| Events preliminary to the opera
The old Count di Luna, now long since dead, had two sons of almost
the same age. One night, while they were still infants, asleep under a
nurse’s charge, a gypsy hag who had stolen unobserved into the old
Count’s castle, was discovered bending over the cradle of the younger
child. She was instantly driven away, yet because the child grew wan and
pale afterwards she was believed to have bewitched it. She was caught and
after the fashion of the times burned to death at the stake.
Her daughter Azucena, then a young gypsy woman with a child of her
own, witnessed the execution. She swore vengeance. The following night she
crept into the castle and stole the younger child of the Count from its
cradle. Then she hurried back to the scene of the execution, where the
fire that had consumed her mother still raged. She intended to throw the
Count’s child into it, thus securing her vengeance. Blind, half crazed
with the horror of the sight she had witnessed, she hurled into the flames
her own child. Her vengeance temporarily thwarted, Azucena fled with the
Count’s child and rejoined her gypsy tribe. She revealed her secret to
no one, brought the infant up as her own son, and though she has grown to
love him, still cherished the thought that through him she might wreak
vengeance upon his family. When the opera opens, this child has grown up,
known by the name of Manrico the Troubadour. Azucena has become old and
wrinkled but still thirsts for vengeance, and the old Count has died,
leaving his elder son, the Count di Luna appearing in the opera, sole heir
to his title and possessions.
ACT I (“The Duel”)
SCENE 1: Vestibule in the Palace
of Aliaferia. The retainers of Count di Luna are keeping
guard in an outer chamber of Aliaferia Palace. The captain of the guard,
Ferrando, passes away the time with a story of the gypsy who was burned
for casting a spell on one of the children of the former Count, and of her
daughter, who for vengeance stole the present Count’s brother and is
believed to have burned him to death at the place of her mother’s
execution. He relates his tale, while singing a markedly rhythmical melody
expressive of the weird horror of his narrative, “Di due figli vivea
padre beato”
(“Happy father of two sons”). A clock strikes midnight, and the retainers,
already frightened by the gruesome tale, rush out in terror.
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Enrico Caruso as Manrico
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SCENE 2: The gardens of the
palace. In the gardens of the palace the fair Leonora strolls with
her attendant and companion, Inez. To her she confides her interest in an
unknown knight, victor at a recent tourney. She knows that her love has
been requited, for the hero has since serenaded her. Thus it is that they
refer to him as “Il Trovatore” (“The Troubadour”).
She tells of his serenade and the emotions it has awakened, in an aria of
unusual beauty and expressiveness, “Tacca la notte placida”
(“Peaceful was the night”). Leonora’s companion speaks of an evil
presentiment and begs her lady to forget her hero, but Leonora cannot. The
ladies enter the palace just as the Count di Luna comes into the garden.
He has barely appeared before the voice of the troubadour is heard from a
nearby clump of bushes singing his serenade. Leonora again comes out of
the palace. Mistaking the Count in the shadows of the trees for her
troubadour, she hurries toward him. At that moment the moon happens to
emerge from behind the dense clouds that are hurrying across it. Leonora
then realizes her mistake, sees the troubadour, and rushes to him
declaring her love for him. The Count is in a terrible rage and demands to
know the intruder’s identity. Unmasking, the troubadour reveals himself
as Manrico, a follower of the Prince of Biscay, and thus proscribed in
Aragon. Unable to restrain their jealousy, the two men draw their swords
and rush away to fight a duel. Leonora falls fainting.
ACT II (“The Gypsy”)
SCENE 1: A ruined house at
the foot of a mountain in Biscay.
It is dawn at a gypsy camp in the Biscay Mountains.
There is a bright campfire, and groups of gypsies are scattered
about. Azucena hovers near
the fire while Manrico, at a distance, holds his sword, at which he looks
thoughtfully. As the daylight
grows brighter, the gypsies bestir themselves about their duties; working
at the forges, they swing their hammers and bring them down on the
clanking metal singing the famous “Anvil Chorus.”
