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Tag: Mefistofele

Walpurgis Night: Witches, Music, and Mayhem

Walpurgis Night, the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. Tradition holds that a witches’ sabbath and orgy of the damned are held atop the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Central Germany. It’s the last blast of diablerie before May Day. In Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles guides his imperiled charge into a swirling cauldron of witches and demons so as to complete his moral degradation.

Of course, “Faust” has inspired innumerable pieces of music – operas, symphonies, cantatas, piano works, and songs. Here, Samuel Ramey sings “Ecco il mondo” from the Walpurgis Night scene (Act II, Scene 2) of Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele.” Sadly, the clip doesn’t run to the end of the act.

Another Goethe poem provides the basis for Felix Mendelssohn’s cantata “Die erste Walpurigisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”), about a band of prankish Druids playing mind games with some superstitious Christians.

Johannes Brahms wrote a song, “Walpurgisnacht,” on a text of Alexis Willibald (nom de plum of Wilhelm Häring), about a mother freaking out her daughter, telling her a thunderstorm is actually the sound of witches celebrating on the Brocken. As if that isn’t enough, she adds that she herself is a witch! Ha ha! So German.

Walpurgis Night is an occasion for leaping over bonfires, vandalizing neighbors’ property, and rioting, all in the name of welcoming spring. It is not to be confused with St. John’s Eve (June 23), the night the demon Chernobog emerges from the Bald Mountain. More on that later, I’m sure.

Don’t forget to keep Walpurga in Walpurgisnacht, everybody! Enjoy a socially-distanced sabbath and remember to cavort safely – in masks!

“The Goat of Mendes! The Devil himself.”

Luis Ricardo Falero, “Departure of the Witches” (a.k.a. “Witches Going to their Sabbath,”1878)

April 30, 2021
Samuel Ramey Turns 80 A Bass-Baritone Birthday

The boss of bass-baritones turns 80 today!

Samuel Ramey recently announced he’ll be returning to the operatic stage in 2022. Time will tell whether or not he’ll start wearing a shirt.

At the link, there he is as Verdi’s “Attila.” Only Ramey could make me love this opera. Listen to that audience, at around 3:20 and again at 7:04. The adoration is such that he finally launches into an encore.

For me, of course, his signature role will always be Boito’s Mefistofele.

Act I, Son lo spirito che nega (I am the spirt that denies)

Act II, Ecco il mondo (Behold the world)

A concert performance of the Prologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7l4msqaqos

Singing Cimarosa with Thomas Hampson

Ramey as Don Giovanni at the Met

And as “L” Toreador on “Sesame Street”

“L” is for my love for Samuel Ramey. Happy birthday!

March 28, 2021
Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele Still Thrills

Richard Strauss’ final opera, “Capriccio,” is an extended, though lighthearted debate on the relative merits of words and music. In the case of Arrigo Boito, the two never really came into conflict.

As one of the great librettists, Boito provided the texts for Verdi’s late masterpieces, “Otello” and “Falstaff.” He also worked up a revision of “Simon Boccanegra” and – under the anagram Tobia Gorrio – provided the libretto for Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda.”

But Boito himself was also a composer of merit, if not a prolific one. Although he destroyed his first opera, “Ero e Leandro,” and his last, “Nerone,” was left incomplete at the time of his death (to be finished by Arturo Toscanini and Vincenzo Tommasini), he totally nailed it with “Mefistofele.”

There may be those who look down their noses at Boito’s take on Goethe’s “Faust,” yet the work stubbornly clings to the outskirts of the standard repertoire. Audiences love it. For me it is much more entertaining than anything in Verdi (I know, them’s fightin’ words) and I personally find the melodic invention much richer than that in the more popular version by master melodist Charles Gounod.

Sure, as narrative it’s a little clunky – it’s as if Boito presents the story as a series of tableaux that are just kind of stitched together – and the most hair-raising set piece, the prologue in Heaven, comes right at the beginning. How could it not be all downhill from there? But the composer has the good sense to bring it all back at the end.

What the opera really demands is a strong personality at its core, someone who, through his magnetic stage presence and sheer force of will, can haul the circus train of wonders, boxcar after boxcar, before our astonished ears and eyes.

Feodor Chaliapin, by all accounts, was just such a force. He gained wide notoriety in the title role, for his earthy interpretation and his insistence on playing it half-naked.

