School of life

Actually, you can't compare Verdi's operas with each other at all. It is almost inconceivable that the same pen, the same hands wrote I masnadieri and Falstaff! If you think of Rossini, for example: if you listen to Guillaume Tell or Semiramide or Sigismondo, you immediately recognize the same style. This is practically impossible with Verdi. Each work represents a step in his development.

Verdi's style was constantly evolving. And that is precisely why every opera is important precisely where it stands. Because it always follows a previous work as the next step, and there is always a successor. They are all connected to each other, like a continuous chain. Incidentally, this chain goes a long way! Just think of Falstaff, his last opera. It is a wonder - so modern, so different, so progressive. Many opera lovers can sing melodies from numerous Verdi operas, such as Traviata, Rigoletto, Aida... But from Falstaff? That's much more difficult. And it's such a Janus-faced work! You can read it from the Romantic tradition or just as a rhythm, a vertical rhythm, like a piece by Igor Stravinsky. The duet Falstaff - Mrs. Quickly, it could just as well be by Puccini. Some call Falstaff the first opera of the 20th century ... So we see that Verdi never stopped developing. Why? Because the theater changed, because he changed. Once again the contrast with Rossini: the latter wrote Ermione, his most modern opera, and then Semiramide, a stylistic regression of many years! Verdi was different, he was always moving forward.

Of course! Luisa Miller, for example, is so important - for me the most important opera of his oeuvre ever - because it brings about a change in the subject matter. Verdi decided to stop talking about war. To stop talking about religion. He turned to other themes and began to analyze society. And what does that mean? It means taking a close look at human relationships. In Luisa Miller, we experience two families, two fathers who are fundamentally different in nature. Count Walter wants Rodolfo's happiness, no matter how he achieves it. He is all about status, he has no scruples: he has murdered in order to come to power. Miller, on the other hand, is concerned with honesty and straightforwardness, but he is also interested in his daughter's happiness. He says it out loud: The family is sacred, and sacred is the freedom to choose the person you love. Incredibly modern for the time! And now an exciting aspect: Verdi wrote La traviata just a few years later. And many people know how Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont, disturbs his son's happiness in love and refuses to allow him any freedom. So: La traviata is more old-fashioned than Luisa Miller in terms of content (not music!)!

As with Schiller, the opera is also a very intimate work that focuses on interpersonal relationships. It's about family, relationships, interpersonal relationships.

Absolutely not! I think Luisa Miller is revolutionary, and Verdi certainly criticizes society, the circumstances. But he is less a political man in the grand scheme of things than an analyst of the human condition. The most striking thing about him is how he can characterize people. The evil in Wurm is brilliantly portrayed musically. Chromaticism everywhere, darkness, you could say mud. Wurm is like a disease that takes over a body. Luisa, on the other hand, represents the opposite, she embodies light. In other words: we experience a contrast, abyss and light. These are dimensions of the human being that are shown here.

Yes, of course, there are great parallels. That also applies to the portrayal. Both do not have to express evil in a loud, shouting manner, but the danger arises from the quiet, the insinuating. The opponent must trust Wurm, believe him, then the attack can take place. Behind the back, unexpectedly. A few words, a whispered phrase can be more powerful than if you blurt it out loud.

Rodolfo and Luisa Miller actually need two each. Their first aria is absolute bel canto, elegant, light, dance-like - it could be by Rossini. The Rodolfo-Federica duet is just as stylistically developed. But when we get to the third act, it becomes really dramatic, and you need appropriate voices. And another note: the most famous aria in the opera is Quando le sere al placido by Rodolfo. A nocturne. I recently said to Freddie De Tommaso: "You will win with this tuning, with the cantabile atmosphere, accompanied by a solo clarinet. How I would love to be a tenor just to be able to sing this aria! So beautiful! So touching! A masterpiece within a masterpiece! But we must not forget the part of Miller: One of the most difficult and challenging roles in the repertoire. His aria is darn high, really: very high. If Verdi knew what he was doing, then he really wasn't very nice to the baritones.

There is something unique at the very beginning of the opera: the atmosphere is very pastoral, the mood is cheerful, calm, rural, you can literally smell the mountain air. A special feature - and completely new for Verdi.

He was probably interested in the treatment of human relationships. In works like Luisa Miller or I masnadieri - an opera based on Schiller's The Robbers - you experience a lot of murky, opaque things. I spoke earlier about mud in relation to Wurm ... It is part of being human that there is not always clarity and light, especially in relationships between people. We all have to swim, and the water around us is not always translucent. Sometimes we are surrounded by ambiguity, uncleanliness, darkness, which is part of our existence. I think Verdi was fascinated by this view and he appreciated Schiller's depiction of the complexity of relationships and the complexity of human souls.

It is not an easy opera. For example: you have to devote yourself to the recitatives with particular dedication because they are so exquisitely designed and contain so many details; sometimes they are almost cinematographic. Or: the orchestral sound must of course have substance, but at the same time a lightness. It must never be too heavy, that would be an old-fashioned view of the work. We must always have the bel canto in mind, to which there are numerous connections.

I really don't know! The opera is full of echoes of Rigoletto and Traviata - or we should actually say: Rigoletto and Traviata are full of Luisa Miller. And yet the two are much better known. I'm at a loss. Is the plot too complicated? Hm, let's be honest: Trovatore is more complex. But I think that an opera house like the Vienna State Opera almost has a duty to perform it. It's a duty - and a great gift! Especially when you have everything as here: the great orchestra, the wonderful chorus and the excellent cast of singers. You must never forget: Operas like Luisa Miller need great singers. Plus: we have an exciting production.

Opera has the ability to touch the mind and the heart at the same time. The famous tenor aria Quando le sere al placido, which we have already mentioned. If you look at the melody line, it is basically astonishingly simple. Simple arpeggios in the clarinet and a little pizzicato. Actually: nothing. But still: so beguilingly beautiful. You cry when you hear it ... just like Mozart. Why? Because that's what it is! It is opera. A miracle. Everything can be said in just a few bars. And that's why opera will never die. We see it after Covid, the audience loves this genre even more than before. Listening to an opera, studying an opera: It's sometimes like a school of life. How should you behave? What should you do? Opera provides answers. The genius of composers always holds a mirror up to us. Directly. Unmistakably. And you don't have to be a musician to understand and feel it. All you need is an open heart.