Ernani was Verdi’s fifth opera, premiering in 1844 and lying between I Lombardi and I due Foscari in his operatic output. It is more in the bel canto style than any other Verdi opera that I have heard, and as we shall see, the singers addressed this challenge marvelously.
Act 1 comprises two scenes. In the first, we saw the semicircular courtyard of a ruined castle, built from flat stones stacked up to form a wall. Ernani is a bandit, an “outlawed nobleman,” and the woman he loves, Elvira, is scheduled to be married the next day to her uncle (Silva). Ernani rallies his comrades to abduct her and prevent the marriage. The second scene presented Elvira’s apartment in the castle, with a seating area lavishly strewn with carpets; to the rear, a very large door; to the right, a very large painting. In the course of the scene, Don Carlo (the King of Spain) appears and declares his love for Elvira. So now we have three men, all in love with Elvira.
The remaining three acts all took place on staircases. In Act 2 there was a long straight staircase from the center of the stage up to the left, while a balcony ran along the rear of the stage. At this point the plot got complicated, with Ernani arriving in the guise of a pilgrim to break up the wedding. He was also pursued by the King’s soldiers, and despite Silva’s hatred of Ernani, the rules of hospitality forced him to protect his guest. Act 3 featured a giant semicircular staircase that enveloped a large equestrian statue and pedestal of Charlemagne’s tomb. Don Carlo hid in this tomb while the Electors gathered to choose the next Holy Roman Emperor—and Don Carlo was selected. In the final act the tomb of Charlemagne was replaced by a stone tower with ivy growing on it. Here Ernani and Elvira were married, but Silva appeared and cashed in Ernani’s offer (from act 2) to kill himself at Silva’s demand. According to stage directions, Ernani is to stab himself and Elvira is to faint, but here Elvira snatched the weapon and died along with Ernani.
Our cast:
Ernani: Marcello Giordani
Elvira: Angela Meade
Don Carlo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Silva: Ferruccio Furlanetto
Conductor: Marco Armiliato
Production: Pier Luigi Samaritani
Giordani, Hvorostovsky, and Furlanetto are well-known, and they all lived up to my expectations, in the best way. The “unknown” was Angela Meade—though not entirely unknown; she had been one of the winners of the 2007 National Council Auditions, which was documented in the film “The Audition.” The judges knew what they were doing. She sang magnificently, outdoing the legendary names that she shared the stage with. All of them made a persuasive case for this relatively obscure opera. Yes, truly bel canto: the plot was rather contrived, but it was a superb vehicle for some very beautiful singing. I’ll be back to catch the encore, mostly for Angela Meade. A very strong beta.
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