More Stories of Famous Operas by Ernest Newman

Author:Ernest Newman [Newman, Ernest]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83082-1
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2013-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

But their vows and their curses are accompanied by the Trojan March, thundering out defiantly in the orchestra as the symbol of Rome’s ultimate victory over Carthage.

1 In the modern text-books this section of the work is described as being “in five acts, with a prologue.”

2 Berlioz, after the French fashion with classical names, calls him “Chorèbe.”

3 It is true that the theme of the duet between Cassandra and Corœbus recurs in the prelude to Les Troyens à Carthage; but this prelude has no real place in the work. It was an afterthought on Berlioz’s part. On this point see below, p. 281.

4 The Romans of the Augustan age flattered themselves that Aeneas was the ancestor of their race. Hence the necessity for Vergil to put this prophecy into the mouth of Hector.

5 This is sometimes erroneously referred to as “the overture to Les Troyens.” It is not that, of course. There was no “overture” in Berlioz’s original conception of the opera, consequently this prelude does not figure in his own piano score, though it has been added, from the manuscript full score now in the Library of the Paris Conservatoire, to the later edition of Les Troyens à Carthage.

6 The original melody is in 3/4 time, with a metronome marking of crotchet 200: in the “lamento” it is phrased in common time, crotchet 66!

7 Thus in the text-book: in the score it is an oar and a helm. There are many trifling discrepancies of this sort between the two versions.

8 According to the modern text-book, the scene that now follows takes place in a room in the palace. There is no hint of this in the score, nor does any break occur in the musical sequence. But it is more credible that Dido and her sister would be exchanging tender confidences in the seclusion of their room than in the vast open space of the first scene. On the other hand, the amphitheatre setting is essential for the closing stage of the present scene.

9 According to the legend, Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Venus. In the Vergilian version of the story it was the hatred of Juno for Venus that brought so many woes upon the latter’s protégé, the Trojan race.

10 Berlioz seems to assume as a matter of course that the audience knows that in the Aeneid Venus, unknown to Dido, substitutes her own son Cupid for Ascanius, to sow the seeds of love in the young Queen’s bosom.

11 In Conington’s translation:

That day she first began to die: No secret love is Dido’s aim:

That day first taught her to defy She calls it marriage now; such name

The public tongue, the public eye. She chooses to conceal her shame.

12 All these striking vocal effects, which are so vital to Berlioz’s scheme, are necessarily omitted in concert performances.

13 Then Earth, the venerable dame,

And Juno gave the sign;

Heaven lightens with attesting flame,

And bids its torches shine,

And from the summit of the peak

The nymphs shrill out the nuptial shriek.

(Conington).

14 The whole of this scene can be omitted from a modern performance without much loss.

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