .
Kiri Te Kanawa chose to sing the title role in three revivals from 2001 to 2004, the first of which was presented by the Opera de Monte-Carlo in 2001 and the last two, her fareful to the opera stage, in the 2004 Washington National Opera production followed by one at the Los Angeles Opera.
In all three productions, Rosalind Elias, after successfully singing Erika in the 1958 premiere, took on the role of the Baroness. For its 50th anniversary revival by the New York City Opera in November 2007, she was once more featured in that role, with Lauren Flanagan taking the title role.
Highlights from the score include the soprano scena and aria "He has come, he has come!...Do Not Utter a Word" (recorded by Leontyne Price and Renée Fleming), the mezzo aria Must the Winter Come So Soon? (recorded by Denyce Graves), and the last-act quintet, "To Leave, to Break".
Source of the story
In many print media it says that the libretto of Gian-Carlo Menotti is based on some work of Isak Dinesen (alias Karen Blixen), described variously as a "short story" or "novella". However, the story is not found in any of Isak Dinesen's works. There is evidence of Samuel Barber's having read Blixen's Seven Gothic Tales, and the mistaking of the proper source may have come from a proclamation by Menotti and Barber, that the opera reproduced the "atmosphere" of Isak Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales. According to Barbara B. Heyman,, "Menotti recalled, 'I was writing a libretto for Sam, and Sam is essentially a romantic personality...'" Menotti was "inspired by Isak Dinesen's stories, in particular her Seven Gothic Tales. He said, 'I felt that the atmosphere... would make a wonderful opera.' "
Karen Blixen was present at the premier of the opera on January 7, 1959, but part way through the performance she pleaded illness and left the theater. Her secretary wrote that Barber was "upset" by Blixen's premature departure from the opera. Karen Blixen made no public comment.
Roles
Synopsis
- Time: About 1905.
- Place: Vanessa's country house in a northern country.
Act 1
Vanessa, Erika, and the baroness await Anatol's arrival. Vanessa and Anatol were lovers twenty years before. She refuses to reveal her face until he says he still loves her. He does, but she does not recognize him. It is Anatol's son who has come. His father is dead. Erika and Anatol now enjoy the meal meant for Vanessa and his father.
Act 2
The baroness scolds Erika after Anatol seduces her. Erika loves him, but resists his marriage proposal because she doubts his sincerity. Vanessa tells her niece that she also loves Anatol, despite Erika's warning that he is not her former lover. The baroness tells Erika to fight for Anatol. She is unsure if he is worthy of her efforts. He again proposes, and she again declines.
Act 3
The doctor is drunk at a New Year's Eve ball. The baroness and Erika refuse to come to the party to hear his announcement of Anatol and Vanessa's engagement. The doctor goes to fetch them, while Vanessa tells Anatol her fears. Finally Erika returns, but faints, clutching her stomach, as the doctor makes the announcement. She recovers and flees to the lake as Anatol chases after her.
Act 4
Vanessa is happy when Erika is found alive. She asks Anatol why Erika is acting so strangely. He explains that Erika does not love him. Vanessa begs him to take her away. Erika confesses to the baroness that she was pregnant, but no longer. As Vanessa and Anatol prepare to leave, she asks Erika why she ran away. Erika says she was just being foolish. After the couple leave, Erika covers the mirrors and closes up the house, as Vanessa had done before her.
Selected recordings
| Year | Cast:
Vanessa, Erika,
Baroness, Anatol | Conductor,
Opera House and Orchestra | Label |
|---|
| 1958 | Eleanor Steber,
Rosalind Elias,
Regina Resnik,
Nicolai Gedda | Dimitri Mitropoulos,
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus | Audio CD: RCA
Cat: 7899-2-RG,
(cast of world premiere, per booklet with original LP recording) | | 1958 | Eleanor Steber,
Rosalind Elias,
Ira Malaniuk,
Nicolai Gedda | Dimitri Mitropoulos,
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus | Audio CD: Orfeo
Cat: C653062I (European premiere) | | 2002 | Ellen Chickering,
Andrea Matthews,
Marion Dry,
Ray Bauwens | Gil Rose,
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and Capella Dumka of Ukraine | Audio CD: Naxos
Cat:8.669140-41 | | 2003 | Christine Brewer,
Susan Graham,
Catherine Wyn-Rogers,
William Burden | Leonard Slatkin,
BBC Symphony Orchestra | Super Audio CD: Chandos
Cat:CHSA 5032(2) |
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