Randolph Magri-Overend

LA FORZA AND THE ‘CLAYTON’S’ CURSE

My singing teacher mentioned it to me first, this curse that Verdi’s opera La Forza del Destino (heretofore called La Forza) carries with it whenever it is performed.   At the time, I didn’t give it much thought but recently, I started wondering whether this perception of a curse was conception or misconception.  It is like an invisible bomb ticking away like a metronome.  Or is it?  You’ll be amazed at what I found.

Verdi had, of course, already composed an opera Rigoletto with an in-built curse (La Maladizione) but La Forza was another kettle of fish – its curse had been engineered.  

History does not record the first person to associate a curse with La Forza.  In all probability it was the brainwave of a public relations person trying to boost the flagging popularity of the opera.  Which proves, if anything, that the art of spin-doctoring is not an art nouveau.  

According to Tama Matheson, who directed the last production at the Sydney Opera House (2013), the curse is probably the operatic equivalent of Macbeth to theatrical people.  But Matheson did confess he didn’t know what the curse was about. “As much as anything,” he continued, “it is the perception that this is a difficult opera to put together in terms of story.” 

Based on a 19th century melodrama, which was already confusing, it was stitched together by Verdi and his librettist Francesco Maria Piave and presented to the Theatre of St Petersburg as the commissioned opera for their 1861-62 season.  But the leading soprano fell ill and the premiere had to be postponed to November 10th 1862.  That postponement can be regarded, if one is so inclined, as the first application of the curse.

The plot itself is as improbable as they come and includes curses being thrown around as profusely as confetti at a wedding.  Leonora loves Alvaro who accidentally kills Leonora’s father who immediately curses their union.  Leonora flees to a monastery and the leading monk, Padre Guardiano, exhorts a curse on anyone who violates the new hermit’s sanctuary.  Meanwhile Alvaro becomes the blood brother of Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo.  When they find out their true identities, Alvaro kills Carlo, Carlo kills Leonora and Alvaro flings himself over a cliff cursing all and sundry.

More fuel was added to the curse theory when American baritone Leonard Warren died on the Metropolitan stage on March 4th 1960 while singing the aria ‘Morir! Tremenda cosa!’ (To die. A tremendous thing) from La Forza.  There is also the reported incident of an Italian director of the 1950-80’s era, Antonio Stivanello, who was also a supplier of scenery and costumes to opera companies, refusing to touch the scenery at a performance of La Forza in Bergen County, New Jersey.  In the middle of the tenor aria ‘Oh, tu che in seno’ (You who are in my heart) the lights went out and the power failure was tracked to an electrical problem at a nearby cemetery.

And yet, there have been other fatalities and incidents with other operas – but they have never been labelled ‘cursed’.  In 1966 during a performance of Janacek’s Vec Makropoulos at the Metropolitan, tenor Richard Versalle had just finished the line ‘You can only live so long’ when he fell from an on-stage ladder, suffering a massive coronary and dying instantly.  On October 23rd 1951, New Zealand bass Oscar Natzke collapsed during a performance on stage of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at the New York City Opera.  He too had suffered a massive stroke and eventually died in hospital on November 4th.  He was 39.  Are these operas fatalistic?

Famous singers were also wary of the curse.  Luciano Pavarotti refused to sing the role of Alvaro.  In fact, there is no mention of La Forza in William Wright’s biography of him, nor is there any mention by Tito Gobbi in his autobiography.  Another great Italian tenor, Franco Corelli was rumoured to have shielded his crotch as ‘protection’ during some of his performances of the opera.

Curse or just pure spin?  You decide.

 

Published by Randolph Magri-Overend

One of the questions Randolph hates to answer is “Where do you come from?” Why? Because the answer can be so time-consuming and, in a way, also gives away how old he is!! Plus the questioner has to wrestle with the wish he hadn’t asked the question!! He was born in Cairo, Egypt, many moons ago of British parents although he can trace Maltese and Croatian ancestry in his lineage. Educated in a Jesuit college in London his wander lust for things unorthodox drove him to embark on a seafaring career with both Canadian Pacific Steamships and Shaw Savill. That in itself dates him because both lines have been redundant for many a year. One of his boasts is that he was the Purser on the “Gothic” which ten years previously had been Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Yacht soon after her coronation in 1953. One of the objects imported on the ship by HM and left behind was a tape player which Randolph utilised on many a memorable Sunday evening with a classical concert for his passengers. Thus began a journey that not only awakened Randolph’s love for good music but also eventually led to his extensive knowledge of music in all forms. That he loves the era of Sinatra, Crosby, Armstrong, Dorsey (both) and many many more exponents of the post-war music scene is also part and parcel of his appreciation of the music of many an era. These days Randolph is retired but still reviews CDs and DVDs and has written articles on such diverse personalities as Yvonne Kenny, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Alexander Briger, the late Sir John Tavener, Sir James Galway, Dawn Upshaw and countless probes into the music of Gustav Mahler, Elizabeth Shwarzkopf and her husband Walter Legge, Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein and many many more he regrets to admit he has lost track of! Before emigrating to Australia, Randolph spent a number of years as a Flight Dispatcher in Canada. Since arriving in Australia, Randolph has written for The Weekend Australian (especially in their travel pages), The Sydney Morning Herald, Opera Opera and Fine Music magazine as well as some jazz magazines. If you require an extensive coverage of your music to a public that, at last count, reaches the best part of 818,000 please contact David Kary on editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com or email me directly on ibmar@bigpond.com. This also includes advertising any forthcoming shows by promoting featured artists. Cheers and thank you.