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- [00:28]
Pat Wright
Welcome to another edition of Opera for Everyone. I'm your host, Pat Wright, and I am happy to say I am joined once again by Kathleen Vanderwil. Welcome, Kathleen.
- [00:38]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Oh, I'm so happy to be here, Pat. Lovely to talk to you about another wonderful adaptation of a Romeo and Juliet story.
- [00:48]
Pat Wright
Yes, this is number four for those of you keeping track. You don't need to keep track, but we decided to embark on a really good, good look at musical, operatic interpretations of Romeo and Juliet, the famous Shakespeare story. Because after all, Kathleen, you tend to bring that up in every conversation with every opera.
- [01:11]
Kathleen Vanderwil
I promise I will never bring it up again.
- [01:14]
Pat Wright
Oh, you don't want to make that promise because things will occur to you because it's an iconic story about so many human emotions.
- [01:24]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's very true, and we have looked at it from many different angles. I hope you all have listened to our previous episodes, but even if you have not, I know this is a story that is familiar to many of us and I think forms the basis of a lot of our understanding of how love stories are presented even to this day.
- [01:43]
Pat Wright
And there's a lot to say about this particular work, which is not technically an opera. It is actually considered by Berlioz, anyway, our composer, to be a dramatic symphony. We're looking at the dramatic symphony Romeo and Juliet, first produced in 1839 in Paris. And let me just highlight those other episodes before we launch into the Berlioz version. Shakespeare, of course, wrote his original Romeo and Juliet in 1597, late 16th century. And then our episodes, our first episode was actually the latest of these Romeo and Juliet operas to be produced. It was episode number 120, produced in 1867 by Gounod, a Frenchman. A very close following of the Shakespeare story. And then we went backwards in time with episode number 124, looking at a Romeo and Juliet that was written by an Italian vicay called Giulietta e Romeo. And then we looked at Bellini's the Capulets and the Montagues, and that was produced five years later, same librettist modified somewhat. And that was episode 126. So here we are almost a decade later, in 1839, about 30 years before Gounod writes his and Berlioz decides to take on Shakespeare. But he wasn't always aware of Shakespeare. After all, we're not talking about a period of time where you can just stream anything. He had to find his introduction to the dramatist that he revered above all others.
- [03:28]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. And we know that Shakespeare was produced pretty widely at this time, I would say. But there's some specific things about going to the. To the theater in the first couple decades of the 19th century that I feel like we should mention, which is it was a place to see and be seen, I think, often more than a place to sit in rapt attention of what was on the stage. And often what was on the stage was deeply intertwined with this underworld, this demimonde of. You'd have high society, and then you'd have people like actors and actresses that kind of operated in this space where they were rubbing shoulders or rubbing elbows with these high society, especially gentlemen, but were not accepted as part of that group, that class, and specifically a lot of women who were actresses would become the mistresses of these wealthy men. And being an actress was kind of a. You were right on the edge of society. So there was a lot of gossip, a lot of cnbc, and a lot of, look at my mistress. Isn't she pretty on the stage? But at this time, you have a couple of people, most notably a man named David Garrick, who is an actor and a theater manager at the end of the 18th century, who was trying to introduce some reforms to this. This whole situation. And he wanted to produce a much more naturalistic version of theater. And he particularly was enamored of Shakespeare. His first appearance as an actor was in Shakespeare's Richard iii. And he wanted people to reform their behavior and sit down and listen.
- [05:11]
Pat Wright
We'Re putting on a show here.
- [05:12]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. And care about the acting and have it more realistic, more heartfelt, provide more time for actors to do long monologues to showcase their skill. And some of this had trickled through by the time this dramatic symphony was produced, but definitely was, I think, in Berlioz's mind since he was introduced to Shakespeare through the productions of David Garrick.
- [05:36]
Pat Wright
Yes. 1827. So about 12 years before this opera, or, excuse me, not an opera, dramatic symphony. Before this dramatic symphony premieres, that's when Berlioz first sees a Shakespeare play. There's a Turing company, the Charles Kemble Turing Company, which based its plays on the versions that David Garrick had created, which, by the way, included some modifications to the original Shakespeare, getting rid of some of the more indelicate elements, as was expected at this time period. But this touring company comes, and they have a period of time where they're putting on a variety of Shakespeare plays in 1827. And Berlioz. Oh, Berlioz, he wrote a lot. I couldn't read everything that Berlioz wrote in a month preparing for this. He was a music critic. He wrote so much. We have so many written words from Berlioz in his memoirs, in reviews that he made, in letters that he wrote. All of this is still accessible to modern readers. But when he talks about what happened when he went to this play and he first saw Hamlet and this actress, Harriet Smithson, was playing the role of Ophelia, he writes in his memoirs, I come to the supreme drama of my life. An English company came over to Paris to give a season of Shakespeare. Quite unknown in France at the time, he says, and I saw Hamlet in the role of Ophelia. I saw Harriet Smithson. The impression it made on my heart and mind by her extraordinary talent, nay, her dramatic genius was equalled only by that havoc wrought in me by the poet she so nobly interpreted. That's all I can say. Well, he says a lot more, of course, but he becomes fixated on this actress, Harriet Smithson. He swears it's too upsetting to his soul to go again. Of course, he goes the next night. And that's when he sees Romeo and Juliet for the first time. Harriet Smithson plays the role of Juliet. But we can come back to the story of Harriet Smithson. But Harriet Smithson becomes an obsession of his. He basically becomes a stalker for her. Not physically following her, but just inundating her with letters and flowers. And like a wise woman, she does not respond to any of the crazy comments made by this upcoming young musician. He's in his early 20s at this point, and he writes on and on about his heart pounding. I mean, it's. It is in the mold of the most romantic of men at this period of time in France, Romanticism is often linked with Berlioz and his passionate behavior, as well as his. The style of his music. Oh, by the way, all of this. He didn't speak English, and the plays were given in English. This all hit him like a ton of bricks. Even though he couldn't understand the dialogue, the physicality of. And the brief description in the program was enough for him. And it just. It set him on a route. He started to learn English so that he could read Shakespeare in the original. And he could not get out of his mind. Harriet Smithson, really.
- [08:54]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It must be a testament to how good an actress she was that she could convey such emotion without him understanding a word. We always think of Shakespeare's language as the thing that draws people to the stories. But clearly her vibrancy on stage was enough to spark that Lifelong passion in him.
- [09:13]
Pat Wright
I won't leave you hanging. He does ultimately marry her. It's five or six years later, but there's stuff that goes on between then. We'll. We'll maybe mention some of that as we move along here.
