Living Legend Edita Gruberová tackles Lucrezia

Television viewers may have seen the recent historical drama "The Borgias" starring Jeremy Irons as the family patriarch in the Italian Renaissance. Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI using bribery, threats, murder and more to amass power and wealth for himself and his four children. One of those children, Lucrezia Borgia, is legendary as a femme fatale in the fifteenth-century. She was betrothed twice before she was 13, married off in influential alliances, and accused of multiple affairs and poisonings. Whether she was a pawn or a full participant in her family's power struggles is open for debate. But Lucrezia's life has long been the stuff of legend, depicted onstage by playwright Victor Hugo, and subsequently adapted as an opera by Gaetano Donizetti.

Another legendary figure, Edita Gruberová, sings the role of Lucrezia Borgia in a concert performance from the Vienna State Opera on this week's edition of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. Often referred to as the Queen of Coloratura, Gruberová's career is unusual for it's longevity (now spanning 40 years) and for taking on such challenging roles as Lucrezia, who is rarely off stage in the drama.

Also today guest host Paolo Pietropaolo speaks with mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, who will appear as Stephano in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette for Vancouver Opera, and to composer Gareth Williams, whose work "Pub Operas" celebrates the history of Glasgow's oldest pub. Tapestry New Opera presents the Canadian premiere of Pub Operas this week in Toronto's historic distillery district. And our advice columnist - "Mezzo Mom" Rebecca Hass - remembers a thing or two about memorization.

Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with guest host Paolo Pietropaolo
Saturday, November 12, 2011, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2

For more on the opera see below

More on the opera

Lucrezia Borgia, opera in a prologue and two acts,
after the play by Victor Hugo

Music: Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto: Felice Romani

Premiere: La Scala, Milan, December 26, 1833
This production: Vienna State Opera October 2, 2010 (concert performance)
European Broadcasting Union, EURO/2010-2011/OV/002

Michele Pertusi, bass..........Alfonso D'Este, Duke of Ferrara
Edita Gruberova, soprano...Lucrezia Borgia
Laura Polverelli, contralto....Maffio Orsini
José Bros, tenor..................Gennaro, young nobleman
Gergely Németi, tenor..........Jeppo Liverotto, young nobleman
Adam Plachetka, bass.........Don Aposto Gazella, young nobleman
Dan Paul Dumitrescu, baritone...Ascanio Petrucci, young nobleman
Benedikt Kobel, tenor..........Oloferno Vitellozzo, young nobleman
Peter Jelosits, tenor..............Rustighello, in the service of Don Alfonso
Hans Peter Kammerer, bass...Gubetta, in the service of Lucrezia
Marcus Pelz, tenor...............Astolfo, in the service of Lucrezia

Ensemble: Vienna State Opera Chorus
Director: Martin Schebesta
Orchestra: Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Friedrich Haider

Synopsis
PROLOGUE - The Palazzo Grimani in Venice, early 16th Century
Gennaro and his friends celebrate on the brightly lit terrace, in front of which lies the Giudecca canal. The friends' conversation turns to Don Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, to whose house they will be travelling the next day, and to his wife, the infamous Lucrezia Borgia. On hearing Lucrezia's name, Orsini tells of how Gennaro and he, alone in a forest, were warned by a mysterious old man to beware her and the entire Borgia family. Professing his boredom with Orsini's tale Gennaro wanders off and falls asleep nearby. His friends are invited to rejoin the festivities, and he is left alone. A gondola appears and a masked woman steps onto the terrace. She hurries over to the sleeping Gennaro and observes him with affection. She kisses his hand, he wakes and is instantly struck by her beauty. He expresses his love for her and sings of his childhood as an orphan brought up by fishermen. He adds that he loves dearly the mother he has never met. The others return and instantly recognize her as Lucrezia Borgia, listing in turn the members of their families she has killed to Gennaro's horror.

ACT I - Ferrara
The Duke, believing Gennaro to be Lucrezia's lover, plots his murder with his servant Rustighello and his companions leave the house for a party and pass the Duke's palace with its large gilded coat of arms reading 'Borgia'. Keen to show his contempt for the Borgia family, Gennaro removes the initial '"B," leaving the obscene "Orgia" ("orgy").

In the palace, Lucrezia is shown into the Duke's chamber. Having seen the defaced crest, she demands death for the perpetrator, not knowing that it is Gennaro. The Duke orders Gennaro to be brought before her and accuses him of staining the noble name of Borgia, a crime to which he readily confesses. Lucrezia, horrified, attempts to excuse the insult as a youthful prank, but Don Alfonso accuses Lucrezia of infidelity, having observed her meeting with Gennaro in Venice. In a scene full of drama and tension, she denies any impropriety, but he demands the prisoner's death and forces her to choose the manner of Gennaro's execution. Pretending to pardon him, the Duke offers Gennaro a glass of wine and he swallows it. The Duke leaves and Lucrezia hurries to Gennaro, giving him an antidote to the poison the Duke has mixed with the wine. He drinks, and she implores him to flee the city and her husband.

ACT II - The palace of the Princess Negroni
Ignoring Lucrezia's advice, Gennaro attends a party at the palace, swearing never to be parted from his friend Orsini. Orsini leads the party in a drinking song.Lucrezia enters and announces that in revenge for their insults in Venice she has poisoned their wine and arranged five coffins for their bodies. She has hitherto believed that Gennaro fled Ferrara on her advice, and is thus dismayed when he steps forward and announces that she has poisoned a sixth. Orsini, Liverotto, Vitellozzo, Petrucci, and Gazella fall dead. Gennaro seizes a dagger and attempts to kill Lucrezia, but she stops him by revealing that he is in fact her son. Once again she asks him to drink the antidote, but this time he refuses, choosing to die with his friends. Lucrezia mourns her son and dies.

Here is a posted video clip of an earlier staged performance from Bavarian State Opera, a performance released on DVD by Unitel Classics.

Photograph:
Edita Gruberova as Lucrezia Borgia in a 2009 Bavarian State Opera production (Wilfried Hösl)

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