Keeping three plots and three sets of music straight in my head has proven to be problematic. I say this for a number of reasons. First, several weeks ago, I ventured to attend Elektra, Les Contes d'Hoffman and Il Trittico within the space of several days. Thinking and writing about all three proved to be too much. Il Trittico fell through the cracks. Then, of course, I had to keep straight in my head the three tales of Hoffman which luckily do have unifying features. Il Trittico's three stories do not. In fact, over the years, the practice has been to perform only one or two of the Il Trittico segments at a time or to pair Il Trittico segments with other operas. Even Puccini apparently did not envisage the same soprano singing all three. So, there is a long history with this opera of three being more than enough.
The result of all of this is that I was not very clear at the time of what to say about Il Trittico and now almost a month later, I am even less clear. I can sum up my comments as follows.
Il Tabarro did not particularly grab me. I think the plot is tight and the shocking ending is impactful. However, one could easily assume that someone will die at the end. I was happy to see Stephanie Blythe whose voice I appreciate along with the veteran Paul Plishka performing in this segment. Patricia Racette began her three-legged race tour-de-force with Il Tabarro. I did like the setting which is on a barge along the Seine. I have always been intrigued by the barges along the Seine and on many occasions, I have spent time photographing them. With due deference to everyone, nothing about Il Tabarro sticks in my mind.
Suor Angelica in my opinion contains some of the most beautiful music that Puccini ever wrote. Here is Senza mamma sung by Renoto Scotto. I believe that Patricia Racette did Suor Angelica justice both in terms of her singing and acting. I do owe her for bringing this wonderful music to life.
I recall Gianni Schicchi as being humorous and well-acted though frankly at the time all of the nuances of the plot eluded me. With Gianni Schicchi, Patricia Racette and Stephanie Blythe both completed this third segment in their respective roles in what must have been a demanding evening. This segment contains the aria O mio babbino caro which has had a great deal of popular appeal. Here is Maria Callas performing the aria in her farewell concert in 1973.
I have never been a great fan of the Chinese menu approach to opera, i.e. one from column A and one from column B. At least in ordering Chinese food, the people ordering can reflect their sense of what goes with what. I could never figure out why Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci are performed together except for the fact that they are both short. When I last saw them at the Met, the unifying factor was Roberto Alagna who sang both lead tenor roles.
In the Tales of Hoffman, though there are three different tales, there are a variety of unifying factors and a larger context for them. With Il Trittico, I can find no reason why the individual operas are all performed together. The end result of an evening of Il Trittico is more like a concert of a symphony orchestra in which different selections are performed. Similar to the Alagna performances referred to, one could at least see this particular evening at the Met as a way of savoring the abilities of Ms. Racette and Ms. Blythe in different operatic vehicles.
As the opera literature points out, the three segments can be interpreted a la Dante in terms of moving from Inferno in Tabarro given the hopelessness displayed to Purgatorio in Suor Angelica with its tale of salvation and then to Paradiso with the life-enhancing tale of the young couple. From my perspective, one could also look at these segments from the perspective of Inferno reflecting different circles of Hell - murder, lust, and greed. I guess that is a bit more of a pessimistic view. In the end, I don't see how any of these cognitive interpretations are supported by the musical development across the three segments.
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