- [09:24]
Kathleen Vanderwil
That's one of the things that I like about this particular piece and the stories around it, is this more than any of the others I think we've spoken of. It really bleeds at the edges a little bit between the story on stage and offstage, because Berlioz has become so involved with this actress and her own relationship to the theater is very interesting. I really recommend, if you are interested in learning about a woman from this period, she has a fascinating story. But also, we talked a little bit about David Garrick. Garak himself influenced the way that Romeo and Juliet was received because of his version of this, and it was widely performed. And he partly altered and tweaked things in order to give himself, who was playing Romeo in the original version, a bigger part and more speeches to show off the things he was good at and that there's a lot of interesting backstory there with him influencing the story. And how we receive and think about this particular story is really influenced by the way people interacted with the play. It feels like a living. Almost more of a living document, I think, than we think of a play today. Whether that's a Shakespeare play, play from long ago, or even something that's new being performed. The text feels very sacred, I think, to us these days. And to add a couple speeches in because you're good at soliloquies would be unthinkable. It was much more malleable back then. And you are able to see the fingerprints of the people who were most involved with this production.
- [11:00]
Pat Wright
Yeah. I think one of the interesting things, too, and I don't know the reasoning behind it, is that here we are in the early 19th century and this English acting company comes over and presents Shakespeare in English. Whereas oftentimes at this period in history, it's not what we do now, where opera is always presented in its original language. More often than not, opera was translated into the vernacular, into the language of its place. So I found that just an interesting little contrast. But it was motivation for Berlioz to learn some English for Shakespeare's sake and for his pursuit of Harriet Smithson, no doubt.
- [11:42]
Kathleen Vanderwil
I'm sure that helped a little bit.
- [11:44]
Pat Wright
Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about this dramatic symphony. I love the fact that Berlioz, in this piece and also in an earlier piece, which we might refer to a little bit later, Symphonie Fantastique, he wants a lot of written material to go to the audience as they're coming in, to help them with their enjoyment of their performance. But right up front, he says, make no mistake, there should be no misunderstanding about the genre of this work. Although voices are frequently used in it, it is neither a concert opera nor a cantata. Not an oratorio, but a choral symphony, this dramatic symphony of his. And I think of it, it's not entirely the case, but mostly as bookending. The voice is bookend. They're in the beginning, they're very much at the end. And the middle is mostly just the orchestra, because the characters, the main characters of the story, Romeo and Juliet, are not sung by any of the voices. It is the orchestra that represents these characters.
- [12:48]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. Which in a way calls back to his original experience of seeing the play, in a sense, the actual language, what's spoken, the two characters who speak the most to him, because he didn't understand it. That is almost the least important part. He makes them mute here. And what you see is everything going on around them, which obviously was how he experienced it, too, which I think is just a fascinating way to present Shakespeare and in this case, a very new way to present something that, as we've said, we've spoken of a lot. And there are countless versions that we have not spoken about as well.
- [13:24]
Pat Wright
Oh, there are so many different versions. Actually, I mentioned that Berlioz was a music critic. He wrote a review of the Bellini piece the year after it premiered, where he had actually a lot of negative things to say.
- [13:37]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Of course he did.
- [13:39]
Pat Wright
Of course he did. He was very angry. I think it's pretty funny that they had left out any mention of Rosaline, the woman that Romeo was previously infatuated with. P.S. she's left out of this as well. But no matter.
- [13:53]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Justice for Rosaline.
- [13:56]
Pat Wright
Yeah. He had a lot of criticisms about the difference between what he knew as Shakespeare, this production he had seen, and what was being presented in Capulets and Montagues. And he only had a little bit nice to say about. Very little nice to say about Bellini's music. But he was. That's the kind of critic he was at the time. In 1831, he said this was the fifth opera on the subject of Romeo and Juliet.
- [14:24]
Kathleen Vanderwil
You know, we've been doing this, I guess, somewhat informally, but I mean, what's wonderful about a story like this, and there are only a few, I would Say, a handful of stories that this applies to that's so sunk into our cultures that sometimes it's more interesting to. To trace back something I guess you could call like the reception history, where it's like, how is this received over time? If we're going to tell this story over and over and over again in every medium that it can possibly be told in every language, how does that change? And how do the people who choose to create their own versions of it, how did they leave their own stamp on it? And yeah, I mean, what a treat to be able to know exactly what he thought of somebody else's version of the story he would then tell.
- [15:07]
Pat Wright
Yeah. And some of his criticisms he seems to hold close and apply, but some of them he lets go entirely. Something else important to know about Berlioz's experience is that very next year in 1828, is when he first hears be Beethoven's concerts. There were a series of concerts put on in Paris. Beethoven's Third, the Fifth, the Bum Bum Bum Bum, the Fate Symphony and Symphony Number Seven. And it was like a thunderbolt for Berlioz. He talks about what a master Beethoven was, that he never knew that you could do the sort of thing with music that Beethoven did. He realizes that it could express human emotions the way that singing could. And he decided that sometimes even music could have a greater impact when it's purely instrumental as opposed to including the vocals. One of the things he wrote about Beethoven and his impact on Berlioz when he heard the music was Beethoven opened before me a new world of music, just as Shakespeare had revealed a new universe of poetry. So these are great dramatic influences, creative influences for him, both Beethoven and Shakespeare, and arguably Goethe will throw in there as well, because in 1828 is also when he first read Goethe, because Faust had come out as a French translations. But these are huge creative influences for him.
- [16:42]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And the very first piece of music that we hear in this piece is his way of immediately showing us human action through just instrumental music.
- [16:54]
Pat Wright
Yeah, the part that we heard right in the beginning, that's the combat. That's the fighting between the Capulets and the Montagues. And I think what we'll do now is we'll play you a decent sized piece of this opening prelude. But it's not just a get ready for the show. It is the first set of action in the show. We're going to come in and hear a little bit more of that combat and then the tone is going to change and you'll hear in the forefront, the brass. And that is the prince coming onto the scene. The prince who is taking to task these people, upsetting the piece in his realm. He's telling them to knock it off. I will condemn to death anyone who breaks the peace.
- [17:44]
Kathleen Vanderwil
The role of the prince is not always the same in each version, I would say, that we have talked about, and in the many versions, I think some versions of this story will omit the prince entirely because he's a bit of a. He's a bit of just a bookend character in the play. He's there at the very beginning, and then he's there at the very end. And he serves the same function, which is beginning to say, you all need to stop fighting, or else. And at the end to say, you didn't stop fighting. So now here's punishment. So he represents authority, outside authority, which I think I've always liked that because it's very easy to get. To get lost in the emotions of this particular story and to feel like it's almost unmoored from the outside world, because especially the two lovers. But what's contained within there, just the bedroom between the two of them, is a whole world of emotion. And yet there is an outside world here. And there are rules to be followed. And there is a backstory to all of this. And the prince is the outside authority that is neither Capulet nor Montague and is not swayed by either side and in fact, just wants order and comes in at the beginning here to intervene in this constant fight that's going on between these two families. And yes, in the plague, to threaten them too, and to stay, basically. This doesn't stop. There's going to be consequences, which of course there will be.
