The publication some years ago of a selection from this Lucia di Lammermoor staged at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste during the 1957/58 season represents one of the landmarks of live recordings. ln fact it allows fans and experts to examine Leyla Gencer's art in Lucia, a role which the soprano dealt with in an almost casual manner and which constituted a Unicom in her career. ln fact Walter Scott’s tragic heroine entered the singer’s repertoire in a totally unexpected manner in 1957. ln September, Maria Callas, having just returned from a tournée with the company from the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, to the Edinburgh Festival, unexpectedly cancelled her American engagements. The War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco suddenly found itself without a protagonist for Lucia di Lammermoor and Macbeth. And there were only ten days left in which to find a solution. The management of the California theatre engaged the Austrian soprano Leonie Rysanek to be the substitute for the Verdian Lady and asked Leyla Gencer to take the part of Lucia di Lammermoor. After her debut the previous year in Francesca da Rimini in the “Golden Gate” city the Turkish soprano was well known in the USA. On the 19th of September she had appeared at the War Memorial Opera House in the Traviata and there was very little time left before the debut in Lucia (27th September 1957). As Franca Cella wittily wrote “of the opera Leyla Gencer knew only “the madness”. Crazier than ever she learnt it in one week and had a triumph”. Returning to Italy two months later Leyla Gencer inaugurated the Verdi season in Trieste as Leonora in the Trovatore. As a comic Deja-vu, even here the protagonist of the subsequent opera Lucia, the soprano Eugenia Ratti had to cancel due to health reasons. Like the conductor from San Francisco, Kurt Herbert Adler, - in fact taking courage from the precedent - the directors of the Julian Theatre asked Leyla Gencer to once again attempt the role by Donizetti. With strength in the Latin proverb Repetita iuvant the soprano took up the role of Lucia and as this recording demonstrates once again had a great success. The merit was due to the artiste’s intelligence and to the conductor Oliviero De Fabritiis (the same conductor who had accompanied her in her American debut in Zandonai’s opera the previous year). De Fabritiis re-opens a traditional view in the madness scene S’avanza Enrico which having a dramatic impression helps the protagonist to understand both her character and the scenic situation in general better. The rest of the singing company (and this unfortunateéy applies also to Giacinto Prandelli’s dgardo) are not up to the standard of the protagonist who therefore towers over them undisturbed in a prospective almost like singing in a recital. Moving away from the Callas model, Leyla Gencer depicts an adolescent Lucia, using as an instrument the agility singing in the chords of a light soprano. In this approach by Leyla Gencer we probably hear the lessons of an extraordinary singing teacher like Giannina Arangi-Lombardi. If not for another Lucia in Venice (February 1959) the artiste would not have returned to the role of the young girl from Highlands. In the course of her career Leyla Gencer’s name was destined to be tied to other more darkly dramatic characters of the Donizetti repertoire. Therefore, this recording in Trieste preserves a moment in the career of an artiste which could have marked a turning point but which instead was not to be. Like an elegant domino worn with grace once and then put aside forever.
