Verdi-Gossett Becoming A Citizen The Chorus in Risorgimento Opera

Becoming a Citizen: The Chorus in "Risorgimento" Opera
Author(s): Philip Gossett

Source: Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1990), pp. 41-64
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/823791
Accessed: 16-02-2016 02:12 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/823791?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Cambridge Opera Journal.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 129.137.5.42 on Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:12:28 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
CambridgeOperaJournal,2, 1, 41-64
Becoming a citizen:
The chorus in Risorgimento opera
PHILIP GOSSETT
Just as politics can be analysed as a cultural and symbolic enterprise (that is,
as theatre in the broadest sense), so too can theatre or opera (in a narrower
sense) be analysed as political.1 Jonathan Dollimore identifies various conflict-
ing processes at work in Renaissance English theatre: the 'consolidation' of
power by a dominant order; the 'subversion of that order'; and the 'containment
of ostensibly subversive pressures'.2We need not accept Dollimore's essentially
Marxist analysis of these processes in order to recognise the validity of his
assertion that 'the theatre [is] a prime location for the representationand legitim-
ation of power'.3 But the way such power is consolidated, subverted or con-
tained depends on the political and social systems in which the theatre operates.
The issues are complex enough when one focuses on plays produced in Eliza-
bethan or Jacobean London. They become even more difficult to sort out when
single works or groups of related works are performed over a period of time
in various locations, each with its own societal configuration, as in the different
political entities that comprised the Italian peninsula during the first half of
the nineteenth century (to which might be added the other European and even
American audiences to which they were played). Under such circumstances,
how can we measure the political implications of these works? Where does
their meaning reside? How does that meaning change as a function of time
or geography?
It is a commonplace of music history that in the choruses of nineteenth-century
Italian opera, particularly those of Giuseppe Verdi, a people found its voice.4
There is ample evidence that this perception was widespread among contempor-
aries. In his Filosofia della musica of 1836, Giuseppe Mazzini, patriot, founder
A version of this paper was delivered at the Gauss seminar, The Theatre of Politics in Europe:
1789 and After, at Princeton University in the spring of 1989. Other versions were earlier
presented at Reed College and Mount Holyoke College. I am grateful to Gabriel Dotto
and Roger Parkerfor helpful readings and suggestions.
2 See his introduction to Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield, eds., Political
Shakespeare:
New Essaysin Cultural Materialism (Ithaca and London, 1985), 10.
3 Dollimore, 3.
4 Characteristicand
important studies that emphasise this viewpoint are Raffaello
Monterosso, La musica nel Risorgimento (Milan, 1948) and George Martin, 'Verdi and
the Risorgimento', in Aspectsof Verdi (New York, 1988), 3-28. For an extended discussion
of Verdi's use of the chorus in his early operas, see Markus Engelhardt, Die Chore in
denfrihen Opern Giuseppe Verdis(Tutzing, 1988).
42 Philip Gossett
of the secret society 'La Giovine Italia' (Young Italy), and leader of the short-
lived Roman republic of 1848-49, laid out a programme for the future of Italian
opera. In it, he imagined that the chorus: 'a collective individuality [...] would,
like the people of whom it is a born interpreter, gain a life of its own, independent,
spontaneous'.5
Of what would such a chorus sing? After the premiere of Verdi's Macbeth
in 1847, the poet Giuseppe Giusti urged the composer to avoid the 'fantastic'
genre, and instead to express with his notes 'that sweet sadness in which you
have shown you can achieve so much' ['quella dolce mestizia nella quale hai
dimostrato di poter tanto']. Giusti's message was precise:
The kind of pain that now fills the souls of us Italiansis the pain of a people who
feel the need of a better fate; of one who has fallen and wishes to rise again;of one
who repents,and awaitsand wills his regeneration.Accompany,my Verdi, this lofty
andsolemnpainwith your nobleharmonies;nourishit, fortifyit, directit to its goal.6
Far from being offended by this advice, Verdi promised to take Giusti's words
to heart. The next year, during the 1848 revolution and at the request of Mazzini,7
he set to music (for male chorus) a patriotic poem by Goffredo Mameli. In
his accompanying letter to Mazzini, Verdi wrote: 'May this hymn soon be
sung, along with the music of the cannon, in the Lombard plains'.8
All this is well known, and would scarcely bear repeating were it not that
recent historical and literary studies have suggested that the interactions between
works of art and their culture are more complex than such naive formulations
imagine. Musical scholars have too often been content with, on the one hand,
formalistic or analytical studies that isolate the individual art work (or group
of works) within a cultural and historical vacuum, or, on the other hand, histori-
cal narratives in which works of art are little more than exemplary details.9
Both kinds of studies remain valid within their self-imposed limits, but the
so-called 'New Historicism', particularly in the field of Renaissance English
literary studies, has suggested more vital and problematic ways in which works
of art determine and are determined by their historical, political and sociological
context. As Jean Howard has put it:
5 Giuseppe Mazzini, Filosofia della musica, with an introduction by Adriano Lualdi (Rome
and Milan, 1954), 169. Mazzini actually couches his opinion in a rhetorical question, but
one that admits a single response: 'Or, perch6 il coro, individualita collettiva, non otterrebbe
come il popolo di ch'esso e interprete nato, vita propria, indipendente, spontanea?'
6 Letter of 19 March 1847, printed in Gaetano Cesari and Alessandro Luzio, eds., I
copialetteredi GiuseppeVerdi(Milan,1913),449-50:'Laspeciedi doloreche occupaora
gli animidi noi Italiani,&il dolored'unagenteche si sentebisognosadi destinimigliori;
e il doloredi chi &cadutoe desiderarialzarsi;&il doloredi chi si pentee aspettae vuole
la suarigenerazione.Accompagna,Verdimio, colle tue nobiliarmoniequestodolorealto
e solenne;fa di nutrirlo,di fortificarlo,d'indirizzarloal suo scopo.'
7
Verdihadmet Mazziniin LondoninJuly 1847,duringpreparations for thepremiereof
I masnadieri.
8
Letterof 18October1848,printedin I copialettere,469: 'Possaquest'inno,frala musica
del cannone,essereprestocantatonellepianurelombarde'.
9 Foremostamongthe criticsof traditionalmethodologieswas, of course,CarlDahlhaus.
Seein particularhis Foundationsof MusicHistory,trans.J. B. Robinson(Cambridge,1983).
The chorus in Risorgimento opera 43
A major feature of a new historical criticism [. ..] must be a suspicion about an unproble-
matic binarism between literature and history and a willingness to explore the ways
in which literature does more than reflect a context outside itself and instead constitutes
one of the creative forces of history. 10
In opera this interaction takes place in both literary and musical terms. One
must resist the temptation to judge operatic meanings solely by a work's libretto,
a recurring problem with writings on opera by literary scholars or philo-
sophers.'1 Nor must the words be undervalued, as they are in many technical
studies by musicologists.'2 Scorn for Italian operatic librettos is unjustified on
several levels. First, the apparently artificial language of these librettos is hardly
unique to opera: indeed, the linguistic characteristics of Italian librettos and
of contemporary drama in Italy are highly similar.'3 Second, the supposed
incomprehensibility of the text reflects more the singing styles of some of today's
divas - and the barn-like opera houses in which they ply their trade - than
it does the art form itself.14 Finally, even should individual words be difficult
to discern, they determine dramatic tone: singers who neglect words are often
singers who pay no attention to drama. Nonetheless, opera communicates
primarily through the way its text is set to music. It is the multiplicity of ways
such communication can be effected, subverted or rendered problematic that
concerns me here.
From 1815 through 1860 Italy, as always a geographical reality (bounded on