- [19:07]
Pat Wright
Oh, there will be consequences. Well, in this particular presentation of Romeo and Juliet, he is not a bookend. He is just an introduction. Because we will have a different sense of authority at the end, but we'll save that for the end. As you listen to the piece of music we're about to play, listen to the combat, listen to the brass as he comes in, and you can get a sense of all the things the prince might be doing and saying, trying to calm them down. And then I love. When he's all done, I feel like there's quiet grumbling amongst the former combatants. So take a listen to this clip from the first piece of Berlioz, Romeo and Juliet. Well, you heard the Capulets and the Montagues grumbling there at the end, right. They're gonna have to behave themselves so says the prince. One other comment on why this is a dramatic symphony and not an opera full on. Because a lot of people were telling Berlioz this would be great to do as an opera. It was only the prior year, 1838, when Benvenuto Cellini, which was our episode 90 on opera for everyone, had premiered in Paris and it had not been well received. It was a complicated, interesting, different sort of a piece. And he couldn't risk tanking his own reputation by doing another opera and not have it be well received. His piece Symphonie fantastique, written in 1830. A little bit of a response, shall we say, to his experience with Harriet Smithson that had been wildly successful. It confused people. It did not follow the rules. This is the story of Berlioz life. Wildly talented, innately talented. He was sent to Paris by his father to. To go become a doctor, to be in medical school, which he skipped out on pretty quickly because music was just a burning passion. And he had burning passions. Berlioz. But he figured it was a safer bet to have a huge success, to do this in a more symphonic fashion. But he couldn't do a traditional sort of symphony. It needed to be a story for him. It needed to tell a story. It needed to tap into human emotions, which was what Symphonie Fantastique certainly did, complete with all of its program notes about what was happening. Same thing with Romeo and Juliet. But it's different in style yet because it does use voices. It's got three choruses, by the way, and three vocal soloists. And the clip we'll hear next is a clip from. Well, it's either a contralto or a mezzo soprano. In our case, it's a mezzo soprano. They're going to set up the story for us, the singers that we're going to hear. The chorus and it's the Putti chorus, the little chorus. It's not very many people, but that's the group that's going to get us ready for the action, as it were, of the symphony to come.
- [25:12]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And this follows a similar line, especially at the beginning to the prologue, that people may be familiar with from the play itself. Just setting up. What is the backstory here? Why are we here? It's very clear that this is a. They call it an ancient hatred. It's something that these two families have had hatred for each other for a very long time. Depending on the version that you experience, what the ancient hatred is, why, how ancient it is? Has it been revived recently? Is All a little bit different. Different composers and librettists, I think, have felt it necessary to sometimes dive into what is the most recent thing that has happened to reignite this. So in one instance, it's Juliet's close cousin or brother who's been killed accidentally by Romy, etc. In this case, we don't really need that. We just say this has been happening. It is unrest. And I think with Berlioz, it is always nice to think about things as being all metaphorical. There's all symbolism here. It's very high romantic. And what this is meant to be is something is wrong. There is something about the state of the society that we are entering into that is out of order. And in that case, it's represented by these two families that should probably be allies and friends, but instead are at odds for some unknown reason, perhaps even unknown to themselves. It may be such an ancient enmity that who knows how it even began. But a calm has been. An enforced calm has been called. They have to have a truce, a bit of a ceasefire. And Capulet is going to be giving a ball. Because, of course, if you've got some time in between fighting, let's have a big party here. Sam Sa.
- [29:01]
Pat Wright
That was our little choir in Berlioz, Romeo and Juliet, getting us ready for the drama that we're going to be hearing. But what's interesting to me about this whole front section where we have choir, the little choir, and we have. We will have mezzo soprano and tenor, is that they're going to tell us the entire story right up front. Part of me felt when I first saw this and heard this, that, oh, you really need to go into this knowing the story of Romeo and Juliet. And I will admit it helps. But even if you were a Parisian going to this concert that Berlioz is putting on totally cold, and you're listening carefully, you get the whole story in compressed form right up front here. They've just told us about this ball that is happening, but then we're going to hear that the ball is over. Romeo has fallen in love with the daughter of his enemies, but he has to figure out how to make that work. And it was going to go on until the end. Entire story, not every little detail. But the critical parts of the love and the problems, they're there.
- [30:20]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. And I think maybe that's partly because even then the story is in some ways treated a little bit the way that we treat it today, which is like a. Oh, everybody knows this. Let's just Give it a little bit of an overview for those of you who may have forgotten or don't know. But it's so embedded in culture, it's almost like we don't need to. There's no spoilers in Romeo and Juliet for sure.
- [30:43]
Pat Wright
Yeah, yeah. You need to know that if you don't know the story, you've had plenty of centuries to learn it.
- [30:49]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Right, Exactly.
- [30:50]
Pat Wright
Yeah. And in this text, by the way, the text itself, although inspired by the David Garrick version of Shakespeare's play, is not written by Berlioz in this case. Emile des Champs is the name of the author, the librettist of these words, but so inspired by Shakespeare. One of the things that struck Berlioz in Shakespeare's genius is that even though plays may be presented with very little in terms of lighting or scenery, Shakespeare used his words to conjure up the feelings of being in Verona or being in Denmark in the case of Hamlet. And he uses some of this here. Two lovers under the Italian stars in that hot and windless air is laden with the scent of orange blossom. So we're getting a setting of the scene, but the part that the mezzo soprano is going to sing that really struck me is where she talks about how do you describe the delight of first love? First love. Are you not above all poetry? Are you not poetry itself, of which, and he specifically uses Shakespeare's name here, are you not poetry itself, of which Shakespeare alone had the secret and which he took with him to heaven. And the chorus joins in to heaven. To me that's just so powerful.
- [32:19]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It is. It's beautiful. And Shakespeare alone, I think, in some ways still, I think Berlioz is right here in saying that. And I think there's a reason why this endures and why this story has endured. There's a reason it's been passed down by so many hands and handled in so many different ways. There is something special there. And that's a beautiful way to express it. Sa.
