Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Fanciulla del West

Italian opera goes west...with Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Just a small-town girl: Eva-Marie Westbroek as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West.
Photo © 2018 Royal Opera House of Covent Garden.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek are reunited in Puccini's boiled spaghetti Western. This is the story of a barmaid and a bandit and their forbidden love against the spectacular backdrop of the California gold rush. It premiered at the Met in 1910. Beloved by connoisseurs, Fanciulla stands as one of the great Italian operas, and a work that is only revived occasionally. See it!

The Good, The Bad and La Forza

Verdi's opera meets (and inspires) the "spaghetti" Western.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

L.-R.: Il buono (Clint Eastwood), il brutto, (Eli Wallach) il cattivo (Lee Van Cleef)
© 1966 United Artists Pictures.

Last night, very late, I was watching The Good, the Bad and The Ugly, Sergio Leone's masterpiece and the third movie of the trilogy starring Clint Eastwood as "The Man With No Name." About an hour in, just as a random cannonball demolished the second story of the hotel where Tuco (Eli Wallach) had Clint at gunpoint, I started thinking about Verdi--specifically his 1862 opera La Forza del Destino.


Forza (as it's known to opera lovers) is the bastard child among Verdi's mature works, held as either the highest level of genius or a mishappen mess. It is frequently criticized for a total lack of Aristotelian unities, a plot held together by happenstance. A century later, Leone's so-called "spaghetti" Westerns faced the same criticism, mostly from American critics.

A quick recap: Don Alvaro, eloping with Leonora di Vargas when they are confronted by her dad. Alvaro surrenders his weapon. It goes off, killing Vargas. Carlo di Vargas (the son) swears vendetta. Leonora becomes a hermit. Alvaro enlists, only to find Carlo in his regiment. Returning to Spain, Alvaro becomes a priest. Carlo shows up. They duel. Alvaro mortally wounds Carlo. Leonora is killed by a dying Carlo and dies in Alvaro's arms.

Part of what makes Forza remarkable (if bewildering) to newcomers is its reliance on supporting characters in addition to the main trio. Part of that is because Verdi conflated two sources for the libretto: Rivas' play Don Alvaro and Schiller's Wallensteins Lager, which contributed the battle scenes in Act III. This is Verdi's war opera, and he fills its battlefields with memorable figures: the Mayor of Hornachuelos, the gypsy turned military recruiter Preziosilla, the muleteer Trabuco. This vast canvas of humanity serves as comic relief and much-needed contrast to the drama of the three leads.