the north by the Alps and on all other sides by water), remained a political
fiction. Each region had different rulers: Austrians in the north and northeast;
the House of Savoy in the northwest; the Bourbon dynasty in the south; the
Pope in Rome and the Papal States; various Duchies or short-lived Republics
in Tuscany, Parma and so on. Though actual boundaries within the peninsula
10 JeanE.
Howard,'TheNew Historicismin RenaissanceStudies',in ArthurF. Kinney
andDan S. Collins,eds., Renaissance Historicism(Amherst,1987),16.
Amongrecentbooksthe problemis particularly manifestin CatherineClement,Opera,
or the Undoingof Women,trans.BetsyWing(Minneapolis,1988).A beautifulandmoving
book in its own way, it nonethelessassumesthe extraordinary viewpointthatwords,
librettos,plots are'theforgottenpartof opera'(12). But the situationis quitethe opposite:
popularliteratureaboutoperafocusesalmostexclusivelyon thesematters(thoughnot
fromthe feministviewpointthatinformsClement'sanalysis).
12 Havewe reallyleft behindthe staticperiodsof Lorenz'sDas GeheimnisderFormbei
RichardWagner,4 vols. (Berlin,1924-33),only to throwourselveshead-longinto the
Schenkerian voice-leadinggraphsof MatthewBrown,'Isolde'sNarrative:From
Hauptmotivto TonalModel',in CarolynAbbateandRogerParker,eds., Analyzing
Opera:Verdiand Wagner(Berkeley,1989),180-201?RecentWagnerianstudiesby Abbate
andAnthonyNewcombofferencouragingalternatives.
13 Thispointwas madebrilliantlyby PieroWeissin his article'"SacredBronzes":
Paralipomena to an Essayby Dallapiccola',Nineteenth-Century Music,9 (1985),42-9.
14 The complaint,however,does resonatethroughoutthe
historyof opera:see the words
of LudovicoAntonioMuratori,fromhis 1706treatise,Dellaperfettapoesiaitaliano,
quotedin EnricoFubini,Musicae culturanel SettecentoEuropeo(Turin,1986),45-6.
44 Philip Gossett
underwent various changes during the Napoleonic period and its aftermath,
internal divisions and the foreign presence (particularly in the north) remained
a constant.
No less significant than the political and military battles fought in the quest
for Italian unity and statehood were fundamental cultural struggles, struggles
which have not ceased even today: the leaders of the Risorgimento sought to
encourage and nurture feelings that would give substance to a people, a citizenry
to live in that state. An important task was accomplished in literature: joined
indissolubly to the narrativequalities of Alessandro Manzoni's historical novel,
I promessi sposi, were the author's continuing efforts to recast his work in a
universal Italian shaped from the Florentine dialect, the principal literary and
cultivated language of the peninsula. 15
In another sense, Italy already had what was perceived to be a universal
idiom, the language of music, particularly Italian opera. There were differences
and rivalries from one section to another, of course, and elements of so-called
'Neapolitan', 'Venetian' or 'Roman' schools can be identified in seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century opera. Although a few differentiating characteristics
continued to exist even in the first half of the nineteenth century, many Italian
composers plied their trade from north to south, writing in one season for
Milan, in the next for Palermo. A successful opera such as Verdi's Ernani had
been given at over thirty Italian theatres within a year of its spectacularly
successful Venetian premiere on 9 March 1844.16
Among the many developments in Italian opera between the 1810s, when
Rossini was hailed the 'Napoleon of music',17 and the Kingdom of Italy was
proclaimed in 1861 to the slogan 'Viva Verdi', an acronym for 'Viva Vittorio
Emanuele, Re d'Italia', none is so culturally important as the change in the
conception of the chorus. In most eighteenth-century Italian opera, the chorus
was insignificant. Even early in the nineteenth century, choruses were decora-
tive, subsidiary, musically neutral, with a function analogous to the stage set.18
'I know the value of a kindly chorus', sings Ralph Rackstraw in Gilbert
and Sullivan'sHMS Pinafore, and the choruses of Rossini and his contemporaries
were at first little but 'kindly': they hailed the approaching hero, wiped the
tears from the heroine's eyes, rejoiced at her good fortune.
5 For a fascinating discussionof the variousversionsof Manzoni'snovelandthe circlein

whichhe worked,see the book by the distinguishedItalianwriterNataliaGinzburg,La
famigliaManzoni(Turin,1983).
16 A list is providedby MarcelloConatiin his '"Ernani"di Verdi:le critichedel tempo.
Alcuneconsiderazioni',in Ernaniierie oggi:Atti delconvegnointernazionaledi studi,
Modena,TeatroSanCarlo,9-10 dicembre1984,publishedas Verdi:Bollettinodell'Istituto
di studi verdiani, 10 (1987), 207-72; see in particular261-3.
17 The comparisonis best knownfromthe openingwordsof the Preface(dated1823)to
Stendhal'sViede Rossini,ed. V. del Litto(Lausanne,1960),27: 'Depuisla mortde
Napoleon, il s'esttrouv6un autrehommeduquelon parletous les joursa Moscoucomme
a Naples, a Londrescommea Vienne,a Pariscommea Calcutta'['Sincethe deathof
Napoleon,anothermanhasarisenwho is spokenof everydayfromMoscowto Naples,
fromLondonto Vienna,fromParisto Calcutta'].
18 I owe that
last, ratherneatformulationto RogerParker.
In his early operas, Rossini rarelyassignedhis most expressivemusic to the

chorus.Indeed,choralmovementsareeasilymoved, withoutloss or gain, from
one operato another.Sicilianscelebratingthe nuptialsof AmenaideandOrbaz-
zano in Rossini'sneo-classicalTancredi(Venice,TeatroLa Fenice, 6 February
1813), derived from Voltaire, employ the same music (see Ex. 1) as feasting
Babylonians before the fiery handwriting appears on the wall, in his sacred
drama Ciro in Babilonia (Ferrara,Teatro Comunale, 14 [?] March 1812).
Ex. i
Corodi Nobili
Tancredi,
Allegro
ry'b4 r p pir I l
-r
A - mo - ri scen - de - te, seen - de - te o pia - ce - ri,
Ciro in Babilonia, Coro del Convito

Allegro vivace
Coro
In - tor-no fu - mi - no gl'a - ra- bio - do - ri,
Ex.1
It is not only that the music is generic in its expression: there is often self-
borrowing in Rossini's soloistic music without a sacrificeof expressivity. Rather,
the union of generic music and limited dramatic function results in a nameless
choral presence, a 'collective individuality' more aptly described as 'collective
anonymity', the situation Mazzini deplored.
Still, it was possible for a composer to subvert or at least render problematic
the ostensible content of this choral presence. The all-male chorus in Rossini's
L'Italiana in Algeri (Venice, Teatro San Benedetto, 22 May 1813) assumes
diverse roles: eunuchs in the Bey's seraglio, Algerian corsairs, Italian slaves.
The composer makes little effort to 'characterise'these groups through particular
melodic or even orchestral devices.19 Nor does the situation appear to change
when the heroine, Isabella, rallies the slaves to flee. The libretto provides a
text Rossini himself referredto in a letter of 1864, affirminghis life-long support
for the principles of the Risorgimento:20
Prontiabbiamoe ferrie mani
Perfuggircon voi di qua.
Quantovagliangl'Italiani
Nel cimentosi vedra.
19
Only in the case of a comic chorus of Turks towards the beginning of the second act,
'Viva il grande Kaimakan', can some hint of 'Turkish' colour be heard, with music that
recalls passages in Mozart's Die Entfiihrung aus dem Serail. (The subject of Rossini's
indebtedness to Mozart remains to be addressed in a comprehensive fashion.)
20 The letter, dated from
'Passy de Paris' on 12 June 1864, is addressedto Filippo Santocanale.
It is reprinted in Lettere di G. Rossini, raccolte e annotate per cura di G. Mazzatini -
F. e G. Manis (Florence, 1902), 270-2.
46 PhilipGossett
[We have ready our weapons and hands/ To fly with you from here. / You'll see
whatItaliansareworth/ In the momentof danger.]
The music at first is little more than blustery.Even when Rossini reachesthe
crucialverses, 'You'll see what Italiansare worth in the moment of danger',
the choralmelody remainssimple, neutral.Its meaningis subverted,however,
by an orchestraltune assignedto the first violins and flute (see Ex. 2). It is
Ex. 2
L'Italiana in Algeri, Coro di Schiavi
Allegro
Coroo - - ni t I- - -
quan-to va-gliangl'I-ta - lia - - ni, quan-to va-gliangl'I- ta - lia - - ni
($#jt ;4rr gi77