- [36:31]
Pat Wright
Berlioz there, having given credit to Shakespeare for his genius and talent and the inspiration he provided, carries on with the story in brief. And he says they were joined in love by the chance of a single look. With passion so pure. And that's part of what moves people about this story, about how deeply and honestly felt this love is between Romeo and Juliet. And he goes on to really talk about the importance of love and what a God given gift it is. And we get a repeat of the in heaven. But next, and I just love this tenor who has Shown up for this performance. He's got just one piece to shine in here. And it's when we focus on Romeo and how his friends react to his infatuation with this new girl he's met.
- [37:35]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes, his friends are laughing at him. They have time for it. They are letting him have his moment here. But I don't think they're taking it super seriously and in fact, use it as an opportunity to especially his friend Mercutio to go off on this sort of fantasy adventure, which is the story of Queen Mab. This is in the original Shakespeare play, although there's some evidence that it was added later or added at the request of the actor. There's a bunch of different theories about how that came to be because it in the original Shakespeare play and here completely stops the action of the drama. And you have a fairly long proportionally to the rest of what's going on here. Monologue or aria, however you want to characterize it, where we're just talking about this fantastical creature named Queen Mab, who's the queen of the fairies. And it is a lovely little storytelling moment about fairies and first love and how young gentlemen, especially how they experience love, which is to say as a kind of madness. And we have it not in full, but we have a lot of Shakespeare's language here. And this is given Mercutio quite a moment to fantasize.
- [38:53]
Pat Wright
Yeah, it's fun that we have brought in a tenor. We're just going to play a little bit of it for you to enjoy. Ra well, we've had our fun with Queen Mab or hearing about Queen Mab. And we wrap it up pretty quickly with this introductory choral piece where they will tell us, this little chorus, that death is the lord of all Capulets, Montagues. They are chastened by the tragedy of the death of these young lovers. So we've really raced ahead in the story. We know that they are dead, but they tell us there will be reconciliation. They will come to peace after these innocents have. Have died. And that is the end of the introductory part. Basically a preview of the entire Ram.
- [42:01]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Sa. We have just finished the first part of our story, and now we're moving into the second part. We've spent some time giving an overview of everything that's going to happen, but now we're going to zero back into the action. The last concrete thing that we heard was going to happen was a ball was going to be given. So that ball has happened. We miss the action. It's sort of off stage of our lovers meeting and Falling in love and all that fun stuff.
- [43:07]
Pat Wright
Yeah.
- [43:07]
Kathleen Vanderwil
So the ball is over. The guests are saying goodbye to each other. And we'll listen to just a little bit of their farewells. Sa the ball has finished, and there is a desire on Romeo's part to see his love up close. Now that he has had decided that this is the woman for him.
- [45:31]
Pat Wright
The scene which is the heart of this, in more ways than one. This is the love scene. And this is one of the pieces of music that Berlioz was most proud of. People will cite this as their favorite portion of this dramatic symphony, this love scene between Romeo and Juliet, because this is. This is how we get to know these characters. They are not sung by anyone, not by the chorus, not by the soloists. They are presented courtesy of the orchestra. And Berlioz's composition, it's true, and it's not.
- [46:09]
Kathleen Vanderwil
There's no great perfect analog to what this is, if you haven't seen it in a way. Like there are concert versions of musicals and operas that are done today where you have your singer standing. And in a way, there's some element of that, but it's like a pantomime or a ballet with no dancing. In a way, I guess, is maybe the way to think about it. Ballet with no dancing. There you go. Where you have to express what is going on. Even as people know this story, it's very famous. The actors have to convey a lot of emotions with no dance, no song and no words. So it's almost more of like a pantomime or no theater. Japanese theater is sort of what it reminded me of a little bit. Or even ancient Greek theater, where you have sort of these characters moving about the stage in masks. It's unique and kind of incredible that he makes us feel as much as we do and experience this love story without really saying a word.
- [47:10]
Pat Wright
Yeah. And there are no people acting out any of this. It is just what you're hearing, what the orchestra is communicating to us. And this is part of what he credits Beethoven with inspiring him to do. Berlioz was innovative. He did things differently. He was not trained from childhood to be a musician. He came to the Conservatoire late in life. He did go to the Conservatoire, by dint of just not giving up. He finally was admitted. He does ultimately win this great prize called the Prix de Rome, that the French government would give out a stipend for a number of years, two years residency in Rome. He does achieve all of that, but he's still always a bit of an outsider. And he Is on the receiving end of great criticism because he doesn't do it the way it's supposed to be done. He breaks the rules. So he has a lot of detractors because of that. But he also has a lot of admirers because of that. One of his great admirers is Franz Liszt, who went to see Symphonie Fantastique. And he says, this guy's got something going on. Broke all the rules, but people really enjoyed it. Same thing with this. This is. I mean, honestly, there aren't a lot of dramatic symphonies in this vein to this day. This is an unusual sort of presentation. One of the other fans that he won over was Niccolo Paganini. This. This great virtuoso on the. On the violin who was very, very well respected. And he became hugely supportive of Berlioz. He is the one who encourages him to write one of his other famous symphonic pieces. Harald in Italy, that was mid-1830s. But Paganini, he attends a concert that Berlioz actually puts on somewhat out of financial desperation. A concert that he puts on in 1838 that features both Symphonie Fantastique, which is eight years old at this point, and the Herald in Italy. Paganini was so moved by these two pieces that Berlioz was putting on that he went on stage and knelt. This. This is the great, most respected man in music at his time. Or up there, anyway. He kneels down in front of Berlioz, proclaiming him the master. I mean, no, he couldn't speak loud enough to over the cheers. But he kneels down. And the next day or two days afterwards, he sends a letter. I'm going to read you the letter. My dear friend Beethoven, dead. There was no one but Berlioz who could bring him back to life. And I, who have experienced your divine compositions worthy of a genius such as yours, believe it is my duty to beg you to be willing to accept a sign of my homage. 20,000 francs. Which will be handed over to you by the Baron Rothschild on presentation of the enclosed note. There he was. He had just seen this. And he gives. He knows how important getting himself on stable financial footing is. And if you read Berlioz's letters, that's always a concern for him. But it was enough money. He could pay off the debts and he could focus his time on writing this work that we're enjoying today. Romeo and Juliet. It was astounding. And there are. There are more letters. One of them that I read that says Paganini's like, I hope Those critics will just be quiet for a while. People know that I know talent. And because I have singled you out. By the way, this letter is very famous. It gets published a lot of places, possibly at Berlioz's instigation. But the stamp of approval from Paganini was huge for giving more respect to Berlioz, or at least he hoped it was. People were still carping, but the money. The money made all the difference, allowing him time to compose this piece.
