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La Forza dell'Amore is considered, with some justification, to be Enrico Bruni's greatest opera. Certainly it is his happiest, in every sense. The action is nominally set during the War of the Spanish Succession, though it does not do to seek to locate it in any specific year or (series of) battles. All the audience really needs to know is that the pendulum of war swings back and forth, that the heroes are on opposing sides, and that love wins out.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Pietro, a lieutenant in the Austrian army (mezzo-soprano)
Taddeo, his friend (baritone)
Ettore, a lieutenant in the French army (tenor)
Giuseppina, an innkeeper (contralto)
Antonio, a reveller (bass)
Maria, Pietro's childhood friend and now a nun (soprano)
the Mother Superior (contralto)
Giovanni, a village child (boy soprano)
The overture is a miniature gem. Three scant minutes are enough to set the pastoral mountain scene (flutes), to introduce the idea of Pietro's principled self-denial (French horns) and Ettore's quest to find him (an increasingly insistent melody rising through the strings, from the cellos up through the violas and violins), and shatter the uneasy equilibrium with a clamour of martial trumpets.
Act 1
solo and chorus The curtain rises on Pietro, a young lieutenant in the Austrian army, who is celebrating the day's victory ('Vittoria!') with his troops.
Pietro is a belated example of the heroic travesti or trouser role, rarely seen since the days of Rossini. It seems that Bruni was experimenting with a revival of the tradition that had seen some of the greatest prima donnas of the early nineteenth century in the roles of Alexander, Achilles, Sir Gawain, and so forth. With the castrati dead or in their dotage, Bruni cannot have been writing for anyone other than a woman. Luisa Capetti, who created the role, was variously described as a contralto or as a mezzo-soprano. In other composers' operas she appeared as confidante (she famously delayed her retirement to create the role of Mrs Danvers in Britten's Rebecca) or as adolescent youths (Lazarillo, Octavian, Prince Orlofsky, etc).
There have been a few experiments with casting male singers in the role in the last few years, none of them particularly successful. The countertenor tone is, with some few exceptions, too pure for this part. Pietro is a hero, but he is human. The practice of transposing it down an octave into the baritone range must be deplored; it reverses the relationship between Pietro and Ettore and, in particular, makes the Stammi vicino reprise in the last act ludicrous.
It ruins, too, the effect of this opening number, where the solo female voice soaring above the men's chorus can be thrilling. The men's line is uncomplicated; they sing of glory, of victory. Pietro's, by contrast, is full of ambiguity. His words are all congratulation and approval, but the music undercuts them.
duet At the end of the number, the chorus leaves, and Pietro's friend Taddeo remarks that he seems sad ('Sei triste'). Pietro recalls his experiences in what is now enemy territory. Once upon a time, they were friends. War is glorious, but the death of brave men grieves him. Well, yes, Taddeo agrees, it's very sad, but what is one to do? That's the way things are.
aria To an accompaniment of pizzicato strings and a solo trumpet, Taddeo sings about the example a leader should set to his men (occasionally cut), and exits.
recitative and aria Left alone, Pietro expands on his comments to Taddeo. Mille pensieri... il cuore spezzato (A thousand thoughts... my heart is breaking). He believes that on the battlefield today he recognised Ettore, once his lover and now a lieutenant on the other side. Pietro puts on a brave face before his men, but victory would be worse than meaningless if he is destined to fight against the man he loves. L'amore ci circonda (Love surrounds us) – all humanity is worthy of love; why then has he fallen in love with the enemy? Il destino... no! Fate? No! It is mere chance. He will cast the thought aside and do his duty. Only, he prays, let him not be the one who must kill Ettore.
Act 2
A tavern on the other side of the line, several months later. Hostilities have ceased for the moment.
recitative and aria The scene opens (as it closes) with Ettore alone at a table. He is 'scoraggiato' (despondent). 'Guerra, addio!' ('Farewell, war!') It destroyed his happiness but at least it provided a distraction from his troubles. Now his only distraction is drink. For a tenor with a sense of humour this aria, underpinned by a cynical bassoon obbligato, is a gift, but most prefer to concentrate their efforts on Stammi vicino, which comes at the end of this scene.
Ettore is a more complicated, less heroic, more human character than Pietro. Although it is his side that will eventually emerge victorious, he will not be a part of that action. Where Pietro never moves outside the confines of his sense of duty, Ettore, fortunately for the sake of the plot, discovers that love can be a motivating power.
ballet A ballet of peasants was inserted here for the Paris production. It is a charming ten minutes with a justly famous cor anglais solo, but contributes nothing to the action.
duet 'Quanto?' ('How much?') Antonio and Giuseppina argue about the bill. Eventually Giuseppina throws him out.
aria Giuseppina encourages Ettore not to succumb to despair. Remember, she urges him, amore e vita, life and love. He should enjoy the one while he has it and pursue the other if he wants it.
recitative Ettore admits that Giuseppina has touched a nerve. She laughs and leaves him to his wine.
aria Ettore wonders where Pietro is now and recalls his last encounter with him in the full-throated, red-blooded aria Sento un voce che piange lontano... Stammi vicino (I hear a voice in the distance... Stay with me). He resolves to find him, whatever the cost may be.