vT' -
~a^, ffWff W ^
Ex.2
hardnot to discernthe parodyof a melodyRossinicouldpresumehis audiences

would know well (see Ex. 3). Though no contemporarycritic acknowledges
this parodisticquotationof 'La Marseillaise',there is evidenceconcerningits
reception.In two manuscriptsof L'Italianathe chorusalone(andnot Isabella's
following Rondo, 'Pensaallapatria')is replacedby new music(not by Rossini)
to the same words.21 However seditious textual referenceto the worth of Italians
might have been, the musicalreference,for some contemporaries,was more
troubling.Pre-performancecensorshipof opera(or at leastpre-dressrehearsal
censorship),after all, even in the most restrictivecircumstances,was limited
to words.22
What significanceshould we assign to this musicalquotation?What did it
mean to Venetianaudiencesin 1813?On one level it is a mere witticism, an
ironic glance backwardsat the unpopularFrench, who had sacrificedthe
21 Forfurtherinformation,see the criticaleditionof the opera,ed. Azio Corghi,in Edizione
criticadelleoperedi GioachinoRossini,sezioneprima,vol. 11 (Pesaro,1981).The
manuscriptsareVenezia,Bibliotecadel Conservatorio,Busta89 andVicenza,Biblioteca
Civica,FF 2-6-5, 6. WhenRossinipresentedthe operain Naplesin October1815,he
wascompelledto replaceIsabella'sRond6with a new, politicallyneutralaria,'Sullostil
de' viaggiatori'(seethe criticaledition,751-81);the censors,however,appearto have
beenuntroubledby the openingchorus.
22 I havediscussedthis examplebefore,with a ratherdifferentemphasis,in my 'TheTragic
Finaleof Tancredi',Bollettinodel centrorossinianodi studi(1976),5-79; see particularly
72-7.
Ex. 3
'La Marseillaise'
it 77i
7t
1--- 7 1
Ex.3
Venetian Republic to their own political interests, ceding it to Austria in the

Peace of Campo Formio of 1797. At the same time, we should not undervalue
the impact of French Revolutionary ideals on Italian patriots, even those with
bitter memories of Napoleon's invasion. 'La Marseillaise'existed both as a speci-
fic reference to Revolutionary France and as a reminderof its ideals. The meaning
communicated by Rossini's quotation was not absolute, but rather a function
of the changing audience to which its message would be addressed and the
changing moments when that message would be received.
'Pronti abbiamo e ferri e mani' does not alter substantively the choral presence
in L'Italiana in Algeri, which remains essentially secondary. In Rossini's mature
Italian operas, however, particularly those first performed in Naples, where
he was musical director of the opera houses from 1815 through 1822, the com-
poser and his librettists conjure up an operatic world in which the chorus begins
to emerge as a force in its own right. Often these works feature politically
oppressed peoples whose identity is defined historically, dramaturgically and
musically; but the plots usually avoid any apparentthreat to the restored Bour-
bon rulers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.23
Operas with a biblical setting, such as Rossini's Mose in Egitto (Naples, Teatro
San Carlo, 5 March 1818), were primarily centred on the emotions of individuals
- in this case, the love between an Israelite woman and the son of the Egyptian
Pharaoh. Their tragedy is played out against the story of their respective nations,
each portrayed in striking music. We suffer with the Egyptians under the plagues
of darkness and fire; we pray with the Hebrews at the Red Sea, Mose's voice
(see Ex. 4) immediately joined by the entire chorus. In this case, the hymn-like
quality of Rossini's setting (with its harp accompaniment) establishes a generi-
cally religious tone; the words are a prayer for peace and mercy. Despite the
forceful presence of the chorus, nothing obviously points the meaning in a politi-
cally suspect direction.
Choral parts are not only more extensive in these operas, they are more
23 Bruno Cagli has pointed out one significant exception, in Maometto II (Naples, Teatro
San Carlo, 3 December 1820). See his 'Le fonti letterariedei libretti di Rossini: Maometto
II', in Bollettino del centro rossiniano di studi (1972), no. 2, 10-32. The political
disturbances in Naples of 1820-21 surely influenced Rossini's decision to eliminate Anna's
final speech, whose text nonetheless remains in the original printed libretto:
E tu che Italia... conquistar... presumi
Imparaor tu ... da un'itala donzella
Che ancora degli eroi la patria e quella.
[And you who presume ... to conquer... Italy / Learn now ... from an Italian maiden /
That this is still the homeland of heroes.]
48 PhilipGossett
Ex. 4
Mosein Egitto,Preghiera
Andantino A.. -A- ^- 4
Mose 49,jI6 $ 7 -p
l
Dal tuo stel-la - - to so - glio, Si -
r-- 6 ,- 6J
Harp , [p]
j) 7 j) 7 ) 1- - 7--
(<) "
Mose 1p
;;#.g K v IIt I
- gnor ti vol - gi a no - - i, pie - [ta]
_ - . . .
1H)
-+--
;P
7$)-V
Harp -
I -
?-L -f h
C
tI? i-
r
-
-t-
i ?
Ex.4
portrayingdifferentdramaticgroupsin differentmusicalterms.
'characteristic',
So, in Rossini's La donna del lago (Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 24 October
1819), based on the narrativepoem by Sir WalterScott, a chorus of Scottish
women featuresan accompanimentdominatedby rhythmicfigurestraditionally
known as 'Scotch snaps' (see Ex. 5). The chorus, a clan in revolt againstthe
Scottish King, JamesV, is prominentlyfeaturedin the first-actfinale, when
Scottish bards lead the assembledpopulace in a vow to defend their rights
or die. What gives the piece its characteris both the accompanimentfor harp
and lower strings, Rossini'simaginingof the sound of the lyre, and a simple,
repetitivemelody, which suggestsa tune used for intoningbardicpoetry (see
Ex. 6). In Rossini, as in Scott, the clan is defeatedby the army of JamesV,
but the Kingprovesan enlightenedruler.Whatbeginsas a revoltagainsttyranny
developsinto an apology for benevolentmonarchy.AlthoughRossini'srebels
become acquiescentsubjectsbefore La donna del lago concludes, the chorus
has nonethelessdevelopeda musicalpersonality,has acquireda dramaticforce,
has become, in short, a people. Significantly,in 1846Rossinirevisedthis hymn
as an encomiumfor the new Pope, PiusIX, whose apparentlyliberalconvictions
were greetedwith hope by Italianpatriots(a hope soon dashedwhen he formed
an alliancewith Franceto destroythe Romanrepublicproclaimedin 1848).
The most fully developed choral presence in Rossini's works is found in his
final opera, Guillaume Tell, written in French for the Academie Royale de
Musique and first performed in 1829, near the end of the reign of Charles X,
Ex. 5
La donnadellago,Corodi Donne
Allegretto
iy-Af F
Ex.5
Ex. 6
La donnadellago,Corodei Bardi
Moderato
a* . t -.- ^.
Cor
o?P|
t I If LIff ' IF r T
Gia il rag - gio fo - rier d'im- men - - so splen -
FeeirL-
r,r
Cor
iPs? ( ."21if
Ir
-
IS ? tJ7ir
- dor ad - di ta il sen - tier di glo - ria,e d'o - nor!
o ~ ~
!L~ p~ I ~ ~ ~ I I ! 1 I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ ~ I I l I
E.i I III_III1~ ~~ ilI.l 11Ir-.,IiI~
a a ]A? a A
wmo~~~~~~~
aI a1 a' ~II ~' IlI ' ~P lII!
~l~ I I l~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i
h^^^cffJt jtfcIIr vw- j^
II~lIi~ ilII~liI~iIJii i ~
- ..w.
-. -- 4-- - --
Ex.6
the last Restoration monarch in France. Although an opera in which a people

