The miraculous end of "Suor Angelica"

When musicians and non-musicians alike are asked about what they know about Giacomo Puccini, many would say,

“Great theatre composer / turn-of-the-twentieth-century opera composer / the guy who wrote “La bohème” / that Italian guy that followed Verdi / the last Italian opera composer …"

And so on.

All of these great composers in the past still hold a tantamount of questions. Do Musetta and Marcello ever really work things out, past Mimì’s death? Does Rodolfo ever get married again, and at what point in his new relationship does he reveal what [was] the love of his life? 

Being here on a double-bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, being immersed in these works has brought up many questions about Puccini, his compositional style, inspiration, and in Suor Angelica, some questions about faith. 

The opera begins with a chorus of nuns (i suori in Italian) singing backstage. Angelica appears early in the opera. She gets soaring melodies and rich (though in this work, crystalline and pastel) orchestration for which Puccini is famous. Through her, we meet a nun who is simultaneously like and unlike everyone else.

Often the nuns sing in order to set the tone (the opening “Hail Mary,” sung in Italian), to narrate or comment on the action (Greek-chorus style). They sing chants, triads, and even some gossipy music (these are a bunch of women, after all). 

Puccini utilizes off-stage music in many of his works. This piece is no exception. He also sets up the “end” - the final scene - note-by-note, for the first 45 minutes. Rather than explain the whole plot, you can read it here.

After she sings her lament about her boy dying without him knowing how much she loved him, we get more of a glimpse of her as a woman. I’ve always wondered how much of a “believer” in God she actually was - was she a misfit who was put into a convent as to avoid embarrassment by the family? Does she come to resent the Church during her “punishment” there? Or does she believe that if she “Hail Marys” her way out of this, she will eventually be forgiven by God, her family, and herself?

Her final scene (sung very brilliantly here in Bozeman by Maria Kanyova (her bio can be found here)) is a tour-de-force of vocalism, acting, and Puccini’s exquisite use of the backstage. Within Angelica’s final moments, she gets to stage an intermezzo (mostly the music which we have heard before and after the visit from her aunt), and kill herself using the poison she has made out of her herb garden. After the poison makes her hallucinate, she realizes that suicide is a mortal sin. The desired earthly or heavenly reunion with her son is not possible. 

The offstage-chorus juxtaposes the solo vocal rhapsody on stage. They sing a crisp “Regina Virginum, Salve Maria” in dialogue with the drama which is happening in front of the audience. After Angelica makes a heartrending plea for the Madonna to save her, the chorus responds with the tune Angelica has sung moments ago. 

On this production, I play both in the pit and backstage. Pit is organ and celesta (in a bigger house, this would be covered by several sets of hands); then I get to play backstage “organ” (it’s actually a Clavinova hooked up to an amp). In order to do so, I have to clamor through a backstage chorus (who is reading the final scene off of scores, and using their phones. Once I’m at the other instrument, it’s a deep breath - listen - follow the conductor and lead and follow at the same time.  

There are other “goosebumps” moments in this piece. For me, when the lowest soprano voices of the chorus of nuns sing an unprepared A-flat (in basically a C-major chord), that’s the magic of this whole piece. 

I love the questions which that particular notes brings. Why don’t they just sing a major chord? Or why not an E-flat, making the major chord minor, and damning Angelica to hell? 

The fact is, with this note, we don’t know exactly what happens. 

(If you are interested in reading a theoretical tract on this work, you may want to check out this article by James Hepokoski. You can find the article here.)

PHOTO: We are being housed generously by the opera company. This is a photo I took of our guest cabin out near a big trailhead on Bozeman's outskirts.

Old Hat, New Hat

This was a “Berenstain Bears” favorite book in the Ditlow household, growing up. Dad would often read to us as children, and my brother Bruce and I often requested this title. 

So it seemed very appropriate for this post, that I channel another childhood hobby. It is resurfacing into something more these days. 

I loved “drama” as a kid. Not “drama” in the bad sense, where siblings squabbled or other things happened within the family. Those occurrences were rare, anyhow. What I’m discussing is real “drama” - where people create a narrative and things happen and we tell a story. There is perhaps no accident that a good portion of my professional life has been centered around opera. I love the music for sure, but also, the act of storytelling has always been near to my heart. 

When my siblings and I were young, my family would often get together with some families in our town, especially for New Years. The children would go into the basement and we would “create a play.” We would create this play based on whatever was “going on” (and more appropriately, we used costumes, props, and inspiration that was around us.) 

Think “Iron Chef” meets “Whose Line is It, Anyway.”

We would come up with a script, have a costume consultation, movements, and sometimes even songs (!) or dancing. When our “play” was finished, we would go upstairs, retrieve our parents, and perform. We would sometimes even charge admission.

I’m not pretending that any of this oeuvre was good. But it did give me a confidence and experience  with “play.” 

A few months ago, one of my dearest friends asked me advice about Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She asked me how I would stage it, conceptualize it, and deal with elements of Greek and Roman tragedy and dramaturgy. 

My answers (inadvertently) got me my first directing gig! The performances are in about a month. Right now, we are staging the second “act” (the whole piece is about one hour). 

We did some choreography today, as well. If anyone had ever told me that my years in ballet class and as a cheerleader would ever come in handy professionally, I would have dismissed this suggestion as pure folly. 

It turns out that you can draw on anything, learn from it, and use it for art … 

We are enjoying ourselves in the rehearsal process, for sure.

PHOTO: The production poster, designed by conductor David Chin.