The mood should turn on a dime here. If by the end of the aria Ettore remains the morose drunk that he was at the opening of the scene then his character is destroyed, and the rest of the opera with it. He has to redeem his reputation and show himself worthy of the description Pietro gave him in Act 1. Bruni helps matters along with an echo of Pietro's heroic theme on the clarinet. The rest is up to the singer.
This is the best-known number of the opera. The temptation to self-indulgence is almost overwhelming, and almost all tenors succumb to it. The original lyrics were, unsurprisingly, censored for their unequivocal sensuality. Bruni got around this by encouraging members of the chorus, accidentally on purpose as it were, to sing the uncensored words at home and in the street; by the end of the first week all Milan was singing about arms and legs. Nowadays no one expects anything else.
Act 3
Scene 1
The tide of the war has turned, and a wounded Pietro has sought sanctuary in the convent where Maria, his childhood friend, has taken holy orders.
recitative The Mother Superior asks how Maria comes to know Pietro. Maria explains that Pietro was the friend who facilitated her escape from an unwanted marriage and her subsequent entry into the convent.
aria In a famous aria, Che amor tranquillo (a quiet love), she sings of the power of friendship, and her gratitude at being able to repay the favour she owes Pietro. The vocal line is echoed by the oboe, a surprising but happy strategy.
chorus The nuns echo Maria's theme, singing of the constancy and self-sacrifice of divine love. One of the first reviews dismissed the use of the harp in the accompaniment as a cliché, and no one has ever made up his own mind on the matter since.
While Pietro remains on stage throughout the entire scene, his bloodstained uniform a striking visual presence against the black robes of the nuns, he sings no more than a couple of bars.
Scene 2
Some weeks later. Pietro is recovering but still weak. Taddeo, too, has found his way to the convent.
duet Taddeo and Maria. Perché, perché? (Why, why?) He wonders what drives someone to swear away human love. Has she ever thought of leaving? No, she responds; this is where she belongs. And there is no shortage of love here, even if it is perhaps not the kind that he dreams of.
aria Giovanni, a village child, arrives with the news that another man is on his way. Though he wore no uniform, he had gli occhi di un soldato (the eyes of a soldier), a man who has seen thrilling and terrible things.
This role, far more than Pietro, poses casting difficulties. It requires a singer of considerable skill; both this aria and the sextet in the last act are technically challenging. An adult soprano is most reliable but least convincing. One recent production cast a sixteen year old girl, to greater approval than had been anticipated. For realism, a boy soprano is to be preferred, but the story of the singer who should have been the first Giovanni illustrates the pitfalls of this approach. Claudio Gatti suffered the indignity of having his voice break mere weeks before the première; in the event, Mme de Lisle sang the part. Gatti recovered nobly from the humiliation, going on to perform the role of Ettore to great acclaim in subsequent revivals. Quite apart from his vocal ability, which was impressive, he was notable if not notorious for his hordes of admirers who would besiege any opera house where he was performing, not to mention any hotel where he was staying.
chorus The nuns observe that the war is bringing many strangers (Quanti stranieri!) to their door. Giovanni rushes off.
recitative The stranger is Ettore, who enters declaring 'Cerco un uomo' (I seek a man – have you news of him?)
aria Nell questa casa (in this house), sings the Mother Superior, we ask no names; we welcome all in the name of Him whose name is Love. Bruni's score takes the contralto down to a low D; the number of singers who have actually achieved this must remain in single digits.
aria Sto cercando un solo nome. Love, Ettore responds, is the only name he is seeking. This is less of a showpiece than Ettore's other numbers, but it has an ardent charm to it.
Pietro recognises his voice and rushes out.
duet Amore mio! Vita mia! (My love! My life!) An impassioned exchange between Pietro and Ettore follows. They are ecstatic to be reunited, but the moment they leave this spot they must be sworn enemies again. O dovere crudele! (Cruel duty!) Ettore insists that he cares only for Pietro and will take the consequences of desertion. Pietro responds that he would rather kill himself than let Ettore expose himself to such disgrace. Let it be exile for both of them.
recitative Giovanni returns (on a high B flat) with more news. The impossible has happened: peace.
sextet All the characters react to this news. Che gioia! (What joy!) Pietro and Ettore realise that now they can be together. Maria and Taddeo rejoice for their friend. The Mother Superior offers thanksgiving, and Giovanni wonders what all the fuss is about.
One by one, all except Ettore and Pietro drop out of the ensemble.
duet Ettore and Pietro express their happiness in a rapturous reprise of Stammi vicino. Bruni took an unusual approach here: in Act 2 the accompaniment was thick and cloying, but here he cuts it right down to piano (with a suggestion of pizzicato strings where piano is unavailable) and solo violin. His courage paid off. Anything more would detract from the uncomplicated pleasure of the two voices.
finale The curtain falls on a chorus in praise of peace and the power of love.