Customer Reviews

Montemezzi: L'Amore Dei Tre Re

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Though Italian opera was very much in decline by 1914, when this opera was premiered, this work has a compelling and individual flavour, robust and decadent all at once, that is certainly worth experiencing. The story, set in 10th century Italy, concerns Fiora (Anna Moffo) , who is having an affair with the neighbouring Prince Avito (Domingo) under the eyes of her suspicious but blind father-in-law (Cesare Siepi) who is anxious for the honour of his son, Manfredo (Pablo Elvira) who is unaware that his wife is misbehaving. The musical characterization is compelling, Archibaldo has a simple but stumbling motif that portrays his groping attempts to shadow Fiora and catch her out, and the music given to the lovers (like "Tristan und Isolde", the second act is given over to an extended love-duet) is ecstatic, very sensuous and gorgeously scored. Montemezzi writes symphonically and very fluently, far more assured and inspired than his contemporaries Mascagni and Leoncavallo. The work is let down by a rather perfunctory conclusion to the last act, but this performance has such pace, superior orchestral playing and exciting singing as to minimize this. Anna Moffo is in sumptuous voice and really points the text, her first word "ritorniamo" (let us return) upon exiting her bedroom to escort her lover off the premises, leaves no doubt as to what went on behind those drapes. Siepi, as blind King Archibaldo, possibly his last recording, gives a powerhouse performance that leaps out of the speakers. Domingo sings with customary burnished tone and Pablo Elvira makes the most of the rather bemused and weakly Manfredo. Highly recommended. Can someone tell me why this opera is called "The Love of Three Kings" when there is only one king and two princes involved?

This is a (mostly) terrific recording of a (mostly) terrific opera. Yes, the ending is anti-climactic but there is some absolutely dynamite material through the first two acts. I agree with the first review -- despite Moffo's vocal shortcomings, the exchange with Domingo's Prince Avito reeks of what has gone on offstage. Siepi is everything that Rydl is not in the Koch/Schwann recording (avoid this one at all costs!)-- dignified, powerful, frightening, and vocally solid as can be. If this is his last recording, it is a magnificent exit.

The opera is a fascinating document of the time of its composition, and of the attempts of the generation that included Montemezzi, Martucci, and others to marry Italian lyricism with Germanic orchestral writing. One wishes that there were other recorded works of Montemezzi to see what other solutions he devised to these problems. This was, to me, clearly a very talented composer with a distinctive voice that is not available to be heard except in this one work. Too bad!

From the opening bars of this opera you get the feeling that something very dramatic is about to unfold before you. Then, you get swept away by the prelude. I've rarely heard music THIS passionate and convincing. I felt like a falcon soaring above the castle before finally coming to land on the wind-swept terrace where Flaminio has just led Archibaldo; just in time to hear Archibaldo say "Grazie Flaminio."

The music is very compelling. Imagine the most tuneful Strauss (say `Beim Schlafangehen' or that beautiful cello interlude in `Die Frau Ohnne Schatten')...well infuse that with some Italian `verissimism' and you begin to understand what I'm getting at...or you could just listen to this gorgeously harmonic opera. Of ALL the Italian operas I've ever listened to, this is the most amorous.

Domingo as Avito is superb....not the `spring chicken' clarion bell he formerly was but I like the slightly `smokey' flavour to his voice. Don't take this as merely fanaticism....his performance is truly excellent and his voice is in very good condition. Anna Moffo, particularly for those of us who were familiar with her before, had started to show her vocal decline. Like Simionato, she sang with a passion, beauty and drama that took a heavy toll on her voice. It meant a shorter career but such performances!! So there is a slight grate....VERY slight....in the voice towards the beginning. Whether it's the addictive performance or her `warmed up' vocals, however, all trace of `wear and tear' disappear towards the end. In fact, it all works rather well when you think about it: if you've just woken up from an amazing amorous encounter, wouldn't you be slightly `winded' and a little `sandy'? Well this brings me to my final remark about these to wonderful singers: everything about their performance oozes sex! And wait until you get to Act II!!!!! Phenomenal!

Good faithful Flaminio is superbly sung by Ryland Davies. He brings beauty and drama to his minor role, making it truly memorable. Cesare Siepi casts a spell of darkness about you with his seemingly depthless, sonorous bass. You therefore have no trouble appreciating the emotions of the blind, suspicious and vengeful old monarch, Archibaldo. He characterises his moods very well. "O ricorda!"..."Italia! Italia!" sees the old dragon rise again on the winds of past memories, pulsing with virility. Then the apparition fades as he resigns himself to the blind, old man again: "Tu taci," he says to a silent Flaminio who understandably doesn't share his enthusiasm for conquest. "Io son servo," Flaminio explains. He seems to brush aside the old man's folly as lack of vision rather than lack of sight. Then the music changes and we're off again on more of Motemezzi's swirling symphonic tide!