- [51:31]
Kathleen Vanderwil
That's incredible. I remember my main point of memory with Paganini was when I was in school and I was learning music. Chopin was always described, or you could remember who Chopin was because he was known as the Paganini of the piano. And Paganini was always the best version of something. So it's the Paganini of this instrument or the Paganini of this genre. And so he was. That's a good way for us to understand how respected he was. He was the yardstick by which others were measured. So that story tells us quite a lot about how Berlioz must have been received by true artists of his day. And Paganini himself was a composer, although I think we mainly know him now for his. His fame as this violinist.
- [52:12]
Pat Wright
Yeah. Virtuoso.
- [52:14]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah.
- [52:15]
Pat Wright
Well, with all of that in the back of our heads, let's listen to some of this love scene between Romeo and Juliet. You're listening to Opera for Everyone, a radio show and podcast that embraces drama and story through love of music.
- [58:38]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Opera for Everyone airs Sundays from 9 to 11am Mountain Time on 89.1 Khol, Wyoming's only community radio station.
- [58:47]
Pat Wright
If you'd like to hear more conversations about opera, please subscribe to the Opera for Everyone podcast. And if you subscribe and rate us, you'll be helping with our mission to bring opera to everyone by helping others to find this show.
- [59:01]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Stay with us. The second half of today's show is coming right up. SA.
- [59:53]
Pat Wright
Welcome back to the second half of Opera for Everyone. I am your host, Pat Wright, and I am here today with Kathleen Vandewyl.
- [60:01]
Kathleen Vanderwil
So happy to be here, Pat.
- [60:03]
Pat Wright
Today's show is Romeo and Dramatic Symphony by Hector Berlioz. But before we continue on discussing Hector Berlioz and this amazing symphony, I'd like to take a moment to thank the artists involved in creating the music that we've been listening to. This was a recording made in the year 2000 with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Chorus. Stephen Westrop, the chorus director and the conductor of the orchestra, Sir Colin Davis.
- [60:35]
Kathleen Vanderwil
The mezzo Soprano voice is Daniela Barcelona. The tenor is Kenneth Tarver, and the bass is Orlon Anastaso.
- [60:44]
Pat Wright
Thank you, one and all, for this gorgeous music. Romeo and Juliet once again, but what a magnificent rendition this is.
- [60:55]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's true. It is, I would say, unique among what we've talked about and even among versions we have not talked about. This is a really unique take on. Maybe not the story itself, which I think is fairly. There's good fidelity to the original source material, but just to the way of presenting it, really showing how creative Berlioz was.
- [61:15]
Pat Wright
Yes. I was listening to some commentary recently about the fact that Berlioz doesn't get enough credit for being an innovator, because a lot of the things that Berlioz did, subsequent composers have also done. So it just sounds like, oh, yeah, that's what's happening.
- [61:32]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's hard to be first.
- [61:33]
Pat Wright
It is hard to be first. But he. He did have important supporters, Franz List and Niccolo Paganini among them. One other interesting musical figure who saw this particular performance, Romeo and Juliet in its third performance, Richard Wagner, was there for that third performance when he was in Paris. Didn't love being in Paris for the most part, but he did go to see different shows, and he was struck by how innovative this piece was. That was one of the things that Wagner was often criticized for, not following all the rules. He loved this piece. And one of the touching gestures that Wagner made in recognition of how important this was to his own development. When he finished Tristan un Isolde, one of his great, great works, in 1860, Wagner had a copy of the score to Tristan in Isolde sent to Berlioz with the inscription, to the dear and great author of Romeo and Juliet from the grateful author of Tristane Unizolde. Wow.
- [62:46]
Kathleen Vanderwil
That's incredible.
- [62:48]
Pat Wright
Yeah. Okay. We talked a little bit about some of the women in Berlioz's life in the first half and said we might return. And I think the moment has come.
- [62:59]
Kathleen Vanderwil
You can't talk about a romantic composer without talking about the women in his life.
- [63:03]
Pat Wright
I think this was a man. Not only in his music did he show passion, but he went to extremes of passion. I mentioned after he saw Harriet Smithson perform, he was so enamored of her, even though neither of them spoke the other's language, he pursued her. She did not respond. Wise woman. I don't think anyone should under those circumstances. But she went back to London, and eventually he heard that she had another entanglement with another man. And just as the passions rose of Love. Because she was sort of an ideal for him. A lot of confusing feelings. A lot of strong feelings on Berlioz's part. That is part of what leads to the composition that we know is Symphonie Fantastique. It's got a whole long story to it. I did a brief episode on that on my own in the early days of the Pandemic. That was episode 71.3. But there's so much to this Symphonie Fantastique. She was this ideal to him. But as he's trying to get over that passion to reject her, which he does in sort of a violent, imaginary, violent way in that symphony, or doing violence to himself, he finds another young woman that he becomes passionately in love with. She's 18 at the time. He's 26. She's a pianist of great talent, great skill, Camille Moak. That's. She's got a lot of names, but she's known as Camille. Camille Moak. And they want to become engaged. But Camille's mother says, you're not gonna get married to some penniless composer. Don't be ridiculous. And the mother lays down the law and says, okay, fine, Hector, if you can win the Prix de Rome, you know, this premier artistic prize in France, and not only win the Prix de Rome and have an opera of yours produced and be successfully received, then I will consider allowing you to be engaged to my daughter. By the way, Berlioz called this mother the Hippopotamus. So in all of his letters, she's the hippopotamus. Guess what he does win the Prix de Rome. He tried one year, but he won it the next year in 1830. And it's amazing, because the Prix de Rome, it's these traditional judges. And in his first effort, he was told, well, your music isn't serene enough. He's like, what are you talking about? I'm writing about Cleopatra, who's dying by having been bitten by a poisonous snake. Well, there's nothing serene about that. But he wasn't following the rules. Well, he. He toes the line enough to win the Prix de Rome. That is raw talent right there. But he didn't have an opera to claim as being successful at this point. And he goes off. Because if you win the Prix de Rome, it's not just that you get to go study in Rome for two years. It's that you agree that you will, in fact, go. So he goes off to Rome in short order, the Hippopotamus. Camille's mother, gets her engaged to because she doesn't recognize their engagement, that they have agreed with each other. She engages Camille to a very wealthy man who runs a piano company. She's a pianist, he has a piano company, he's got lots of money. And the hippopotamus dashes off a letter to Berlioz in Rome and says, yeah, whatever you thought you had with my daughter, it's not happening. She's engaged to someone else. Don't kill yourself over this. At this point I'm beginning to think of the sorrows of the young verter.
- [66:55]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's so true. He practiced what he preached.
