Work Text:
With Le Donne di Llangollen Rossini returned to the theme of young love outwitting familial opposition that had served him so well with Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He may perhaps have been recalling Beethoven's advice to him never to write anything but opera buffa. Hoping to capitalise on the success that Donizetti had enjoyed with operas set in the British Isles, and that of his own La Donna del Lago, he and Gaetano Rossi borrowed the details of a noted scandal. So noted, in fact, that nobody ever questions the fact that the Ladies never reach Llangollen within the action of the opera. It doesn't matter. We all know how it ends.
It is significant that, although Rossini completed the opera in 1822, it was not premiered until ten years later, after the death of both Ladies. After all, the play upon which the libretto was based was the subject of a successful lawsuit, and the liberties that Rossini and Rossi took with details historical, biographical, and geographical would probably not have been enough to stand up in court.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Leonora Butler (mezzo-soprano)
Sara Ponsonby (soprano)
Gualtier Butler, Leonora's father (bass)
Maria, a maid (contralto)
Giovanni Ponsonby, Sara's brother (tenor)
Raimondo, a guest at the ball (baritone)
Amelia, a guest at the ball (mezzo-soprano)
Carlo, a guest at the ball (bass)
Federico, a steward (baritone)
Act I
Kilkenny Castle, 1768
chorus The curtain rises on a chorus of peasants who sing to welcome (Benvenuta!) Leonora Butler, the daughter of the house, who has just returned from a convent in France.
aria Gualtier Butler, Leonora's father, appends his sentiments to those of his tenantry, adding the hope that his cara figlia, his dear daughter, will shortly marry. This number is a model of correct paternal sentiment, a fussy, set-piece cliché of an aria from a fussy, set-piece cliché of a man. Despite – or, dare one say, because of? - that, it has enjoyed a full and satisfying life apart from the opera in concert hall and compilation records.
aria Mille grazie! Grazie a tutti! Leonora thanks everybody for their welcome and, in a lengthy aside, confides to the audience that she trusts that life at home will be less dull than the convent.
Leonora is a textbook example of the dark-timbred, sensual, velvety mezzo-soprano that was so important a feature of Italian opera of the 1820s and 1830s. Maria Malibran created the role and performed it regularly in the years before her untimely death. Later, it was a favourite of the great Eugénie Danglars, whose own life, coincidentally enough, bore some resemblance to the events of Le Donne di Llangollen.
recitative Sara Ponsonby arrives with her brother Giovanni.
aria Giovanni makes an extended and rather conventional compliment to Leonora's charms. It is traditional for the principal ladies, if they have (or fancy they have) any acting capability at all, to make conspicuous eyes at each other during this.
John McCormack had some success in this role, which indeed does recall Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, his other great signature part.
recitative Gualtier insists that Leonora and Giovanni join him to explore the castle grounds (Andiamo; vedere le viste belle).
aria Lingering behind the others, Sara muses on il sorriso de Leonora (Leonora's smile).
In real life as in the opera, Sarah Ponsonby was the younger and the more pensive of the two Ladies. Her music reflects her character. The first Sara was Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, noted for her sweet, light voice and her brilliant upper register, and the temptation is to overplay her unworldliness and inexperience. She is not, however, a plaster saint; here Rossini hints at her depth of feeling with a sensuous clarinet solo.
recitative Leonora returns, having left her father and Sara's brother in the garden (nel giardino). She observes that, so far, things are far more promising than they were in France.
duet Che incontro felice (a happy meeting). Leonora is excited; Sara is calmer but no less sincere in looking forward to becoming acquainted.
Act II
Leonora's bedroom, some months later
duet Maria is arranging Leonora's hair, preparing for a picnic, and telling her the downstairs gossip while she does so: Anna dice questo, e Marco dice quello (Anne says this, and Mark says that). Leonora is not really listening; her mind is on Sara. Her line rises voluptuously over Maria's frenetic chatter and the pizzicato strings.
recitative Maria reminds Leonora that the picnic party, including another of her suitors, will be arriving shortly and that they should hurry up.
aria Il bruno, il biondo, l'uomo più basso (the one with brown hair, the one with blond hair, the shorter man...) Leonora enumerates the five offers of marriage that she has received so far, and explains that she has accepted none of them. Her heart is already given to Sara. The first half of this is fast and lively; had Rossini given it to a baritone one would call it a patter song. The second part is more gentle, expressing her tender feelings for Sara.
Sara arrives, and Maria diplomatically leaves the room.
duet The Ladies formulate a plan (Che piano delizioso!) to elope. The impulsive Leonora would like to leave the picnic today; Sara persuades her to delay until they can put more thorough preparations in place.
Act III
Scene 1, the ball
chorus Che festa! they sing. What a party!
recitative Gualtier welcomes the guests and invites them to enjoy themselves.
trio Lo sapevate? (Have you heard?) Raimondo, Amelia and Carlo discuss the elopement plan, which, it seems, is an open secret in the neighbourhood.
aria Giovanni, however, still cherishes hopes of winning Leonora's hand.
ballet Musically, this starts out a model of propriety, descending to a glorious brassy riot as the drink flows. One recent production featured traditional Irish dancing without any alteration to Rossini's score: an impressive achievement, if perhaps not one to be emulated in future.
While the older generation's attention is on the ballet, Leonora and Sara have disappeared.
duet, ensemble and chorus Leonora and Sara re-enter in their travelling clothes. Piano! (Softly!) they sing. È l'ora di lasciare! (It's time to leave!) One by one the guests join them at the front of the stage. Under cover of a raucous chorus, the Ladies slip away.
Scene 2, the next morning
aria In a famous patter song, Federico lists all the local and international celebrities who have contributed to the collection that will fund the Ladies' escape. These include some who were indeed known to have been acquainted with the Ladies, though in their later life (Walter Scott, Josiah Wedgwood, William Wordsworth) as well as some less plausible personages (Queen Caroline, Napoleon, Lady Hamilton). He finishes by observing that it is ironic that, with all this interest, Leonora's parents remain oblivious.
recitative He has spoken too soon, for here is Leonora's father!
duet A furious Gualtier demands to know his daughter's plans. Dimmi! (Tell me!) Federico at first refuses to divulge anything, but, as his employer's threats grow ever more lurid, he gives more and more away.
duet Giovanni arrives. He and Gualtier agree to go after the Ladies. Sarà mia! (She will be mine!) Giovanni exclaims.
Act IV
The quayside, Dublin
Gualtier and Giovanni have tracked Leonora and Sara down just as they were about to board a ship.
quartet The ladies express dismay and defiance; the men, satisfaction. The emotions become ever more heated until -
aria No! Leonora exclaims. Ascoltami! (Listen to me!) She furiously refuses to return. She will take exile with her beloved Sara, or death without her, but she will not go anywhere with her father. The rather melodramatic tone of this number has given rise to the suggestion that it was recycled from another, less humorous, opera, but no convincing evidence of this has yet been advanced.
aria Giovanni, finally convinced that his suit is unwelcome, withdraws gracefully.
aria In that case, dear brother (caro fratello), Sara sings, revealing an unexpectedly devious side to her personality, she assumes that she has his permission to herself leave with Leonora. He would not be so inconsistent as to argue against Leonora's charms now, surely?
Her argument is unanswerable – at least, nobody attempts to answer it – and she continues by pointing out that the boat will be leaving shortly.
chorus The bystanders wish the Ladies fair seas and a prosperous voyage, and the curtain falls.