The aged Azucena has been gazing abstractedly at the blaze of the
campfire. When the gypsies pause to rest a moment from their labors, she
begins to sing, as to herself, of the vision that plagues her memory as
she watches the blaze. The gypsies draw near and attentively listen to her
song, a melody perfectly in keeping with the character of this wild gypsy
woman and of the harrowing scene she describes, “Stride la
vampa” (“Flames soaring upward”). When she has finished, the
gypsies depart, the echoes of their song becoming fainter and fainter from
down the mountains. Azucena is still trembling with the horror of the
memory she has revived, still seems to hear the command “Avenge thou
me!” As in a trance, not realizing what she is saying, she continues her
narrative, describing her attempt at revenge and her frenzy when she
realized she had destroyed her own child instead of her enemy’s. The
story sets Manrico thinking. “I’m not your son, then. Who am I?” The
gypsy woman, with a quick instinct for prevarication, avoids the question,
claiming him as her son. She changes the subject by reminding him how she
had nursed him back to life after the almost fatal wound he had received
in the battle between the forces of Biscay and Aragon, at Petilla. The
enemy forces were led at that battle by the Count di Luna, whom a short
time before Manrico had overcome in a duel. Why, asks the gypsy, had he
spared the Count’s life’? Manrico
replies, in a melody smooth and flowing, yet with a certain martial vein,
saying that the foe lay at his mercy, and his sword was raised to strike
the fatal blow, when he seemed to hear a voice from heaven, crying, “Do
not strike!” This is all expressed in the aria “Mal reggendo
all' aspro assalto” (“At my mercy lay the
foe”). The music grows more agitated as Azucena with the utmost
vehemence urges her supposed son never to allow this enemy to escape
again, but to kill him without hesitation. Ruiz enters with a message from
the Prince of Biscay, ordering Manrico to take command of the defense of
the castle Castellor, also informing him that Leonora has believed reports
of Manrico ‘s death at the battle of Petilla, and is about to take vows
at a convent. Manrico leaves despite Azucena ‘s protests.
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Franco Corelli as Manrico
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SCENE 2: The cloister of a
Convent near Castellor. Count di Luna has determined
that before Leonora assumes her vows he will carry her away by force, and
has come here with a body of troops. While they lurk outside the chapel,
the Count thinks of the happiness that will soon be his, singing, “Il
balen del suo sorriso” (usually known in
English as “The Tempest of the Heart”). The nuns are heard singing
within their convent, and when they issue from the convent, conducting
Leonora to the chapel where the ceremony is to take place. Leonora pauses
to bid farewell to her faithful attendant Inez, then turns to enter the
chapel. The Count and his followers now rush forward, and the women draw
back in terror. At this moment Manrico appears with his soldiers, and
wards off the baffled Count and his troops, and rescues his beloved,
though not before a striking ensemble number is performed.
ACT III (“The Gypsy’s Son”)
SCENE 1: A military encampment.
The Count di Luna has laid siege to Castellor, whither Manrico has taken
Leonora. The soldiers of the Count are about to attack, and they sing a
rousing chorus telling of their hopes of winning fame and booty when they
capture the castle. They march away singing their stirring war song, and
their voices grow softer as they disappear in the distance. Azucena, in
her anxiety to see her son, has attempted to get through the besieging
forces. She is captured and brought before the Count as a possible spy.
Questioning brings out the story of her past and her connection with the
episode of the Count’s childhood. Ferrando swears she is the murderess
of di Luna‘s long-lost brother. Azucena, in her extremity, cries out the
name of Manrico, and the Count, on finding that she claims the troubadour
as her son, vows a double vengeance. She is bound and dragged away.
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Luciano Pavarotti as Manrico
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SCENE 2: A hall adjoining the
chapel of Castellor. Within the stronghold of
Castellor, Manrico and Leonora await the hour appointed for their
marriage. Their happiness is troubled, however, by the fear that the Count
di Luna may soon attack the castle. Thus it is that Manrico attempts to
quiet Leonora‘s alarm, singing an aria of his devotion to her, “Ah!
si, ben mio” (“Ah, yes, beloved’’). As he
finishes this declaration of love, the solemn music of the organ in the
adjoining chapel announces the beginning of the ceremony. Manrico takes
his bride’s hand to lead her to the altar. At that very moment Ruiz
enters with the news that Azucena has been captured by the besiegers.