- [66:58]
Pat Wright
We'll say that, yeah, where he's going to die for love. But he says, no, I'm not going to die for love. I'm going, okay, I will die for love, but I'm going to kill first. So he develops this elaborate plan. He goes to the dressmaker and has custom created for him a maid's outfit. And he puts it in a suitcase along with some pistols. Somewhere else he's got some poison hidden. And it is his plan to take the coaches necessary to get to the town in France where they all live and to kill Camille, to kill her fiance and to kill the mother and then kill himself. And it'll all work because he has this maid's outfit. Well, he's changing coaches in Genoa and he realizes he's lost the case that is holding the pistols and the maid's outfit. Never fear, that is not going to dissuade him. He decides to get another maid's outfit. And he's getting closer and closer to carrying out this really awful plan. And suddenly he comes to his senses and he says, no, I'm not going to deprive the world of me and I'm not going to let this be the end of my art. And he stops and he writes to his family because he had written some dire things. He writes to his family, he says, okay, Camille's going to marry this guy. Yuck. The mother wrote me, don't ask what I did or what I wanted to do when I learned of all of this. And then he just confirms, I am alive. That's enough. I shall live for you and my art. And that's the end of that episode. He kind of gets over it. Thank goodness.
- [68:41]
Kathleen Vanderwil
What a. What a poor passionate boy he was. My God, I swear, these people, I love reading about them, but you think about all of the sort of self described romantics and not a one of them, I challenge you. Not a one of them ended happily or well, or did the people who were loved by them have good endings? Either you think about Percy Shelley, Byron, Keats, all these. It's all just young love. Obsession. Pistols at dawn, Poison. No wonder Romeo and Juliet was appealing to him.
- [69:18]
Pat Wright
Yeah, absolutely. And we can return to a little more of the story with Harriet Smithson, because she's ignored him from the point she's seen him. She's ignored him. She's ignored him. He's kind of worse. Worked it out with the Symphonie Fantastique, and he even writes a sequel to Symphonie Fantastique.
- [69:33]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. So everything's fine. Right. He's cured himself and she's moved on. And she's working as an actress now. Very successful actress. She's an interesting figure, like I said. I encourage you to seek out more information about her. Both of her parents were actors. She was raised actually by the church. She was raised to not be an actress, and she still became one. She was so drawn to it and became probably one of the most well respected female actresses of her day. For not just her beauty, she was very beautiful, but also for her skill. And she was able to further that idea that we talked about of that naturalistic, not overly stylized, but naturalistic version of acting that we would say is much more familiar to us today. This idea of not just acting a part, not just pantomiming a part, but actually getting into the head of the character and trying to live as that character on stage. But, yes, she's working as an actress, which is a precarious profession, and she goes to a performance of Lelio, which is the sequel to Symphonie Fantastique.
- [70:36]
Pat Wright
This is in 1832.
- [70:38]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And she has this moment of clarity where she realizes that he's written this whole cycle about her.
- [70:46]
Pat Wright
Yeah.
- [70:47]
Kathleen Vanderwil
And she's correct. He did. But I'm not exactly sure. I would love to. To have been in her head when she made that realization and what she truly thought of it. She writes him a note and she says, I know this is about me. Congratulations for your great success.
- [71:02]
Pat Wright
Yeah.
- [71:03]
Kathleen Vanderwil
I suppose it must have been very flattering to be a muse, even for such a sort of incredibly passionate man who probably stalked her a little bit. But he asks, can we meet? And she agrees and they begin a relationship. There is some evidence that she was reluctant, that he. His passions were overwhelming to her and her family and friends. And both families were very against their marriage. But they do eventually marry, and they had one child. And that is an important part of Berrilios. Life, this relationship, these women that inspired him that were so tied up with the theater and so tied up with his music. There was no off button for Berlioz. There was no I take off my shoes at the end of the day and I'm no longer a romantic. Compose just pet the cat and have some tea and have a normal marriage. Nothing of the sort. And their marriage, I think, was a difficult one. For that reason, he never turned it off. He never left it at the office. And I think probably neither could she. That was her life as well, the theater. Two very passionate people.
- [72:06]
Pat Wright
Well, and she, as happens to actresses, as time goes by. She found it harder and harder to get roles. And then especially with her living in France, it wasn't like being in England, because she was a native English speaker. But she wasn't. She was Irish, actually Anglo Irish. She learned French, but she was not native fluent in French. In fact, I even came across a letter that Berlioz wrote to Georges San, a correspondent of his. And proposing that Georges sand might want to write a play that features a character who for some reason or another, would have an English accent when she spoke French. So he was even trying to get some of his creative friends, somebody pretty respectable in the field to help out to make his wife a happier person by allowing her to be back on stage. Because there weren't roles that she could play in France. And that was very crushing for her. And he was gone a lot of the time. So she was just there with this child, Louis. And you just feel for her. This man courts and courts with all the passion in the world. But then things are not. They aren't that idealized. They're real life, it's true.
- [73:24]
Kathleen Vanderwil
And the precarious nature of being an actress during this time, especially an actress, a woman who was working for herself. There are very few examples of an acceptable version of that in society during that time. Of course, we know how precarious that was. And we know she went deeply into debt when she couldn't work. She had to support her family. Her mother and sister were dependent upon her. And her marriage to him. I don't know that he was necessarily always as solvent. We talked a little bit before about his debt issues. I think money was definitely a stressor for both of them. And she became very ill towards the end of her life. And they both died fairly young too, in early middle age. So like many of these stories, there's a deep passion and it burns bright and hot and inspires much art. But the longevity, it doesn't tend to be there in the way that these people lived their lives.
- [74:22]
Pat Wright
Yeah. It is a sad end to something that had such idealized hopes, which I guess means that those were unrealistic hopes.
- [74:31]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. Well. And once again, Romeo and Juliet, perfect pairing, I think, with a lot of the way these people live their lives is they lived like they were going to die tomorrow.
- [74:41]
Pat Wright
Part of that Paganini money went to trying to pay off her debts and the expenses that she had. But, yeah, a lot of his letters include comments about the troubles with money and. And a lot of them, they'll mention her briefly as attending something, but he's not writing about her passionately anymore.
- [75:02]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And we do know he. He had a third or he had a second wife as well. He had a third woman in his life after. And potentially overlapping a little bit towards the end there with his marriage with. With her as well. Her name was Maria Recio and she was a soprano, a singer. So he stayed in that world and she became his second wife later on in life.
- [75:23]
Pat Wright
Yeah. Well, that's our moment of Berlioz background and the women in his life. We probably need to get back to Romeo and Juliet. I don't think we've done our opera helmet quiz. Interesting, this one, because a lot of it, there's not so much libretto to go over. But you want to do a quick recap for us, Kathleen?
