Giacomo Meyerbeer - Il crociato in Egitto - "Giovinetto cavalier" (D. Montague, Y. Kenny & D. Jones)

I was relistening to my favorite numbers in Meyerbeer's gargantuan grand opera, "Il crociato in Egitto" (I have a strange felling of sentimentality today :P), and decided to post a few selections just for fun :).

The first post is an aria/duettino/terzet. Well, it's actually a terzet but it takes the piece about eight minutes to get there.

The story could be related rather simply: Felicia, the hero's past beloved, has just uncovered the truth about Armando, he has fallen in love with the Sultan's daughter, Palmide, who also bore him a child. But Felicia, the kind soul, agrees to relinquish any rights she has to the knight, though she does so with a certain melancholy which overflows into a romance (built around the ABA form) of ample richness highlighted by excellent vocalization for the singer and an unusual combination of solo violin, bassoon and harp. One should note that it's an actual song that Felicia sings to Palmide about a cavalier who has promised his love to a girl but whose words proved false. I cut a transitional recitative that has Palmide noting how much the piece reminded her of a similar song about an ungrateful lover. And, yes, she begins to sing a verse herself, set to the same melody but to a different text concerning a meeting between two lovers which is turned sour by the man's infidelity. The repeat of the A section then becomes a duettino for both women, as they sing: "do not believe in his promises, young heart". As if this wasn't enough, Armando is then heard repeating Palmide's last verses to the surprise of both women. After a short alarmed recitative, he, still off stage, continues his song but now in a more sombre mood, as he basically recounts how he lost Felicia but then found Palmide. He then appears on stage and approaches Palmide, returning to the main theme. Felicia steps into the background, as a terzettino begins. It is then cut short by a more retrospective section as Armando sees the sadness of his lover and notices Felicia, which leads to a shocked abandonment of any kind of accompaniment, as the women continue to sing a duettino over Armando's short phrases but the theme appears again after some time. The piece is finished with a short cadential section and a gentle coda. All in all, a bit too sentimental and romanticized for my tastes but vindicated by an unusual accompaniment and interesting transitions from aria to duet to terzet which are connected by the use of the same main theme that appears throughout, plus, with the singers involved, one cannot really complain :).

The cast here is pure gold: Diana Montague as Armando, Yvonne Kenny as Palmide and Della Jones as Felicia. Hope you'll enjoy :)!

P.S. I'll post another duet, a finale and a quartet in a few :).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Meyerbeer
• Il
• crociato
• in
• Egitto
• coloratura
• belcanto
• classical
• Diana
• Montague
• Armando
• Yvonne
• Kenny
• Palmide
• Della
• Jones

[agata521]

Beautiful. Thanks