Driving around in the snow makes one slow down, not only on the icy roads, but also in mind and heart, and lets one reflect on the better things in life. As I crawl to offer Mass and coming back, coupled with prayer, I like to listen to uplifting music (when I can escape the new programmes which I am addicted to, thanks to upbringing! I grew up in a household where current affairs was the main topic of conversation). At the moment the CD de jour is a selection of Puccini arias (are you surprised?). One of the most striking pieces is a recording of the beautiful aria from Act One of La Rondine (The Swallow), one of Puccini's lesser known operas.
The aria, Chi il bel sogno di Doretta, is achingly beautiful. In it the lead female character, Magda, sings of love - of her life which is devoid of love. Magda, you see, is a kept woman, living with a man she does not love - a marriage of convenience, only it's not a marriage. She longs for love, but sees no way of having it, and so for her it is mere foolishness. It is very sad and not unknown in the real world. I think Puccini sees the tragedy of many in this life, and particularly the tragedy in many women's lives. A Puccini heroine tends to be a troubled woman who gets the raw end of life and dies without hope, even though she has demonstrated great heroism, or made a great sacrifice. In fact the only Puccini heroine who makes it out alive is Turandot, and she's a piece of work. But she is a woman who is changed by love rather than one who is destroyed by it like the other heroines. As for Puccini heroes (tenors!), they are not as wholesome as the women they woo. Pinkerton from Madama Butterfly is the worst of the lot.
Puccini seems to have had serious issues when it came to love. He wrote the most hauntingly beautiful love songs, and yet in the end love is a destructive force for him. His own love life was problematic, and it actually reads like one of his operas. In 1909 he was accused by his own wife, Elvira, of having an affair with their maid, Doria Manfredi. The accusation was false, but it pushed the innocent Doria to commit suicide. Her family successfully sued Elvira for her malicious accusation and causing the death of the young girl - Puccini had to cover the settlement. This no doubt coloured his opinion of love in later life. But given that in his last opera love finally triumphs as a transforming force (and the heroine survives!) may indicate that as he got older he was moving toward a more positive position.
Yet love embracing sacrifice is the greatest thing - we are redeemed by it as Jesus goes to the cross out of love for us, and instead of being destroyed by his sacrifice, as are Puccini heroines, he rises to new and glorious life, which he offers to all of us. The real tragedy for Puccini and his heroines is that their sacrifices are not centred on Christ's, and so they fall. Tosca in her aria Vissi d'Arte describes how she adorned the image of Our Lady with jewels and flowers, but when she is faced with sacrifice she loses her hope (and ends up killing her oppressor).
However, another great composer provides us with an antidote to Puccini's seeming hopelessness. The troubled and struggling Francis Poulenc gives us the Christian view of love and sacrifice in his opera Les Dialogues des Carmelites based on Georges Bernanos's play of the same name. Set against the French Revolution it plots the last days and heroic martyrdom of the Carmelite sisters of Compiegne (now Blesseds). Unlike Butterfly, Tosco or Mimi, they go to their death ready for new life, rejoicing, singing the Salve Regina (in a pretty unnerving setting, to be honest with you!). Their sacrifice does not destroy them, but leads them into life. (To hear the final chorus from the opera, go here)
Interesting thoughts on this Sunday evening. Art can indeed lead us to reflect on issues of faith - von Balthasar understood that. Now, time for that aria from La Rondine, sung by the lovely Renee Fleming - (all my celibate readers please close your eyes, lest you fall into temptation!).
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