In the recent past, Samuel Ramey owned the piece. He too preferred to show a fair amount of skin (though less than Chaliapin) – but really, couldn’t that be said for just about any of Ramey’s roles?

Here are some scenes from the stunning – and fun – Robert Carsen production from San Francisco Opera in 1989. The first 26 minutes would knock your socks off. Unfortunately, the full video is not currently posted on YouTube.

Son lo spirito che nega sempre tutto (I am the spirit that denies):

Ecco il mondo (Behold the world):

The finale, with Mephisto drinking Johnny Walker Red and tossing cards into a hat:

Happy birthday, Arrigo Boito (1842-1918)!

February 24, 2021
Walpurgis Night Brocken Witches Music

Get ready to rock the Brocken! It’s April 30th – Walpurgis Night.

Walpurgis Night, the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. Tradition holds that a witches’ sabbath and orgy of the damned are held atop the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Central Germany. It’s the last blast of diablerie before May Day. In Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles guides his imperiled charge into a swirling cauldron of witches and demons so as to complete his moral degradation.

Of course, “Faust” has inspired innumerable pieces of music – operas, symphonies, cantatas, piano works, and songs. Here, Samuel Ramey sings “Ecco il mondo” from the Walpurgis Night scene (Act II, Scene 2) of Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele.” Sadly, the clip doesn’t run to the end of the act.

Another Goethe poem provides the basis for Felix Mendelssohn’s cantata “Die erste Walpurigisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”), about a band of prankish Druids playing mind games with some superstitious Christians.

Johannes Brahms wrote a song, “Walpurgisnacht,” on a text of Alexis Willibald (nom de plum of Wilhelm Häring), about a mother freaking out her daughter, telling her a thunderstorm is actually the sound of witches celebrating on the Brocken. As if that isn’t enough, she adds that she herself is a witch! Ha ha! So German.

Walpurgis Night is an occasion for leaping over bonfires, vandalizing neighbors’ property, and rioting, all in the name of welcoming spring. It is not to be confused with St. John’s Eve (June 23), the night the demon Chernobog emerges from the Bald Mountain. More on that later, I’m sure.

This year, sadly, you’ll have to do all your cavorting over Zoom. Have fun, but remember… keep Walpurga in Walpurgis Night!

“The Goat of Mendes! The Devil himself.”

April 30, 2020
Goethe’s Walpurgis Night Music on The Classical Network

Goethe is king on Walpurgis Night.

Walpurgis Night, the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, is a time when evil spirits are believed to roam the earth. Tradition tells of a witches’ sabbath and orgy of the damned held atop the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz Mountains in Central Germany. It’s the last blast of diablerie before May Day. In Goethe’s “Faust,” Mephistopheles guides his imperiled charge into a swirling cauldron of witches and demons so as to complete his moral degradation.

This Monday afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll have some musical depictions of Faust and Mefistopheles. Luciano Pavarotti will sing the role of Faust in the Classical Walpurgis Night scene (no witches, but a romantic interlude with the shade of Helen of Troy, sung by Montserrat Caballé) from Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele.” We’ll hear the irresistible ballet music from Charles Gounod’s “Faust.” Then, clearly relishing his demonic laughter, Bryn Terfel will sing “Mephistopheles’ Serenade.”

Felix Mendelssohn wrote a cantata, after Goethe’s “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (“The First Walpurgis Night”), in which prankish Druids get the best of their superstitious occupiers. It ain’t “Faust,” but it will do.

The afternoon will open with Wilhelm Stenhammar’s overture, “Excelsior!” The score is prefaced by a motto which begins, “Yet each in him may find a native longing/To rise and travel far and far away,” lifted from – you guessed it – “Faust.” As time allows, we’ll also hear Charles-Valentin Alkan’s “Quasi-Faust” from his “Grande Sonata,” Edward MacDowell’s “Hexentanz,” and Edmond Dédé’s “Mephisto Masqué” (complete with kazoo choir). To place a seal upon our musical pact, Carlos Paita will rock the Brocken with Hector Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique.”

There’s plenty percolating for Walpurgis Night, this Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

More about Lewis Morrison, a remarkable figure who achieved world fame as Mephistopheles, here:

http://www.blackpast.org/aah/morris-morris-w-lewis-morrison-1845-1906

April 30, 2018

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