I masnadieri

by GIUSEPPE VERDI
Opera Orchestra of New York
Eve Queler, conductor
Performers listed below.

Giuseppe Verdi had already written a whole career’s worth of hit operas by the time he reached forty. For most composers, it would’ve been several careers’ worth of hit operas. In the nine years between 1844 and 1853, Verdi composed fourteen operas. And you’ve surely heard of some of them, like Il trovatore, Rigoletto, and La traviata. The others? Well, you probably don’t know a lot of those - most people don’t, because they’re just not played that often.

Now you might ask, “how could a composer like Verdi, who wrote so many masterpieces, have also written a bunch of operas that are hardly worth listening to?” Well, there may be any number of answers. One of them is, “he didn’t.” Because in fact, many of Verdi’s lesser-known operas are works of true genius - compelling dramas set to music of striking originality. Another answer might be that the others have some “issues” that even the best operatic tech support often finds thorny.

Take this week’s opera, I MASNADIERI - loosely translated, that’s THE BRIGANDS. It’s about Carlo, a rich kid who gets in so much trouble with his father, a Count, that the kid decides to run away from home and become a murderous criminal. Now, it could be that his little brother engineered some of those family squabbles, but still, Carlo’s reaction was pretty extreme. And that’s not the least of it. When he finally realizes that he can get along with dear ol’ Dad, after all, the old man’s on his deathbed, and Carlo has gone so wrong that he’s been responsible for burning down an entire city. Anyway, at the end of the thing, the evil brother is found out, and Carlo’s dying father has forgiven him. Even his beautiful girlfriend, Amalia, is willing to forgive and forget - she loves him that much. Quite a deal: get away with murder, and get the girl, too.

But Carlo won’t have it. He says he can’t allow such a wonderful, promising young woman to love a demented, blackhearted scoundrel. So what does the chastened, and finally self-aware Carlo do about his moral dilemna? Why, he stabs Amalia to death, of course. “If I won’t let you love me, than nobody can.” Heck of a guy, that Carlo.

So you might say, “why bother with this turkey of an opera?!” Because it’s by Giuseppe Verdi, that’s why, and when it all shakes out, Verdi just didn’t write any real turkeys. The plot may be hard to swallow, but Verdi’s music - spectacular as usual - turns it into a rollicking good time. So, despite its infuriating implausibilities, this opera is simply a lot of fun - a guilty pleasure. Don’t believe it? Tune in anyway; we dare you!

You can hear Verdi’s I MASNADIERI with host Steve Curwood, on NPR WORLD OF OPERA. The performance is by OPERA ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK from Carnegie Hall.

Join Lou Santacroce for NPR’s AT THE OPERA, for a preview 30 minutes before curtain time.

Performers:
Dmitri Hvorostovksy (Francesco); Antonio Nagore (Carlo); Sally Wolf (Amalia); Paul Plishka (Massimiliano); Brian Nedvin (Arminio)


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