While all (and I do mean ALL) the other (minor) roles are very good -including a stunning chorus that rises and ebbs as one body- final mention goes to Pablo Elvira's heart-wrenching Manfredo. Talk about smouldering baritone....actually, it's more the upper baritone range but it gains all the more depth for his sonorous voice. He also sings with a most affecting `sob' in the voice without actually sobbing. To hear it is to understand.

One of my all-time favourites; enjoy!

I would agree with most of the review below with the following exception: Anna Moffo is well past her prime. Her voice sounds worn and her high notes are thin; still, she's idiomatic and dramatically effective in the generic way common to opera singers. The role of Fiora calls for the vocal plushness of Caballe and the imagination of Callas. Moffo commands neither. Otherwise, the men are uniformly strong, particularly Domingo and Siepi. Elvira is somewhat handicapped by the dramatic limitations inherent in the role of Manfredo. Still, with all its shortcomings, including the dissatisfyingly truncated third act, this is a compelling twentieth-century work, ripe with decadence, fragrant with eros, and with a sophisticated, rich score rife with haunting leitmotifs and subtle orchestral coloring. It's a shame it's not a frequently encountered work in opera house's today.

In answer to the previous reviewer's query, the love of three kings is eros and honor. Manfredo and Avito represent eros; Archibaldo is obviously acting out of a sense of familial honor, a heavy influence in Latin culture.

Montemezzi's "L'amore dei tre re" was once considered one of the most important Italian operas of the twentieth century, and a listen through with the libretto will quickly tell you why.

Montemezzi is a technical master, with an orchestral language, influenced by Wagner, that is charged with dynamism and electricity. Yet the lyricism and pacing are wholly Italian. It's a shame that this opera is so little staged these days.

The story tells of Fiora, torn between her old love--Avito, son of the deposed king of Altura, and Manfredo, the son of the now aged Germanic conquerer Archibaldo, to whom she was forcibly married. Both princes gain our sympathy, and we can even identify with the rage of the old blind king, who can sense that his daughter-in-law is being unfaithful to his son, but cannot prove it. Fiora is torn, but her heart is given to Avito, and when the old king finally has evidence of her sin, he strangles her to death. Hoping to also kill her unknown partner in crime, he smears the dead woman's lips with poison. But he becomes the unwitting murderer of his own son as it is Manfredo who first kisses her dead lips, though Avito, knowing the consequences follows suit.

The librettist, Sem Benelli, was a follower of Gabrielle d'Annunzio, and the story he tells is not so far from similar tales of d'Annunzio's, such as "Francesca da Rimini". But Benelli is a little shallower--his characters not quite as deeply defined or realistic. Yet the drama is still gripping, and Montemezzi's love music in Act II soars. Elsewhere the whole score is suffused with a sense of horror and unquiet well in keeping with it's dreadful tale.

For those who like this opera, I would recommend two other recordings. The first being Montemezzi's own account of the score from the Metropolitan opera in 1941 with Ezio Pinza in the role of Archibaldo. This has long been available on pirate tapes, but has now also been released commercially on the Guild label. Unfortunately, due to copyright issues, it can only be obtained from overseas sources, or on Ebay (where I got mine). Montemezzi's read is far more electric than Santi's more prosaic efforts. Of course, the sound is poorer. Also, the commentary by the host gives one the feeling that one is truly experiencing history.

The second recommendation would be the album "Souvenirs from Verismo Operas Vol. 4", which contains a complete recording of Montemezzi's brief final opera "L'incantesimo", also led by the composer. I consider this 44 minute jewel an even finer work than the much more famous "L'amore dei tre re". Both are worth a listen!

Needless to say they are also both very much worth staging. I'd also kill to see or listen two other Montemezzi operas that still lie shamefully unrecorded, such as the opera he considered his masterpiece, "La nave" from 1918, and "L'notte di Zoraima" which premiered at the Met with Rosa Ponselle in the lead.

A return to this thirty-three year old recording has reminded me what a wonderful home-listening experience it is; the surging, Straussian lyricism of this restless, episodic score creates an intensely dramatic impact and makes one wonder afresh why this opera has fallen into abeyance.

Written in 1914, it is undoubtedly derivative in that it clearly combines musical and narrative elements from other operas such as "Tristan" and "Pelléas et Mélisande", verismo antecedents, Strauss and Verdi, but it is a heady mix and really works. The plot could scarcely be more melodramatic - the death-by-kissing-poisoned-lips routine being strongly reminiscent of "Adriana Lecouvreur" - but this is off-set by a deep psychological empathy and acuity in the lyrics and music which are proleptic of another disturbing masterpiece composed around the same time, but not performed until 1918: Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" . True, Sem Benelli's libretto is at times loftily pretentious and ultra-poetic (he was also the librettist for another neglected oddity, "La Cena delle Beffe", by Giordano - see my review) but I wholly disagree with the reviewer who describes the cuckolded Manfredo as "bemused and weakly"; embodied by Pablo Elvira's virile baritone he emerges as the most sympathetic by far of the four main characters; a warrior of great sensibility who has given his love to a woman already beloved of another and who exacerbates his situation by leaving her alone and prey to temptation while he goes off to fight. There is a poignant and bitter irony in the ecstatic outpouring of his love to the indifferent Flora in Act 2.