rebels against an oppressive monarchy might seem a peculiar subject for a state
theatre of the Restoration, Jane Fulcher has argued compellingly that the staging
of works such as Tell or Auber's La Muette de Portici in 1828 (which deals
with a Neapolitan revolt against Spanish rulers) served a precise political func-
tion. These works provided 'a sympathetic representationof revolutionary emo-
tion but in the specific context of political domination by a distinctly foreign
50 PhilipGossett
power'.24 The reception of Auber's opera, according to Fulcher, had overtones

quite different from those anticipated by the government; indeed, its political
meaning was interpreted in kaleidoscopically changing ways over the course
of its Parisian revivals during the next half century.
The history of Italian performances of Guillaume Tell is equally fascinating.
The struggle of the Swiss for liberty against Austrian tyrants, after all, was
a topic from which French patriots might be able to distance themselves, but
its implications could not be ignored by northern Italians, themselves subject
to the Austrians. For almost two decades the opera was performed in northern
Italy in censored versions, with titles such as Vallace or Rodolfo di Sterlinga,
the action generally set in Scotland. What resulted was a startling dissociation
between the text and Rossini's music, which uses extensively and imaginatively
typical Swiss melodies (the so-called 'ranz des vaches') (see Ex. 7). Rossini
not only states these themes directly: he weaves them into melodic strains that
dominate the entire opera.
Ex. 7
Guillaume Tell, 'ranz des vaches'
(a) Andantino
corni 1nL j , 11
K_
(b) Allegretto
corni
42 - I1T 7 I I IJ 1 II I X;
Ex.7
Even when the work was performed as Guglielmo Tell, in sections of Italy
not dominated by Austria, contemporary translations softened the semantic
meaning of Rossini's opera, avoiding altogether the politically charged language
of the original.25 To take a non-choral example from the opening scene of
the opera, when a Fisherman sings of the beauty of the day and of his happiness,
Tell comments aside, in the original French (see Ex. 8): 'il chante, et l'Helvetie
pleure sa liberte' ['He sings, while Switzerland weeps over its lost liberty'].
In the standardItalian translation (disseminated by the music publisher Ricordi)
the text became: 'Ei canta, e Elvezia intanto, ahi! quanto piangera' ['He sings,
while Switzerland, ah! weeps'].26 Not only do the words 'ahi! quanto' fail
24
Jane Fulcher, The Nation's Image: French Grand Opera as Politics and Politicized Art
25
(Cambridge, 1987), 24.
The history of these performances is traced by Alberto Cametti, 'II "Guglielmo Tell"
e le sue prime rappresentazioni in Italia', Rivista musicale italiana, 6 (1899), 580.
26
The translation was finally brought closer to the original meaning in December 1988,
when the critical edition of the opera, edited by Elizabeth Bartlet for the Fondazione
Rossini of Pesaro, was unveiled at the Teatro alla Scala, in the Italian translation revised
by Paolo Cattelan. The new text of this passage reads: 'Ei canta, e Elvezia intanto piange
la liberta'.
utterly to capture the expression of the original 'pleure, pleure', but missing,
of course, is the crucial word, 'liberte'.27
Ex. 8
Guillaume
Tell,Introduction
Andantino -
Tell WPI f I
il chan - te, et l'Hel - v - ti - e pleu - re, pleure sa li - ber- te.
Ex.8
More striking still is the final scene, that remarkable tone portrait of a people
united and free, to the text:
Liberte, redescends des cieux!
Et que ton r&gnerecommence,
Liberte redescends des cieux!
[Liberty, descend again from the heavens! / And may your reign begin anew, / Liberty
descend again from the heavens!]
That Rossini was aware of the importance of the text is apparent in this phrase
from his letter to Santocanale of 12 June 1864, previously cited: ' [...] I set
the words of liberty in my Guglielmo Tell in such a way as to demonstrate how
enthusiastic I am for my homeland and for the noble feelings that fill it'.28
Rossini's compatriots, however, would have had little sense of the composer's
meaning, since in this concluding scene the contemporary Italian translation
reduces the words to supreme banality:
Quel contento che in me sento

Non pu6 l'anima spiegar.
[I cannot express the happiness I feel.]
Here, though, the problem of reception and perceived meaning exists on multiple
levels. As fragments from the 'ranz des vaches' motif (see Ex. 9) wind their
way from key to key, and finally return to a radiant C major for the conclusion,
27 This problem affected other composers. Well known is the situation of Bellini's I Puritani,
originally written for the Th6atre Italien of Paris. When Bellini prepareda version for
Naples, he felt compelled to omit the duet that concludes the second act, with its text:
Suoni la tromba, e intrepido
Io pugner6 da forte.
Bello &affrontarla morte
Gridando liberta.
[Let the trumpet sound, and, intrepidly, / I will fight with courage. / It is a fine thing
to face death / Crying 'liberty'.]
See my introduction to the facsimile edition of both versions of I Puritani, published
in Early Romantic Opera (New York and London, 1983).
28 Lettere (see n. 20), 271:'[...] ho vestito le parole di liberta nel mio Guglielmo Tell a
modo di far conoscere quanto io sia caldo per la mia patriae pei nobili sentimenti che
la investono'.
52 PhilipGossett
Ex. 9
Guillaume Tell, Finale
Allegromaestoso 3 ,
7+t J J. Ty
Ex.9
the voices declaimthe Frenchtext in a hymn-likesettingof grandiosepower.

The Italianwords, while not patentlyinappropriate,give no substanceto the
sense of exaltationthat pervadesRossini's music.29On the other hand, the
Swiss characterof the music cannot be disguised:Scottishhuntsmendo not
expressthemselvesin the languageof the 'ranz des vaches'.Thus, the efforts
of the Austriansto blanch away the meaningof Tell by changingits locale
were doomed from the outset, doomed because the music unmistakeably
provides a level of meaning that subverts the sense of the new words.
2
It is not difficult to see in Verdi's treatment of the chorus a development of
these tendencies in Rossini's later operas. Though the gypsies in II trovatore
of 1853 and the Egyptian priestesses in Aida of 1871 are not central to the
action, Verdi defines them with care. Neither the Anvil Chorus nor its succeeding
solo for Azucena, 'Stride la vampa', could easily find a place in another operatic
setting: their violent changes of mood, strident orchestration and rhythmic elan
are directly tied to the exotic world of the gypsy camp. Nor could the orientalism
of the consecration scene and its priests and priestesses of Ftha in Aida, with
its modal scales, repetitive motivic schemes and non-traditional harmonic pat-
terns, be confused with other religious choruses in Verdi's music, such as the
monks who intone the 'Miserere' in the last act of II trovatore. In these instances
Verdi has fulfilled Mazzini's dictum of creating a 'collective individuality', with-
out, however, rising to Giusti's challenge of providing a musical setting for
'the kind of pain that now fills the souls of us Italians'.
But crucial for Verdi as an artist and for that creation of a national culture
integral to the ideological programme of the Risorgimento are instances in which
his chorus achieves not merely individuality but dramatic stature. This occurs
most frequently when the choral representation has a political basis, one that
could be reinterpreted by contemporary audiences: the lament of the Hebrew
slaves in Nabucco, the fiery chorus of rebellion in Ernani, the poignant chorus
of Scottish exiles in Macbeth. It was presumably in these passages that Giusti
identified the Verdi whom he urged to sing of 'the pain of a people who feel
the need of a better future'.
29 The new translation (see n. 26), 'Di tuo regno fia l'avvento / Sulla terra, o liberti', is
more faithful to Rossini's meaning.
As with Rossini, the dramaticsetting of these compositions ostensibly removes

