Puccini’s La Rondine: The Swallow Returns

 

It took La Rondine many decades to stake out a secure place in the repertoire of the world’s opera houses. The work’s birth was troubled. In 1913, Puccini was approached by a prestigious Viennese theatre to create songs for an operetta. The terms were favorable, but the composer soon transformed the commission into his preferred form, a sung-through opera. The Great War intervened and Italy and Austria became enemy belligerents. The 1917 premiere of La Rondine therefore took place in neutral Monte Carlo; the leads were the marvelous Gilda dalla Rizza and Tito Schipa.

Puccini, famous for revisions to his scores, changed the register of the secondary tenor, the poet Prunier, to baritone, then back again to tenor, also adding an aria for the tenor lead, Ruggero. This version did not succeed at Vienna’s Volksoper in 1920.

Subsequently, and with difficulty, La Rondine found its present ending: Magda, the former mistress of a rich Parisian, is thought “virtuous” by the naive Ruggero. She decides to return to her protector, thereby leaving her beloved young lover rather than marry him under the weight of her shady past. The similarities to Verdi’s La Traviata, without the tragic conclusion, are evident.

Puccini’s hummable score brims with the waltz and other dance rhythms and provides lilting melodies to the two couples, Magda and Ruggero, and Prunier and Magda’s maid, Lisette. Magda is a rich opportunity for a lyric soprano with an easy top register and access to floating pianissimos, both attributes called for in Act I. Each of her two arias reflects on her own life and desire.

The first, “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta potè indovinar? (Who could guess the beautiful dream of Doretta?),” tells the story of Doretta who prefers the kiss of a poor student to that of a king. There is a plethora of lovely versions of this aria on YouTube. Among the very best is Anna Moffo’s, with its creamy timbre and perfectly judged acuti (high notes). The clip is drawn from the opera’s 1966 complete recording, conducted by Francesco Molinari Pradelli.

Near the conclusion of Act I, Magda recalls an evening when she found romance at the famous dance hall, Bal Bullier. Here is “Ore dolci e divine (Sweet and Divine Hours)” from Leontyne Price’s 1971 recital disk, conducted by Edward Downes. Price’s soft-grained rendition reminds us that, had she chosen, she would have been one of the greatest lyric sopranos of the 20^th century instead of the era’s preeminent Verdi dramatic soprano.

 

In search of true love, Magda runs off to the Bal Bullier where, in Act II, she and Ruggero fall in love. The tenor launches one of the most thrilling ensembles in all Puccini: “Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso (I drink to your young smile).” Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu are the principal artists in this performance.

 

P.S.

Highly recommended are these two selections found on YouTube:

The touching final scene in which Magda leaves Ruggero: “No! Non lasciarmi solo! (Don’t leave me alone!)” The clip is from the telecast of a live New York City Opera performance starring Elizabeth Knighton and Jon Garrison.

 

Lucrezia Bori was the Met’s first and only Magda between 1929 and 1936. Here, her art and charm survive despite poor sound unflattering to her brilliant timbre. The clip ("Ore dolci, divine")

is from a 1937 recording, made after her retirement from opera.

 

  

 

 

 

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