Information about the opera:
Guillaume Tell (ii) [Guglielmo Tell (‘William Tell’)].
Opéra in four acts by gioachino Rossini to a libretto by etienne de Jouy and hippolyte-louis-florent Bis, assisted by Armand Marrast and Adolphe Crémieux, based on friedrich von Schiller’s play Wilhelm Tell; Paris, Opéra, 3 August 1829.
Arnold Melchtal Swiss conspirators tenor
Guillauem Tell [William Tell] baritone
Walter Furst bass
Mathilde Princess of the House of Habsburg soprano
Melcthal Arnold’s father bass
Gesler Governor of the cantons of Schwyz and Uri bass
Rodolphe commander of Gesler’s archers tenor
Leuthold a herdsman baritone
Ruodi a fisherman tenor
Hedwige Tell’s wife mezzo-soprano
Jemmy Tell’s son soprano
A Huntsman baritone
Chorus of peasants of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden; knights, pages, and ladies of the train of Mathilde; hunters, soldiers and guards of Gesler; three brides and their bridegrooms
Setting Switzerland in the 13th century, near Altdorf in the canton of Uri
Guillaume Tell, Rossini’s last opera, is the new grand opéra he had been contracted to write under the terms of the agreement with the French government drawn up in 1824 at the time of his arrival as a resident in Paris. A number of texts were considered for the project, including two by Scribe, one of which later became Auber’s Gustave III and Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, the other Halévy’s La Juive. The choice of Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell (1804) was both adventurous and shrewd. Whether or not Rossini intended this to be his last opera, it brings together elements of his art he had successfully developed over the previous 17 years. Schiller’s original play engages themes in which the mature Rossini showed a special interest: among them, the political ideals of a conservative people who seek independence with peace, and the psychology of paternal relations. It also enabled Rossini to exploit further an underlying interest in the related genres of folk music, pastoral, and the picturesque. The libretto, drafted by Étienne de Jouy, was revised by H.-L.-F. Bis, Armand Marrast, Adolphe Crémieux (who helped shape the Act 2 finale) and, most importantly, by Rossini himself.
The publication rights to the opera were acquired, well in advance of the première, by Eugène Troupenas. As a result, a generally accurate contemporary edition of the opera was quickly available as a basis for editions in Mainz, Vienna, Naples, Milan and elsewhere. Troupenas’s edition is not, however, entirely reliable since the promptness of publication involved a start to the process of engraving while the opera was still in rehearsal. Significant changes to both music and text were made by Rossini and his collaborators during rehearsals and immediately following the first performances. Few of these changes were incorporated into the Troupenas edition; some, absent from the autograph manuscript, appear only in the theatre’s own parts. Apart from altering the scale and proportions of the opera, the modifications affect our perception of the character of Arnold and the role of the men of Schwyz. Any theatre production needs to take into account the full range of available options. (These have been clearly set out in M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet’s critical edition of Guillaume Tell.)
The première of the opera was conducted by François-Antoine Habeneck with Henri-Bernard Dabadie in the title role, Adolphe Nourrit as Arnold, Laure Cinti-Damoreau as Mathilde, Alex Prévost as Gesler and Nicolas Levasseur as Walter Furst. Rossini left Paris within a fortnight of the opening but on his return to the city he prepared an abridged edition of the opera, first seen in 1831. This reduces the work to three acts, with a new finale based partly on the concluding section of the famous overture. During the 1830s it was not uncommon for the Paris Opéra to stage Act 2 by itself, but the most significant French revival of the period came on 17 April 1837 when a revised version of the three-act abridgement was staged with Gilbert Duprez as Arnold. Though Rossini personally disliked the sound of the new tenore di forza, the emergence of Duprez was a phenomenon that did much to ensure the work’s continuation in the repertory. In 1856 the four-act version was restored to the Paris stage. In February 1868, in Rossini’s presence, the Opéra celebrated the work’s 500th performance, and it remained an integral part of the Parisian stage repertory until 1932. (During some of the centenary performances in Paris in 1929, the role of Arnold was sung by James Joyce’s protégé John O’Sullivan.)
Foreign-language versions of the opera, often adaptations or much truncated, appeared in Europe and the USA in the early 1830s. The first New York performance took place, in English, in 1831. London did not see the original French Guillaume Tell until it was staged at Covent Garden in 1845. Previous English productions included Hofer, the Tell of the Tyrol, adapted by J. R. Planché and arranged by Henry Bishop, at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1830 and the Italian Guglielmo Tell at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1839. Though Rossini supervised an adaptation of the opera, Rodolfo di Sterlinga, created in Bologna in 1840 partly as a vehicle for the tenor Nichola Ivanoff, he appears to have had no hand in the various Italian versions of the score. The first Italian staging, to a translation-cum-adaptation by Luigi Balocchi, was in Lucca on 17 September 1831 with Duprez as Arnold. Subsequent Italian revivals used Calisto Bassi’s fuller and more reliable version, or a conflation of Bassi and Balocchi. It is a sad fact, however, that what major revivals there have been outside France over the years have tended to be of the italianized Guglielmo Tell.
