Episode 003: I Puritani with Aksel Tollåli
Sometimes, we can have nice things. Like a bel canto opera where, despite the mad scene stretching across all three acts, the stakes are low, the Fs are high, and everyone is happy at the end.
Musicologist and critic Aksel Tollåli joins us to discuss a lovely opera about a lovely soprano and her lovely mental breakdown. Topics include Risorgimento chauvinism, opera's girlhood era, Lee Pace as Vincenzo Bellini, and operas whose entire plots would be resolved if the characters had just one (1) conversation.
Follow Aksel on Instagram and Bluesky.
The clip from Golden Age can be found here.
Simon says:
“Today, the opera is seldom put on outside of Italy, partly, one suspects, on account of its somewhat ridiculous libretto.”
I Puritani: The story
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The English Civil War. Charles I of England has been executed as part of a struggle for the British throne that has religious proxies between Protestants and Catholics.
In the Puritan holdout of Plymouth, the anti-Royalist soldiers celebrate a twofer: a victory in battle and the upcoming wedding of Elvira. Despite being promised to Riccardo, her father has allowed her to marry her true love, Arturo — a Royalist.
Riccardo sings about how he is sad to lose out on Elvira’s hand, but, shockingly, he takes “no” to mean “no.”
The trick is: Elvira doesn’t know yet that she’s able to marry her heart’s desire. She only learns it after a fraught duet with her uncle, Giorgio, in the next scene. In fact, Giorgio was the one who convinced Elvira’s father that she should be with the one she loves. An offstage trumpet heralds the arrival of Arturo, who is welcomed by all despite his politics (fun fact: every time this scene happens, Ezra Klein gets 1% more annoying).
As Elvira plans the fastest wedding ever, Arturo is approached by Enrichetta (aka Henriette of France), Charles I’s widow. He agrees to help her escape back to France while Elvira sings about being “a pretty little virgin all dressed up for her wedding.” (Literally those are the words.)
Because the authors of this story are all male, Elvira removes her veil so she can fix her hair, and it is 100% logical that she give it to Enrichetta to wear while she does so… and then never ask for it back. Arturo decides this is as good a move as any to get Enrichetta back to France and forgets to leave an out-of-office for Elvira.
Elvira does what any sane woman under the patriarchy would do: Go crazy.
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Riccardo tells Elvira’s uncle Giorgio that Arturo is now considered a fugitive from the law for allowing Enrichetta to escape (even though he was totally cool with letting them run off because it gave him a fresh opening with Elvira). Giorgio says the only cure for Elvira will be “a sudden joyful experience,” because benzodiazepines haven’t been invented yet.
Elvira continues to be mad and has a three-part mad scene about it.
Having been exposed to 20 minutes of this, Riccardo agrees to help rescue Arturo so that Elvira can get dicked down because that’s the real subtext of her madness here. He and Giorgio sing a jaunty duet about trumpets.
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Three months later, Arturo is still a fugitive but is trying to find Elvira. He pulls a proto-John Cusack and sings their song while in the woods, which is a great way to get caught by a Puritan regiment. Before that happens, though, Elvira finds him first and they finally have a two-minute conversation that clears up the last three months of confusion.
Unfortunately, the cavalry arrives and announces that Arturo’s sentence is death. Elvira once again slips into madness until Arturo sings a high-F and we get a last-minute exoneration from Oliver fucking Cromwell and literally the entire opera is resolved in the last 90 seconds.
All of this, too, is rendered moot because eventually Charles I’s son returns to England and becomes Charles II—as well as the namesake for King Charles Spaniels.
Recordings cited
Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Bonynge: I Puritani (Decca, 1973)
Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tullio Serafin: I Puritani (EMI/Warner Classics, 1953)
Lisette Oropesa, Lawrence Brownlee, Riccardo Frizza: I Puritani (Pentatone, 2024)
Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, Julius Rudel: I Puritani (Deutsche Grammophon/Westminster, 1973)
Anna Netrebko, Eric Cutler, Patrick Summers: I Puritani (Met Opera On Demand, 2007)
Playlist
“Ah, per sempre io ti perdei”
Dmitri Hvorostovsky / 1994
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