FROM CD BOOKLET
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
UNDER THE SIGN OF LEYLA
GIANNI GORI
Saturday 30 November 1957. Documents such as this are history before they turn into music, so before the curtain goes up let us remember the significance of this date. Because it was on 30 November 1957 that the voice of Beniamino Gigli was silenced forever. A wave of grief swept through those who saw Gigli as the voice that symbolized Italy and through those in Trieste who, a mere three years earlier in the huge surroundings of the Castle of San Giusto, had applauded one of his last performances in concert and who would now commemorate him with the Lucia of which he had be so fond. This document provides no indication of the emotion which must have been felt by operagoers with memories of what had gone before. Yet the little that remains of that evening still has the power to roll back time and conjure up once more one of the great highlights at the Teatro Verdi during the 1957/58 season, featuring Leyla Gencer who had returned by public demand following Der Freischütz conducted by Mario Rossi. That Giuseppe Antonicelli was an organizer with exceptionally high standards is readily apparent merely from looking at the programme for that season. The ten events being staged were hardly among the easiest to produce, including as they did Mefistofele, Boris Godunov and Tristan und Isolde, two of the conductors - Thomas Schippers and Lorin Maazel - were of the new generation and the soloists included the older, established Rubinstein and Kempe and the young, up-and-coming Accardo, Gulli and Pollini. Audiences were accustomed to beauty, which kept their aesthetic awareness heightened and listening to these rare documents years later, we are likely to be surprised at what passed for wild applause and enthusiastic ovation because, by today’s paroxystic standards, the audience reaction seems positively contained. Yet it could not be otherwise, since excellence was then the norm. Even so, the 57/58 season had begun with a stunningly significant instance of how to approach Verdi with a style guaranteed to make audiences sit up. This staging of II Trovatore was conducted by Vincenzo Bellezza and featured Leyla Gencer’s outstanding notturno alongside the stalwarts Mario Filippeschi and the younger Ettore Bastianini, who had been so impressive in Thais in ’54. And a couple of astonishing excerpt from this Trovatore can be heard on this CD. Which explains why the edition of Lucia di Lammermoor featuring Gencer had aroused such expectations. After Leonora, all moonlight with the majestic voice of Arangi-Lombardi, (this Leonora being the stylistic opposite of her partnering singers in a version of the opera which was, in other respects, something of a warhorse), Lucia was even more of a challenge. The first reason was that the role was still in the grip of the “light” approach favoured by singers before and during the second world war. The second reason was Maria Callas, shoes presence loomed large at the Teatro Verdi after singing Norma there three seasons earlier that had become the stuff of legend, (Votto, Corelli, Nicolai, Christoff). Meanwhile, the legendary status of this Lucia, conducted by de Fabritiis with a solid sense of balance and respect for convention, centres on Gencer’s great achievement in using only musical means to create what would become a model for interpreting this role. Gencer does this through the sensitivity of her phrasing, her control of legato and the introspective nature of sound while keeping emotion alive and imbuing her approach with romantic lyricism. Her renowned control, the purity of her flute-like sounds and the way she modulated her tone colour were never merely effects but the live essence of the soul of the character, torn by events and on the verge of losing her mind yet constantly sustained by a powerful sense of femininity. With a vocal approach of this sort, the intensity of the drama could only rise like a mounting wave. Gencer conveyed intoxication, ecstasy and torment with crystalline purity; good instances of this are the flights of ultra-staccato, pinpoint-like semiquavers in Quando rapita in estasi, the stellar puntatura in the duet with Enrico Il pallor funesto, orrendo, all those sounds that seemed to float on the ether and the many notes in the upper treble which Gencer could produce with astonishing ease, as though by magic. The present recording has historic evening for opera-lovers on CD, with its unforgettably great mad scene. Music which should remain forever in a Louvre Museum of opera, as well as in our minds. Gencer’s charisma was clearly infectious, since outstanding performances are also provided by Nino Carta as Enrico (baritone and later a teacher of great worth, after whom Moncalieri named a singing competition) and Giancinto Prandelli as an ideally noble Edgardo, with just the right amount of spleen underlining the character’s class and lordly attitude.
FROM LP BOOKLET
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR
FRANCA CELLA
I destino donizettiano di Leyla Gencer ebbe avvivo curioso. Nel settembre 1957 Maria Callas, reduce da Edimburgo con la Scala, cancellò improvvisamente gli impegni americani, tra cui Lucia e Macbeth a San Francisco. A dieci giorni dalle recite la direzione del War Memorial “Opera House affidò Macbeth alla Rysaneck, e Lucia alla Gencer, scritturata già per La Traviata dopo il clamoroso esordio americano dell’anno precedente (Francesca da Rimini). Dell’opera la Gencer conosceva solo “la pazzia.” Più impazzita che mai l’imparò in una settimana, ed ebbe un trionfo. Due mesi dopo (dicembre 1957) la cantava a Trieste, dopo il suo Trovatore d’inaugurazione, e anche questa seconda volta fu afferrata a volo.