them from political actuality. Indeed, Nabucco and Ernani are similar, respecti-
vely, to Mose in Egitto and La donna del lago. Nabucco is a biblical drama
(the Babylonian captivity) in which a chorus of Hebrew slaves laments its fate,
but its plot is largely centred on the emotions of individuals. In Ernani, the
chorus in the third act plots against the King of Spain, Don Carlos (the future
Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V). As in La donna del lago, the conspiracy
is defeated and Charles V, heir to the throne of Charlemagne,promises a benevo-
lent reign on the model of his illustrious predecessor. The tragedy is reserved
for the protagonists; significantly, the chorus is all but absent from the conclud-
ing act of the opera.
Despite the dramaturgical neutralisation of the choral masses within these
operas, which by locating the stories in remote eras and circumstances rendered
the presence and actions of the chorus acceptable to Austrian censors, their
words and music were not neutral to an Italian public in the 1840s. This was
a public open to subversive messages, a public fully aware of the fate of the
Bandiera brothers in July 1844, a few months after the premiere of Ernani.
Sentenced to death for inciting rebellion in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
the brothers faced their executioners singing a chorus from an 1826 opera by
Saverio Mercadante, Donna Caritea: 'Chi per la patria muor, vissuto e assai'
['He who dies for his country, has lived long enough'].30 Thus, no Italian
in the audience of Milan's Teatro alla Scala in 1842 could have doubted that
when the Hebrew Slaves in Nabucco sang Temistocle Solera's verses 'Oh mia
patria si bella e perduta! Oh membranza si cara e fatal!' ['Oh my homeland
so beautiful and lost! Oh remembrance so sweet and fatal!'], they referred not
only to Palestine but to Italy.31
Although in the emblematic 'Va pensiero' Verdi and his librettist avoided
censorial intervention, one of the most problematic moments in Nabucco occurs
in another chorus, near the end of the opera, when the Hebrew people, together
with the converted Nabucco, praise 'Immenso Jeovha' ['Great Jehova'].32The
30 The story is told at length by Raffaello Barbierain his essay 'Crepuscoli di liberta nella
Venezia e la tragedia dei fratelli Bandiera', published in Voci e volti delpassato (1800-1900)
da archivi segreti di stato e da altrefonti (Milan, 1920), 117-63; see particularly 151-2.
Although there is some conflicting evidence as to whether the conspirators actually sang
the Mercadantechorus, Barbierarightly insists that the event's significance lies in the
widespread popular acceptance of the anecdote.
31
Such reactions could be accentuated by the performers. Frank Walker, The Man Verdi
(London, 1962; rpt. Chicago, 1982), 151, reports an incident from the spring of 1847:
[... ] the young Angelo Mariani, after conducting Nabucco at the Teatro Carcano,
Milan, was to be rebuked and threatened with arrest by Count Bolza, commissioner
of police, 'for having given to Verdi's music an expression too evidently rebellious
and hostile to the Imperial Government'.
32 I have discussed the textual problems surrounding this chorus in my article 'Censorship
and Self-censorship: Problems in Editing the Operas of Giuseppe Verdi', to be published
in the forthcoming (1990) Festschrift for Alvin Johnson. For fuller details, consult the
critical edition of the opera, Nabucodonosor, ed. Roger Parker, in The Worksof Giuseppe
Verdi, Series I, vol. 3 (Chicago, 1987).
_
54 Philip Gossett
text is abstract (as in the Mose in Egitto prayer) and the unaccompanied musical
texture disembodied. An anomaly in the setting of the second quatrain, however,
cannot be ascribed to artistic nonchalance. The text reads:
Tu spandi un'iride? ...
Tutto &ridente.
Tu vibri il fulmine?
L'uom pii non e.
[You spread a rainbow? ... / Everything is joyous. / You launch a lightning bolt? /
Man is no more.]
There is a patently inappropriate match between the first two verses of this
quatrain and their musical setting (see Ex. 10).33 Why might Verdi, normally
so attentive to such matters, allow his music to subvert the meaning of the
text?
Ex. o1
Nabucco, Finale
Adagio
Fenena
A,, I _,0 - II ,
Ismaele
Nabucco
Zaccaria
I i'
Tu span - di u - n'i - ride?... tut - to ri - den - te.
Ex.10
As Roger Parker has shown in the new critical edition of Nabucco, Verdi's
autograph of this ensemble went through two stages. The second quatrain was
originally:
Spesso al tuo popolo
Donasti il pianto;
Ma i ceppi hai franto,
Se in te fido.
[Often you brought / Your people to tears; / But you broke their chains, / If they
trustedin you.]
This is a very different text, its God a very different God: he intervenes
directly
in human affairs and will break the bonds of captive people who trust in him.
Verdi's setting of the second quatrainbeautifully expresses its
meaning precisely
33 Withoutenteringinto the complexaestheticandphilosophicalissuesraisedby suchan
assertion,sufficeit to say thatin Italianoperaof the Ottocento,justas in Baroqueopera,
it is possibleto identifymusicalelements(orchestral,melodic,harmonic) whosedramatic
associationsor affectsarecolouredby similarpatternsandassociationsfound
the repertoryto whichthey belong.Thesemeaningsmaybe in constantandsubtle throughout
flux;
indeed,they maybe receiveddifferentlyby differentindividualsor audiences.Butthey
cannotbe ignored.
where the revised text is most inappropriate. Why did Verdi alter the original
version?
Verses referring to God breaking the chains of captive peoples may well have
been more than Verdi, his librettist or the impresario believed Austrian censors
would swallow; hence the text may have been self-censored. But there is import-
ant evidence that the government was prepared to intervene directly in the
text of Nabucco. Renato Meucci has recently discovered a large number of
manuscripts that once belonged to the archives of the Teatro alla Scala. Several
document the practice of theatrical censorship of the period, and one is particu-
larly important for Nabucco: a letter ('N. 5548') dated 28 February 1842 (a
week and a half before the opera's premiere on 9 March) from the 'Imperiale
Regia / Direzione Generale / della Polizia' to the 'Inclita Direzione degli II.
RR. Teatri' of Milan.34 Here is the letter in its entirety:
Restituendo i libretti d'opera 'La Bella Celeste degli Spadari' 'Clemenza di Valoi[s]'
'II Colonello' ed il programma di Ballo 'Gabriella di Vergy', argomenti gia noti da
prodursi seconda l'intenzione dell'Impresa sulle scene della Scala nella prossima prima-
vera,35 colla riserva della prova generale,36 non faccio difficolta alla produzione pari-
menti del Dramma 'Nabucco' composizione di Temistocle Solera, sul quale deve scrivere
la musica il Maestro Verdi.37
Per questo ultimo importera che particolarmente cada la vigilanza di cot.a Inclita
Direzione sul modo di farlo in iscena, onde nessuna sconveniente osservazione emerga
nella pub[b]lica esecuzione, massime per la comparsa del Sacerdote Zaccariae del Prota-
gonista.
Faccio con cio evasione al pregiato di Lei foglio 26 corr.e N.? 62.
[Returning the opera librettos 'La Bella Celeste degli Spadari', 'Clemenza di Valois',
'I Colonello' and the synopsis for the ballet 'Gabrielladi Vergy', subjects whose intended
production by the Management on the stages of La Scalathis coming Spring was already
known, reserving the right of the dress rehearsal,38I likewise do not object to the produc-
tion of the drama'Nabucco' by Temistocle Solera, which Maestro Verdi will set to music.
For the latter, it will be particularly important that the distinguished Management
is vigilant about how the opera is staged, so that no inappropriate reaction will take
place during the public performance, especially in appearances of the Priest Zaccaria
and of the protagonist.
With this I respond to your esteemed letter, N.? 62 of the 26th.]
34 Thisdocumentis foundin the BibliotecaTrivulzianaof Milan:spettacolipubblici(1842).
Letme thankRogerParkerfor bringingit to my attention.
35 All theseworkswereactuallyperformedduringthe Springseasonatthe TeatroallaScala,
with the exceptionof II colonello,presumablythe 1835operaby the brothersFederico
andLuigiRicci.SeeCarloGatti,II Teatroalla Scalanellastoriae nell'arte,2 vols. (Milan,
1964),II, Cronologiacompletadeglispettacolie deiconcerti,ed. GiampieroTintori,43
and189.
36 Evenafter
approvingan operafor performance,the censorsin Milanreservedthe right
to witnessthe dressrehearsal,so as to guardagainstanydifficultiesthathadgone
unobservedin the writtenmaterialssubmittedto them.
37 Although,as RogerParkerhaspointedout, we haveverylittleinformationaboutthe
compositionof Nabucco,thereis no reasonto believethatVerdihadnot yet written
the scoreon 28 February1842!Thephrasemeansonly thatthe librettowasto be performed
with new musicby Verdi.
38 See n. 36.
56 PhilipGossett
It is likely that changes in the text of 'Immenso Jeovha' were insisted upon
by the censor after the dress rehearsal. The particularly violent way in which
these changes were effected in Verdi's autograph suggests that this was more
than a simple substitution motivated by artistic considerations.39
But how could Verdi and Solera have allowed such a startling dissociation
between text and music in this final version? Might the subversion of the music
by the text signal an explicitly subversive political act? Rather than substituting
bland words that suited the original music, composer and librettist provided
a sign of their disaffection. The hypothesis that at least part of the public was
aware of the events that had taken place would help explain why, on the opera's
opening night, the audience demanded a reprise of 'Immenso Jeovha', not the
subsequently more popular 'Va pensiero'.40 Such reprises were often politically
motivated. Articles in the Milanese periodical Italia musicale, just before the
1848 revolution, mention that certain pieces (choruses from Verdi's I Lombardi
or from Bellini's Norma) were repeated 'for reasons that had nothing to do
with the music'.41
The difficulty with such a hypothesis is that, unlike the case of Rossini's
L'Italiana in Algeri, the sign is a private sign, the protest (if protest it was)
available only to the initiated. And so, when Verdi faced a similar problem
in Ernani, he gave way, allowing words to be altered to avoid censorial objec-
tions. The four-strophe text that begins with the verse 'Si ridesti il Leon di
Castiglia' ['Let the Lion of Castille reawaken'] proclaims a brotherhood among
the conspirators, ready to fight ratherthan be slaves. But it was the third strophe
that caused the poet, Francesco Maria Piave, to write: 'I am sending you a
chorus of Spanish conspirators, although I do not know whether the censorship
will approve it'.42The text reads:
Mortecolgao n'arridavittoria,
Pugneremo;e col sanguede' spenti
Scriverannoi figliuoliviventi:
Qui regnaresol dee liberta!
[Let death strike or let victory smile, / We will fight; and with the blood of the
dead/ The livingsons will write:/ Here Libertyalonemustreign!]
39 A samplepageis reproducedas Plate5 in the criticaleditionof the opera,citedin n.