- [75:46]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Sure, I'd love to. Yeah. So we have, in a way, experienced all of the play already, and yet in the actual action of it, we are only up to about halfway through the story. But the symphony begins by giving us an overview of what's going to happen, talking a little bit about the history of this conflict between these two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. There is a societal order figure, the Prince, that has come in and stopped, broken up, they're fighting and said there's going to be consequences if you all don't work this out. And of course, then there's a series of consequences that follow. There is a ball that is being given in order to mark this time of peace in between this fighting, where Romeo, the son of the Montagues, and Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets, meet. And Romeo falls deeply in love with her and sings and. Or I shouldn't say sings. He expresses through the instronem music his woe about not being able to have this woman because she's the daughter of his enemy. His friends mock him by talking about the madness of love through the metaphor of this, the story of Queen Mab, queen of the fairies. But when we join our action, we have just finished this ball and the lovers are able to meet on Juliet's famous balcony and finally declare their love for each other.
- [77:17]
Pat Wright
Let's hear a little bit more of that music from the love scene. And following the love scene, of course, we need to hear more about Queen Mob. This is the orchestra's version of what we heard the tenor tell us earlier.
- [82:15]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Sa.
- [84:18]
Pat Wright
This is opera for everyone. And today we are talking about Hector Berlioz's Romeo and a dramatic symphony. We've just heard some happy music about Queen Mab with Romeo's friends having some fun at his expense. And we move into the third and final part of this seven movement symphony. And it's a huge change in tone, something which Berlioz loved to be able to do, to change the mood, quite literally funereal. Hmm.
- [84:51]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's true. We really give the love story almost short shrift in this. They get this sort of middle part of meeting and the beginning, and then we catch up with the story sort of on the back end where we all of a sudden switch and it's the funeral convoy of Juliet. Juliet, for all intents and purposes, her family believes her to be dead. Now, you probably know the story of how we got there, and probably the people watching this also know the story of how we got there. But we'll hear in a little bit that story being told in the scene to the families by this other character that we have not met yet, which is Friar Lawrence, the religious authority and Juliet's confessor.
- [85:38]
Pat Wright
Yes, well, he's really the only named character who is sung by a soloist, unless you count the groupings of the Montague and the Capulets. And those are choral pieces, of course. But let's get a little feeling for this funeral procession of Juliet and the Capulet chorus. The group of Capulets are grieving and saying we need to strew flowers for the dead maiden and follow in procession to the grave. After this procession, we know who's got to show up and find Juliet dead.
- [88:27]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. So we then have Romeo come in and find Juliet. And he does not know, as we know, she is just sleeping. We've skipped over that a little bit in this symphony. But those of us who are familiar with the story will know that she's just sleeping. She's taken a potion given to her by Friar Laurence that will make her appear dead, but she is just sleeping. Her mourners have left her body alone in the tomb and Romeo comes upon it. There's an important letter that has gone astray that was supposed to go to Romeo, letting him know what the plan was. He has not received it, so he thinks that she has died, and he comes there to mourn her and also to end his own life, to poison himself so that they can be together. A heartbreaking scene that was an extended version of this scene, I believe was in the version of Romeo and Juliet that Berlioz was first acquainted with. This is where the main actor had written in a much longer scene for himself, because he wanted to show off his acting chops.
- [89:34]
Pat Wright
Yeah.
- [89:35]
Kathleen Vanderwil
And thought this is where the most pathos is. So this is this extended moment for Romeo to mourn.
- [89:41]
Pat Wright
Yes. And I understand that in the David Garrick version, the one that Berlioz saw, it's a little like in the Gounod, or actually in all the operatic versions, where she wakes up while he is still conscious. He's taken the poison. He is in the process of dying, but he hasn't yet died. That is something that, as I understand it, that Berlioz just took to be. That's the Shakespearean version, because that's what he saw. And we understand why it works for opera, because you want these two people to sing together, but here we don't even have them singing together, even though we have Juliet waking up and there's this great delirious joy is how it's described in the notes, and then despair and ultimately the death of both of these young people.
- [90:28]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah. We'll never really know, probably, if Garak's the one that pioneered that, but he's credited with being the first recorded instance of that happening, of having Juliet wake up so that the two of them have a moment together that both increases the sorrow, but also gives them a chance to say goodbye in a way that is pretty standard practice. Now, the versions, the filmed versions that I've seen most recently, I think all employ that practice most vividly. Baz Luhrmann's version does, to really just terrifyingly sad effect where you have Juliet have a moment herself to realize what has happened, too, which I think is an important addition. Romeo has had all this time to mourn and to understand that she's dead and to take this action. But then we get Juliet have a moment where she has to realize what's happened and then make a choice as well.
- [99:16]
Pat Wright
Well, young Romeo, young Juliet, they are now dead, but we still have a decent amount of symphony to continue. The choral and vocal parts in particular, are going to feature here at the ending section. And it's going to be very upsetting to the Capulets when they see Romeo. What is Romeo doing at Juliet's tomb?
- [99:44]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Right. And you'll recall what they were all singing as they were bringing Juliet to the tomb as, oh, this poor dead virgin, this maiden, she died a maiden. How sad that is. And to then see her with a man. They, of course, are horrified by the idea that she might have been defiled, that she might have died a virgin. So, yes, there's some terrible misunderstandings and potentially a resumption of hostilities here.
- [100:09]
Pat Wright
Absolutely. Because they see, he's dead, she's dead. They even sing, their blood is still warm. What a mystery.
- [100:52]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Now, we have one figure who can explain everything. Thankfully, that is Friar Laurence, who comes in just as they're exclaiming, what a mystery. What's going on here? How terrible this is. He says, I will tell you everything. I will unveil the mystery. And he lays it out. He says, they were married. That body there is Juliet's husband. This is Romeo's wife. I was the one who married them.
- [101:18]
Pat Wright
Yeah.
- [101:19]
Kathleen Vanderwil
And he says specifically that he agreed to do it in order to end the hostilities between the two houses.
- [101:25]
Pat Wright
Yes. I saw it as a pledge of hope for a future friendship between your two houses. The Montagues and the Capulets are both on the scene. These are the two larger choruses. And they're like, nope, no. We curse them. We curse them, they say.
- [101:43]
Kathleen Vanderwil
And he continues to tell the story, trying to, I think, move them by not only talking about their death, but their lives together, no matter how short that might have been. And he speaks movingly of how despairing Juliet was, how she came to him with no hope. And they came up with this wild plan, hoping that would free her from this long enmity between the families. And so he tells them, this is what happened. Romeo was misled. The potion, everything that we already know, he lays out for them and for the audience. And then he just weeps for their sorrow and their horrible fate.