Vi si butta d'istinto: la splendida tecnica vocale raccolta dall’Arangi Lombardi, il disco della Callas (del 1954) come guida, l'adesione giovane, immediata al dramma. E d’istinto risolve il problema inziale: per la sua voce agilissima, la concezione che ha del bel canto come ricamo terso, la logica del personaggio sempre sopraffatto, predestinato a una fissità attonita, a una dispersione smarrita, sceglie la strada del soprano leggero d’agilità pura. E mentre schiarisce e alleggerisce la voce, ha in mente anche il modello di soprano leggero con la voce bambina, le vocali sbiancate, ma il mordente stilistico è quello della Callas (abbellimenti, variazioni e puntature all'ottava superiore comprese), e la drammaticita che l'accento della Callas penetra aggressivo, è volutamente rientrata in armonia col peso vocale piu aereo, con la presenza di voce meno corporea. In questo orizzonte d’agilita pura:si colora di pastello, ma vibra in un gioco di trasparenze tra colore e stato d'animo, precisione di disegno ritmico e parole, sempre luminosamente pronunciate; si scurisce dove la situazione la chiama (il duetto col baritono, il taglio aperto da De Fabritiis nella pazzia), s'apre a indugi concentrati, si abbandona in toni affranti, ineluttabili. Con qualche virata di volontà verso la voce infantile, o d'istinto che carica troppo all’improvviso il ‘‘tremendo fantasma.’’
Cosi assistiamo a un paradosso. Interpretativamente abbiamo una Gencer soave, che annulla la propria aggressività, riesce ammirevolmente a piegarsi, par quasi rinnegare il concetto del soprano drammatico d’agilita che la Callas aveva riproposto. Vocalmente dà la misura delle proprie possibilità nell’agilita pura, in un gusto moderno oggi e che vent'anni fa poteva essere frainteso. Ha smalto di voce fresca, sicurezza di suono; si muove con leggerezza e facilità sulla tessitura leggera, estremamente agile in trilli, gorgheggi, variazioni, arabeschi aerei, acciaccature e ritmi puntati perfetti, acuti e sopracuti strepitosi, e contrappeso di bassi appena sfiorati. C'è un fascino perfezionistico ed espressivo nella tecnica: il segreto del canto soffiato, del gioco di piani slanciati dal - basso verso l’alto, del lieve immascheramento nel vo- ‘ calizzo, degli attacchi a fil di voce che approdano a suono corposo. La cadenza col flauto è una lezione di canto, ed espressiva, spettacolare, che trascina un uragano d’applausi.
Una Lucia cosi aveva le carte in regola per girare il mondo. Non accadde e l'interprete si mosse verso un repertorio più drammatico. Ma era questa, di Lucia, Rigoletto, Puritani la vera natura della Gencer? che la politica dei teatri, il gusto del pubblico l’han portata a forzare? O e vera l’altra aggressiva, ma con l’arte dello sfumato leggero, che ci è più familiare? Perciò è nato questo disco-documento, ritagliato antologicamente sulla protagonista. L'esecuzione e stata mutilata, ma un tenore onorato vi appare in stato di degrado, il baritono Carta si prodiga con serietà, il direttore Oliviero De Fabritiis ha il merito d'aprire un taglio efficace all’interno della pazzia, conservando gli altri consueti, e tuttavia anche l'a- scolto integrale della sua Lucia, non credo.‘‘che possa aggiungere’ - come direbbe Sterne - ‘‘un filo alla trama della vita’’ di Donizetti.
Leyla Gencer’s fateful encounter with Donizetti began in a curious way. In September, 1957, Maria Callas, who had just terminated appearances in Edinburgh with La Scala, suddenly cancelled all her performances in the U.S.A., including Lucia and Macbeth in San Francisco. Ten days prior to the opening night of these operas the War Memorial Opera House management entrusted Macbeth to Leonie Rysaneck and Lucia to Leyla Gencer, the latter being already under contract for Traviata following a highly successful American debut the year before in Francesca da Rimini. The only part of Lucia familiar to Ms Gencer was the ‘Mad scene.’’ Accepting the role in a moment of what she considered her own ‘‘madness’’, Ms Gencer learned the part in one week and enjoyed a triumphant success with it. Two months later (December, 1957) she again sang Lucia in Trieste following inaugural performances of her Trovatore - and once again at the last moment.