32.
40 SeeRogerParker,'TheCriticalEditionof Nabucco',in TheOperaQuarterly,5 (1987),
2/3, 91-8.
41 SeeMonterosso,(n. 4), 59-60. The articleshe citesaredated29 December1847(reporting
on a performanceof I Lombardiin Cremona)and9 February1848(Normain the same
city).
42 Piave'sletter(datedVenice, 13November1843)is to his Romanfriend,the librettist
JacopoFerretti:'Ti mandoun coro di congiuratiSpagnuoli,cheperaltronon so se la
Poliziavorrapassarmi'.Thisfascinatingdocument,andothersof equalimportance,were
firstbroughtto lightby BrunoCagliin his article"'... questopoveropoetaesordiente":
Piavea Roma,un carteggiocon Ferretti,la genesidi "Ernani"',in Ernaniierie oggi
(seen. 16), 3-18.
The words Verdi set are distinctly less provocative:

Mortecolga,o n'arridavittoria,
Pugnerem;ed il sanguede' spenti
Nuovo ardireai figliuoliviventi,
Forzenuoveal pugnaredara.
[Let death strike or let victory smile, / We will fight; and the blood of the dead /
Will give new ardourto the livingsons, / New forcein battle.]
Unlike the Nabucco ensemble, text and music function well together (see Ex.
11). There would be no reason for an audience to suspect that other words
were contemplated, nor is there anything in the story of Ernani to suggest
to the censorship that this chorus had meaning beyond its apparentone.
Ex. ii
Ernani, congiura Andante sostenuto
iJ | ,__ _ llJ)i--.I 3 ,
Tutn i I h h o.n
Ztff4-"*? Ibp I k7 T~ 1'
"'"I y Y Y I' '-'-
-, i I".-J
Mor- te col - ga, on'ar- ri- da vit - to - - ria, pu - gne -
cupo _-_-_3_ / i 3- '
__
Tutti
- rem;_ ed il san-gue de' spen - ti nuo-vo ar- di - re ai fi - gliuo- i vi
Tutti
8
-e no - - v pu-ga
- re
-ven - ti, for - ze nuo - - - ve al pu- gna - re da - ra.
Ex.11
Yet it is certain that, despite the less provocatory text, the composition was
received by Italian audiences as a patriotic hymn. Its grandiose accompaniment,
unison melody, strong martial rhythms and the thrust of its dramatic function
were sufficient to guarantee such a reception. Even the subsequent finale, in
which Charles V pardons the conspirators, was reinterpreted in contemporary
political terms. According to Verdi's student Emanuele Muzio, after the corona-
tion of Pius IX as Pope on 16 June 1846 (the same Pius IX for whom Rossini
provided a hymn based on the chorus of the Bards from La donna del lago),
the Ernani finale was performed in Bologna, with 'the name of Carlo changed
to Pius, and there was such enthusiasm that it was repeated three times; then,
when the words "Pardon for all" were reached, the shouts and applause broke
out all over the theatre.'43By 1844, Verdi had no need to render problematic
his choruses: the public readily understood their political subtext. Indeed, these
meanings were so palpable that in Naples, where censorship could be ferocious,
43 Letter of 13 August 1846, published in Luigi Agostino Garibaldi, ed., Giuseppe Verdi
nelle lettere di Emanuele Muzio ad Antonio Barezzi (Milan, 1931), 259: ' [.. .] vi si cambio
il nome di Carlo in quello di Pio - e fu tanto l'entusiasmo che si ripete tre volte;
quando
poi erano alle parole "Perdono a tutti", scoppiarono gli ewiva da tutte le parti'.
58 Philip Gossett
operas such as Nabucco or I Lombardi were ignored until 1848. Only in the
wake of political concessions by the King were they finally performed.44
In the brief period of giddy hope that followed the revolutionary movements
of 1848, Verdi moved this subtext to the surface, in a work to a libretto by
Salvatore Cammarano that had its premiere in Rome on 27 January 1849, La
battaglia di Legnano. The opera relates the successful battle of the Lombard
League in 1176 against the German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa:no longer
Swiss fighting against Austrians or Hebrews longing for freedom. The first act
begins with an unaccompanied hymn the meaning of whose text is unequivocal:
VivaItalia!Sacroun patto
Tuttistringei figli suoi:
Esso alfindi tantiha fatto
Un sol popolo d'eroi!
[Long live Italy! A sacredpact / Binds its sons together:/ It has finally made of
them/ A singlepeopleof heroes!]
In the third act the 'Knights of Death' vow before the tombs of their fathers,
in a subterranean vault of the church of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan (the patron
saint of the city), to defeat the invaders or die. The knights continue:
Se alcun fra noi, codardo in guerra,
Mostrarsi al voto potra rubello,
Al mancatore nieghi la terra
Vivo un asilo, spento un avel.
[If anyone among us, cowardly in war, / Fails to live up to this oath, / May the
earth refuse him / A refuge in life, a tomb in death.]
What makes the passage fascinating is its relationship to the second-act finale
of Rossini's Guillaume Tell, whose text (in the nineteenth-century Italian trans-
lation) has the same poetic meter (doppi quinari), verbal images and general
meaning as the Verdian scene:
Se qualche vil v'ha mai tra noi,
Lo privi il sol de' raggi suoi,
Non oda il ciel la sua preghiera,
E giunto al fin di sua carriera
Gli neghi tomba la terra ancor.
[If there is a traitor among us, / May the sun hide its rays from him, / May heaven
be deaf to his prayer, / And, at the end of his days, / May the earth refuse him
a tomb.]
The dramaturgical similarity between the two scenes, of course, has been noted
before.45
44 I havediscussedthe interactions betweenpoliticalandmusicaleventsin Naplesin this
periodin my article'Lafine dell'Etaborbonica1838-1860'in II Teatrodi San Carlo,
2 vols. (Naples, 1987),I, 165-203.
45 By JulianBudden,for example,in TheOperasof Verdi:From'Oberto'to 'Rigoletto'
(London,1973),407, or by DavidR. B. Kimbell,Verdiin theAge of ItalianRomanticism
(Cambridge,1981),569 (wherethe Battagliapassageis, however,misidentifiedas the
'Act III finale').
The chorusin Risorgimentoopera 59
The musicalreferenceis equallyprecise. The Battagliadi Legnanopassage