- [102:23]
Pat Wright
Well, right, because he tries to press home to them that she was in such a desperate state. She told Friar Lawrence, death is the only thing that is left for me. And he knew he had to do something to help her. So that's where the potion comes in and it all gets explained here. And by the way, Friar Laurens has a gorgeous, authoritative bass voice.
- [102:50]
Kathleen Vanderwil
It's exactly what we need right now.
- [102:52]
Pat Wright
Yeah, he uses it to great effect.
- [102:55]
Kathleen Vanderwil
He does.
- [102:55]
Pat Wright
Let's get a little sense of what we've just been talking about by listening to some of what he tells the gathered Capulets and Montagues.
- [103:35]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Foreign.
- [104:45]
Pat Wright
That is the deep voice of Friar Lawrence explaining to the Capulets and Montagues what's gone on and how these two young people ended up in this particular place. He does explain, I was on my way to be with Juliet, but Romeo somehow or another got there before me. He doesn't talk any battle ed or anything. He just says, I was slower than Romeo. He was so eager. And he got himself there more quickly than I did. But he goes on to talk to the Montagues and Capulets sternly.
- [105:23]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah, we opened this with the voice of civil authority and now we close it with the voice of religious authority saying the same thing, which is that you have to stop this. And he. I think that bass voice probably comes through like the voice of God in a way that's really what he's meant to be. And he ends this with a sermon. And I think it is very interesting how much for a romantic composer to spend so much time on the drawn out consequences of the love and of the passion I think is notable. And he does, he ends it with a sermon and an invocation to make peace. And they ultimately do. This is the thing that works.
- [106:05]
Pat Wright
I think one of the really powerful things that he says is really just driving home the point. Your hatred. That's what caused all this problem. And the line that really resonates for me is God punishes you in those you love. It's that concept of the suffering, of the innocence or the people you care about. You see the results of your bad behavior with innocence being punished with innocence, suffering. He says, listen to the thunder of his voice, meaning God's voice, so that on high my vengeance may forgive. You must forget your madness, your madness of vengeance. But they don't immediately relent. No, they, they counter his argument.
- [106:54]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yeah, it's hard to let go of such an ancient enmity. And they do.
- [106:59]
Pat Wright
They, they name names.
- [107:00]
Kathleen Vanderwil
They name many names that have never been named before in this text as well, which I thought was funny. Once again, just assuming your knowledge of people like Tybalt, like Mercutio, Paris and Benvolio. The only person I think we've met of those is Mercutio in this symphony. But these are all victims of this long enmity and they can't let that go so easily.
- [107:20]
Pat Wright
No, we need vengeance for our compatriots who have died. And Friar Lawrence will not hear of it. And again, I think this is beautiful writing. Can you, without compunction in the face of so much love. Show so much hate. He's saying, just stop. Stop in your tracks. Get out of your grooves. Look at the love these two people had for each other. Look at the depth and the power of that love. And how do you just revert to hate?
- [107:50]
Kathleen Vanderwil
I think this is so interesting, too, because of how different this is from the source material in the source material in Shakespeare's play. Friar Lawrence is done with them. He does not take the time to say, as a man of God, let me bring you back to. To God's mercy. He says, you did this and you are damned for it. Largely the civil authority also. That doesn't really broker a piece necessarily, but just says, I'm going to punish you guys and we're going to go back to my castle and we're going to talk about this. But it's really less willing reconciliation with God or the state, and more of a forced reconciliation in the original material. But this is much more. It's. It's nice to believe that these people could see the light, as it were, that this would move them.
- [108:38]
Pat Wright
Well, it's in keeping with the way you describe it, like a sermon. He's trying to teach the moral truths, moral power, and it includes a little bit of what I would consider a prayer. He says, touch these hard and sullen hearts, and may the breath of thy wisdom breathing on them at my words, drive out and scatter their anger. He's pleading to God to create this transformation. Friar Lawrence, that bass voice has appealed to God to soften their hearts.
- [111:49]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And finally this does get through to them. They express grief for both lovers in harmony with each other. At the same time. They're singing, oh, Juliet, oh, Romeo oh, Juliet Sweet flower, oh, Romeo this young star that's been extinguished in this moment, our hearts are softened towards both of you. And I think it's important that they speak of them both together, that they're singing together. This is the first moment that they are joined in this whole symphony.
- [113:08]
Pat Wright
Friar Lawrence hears this changing of their hearts, the softening of their hearts, their transformation of their souls. They say. But he says, that's not enough. I need you to swear it. I need you to swear it on the bodies of these two people, these two people so full of love. Swear by the holy cross that you will henceforth live in brotherly affection.
- [113:34]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Yes. And this is really placing religion, the cross and love on the same plane, which I think is this notable, very romantic notion that religion and holy love is not above earthly love, but it can coexist with it and be equal to it. Which is actually kind of a radical thought really, honestly, in its time. Worth noting that to put anything on co equal with the love of Jesus would probably get you burned at the stake not too many years before this. But yes, it's a beautiful moment of really just saying you have to swear on the cross and on the bodies of these people that loved each other.
- [114:10]
Pat Wright
Yes. And they do. And that they end by saying we swear. As he's saying, you swear to extinguish at last all of the rancor will be friends forever. And those are the last words of this choral symphony. It's really powerful. And this last section is the section that Berlioz said, you can't call this an opera. You can't call it a concert opera or a cantata or an oratory. He did say in describing this last section with the choruses and Friar Lawrence, that is opera like it is opera like in its force, its power and its delivery. And I sure hope they keep that promise. Well, Kathleen, I thank you once again for joining me on Opera for Everyone to discuss discuss a piece of music that is a joy to listen to in any event, but can be so much more when you delve into some of the details that go into creating it and what it's trying to say.
- [115:16]
Kathleen Vanderwil
I completely agree, and I have loved doing this Romeo and Juliet little miniseries with you, but I'm excited to talk about something else next time.
- [115:27]
Pat Wright
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you everyone for listening.
- [116:46]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Lord.
- [117:43]
Pat Wright
Thanks for listening to this episode of Opera for Everyone.
- [117:47]
Kathleen Vanderwil
Opera for Everyone airs every Sunday morning from 9 to 11 Mountain Time on 89.1 Khol, Jackson, Wyoming. If you missed any of today's show, you can find this episode and many others on the Opera for Everyone podcast.
- [118:02]
Pat Wright
And while you're there, please subscribe, rate and comment. You'll be helping others to find us. Opera can be challenging, but everyone loves a good story, and a story set.
- [118:14]
Kathleen Vanderwil
To music is even better.
- [118:17]
Pat Wright
Our mission is to make opera enjoyable for everyone because we believe opera is for everyone.