Gencer let her instinct guide her, together with a splendid vocal technique learned from Arangi-Lombardi, a Callas recording (from 1954) as a guide and her youthful, immediate affinity to the drama. And it was instinct that also resolved a basic problem: for her agile voice and the concept she had of bel canto for the expression of the brilliant ornamental passages, the logic of the constantly overwhelmed personage that is Lucia, predestined to that unchanging, wonder-struck state of being, of bewilderment, Ms. Gencer chose the way of the pure coloratura soprano. And while she cleared and lightened her voice, she had in mind the light soprano voice of a small child with its white timbre, but with the stylistic mordent of Callas (embellishments, variations and staccatos, including those in the upper octave), and the dramatic way in which the Callas accent penetrated aggressively whereas Gencer deliberately re-dimensioned her dramatic expression to concur with a lighter vocal weight, with a less corporeal vocal presence. On this particular level of agility it was almost pastel, but vibrating in a play of transparency between colour and state of being, with precision of both rhythmic design and words, always so clearly enunciated, darkening where the situation required it so (the duet with the baritone; in the ‘Mad scene’ cut re-inserted by De Fabritiis) and opening up on a concentrated lingering and abandon to disheartened tones, unresistable, together with changes of vocal colour similar to that of a child's, ‘or to an instinctive sound that is suddenly charged with that ‘‘tremendo fantasma.’’
Thus, are we witnesses to something paradoxical. Interpretively we have a gentle Gencer who controls her inner aggressiveness, manages admirably to be subdued, seeming to almost repudiate the concept. of the ‘soprano drammatico d’agilità’’ proposed by Callas. Vocally she gives in proportion to her natural possibilities of pure agility in what today can be considered modern, but which could have been misunderstood some twenty years ago. The voice is fresh, youthful, secure; it moves with facility and lightness over the high tessitura, is extremely agile in the trills, fioriture, variations, aerial arabesques, acciaccaturas and staccato rhythms, in the perilous high notes and the equivalent bass notes just barely touched upon. There is something fascinating in the expressive perfection of the vocal technique; the secret of ‘“‘soffiato’’ singing, in the play of pianos thrust: from under upwards, of the light masque placement of the vocalises, of the attacks with just a thread of voice which then swells to full sound. The cadenza with flute is an authentic voice lesson as well as something expressive and spectacular which leads inevitably to an explosion of applause.
A Lucia of this calibre had all the qualifications required for the international opera circuit. But this did not happen, and the interpreter went on to a more dramatic repertoire. But were Lucia, Rigoletto, Puritani Gencer’s true nature? Were the internal politics of various theatres, together with public taste forced upon her? also mistress of the art of ‘‘sfumato leggero” who is the most familiar to us? Thus the purpose of this recording-document, anthologically selected to focus It consists of some fascinating highlights, but the once-illustrious tenor Giacinto Prandelli is no longer in his prime, baritone Nino Carta as Lord Ashton does his best, conductor Oliviero De Fabritiis, to whom we are grateful for re-inserting the traditional cut in the ‘Mad Scene” while leaving all the others, and nevertheless I do not believe even a complete hearing of his Lucia – as Sterne would say – could add a thread to the fabric of the life” of Donizetti.
La rencontre décisive de Leyla Gencer avec Donizetti commence d’une curieuse façon. En septembre 1957, Maria Callas, de retour 4 d’Edimbourg avec la Scala, annula à l’improviste tous ses engagements américains, lesquels : jours avant le début des représentations, la direction du War Memorial Opera House confia Macbeth à Leonie Rysaneck et Lucia a Leyla Gencer qui avait déjà été engagée pour la Traviata a la suite du sensationnel début américain de l'année précédente dans Francesca da Rimini. De Lucia, Leyla Gencer ne connaissait que la ‘‘scène de la folie.’’ Acceptant le rôle dans-un moment de ce qu'elle considéra être sa propre ‘‘folie’’, elle l’apprit en une semaine et obtint un triomphe. Deux mois après (décembre 1957) elle chanta l’opéra à Trieste, après ses représentations inaugurales du Trovatore, et aussi cette deuxième fois elle fût appelée au dernier moment.