La Scala, which had staged a carnival season adaptation in 1837, first staged Guglielmo Tell in 1845. Toscanini conducted performances there in 1899, and in the early years of this century Francesco Tamagno was heard as Arnold. His immediate successor in the role was Giacomo Lauri-Volpi who sang it frequently in Italy and the USA. In 1972 at the Florence Maggio Musicale, Riccardo Muti conducted an uncut version of Guglielmo Tell with Norman Mittelmann as Tell, Nicolai Gedda as Arnold and Eva Marton as Mathilde; and he later led a further uncut revival, using a revised Italian translation by Paolo Cattelan, at La Scala in 1988 with Giorgio Zancanaro as Tell, Chris Merritt as Arnold and Cheryl Studer as Mathilde. In 1990, in their first staging of the opera since 1889, Covent Garden mounted a beautifully considered and eminently naturalistic French-language production by John Cox, with Gregory Yurisich as Tell, Chris Merritt as Arnold and Lella Cuberli as Mathilde. The opera has been recorded, complete and in French, only once: a distinguished set conducted by Lamberto Gardelli with Gabriel Bacquier as Tell, Nicolai Gedda as Arnold and Montserrat Caballé as Mathilde. Of the various Italian-language recordings, the finest is Riccardo Chailly’s version with Sherrill Milnes as Tell, Luciano Pavarotti as Arnold (a role he declined to sing on stage) and Mirella Freni as Mathilde.
The opera is prefaced by a four-movement overture, programmatic in intention and formally different from anything Rossini had previously devised. The opening colloquy for five solo cellos is a rare inspiration, evoking, Berlioz suggests, ‘the calm of profound solitude, the solemn silence of nature when the elements and human passions are at rest’. The pastoral scene that follows the storm is also memorable. The use of a traditional Swiss herdsman’s melody, a ranz des vaches, gives Rossini material for one of the finest of his many english horn solos; it is a melody that undergoes a number of transformations during the course of the opera, giving it something of the character of a leitmotif.
Act 1 On the shores of Lake Lucerne As the curtain rises a triple wedding celebration is to hand while Ruodi the fisherman sings a love song. To William Tell the prospect of festivities is marred by fear of the Austrian regime which, since the loss of influence of the Holy Roman Empire in the region, has become increasingly repressive. Local Swiss customs have been a particular target of the Austrians; but in the three forest cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden resistance to the Austrians is growing, something typified by the decision of a revered elder, Melcthal, to officiate personally at the wedding ceremony. Unfortunately his son Arnold, who has served with Austrians, has fallen in love with the Austrian princess, Mathilde. When Tell puts to Arnold the urgency and justice of the Swiss cause (duet, ‘Où vas-tu … Ah! Mathilde, idole de mon âme!’), Arnold’s private dilemma is eloquently addressed as orchestrally accompanied dialogue gives way to the lyrical ‘Ah! Mathilde’, the pitch wrenched up from G♭ to A♭ as Arnold’s anguish becomes increasingly palpable. After Melcthal has blessed the couples, festivities resume with dancing and an archery competition won by Tell’s young son Jemmy. But the idyll is not to last. A local herdsman Leuthold has killed an Austrian soldier who was attempting to rape his daughter. With the Austrians in pursuit, he asks to be rowed to safety; but with dangerous waters and a storm brewing the response is muted until Tell volunteers as ferryman. Thwarted by Leuthold’s escape and by the people’s loyalty to Tell, the Austrians prepare to sack the village while the Austrian Governor’s henchman Rodolphe (tenor) takes old Melcthal hostage. It makes a gripping end to an opening act in which Rossini is far more expansive than Schiller. In particular, Rossini seems concerned to establish the communal life of the Swiss people as a key factor in the evolving drama. Central to this strategy is the inclusion in Acts 1 and 3 of a considerable amount of colourful and expertly written choral and dance music. It is often cut in performance; but, far from being extraneous to the drama, it is crucial to it.
Act 2 The Rütli Heights overlooking Lake Lucerne and the nearby Cantons A hunting chorus is answered by an evening song of Swiss folk working in the hills and fields. Mathilde has glimpsed Arnold and sings of her love for him in ‘Sombre forêt’, an exquisite strophic aria in the French style, finely orchestrated (the quiet drum roll prefacing each stanza is one of the opera’s most affecting instrumental gestures). Their reunion persuades Arnold that he must win military glory with the Austrian army so as to become worthy of Mathilde in the eyes of the world (duet, ‘Oui, vous l’arrachez à mon âme’). Tell and Walter have seen the lovers together but their mission is to persuade Arnold to join the anti-Austrian confederates. In the trio ‘Quand l’Helvétie est un champ de supplices’, the appeal to Arnold is reinforced by the revelation that the Austrians have murdered his father, Melcthal. This is one of Rossini’s finest creations, a superbly structured ensemble rich in telling musical and psychological detail; it also marks a significant departure from Schiller’s play where old Melcthal is blinded, not murdered, and where Tell, the simple man of action, declines to be involved in the various meetings on Rütli Heights. The men of Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz now begin to appear, crossing woods, mountains and water to gather for the swearing of an oath of allegiance. Rossini characterizes each group separately, with the good faith of these so-called rebels reflected in the idyllic music he writes for the men of Schwyz. As forces – military and musical –grandly mass, the confederates ask Tell for guidance. At the great oath-swearing (‘Jurons, jurons par nos dangers’) the trumpets sound; but there is no melodramatic denouement. Day breaks over the mountains, the drum again quietly rolls, and the cry ‘Aux armes!’ is repeated three times before the orchestra adds a torrential 16-bar coda. (‘Ah, it is sublime’, remarks Berlioz in his essay on the opera, ‘let us take breath’.)
