As I write this, it is 12 degrees Fahrenheit in DC, and the famous aria from Samuel Barber’s Vanessa is on repeat in my brain: “Must the winter come so soon?” Extreme cold can be claustrophobic, isolating. One fears going out in the world. Life seems to be on pause, waiting until the warmth returns.
When Samuel Barber decided to write an opera, his partner, Gian Carlo Menotti, himself a veteran opera composer, volunteered to write the libretto. Menotti took inspiration from Isak Dinesen’s Seven Gothic Tales, an eerie, atmospheric collection of short stories which strongly evoke the ambiance of Vanessa. There’s also a suggestion of the art of Edward Gorey (think the introduction to Mystery on PBS).
Here’s how Menotti describes his concept of Vanessa:
This is the story of two women, Vanessa and Erika, caught in the central dilemma which faces every human being: whether to fight for one's ideals to the point of shutting oneself off from reality, or compromise with what life has to offer, even lying to oneself for the mere sake of living. Like a sullen Greek chorus, a third woman (the old Grandmother) condemns by her very silence the refusal first of Vanessa, then of Erika, to accept the bitter truth that life offers no solution except its own inherent struggle. When Vanessa, in her final eagerness to embrace life, realizes this truth, it is perhaps too late.
The aristocratic Vanessa, her niece Erika and her mother, the old Baroness, live together in a mansion in the barren landscape of an unnamed Northern country. The year is 1905, and Vanessa has been waiting for 20 years for her lover, Anatol, to come back to her. She has had all the mirrors and even her portrait veiled so she cannot see herself age. One day, the women receive word that Anatol is finally coming back. “He has come, he has come!” sings Vanessa. It turns out that the visitor is Anatol’s son, who has arrived following the death of his father. Vanessa is in despair. The young Anatol proceeds to seduce and impregnate Erika. Even though she loves him, Erika refuses his marriage proposal realizing that he is an opportunist who only wants her fortune. Anatol tells her that times have changed in the past 20 years, and that nobody believes in love anymore, but they can have fun together dancing their way through the capitals of Europe. He then becomes engaged to Vanessa, causing Erika to run out into the snow to purposefully miscarry her baby. Vanessa and Anatol marry and take off for Paris. Erika covers all the mirrors and settles in to wait.
The opera premiered at the Met in 1958, (the first American opera to appear there in 11 years) and was highly successful, earning Barber the Pulitzer Prize. European audiences were less enthusiastic. They found it too old-fashioned for the modernist era and critics derided it “an opera for the public and not for intellectuals.”
In subject matter and music, Barber’s work is plenty modern and explores issues we are still wrestling with today. Favorite moments include Erika’s aria “Must the Winter come so Soon,” Vanessa’s “He has Come, He has come!” and “Do not utter a word.” The final Quintet, “To Leave, to break” is Mozartian, with each character singing their individual emotions. The orchestral writing is lush, with a late Romantic sensibility and touches of cinematic splendor—the lovely Intermezzo, for example.
In an interview earlier this season, Gianandrea Noseda told us that “Barber is a giant...I think that Barber is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Knowing all the schools even including the 12-tone techniques, he never lost the communicative element of the music, so he could always reach the heart and the mind of people, so--of course he is very close to me because of the association with Menotti... I have a special love for this composer.”
Maestro Noseda has assembled a stellar cast to join the NSO in this concert performance, with Nicole Heaston as Vanessa, J’Nai Bridges as Erika, Matthew Polenzani as Anatol, Susan Graham as the Old Baroness and Thomas Hampson as the Old Doctor. They are joined by the University of Maryland Concert Choir, Jason Max Ferdinand, Artistic Director.
OPERA in CONCERT:
Noseda conducts Barber’s Vanessa
January 30-Feb 1
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
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