is in three parts: a quiet theme, with a strong upwardgestureto the words
'guerra'and 'rubello';a chromaticpassage,pianissimoand partlyunaccompa-
nied, at the referenceto the earth'sdenyingthe traitora tomb;finally,a soaring
lyricalphraseto conclude(see Ex. 12).
Ex. I2
La battaglia di Legnano, Giuramento
Andante
Tutti
J J.'J
h bl 7! h t >I Ah ' r ) i 7' tN
J'
i . V?h Wt
y
J1JI 7J7J r 7 Ir
F' I dO jI) a-yI a^=1
H I?
Se al-cun fra noi, se al-cun franoi, co-dar-do in guer-ra, mo-strar-si
al vo - to po-tra,po-tra ru -
d""'
A . ^ \, ^~ K wdim. p
Tutti r^r\l r r'
pIbft^
81 b
- bel - lo, al man-ca - to - re nie-ghi la ter - ra vi-vo un a- si - lo,spen-toun a -
PP dim.sempre 0
Tutti
B3 )e SM
1J--A
.J J7')^7
- vel: nie-ghi la ter - ra, nie-ghiun a - vel: sic- co- me
convoce
spiegata . -
Tutti
M. No 1 I LL ^-
Ig
gli uo-mi-niDio l'ab-ban-do- ni, quan-do l'e - stre - mo suo di ver - ra: il vil suo
ff ,f ten.
,4 n I -L-
"j,',, I k rr-. -p a IJ
Tutti
?v r
I VD IJ
r r
- - a
no - me in-fa - mia suoni ad o - gni gen-te, ad o - gni e - ta.
Ex.12
Sections similar to all three are present in Rossini's original, though in a

different order. Even the ascending four notes to the tonic (with their dotted
rhythm) that initiate the lyrical phrase in La battaglia di Legnano are derived
from the opening of the Guillaume Tell passage (see Ex. 13). Notice too the
similar modulatory phrases in the accompaniment that fall between the second
and third elements in La battaglia di Legnano (moving from C sharp major
to a lyrical phrase in A major) and between the first two elements in Guillaume
Tell (moving from G major to a lyrical phrase in E flat major).
This is intertextuality with a vengeance. But what was the subtext in the
60 PhilipGossett
Ex.13
Tell,FinaleII
Guillaume
Andantinomaestoso
o, [P] [ [f--] [P [f-
r
Tuttui 7i ? I.4 FJ ir .N F -RE.)l
j
Se qual-che vil v'hamai fra no - i, lo pri-viil sol de' raggi suo - i, lo pri-viil
R ( 3 ) 6j ~~non
Chorus
Soloists I
Tutti b d
non o- da il ciel la sua pre-

sol de' rag - gi suoi,
1
T7
Sfoo i1
Soloists iua car-
i j- r
- ghie- ra, e - - ra
giun- toal fin di sua car- re
Chorus J i K h kI
I
* . , I h Km
- W. W, i , ' p W,
o - da il ciel la sua pre-ghie - ra, e giun- to al fin di sua car -
Chorus
? Tutti ne - ghi tom-ba an-cor.
--O. l,
-r_ . k K,-,
I k
Tutrib S .7 _
hnM7?I? ; -i i ~-
i" t Fr" rr
"
- rie - ra gli neghi tom-ba la ter-ra an-cor, ne-ghi tom - ba an -cor.
Ex.13
reception of Rossini's opera in Italy during the Austrian occupation became

the text of Verdi's opera. Poet and composer made the reference so pointed
it could not be missed. By doing so they offer precious evidence of how Verdi
and Cammarano read Rossini, that is, how they understood the function and
purpose of choral ensembles in earliernineteenth-century Italian opera.
The cultural and political meaning of the chorus remained significant even after
the foundation of the Italian nation in 1859 and its gradual annexation of the
remaining independent states in the peninsula. If Nabucco looked forward to
independence, Aida looked back on the experience and is virulent on the subject
of intolerance, especially religious intolerance. Here too Verdi's message can
be read politically - among the Italian government's most difficult problems
was achievingan accord with the Papal presencein Rome. Verdi's vengeful
chorusof priestsleavesno doubt as to wherehis sympathieslay.
Thoughcensorshipwasnot a problemfor operaticcomposersafterthe unifica-
tion of Italy,thetheatreremaineda focalpointforpoliticaldiscourseof adifferent
kind. Italy was a constitutionalmonarchy, and many of its most profound
problems were social. Little time was needed to expose the myth that a united
citizenry would follow close on a united Italy. Regional divisions, particularly
between north and south, have never been fully resolved, and as early as the
1840s and 1850s writers and patriots such as Carlo Pisacane and Giuseppe Ferrari
had sought to redefine the Risorgimento in terms of class struggle.46 Verdi
was a follower of Cavour, at whose behest he agreed to be a deputy in the
first Italian parliament. He feared populism and leftist politics, and could write
on 27 May 1881, shortly after the premiere of the revised version of Simon
Boccanegra: 'I have a sad presentiment about our future! The Leftists will destroy
47
Italy.
One could read the treatment of the chorus in Simon Boccanegrain precisely
these terms. First performed with little popular success at the Teatro La Fenice
of Venice on 12 March 1857, to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, Simon
Boccanegra was revised by Verdi (with additional text by Arrigo Boito) for
the Teatro alla Scalaof Milan (24 March 1881). Through both textual and musical
means, Verdi makes a political statement in this opera that might appropriately
be labelled 'didactic'. Indeed he himself describes his generating idea for the
'council chamber' scene added in 1881 as 'political, not dramatic'.48 In the
definitive version of Simon Boccanegra there are no independent choruses, nor
can the chorus be considered a protagonist of the drama. It largely represents
the plebians of Genoa, whose conflicts with the patricians of the city underlie
much of the meaning of the work. After the 'council chamber' scene the chorus
all but disappears, yet its transformationfrom an unruly mass to a mature people
united under a just and strong leader mirrors the view Verdi shared with many
Italian intellectuals and political leaders of the time.
In the Prologue of the opera, unscrupulous politicians seek to gain support
from the chorus for their choice of a new Doge. The tone in which the chorus
hears of the imprisonment of a young patrician woman (Maria) by her father,
because of her love for the corsair Simon, is redolent of a ghost story told
46 Fora discussionof thesepoliticalcurrentsin Italyduringthisperiod,see StuartWoolf,
A Historyof Italy 1700-1860:TheSocialConstraintsof PoliticalChange(Londonand
New York, 1979),418-24.
47 In a letterto OpprandinoArrivabene,publishedin Verdiintimo:carteggiodi Giuseppe
Verdiconil ConteOpprandino Arrivabene[1861-1886],ed. AnnibaleAlberti(Milan,
1931),288:'Ho un tristopresentimentosul nostroavvenire!I Sinistridistruggeranno
l'Italia.'
48 Thephrasecomesfroma letterto GiulioRicordiof 20 November1880.Afterdescribing
the two lettersof Petrarchto the Doges of GenoaandVenice,in whichthe poet begs
themto avoida fratricidalwar,Verdiwrites:'Tuttocio epoliticonon drammatico; ma
un'uomod'ingegnopotrebbeben drammatizzare questofatto'['Allof thisis political,
not dramatic;but a manof imaginationcouldsuccessfullydramatisethisevent'].See
PierluigiPetrobelli,MarisaDi GregorioCasatiandCarloMatteoMossa,eds., Carteggio
Verdi- Ricordi1880-1881(Parma,1988),70.
62 PhilipGossett
to children,completewith the appearanceof 'fantasmi'(spectres).Verdi'smusic