Act 3.i A secluded chapel in the gardens of the Altdorf palace In this scene, subjected to various revisions and emendations by Rossini, Mathilde comes face to face with Arnold, her now bereaved lover. He has no option but to renounce her, and in ‘Sur la rive étrangère’ she bids him farewell.
3.ii The Square at Altdorf Gesler has ordered enforced festivities to mark one hundred years of Austrian rule. Sensing public hostility, he demands that the people pay homage to his hat. The dances that follow are vividly characterized by Rossini; in particular we sense the festering resentment of the local women who are forced to cavort with the salacious Austrians in the ‘Soldiers’ Dance’. Tell refuses to pay homage to Gesler; but he is recognized as the man who saved Leuthold and is promptly arrested. He tells his son, Jemmy, to carry the signal for the start of the Swiss revolt, but Jemmy is also arrested. With both Tell and Jemmy in his grasp, Gesler dreams up his sadistic ploy to test Tell’s nerve and marksmanship by ordering that Tell shoot an arrow through an apple placed on Jemmy’s head. Tell is defiant and appalled – ‘Ah! tu n’as pas d’enfant’ – and in the great aria ‘Sois immobile’ he addresses Jemmy before finally drawing his bow. The aria stands at the heart of the opera and is one of the most personal of all Rossini’s musical utterances. A solo cello is used at the outset, as it might be in a Bach Passion, but the major-minor oscillations and the lie of the line itself are fashioned in Rossini’s own way. Verdi was to follow some of Rossini’s cues when he came to portray another grieving father, Rigoletto. Tell hits the apple, but he is re-arrested when he confesses that a second bolt was intended for Gesler. Mathilde now intervenes. She demands that Gesler release Jemmy into her care; she also vows to effect Tell’s release. But Gesler has other ideas and, amid growing civil unrest, Tell is despatched to the dangerously infested dungeons of the fortress at Küssnacht.
Act 4.i Melcthal’s house Returning to the family home, Arnold plans revenge for his father’s murder. He also recognizes that, with Tell’s capture, he is now the man who must lead the uprising. Berlioz thought Arnold’s aria here, ‘Asil héréditaire’, the finest thing in the score, a filial lament of great finish and beauty. It is also very powerful. As Arnold is joined by men from the cantons, he reveals Tell’s and old Melcthal’s cache of arms in a violent cabaletta that looks ahead to the more declamatory writing for the tenor voice that Donizetti and Verdi would shortly develop.
Act 4.ii A rocky shore by Lake Lucerne Mathilde and Jemmy join Hedwige, Tell’s wife, who is desperate for news of her husband. Mathilde is prepared to offer herself as hostage for Tell’s safe return. Jemmy lights the beacon to signal the uprising. Tell braves the storm in an Austrian boat. He lands and wastes no time in hunting down and shooting Gesler. Meanwhile, Altdorf has been freed. The confederates gather, the skies clear and the mountain landscape is seen again in all its majesty. Moved by the scene before him, Arnold addresses his dead father in lines that are not in Schiller: ‘Ah, father why are you not here in this moment of joy for all Helvetia?’. The tribute over, Rossini’s hymn to nature and liberty steals forth, the ranz des vaches entering softly on the horns with a numinous beauty that Wagner would later match but not surpass.
Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell is neither revolutionary nor tragic. Susanne Langer has described it as ‘a species of serious heroic comedy’. As such, Guillaume Tell is heir to a tradition which Rossini closely embraced in his opere serie of the years 1813–23. Langer writes of Schiller’s Tell:
Tell appears as an exemplary personage in the beginning of the play, as citizen, husband, father, friend and patriot; when an extreme political and social crisis develops, he rises to the occasion, overcomes the enemy, frees his country, and returns to the peace, dignity and harmonious joy of his home. The balance of life is restored. As a personage he is impressive; as a personality he is very simple … Such are the serious products of comic art; they are also its rarer examples. The natural vein of comedy is humorous – so much so that ‘comic’ has become synonymous with ‘funny’.
By 1829, Rossini had become a master of the comic style in both its aspects: comedy as humour and comedy as a vehicle for expressing vitality, continuity and harmony in human affairs, however strong the potential for disorder in those affairs may be.
For further illustration see Grand opéra, fig.2..
RICHARD OSBORNE
© Oxford University Press 2007
RICHARD OSBORNE: 'Guillaume Tell (ii)', Grove Music Online (Accessed 09 October 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?section=opera.002744>
Link to purchase the DVD:
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=87094