Leyla Gencer se laisse guider par son instinct ainsi que par une technique vocale splendide qu’elle avait apprise grâce à Arangi-Lombardi, un disque de la Callas (du 1954) lui servant de guide et son affinité immédiate, juvénile, au drame. Et c'est d’instinct qu’elle résout le problème initial: à cause de sa voix très agile et la conception qu’elle a du bel canto en tant qu’ expression des brillants passages d’orne- ment, la logique du personnage toujours accablé qu’est Lucia, prédestiné a une fixité stupéfaite, a un désespoir égare, Leyla Gencer choisit la voie du soprano léger avec la voix d’enfant, au timbre blanc, mais avec le mordant stylistique de la Callas (y compris les notes d’agréments, les variations et staccatos a l’octave supérieure). Et, l’intensité dramatique que l’accent de la Callas pénètre avec agressivité, Leyla Gencer intentionnellement l’harmonise avec un poids vocal plus léger avec une présence de voix moins corporelle. Sur ce niveau particulier d’agilité l'intensité dramatique s’habille de vibre dans un jeu de transparences entre couleur et éta d’dame, avec la précision du dessin et des paroles rythmiques, toujours prononcées si clairement, s’assombrissant là où la situation le demande (le duo avec le baryton, la coupure réinsérée par De Fabritiis dans la ‘‘scéne de la folie’’) s’ouvrant à des atermoiements concentrés et s'abandonnant dans des tons accablés, inéluctables. Avec des coups de timon vers la couleur enfantine ou vers un son instinctif qui charge à l’improviste le ‘‘tremendo fantasma.”’
C'est ainsi que nous assistons à un paradoxe. Du point de vue de l’interprétation nous avons une Leyla Gencer suave qui contrôle son agressivité, qui réussit admirablement à se plier, semblant presque renier le concept du ‘‘soprano dramatique d’agilité”' proposé par Maria Callas. Vocalement elle donne la mesure de ses, possibilités dans l’agilité pure, dans ce qui aujourd’hui peut être considéré moderne mais qui pouvait être mal compris-il y a vingt ans. Sa voix est fraiche, juvénile, sure ; elle se meut avec légèreté et facilité sur la tessiture légère, elle est extrêmement agile dans les trilles, fioriture, variations, arabesques aériennes, acciacaturas et rythmes pointés parfaits, notes aigués et suraiguës éclatantes et les basses à peine effleurées. Il y a de la séduction dans le perfectionnisme et dans l'expressivité de la technique vocale : le secret du chant ‘‘soffiato’’, du jeu léger de la vocalise, des attaques avec juste un filet de voix qui augmentent jusqu’a un son plein. La cadence avec la flûte est une vraie leçon de chant aussi bien que quelque chose d’expressif et de spectaculaire qui conduit inévitablement a une explosion d’applaudissements.
Une Lucia de ce calibre avait toutes les qualifications demandées pour faire le tour du monde. Mais cela ne se produisit pas et l’interprète s’adressa à un répertoire plus dramatique. Mais la vraie nature de Leyla Gencer était-elle celle de Lucia, Rigoletto, I Puritani ? La politique interne des divers théâtres ‘ainsi que le gout du public se sont-ils imposés à elle ? Ou est-ce l’autre qui est vraie, la Leyla Gencer agressive, maitresse aussi de l’art du ‘‘sfumato leggero”’ et qui nous est plus familière ? C’est la raison de se concentrer sur la protagoniste. Le baryton Nino Carta se prodigue avec sérieux, le directeur Oliviero De Fabritiis a le mérite de réinsérer la coupure traditionnelle dans la ‘‘scène de la folie’’, tout en conservant les autres habitudes, mais cependant je ne crois pas que mémé l’écoute intégrale de sa Lucia puisse ajouter, comme dirait Sterne, ‘‘un fil à la trame de la vie’’ de Donizetti.