Too much has been made of Anna Moffo's evident vocal decline here. The incipient husky wispiness in the middle of the voice serves, to my mind, to make her Fiora sound even more alluring and seductive. She is as expressive with the text, is as fine a vocal actress as ever, and she is by no means bereft of top notes, even if the middle is fading. This was understandably her last commercial recording - she is clearly no longer in the vocal estate to tackle more conventional rôles - but Fiora was an excellent choice to go out on. This was also Siepi's last recording, although he continued to perform beautifully for many more years, and his rich, rolling, chocolatey tones are perfect for the troubled, nostalgic, ultimately homicidal old king, Archibaldo. Domingo is in heroic voice: golden, lyrical and involved; I have already praised Elvira's performance. Smaller parts, chorus and orchestral playing are superb; Santi's gung-ho dedication is thrilling and he manages to paper over the weaker, more bombastic sections of the score by varied pacing and loving attention to bringing out orchestral colours and details. If you need convincing, try the Introduction to Act 3.

The dramatic construction is tight and economical. Montemezzi's skilful word-setting covers the hyper-romanticism of Benelli's expressionist libretto and fleshes out the characters in Verdian manner. The way the atmosphere of dark threat and secrecy alternates with extended passages depicting sensual rapture reminds me most of all of Zandonai's "Francesca da Rimini" - another neglected winner. The mercurial, passionate score builds to a terrifying, violent climax; some have found the ending just too abrupt but it works for me. While just about every succesful feature of this work resonates with allusions to other successful operas, it ends up by being unique and "sui generis" - and certainly one of my favourite minor masterpieces.

I've never understood why some excellent operas seem to fall out of favor with the public and opera houses. This opera was so highly regarded at its premier in 1913 that Toscanini arranged for it to be presented at the Met the following year. In the first half of the 20th century it was regularly performed by such sopranos as Mary Garden, Grace Moore and Anna Moffo, and the tenor role was greatly admired by legends such as Caruso, Martinelli and Gigli.
Musically the opera is a bit of a hybrid. The characterization is pure Verdi, with a corrupted father-figure and a tortured love triangle, and musically it kind of falls somewhere between Verdi and early Puccini with strong helpings of Richard Strauss and Wagner. (It's been called an "Italian 'Tristan'" and one can se why.) The score is very busy, with dense and animated orchestrations and luscious harmonies.
The cast is almost entirely excellent. The soprano role calls for a singer with perhaps a little more spinto heft to her voice than Moffo had with her lyric soprano, in order to get past the heavy orchestrations. And by 1978 her voice was showing a bit of strain. But she was the RCA "house soprano", being married to the boss, David Sarnoff, and did in her career sing many roles to which her voice was not entirely suited, probably shortening her singing career as a result. (At her best, in the '50s and '60s, she was simply incandescent.) Despite this, she gives an excellent performance.
Domingo gives an excellent performance, his voice having a polished quality to it that some of his earlier recordings lacked. Cesare Siepi, who came out of retirement to make this recording, brings his usual patrician portrayal to the role. The smaller parts are excellently handled. For me, the star of the recording is the baritone, Pablo Elvira. His voice is rich, with a wonderful tone, easily placed, and with a tremendous range of expression and color. His final aria is absolutely heart-rending. (Both he and Domingo have excellent music to sing--Act III is simply glorious.) It's an absolute shame Pablo Elvira wasn't recorded more--I think he's on a recording of Cavalleria Rusticana conducted by James Levine, but that's it.
Nello Santi leads an energetic and well-balanced performance, and the London Symphony Orchestra makes full use of the stunning orchestration. The sound quality is fine, and the booklet has a complete libretto. This is most definitely an opera that deserves to be performed far more often.

FOUR STARS BECAUSE ANNA MOFFO FAILED TO FULLY SATISFY. BUT ALL THE MALE LEADS ARE SUPERB: A DREAM CAST. AND THE MUSIC, THE MUSIC! COMPARE WITH DEBUSSY'S AENEMIC PELLEAS. VERISMO IS AN OPERATIC FIELD THAT HAS NOT BEEN EXPLORED AND PERFORMED ENOUGH. THESE OPERAS ARE WORTH A SEASON DEVOTED ENTIRELY TO THEM.