even invokes rhythmic and melodic fragmentsfrom Fernando'stale about
witches, gypsies and hauntedbabies in II trovatore.When, at the end of the
scene, Simon learns of Maria's death, he cries out in torment. At that very
moment, music of jarring banality accompanies the choral expression of delight
at the political success of the candidate of the plebians (Simon) over the patricians
(see Ex. 14). Throughout the Prologue, Verdi establishes the chorus as a super-
stitious mob, easily swayed by unscrupulous leaders and bound up in class
hatred that can tear apartthe fabric of a society.
Ex. 14
SimonBoccanegra,Finaleof the Prologo
Allegro assai vivo
.4|
42Li:r r .
rW
f
Ex.14
The 'council chamber' scene (the only complete scene added in 1881), on
the other hand, is about reconciliation and unity: between Genoa and Venice,
between the plebians and the patricians. Both political and social reconciliation
were needed to create a united Italy. As indicated above, it was Verdi's idea
to build this scene around Petrarch's impassioned plea to the council for the
cessation of war between Genoa and Venice. The Consiglieri cry for 'War',
while Simon responds with words that had enormous resonance for Verdi, and
which he sets over a sparse accompaniment so as to guaranteetheir audibility:
E con quest'urloatroce
Fradue liti d'ItaliaergeCaino
Lasuaclavacruenta!Adriae Liguria
Hannopatriacomune.
[And with that horrid cry / Cain raises between two Italianshores / His bloody
club!AdriaandLiguria/ Sharea commonfatherland.]
But the reaction of the Consiglieri remains 'E nostra patria Genova' ['Our
country is Genoa'].
Noise is heard from without, an uprising in the streets that results from
a conflict between plebians and patricians. Verdi builds up the agitation grad-
ually, with cries of 'Morte!' ['Death!'], then 'Morte ai patrizi!' ['Death to
the patricians!'] and finally 'Morte al Doge!' ['Death to the Doge!']. At the
gates of the palace the mob sings (see Ex. 15): 'Armi! saccheggio! / Fuoco
alle case!' ['Arms! plunder! / Set fire to the houses!']. Finally the chorus erupts
into the chamber demanding 'Vendetta!' ['Revenge!'].
To characterisethis plebian mob, Verdi employs music that constantly invokes
the first section of the Dies irxemovement from his Requiem Mass. In its furious
orchestration, its highly accentuated rhythmic patterns, its use of a held pitch
Ex. 15
CouncilChamberscene
SimonBoccanegra,
Allegro moderatoe,
e'4 II
'a V i1
I_- P Vhi
Ar - mi! sac-cheg - gio! fuo - co al - le ca-se!

Coro
Ar - mi! sac - cheg - gio! fuo - co al - le ca -se!
,,-. .- ----- -
^-
Ex.15
in some vocal parts while other voices maintain active rhythmic patterns beneath,
its rapid and irregularshifting between musical ideas and its forceful syncopation,
the choral passage from Simon Boccanegra identifies itself with the announce-
ment of the day of judgment. Verdi's technique extends even further. The mob
is momentarily silenced by the herald's trumpets, divided between trumpets
in the orchestra and others in the wings (see Ex. 16). This is precisely the
pattern Verdi employs in the Dies ire to introduce the 'Tuba mirum' section
that follows the opening 'Dies irx'. Even the pitch employed is the same in
the two works (E flat). The hostilities end only when Simon intones what
Verdi would have called a 'parola scenica' (a word with immediate and telling
impact on the audience) that sums up the emotional heart of the drama: 'Fratri-
cidi!!!' ['Fratricides!!!']. The ensemble he leads is one of the most beautiful
moments in all Verdi: a plea for unity, a plea to set aside political, geographical
and class differences, closing with words derived from Petrarch:'E vo gridando:
pace! e vo gridando: amor!' ['I cry out: peace! I cry out: love!'] (see Ex. 17).
The music soars to ecstatic heights, then concludes dolcissimo, with the chorus
providing the melodic ground over which the solo voices are raised in short
phrases. The very last word, 'pace' ['peace'], is left for the heroine, Amelia,
in a trill that soars over the entire ensemble.
In this scene, Verdi and Boito project their social ideals on the story of four-
teenth-century Genoa: political unity between diverse Italian states, social unity
within the state. Before the act is over, the masses have become a people, under
the leadership of a strong but compassionate and wise ruler.
Simon Boccanegra exemplifies and apotheosises a traditional view of the Italian

opera chorus in the nineteenth century: from a neutral body in the early works
64 PhilipGossett
Ex. 16
CouncilChamberscene
SimonBoccanegra,
Allegro moderato
(Trombein orchestra) (Trombe interne)
A -.. ......L....
LLi L
I I l____i_____-
( C LI r rI
f L I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. I I I I i
e) f p
Ex.16
Ex. 17
SimonBoccanegra,Council Chamberscene
Meno mosso
Li-- ._
.-'- -i." .- --A - P^ 4- f
if p- T I ) I"! rr r I V
:A - LA.u \
Simon szT..
IL I
-- I f r 3 I
e vo gri- dan - do: pa ce! e vo gri-dan - do: a -
Pp -
m- .-* -
r . r, [r I I
- mor, e vo gri - dan - do: a - mor!
Ex.17
of Rossini, the chorus gradually emerges as a 'collective individuality' and finally

evolves into a citizenry. Yet it should be apparent that such a view is at best
partial. 'Becoming a citizen', after all, is hardly an unambiguous concept: what
kind of citizen, in what kind of state? Neither the politics of theatre nor the
theatre of politics could avoid addressing such issues, nor must we. By framing
our questions in ways that recognise the complexity of the historical processes
embodied under the banner of the Risorgimento, we may find that its principal
theatre, Italian opera, offers a broader range of responses to those questions
than we had suspected.

Verdi-Gossett Becoming A Citizen The Chorus in Risorgimento Opera

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Verdi-Gossett Becoming A Citizen The Chorus in Risorgimento Opera

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Verdi-Gossett Becoming A Citizen The Chorus in Risorgimento Opera

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Becoming a Citizen: The Chorus in "Risorgimento" Opera

Author(s): Philip Gossett

You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

From 1815 through 1860 Italy, as always a geographical reality (bounded on

5 For a fascinating discussionof the variousversionsof Manzoni'snovelandthe circlein

In his early operas, Rossini rarelyassignedhis most expressivemusic to the

Ciro in Babilonia, Coro del Convito

In - tor-no fu - mi - no gl'a - ra- bio - do - ri,

($#jt ;4rr gi77

hardnot to discernthe parodyof a melodyRossinicouldpresumehis audiences

Venetian Republic to their own political interests, ceding it to Austria in the

E.i I III_III1~ ~~ ilI.l 11Ir-.,IiI~

the last Restoration monarch in France. Although an opera in which a people

power'.24 The reception of Auber's opera, according to Fulcher, had overtones

il chan - te, et l'Hel - v - ti - e pleu - re, pleu- re sa li - ber- te.

Quel contento che in me sento

the voices declaimthe Frenchtext in a hymn-likesettingof grandiosepower.

As with Rossini, the dramaticsetting of these compositions ostensibly removes

39 A samplepageis reproducedas Plate5 in the criticaleditionof the opera,citedin n.

The words Verdi set are distinctly less provocative:

- rem;_ ed il san-gue de' spen - ti nuo-vo ar- di - re ai fi - gliuo- i vi

The musicalreferenceis equallyprecise. The Battagliadi Legnanopassage

Sections similar to all three are present in Rossini's original, though in a

non o- da il ciel la sua pre-

reception of Rossini's opera in Italy during the Austrian occupation became

to children,completewith the appearanceof 'fantasmi'(spectres).Verdi'smusic

Ar - mi! sac-cheg - gio! fuo - co al - le ca-se!

Ar - mi! sac - cheg - gio! fuo - co al - le ca -se!

Simon Boccanegra exemplifies and apotheosises a traditional view of the Italian

of Rossini, the chorus gradually emerges as a 'collective individuality' and finally

You might also like