Already faggots are being heaped together, for she is to be burned at the
stake as was her mother. Delay would be fatal. Manrico drops Leonora’s
hand, draws his sword, and, while his soldiers are being summoned, gives
vent to his rage and horror in the famous aria “Di quella pira”
(“Tremble, ye tyrants”). He then rushes away to the rescue.
ACT IV (“The Ordeal”)
SCENE 1: A wing of the Palace
of Aliaferia; a dungeon tower, showing
a barred window. Defeated by Count di Luna and his
forces, Manrico has been taken captive and cast into the dungeon tower of
Aliaferia, where Azucena has already been chained. Outside of these
frowning battlements Leonora lingers, for on this clouded night she has
come with a despairing hope of saving her lover. She wears a poisoned ring
so that if need be she can take her own life. Her thoughts turn toward
Manrico, and she sings a poignantly expressive melody declaring her hope
that love may even penetrate into his dungeon, “D’amor sull’ali
rosee” (“Love, fly on rosy wings”). Within the tower voices
begin a solemn chant of “Miserere,” praying for heaven to have
mercy on the soul of him about to perish. Meanwhile, a deep-toned bell
tolls out the announcement of Manrico‘s impending doom. The mournful
ecclesiastical chant and the tolling knell sounding from the tower across
the blackness of the night fill Leonora with terror; while the orchestra
accompanies with shuddering chords in slow but irresistibly reiterated
rhythm, like the approach of doom, she sings of her fears. From his prison
the troubadour sighs forth his plaint “Seonto col sangue mio”
(“Paid with my blood”). And he closes his song with the words “Do
not forget me! Leonora, farewell.” While the voices resume their chant
and the bell continues tolling, Leonora exclaims that she can never forget
him; that she will save his life with the sacrifice of her own. Then
Manrico resumes his song. To it the voices of the chanting priests supply
a funereal background, and interwoven with it is the cry of Leonora - a
marvelously impressive ensemble. The Count enters, Leonora begs mercy for
Manrico, but he refuses, gloating over his triumph. As a last resource she
offers to marry the Count if her lover may go free. So great is di
Luna’s passion for Leonora that he agrees. While he is giving orders to
one of the guards, Leonora swallows the poison she has concealed in her
ring, muttering to herself that his prize will be a cold and lifeless
bride.
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Andrea Bocelli as Manrico
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SCENE 2: A gloomy dungeon. In
the gloom of their prison Manrico and Azucena await execution. The gypsy
pictures to herself the horror of the flames leaping around herself even
as they did around her mother. She falls overwhelmed with terror, and
Manrico reassures her, softly urging her to rest. Then thinking of the
happy days that are past, Azucena meditates nostalgically, as in a dream, “Madre?
... non dormi?” (“Mother? ... are you asleep?”). Again Manrico
tries to comfort her; then their voices are heard together, while Azucena
falls asleep, still thinking of her gypsy home. Leonora enters with news
of Manrico’s freedom. His joy, however, is turned to desperation as he
learns the price to be paid. In a sudden frenzy he accuses Leonora of
betraying his love. At this moment the poison begins to claim its victim,
and Leonora sinks to the floor at Manrico’s feet. The lover, who now
realizes the full extent of her sacrifice, is all contrition and pleads
for forgiveness. The Count suddenly appears, pausing on the threshold.
Leonora confesses to the troubadour that she prefers death in his presence
to life as another’s bride. Then she sinks lifeless to the ground.
Perceiving that Leonora has cheated him, di Luna orders Manrico to instant
execution, and drags Azucena to the window to witness the death of her
son. The old gypsy is crazed with excitement, blind to the external world.
“It is ended,” the Count exclaims when the executioner’s work is
done. “He was your brother!” she shrieks. “You are avenged, O
mother!” Then she falls lifeless. The Count, overwhelmed with horror,
exclaims, “And still I live!”
From
"The Victor Book of the Opera" 13th Edition © 1929, 1949, 1953,
1968
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