Emilio Arrieta: La Conquista de Granada (1850)

Opera in tre atti. Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes.

Due to the immense impression that Ildegonda made in 1849 on Queen Isabella II of Spain, the Queen commissioned this work, partially about the life of her predecessor, Isabella of Castile. It took Arrieta and Solera six months to complete the libretto and score before the opera, originally titled Isabella la Catolica, was performed at the Royal Palace Theatre in Madrid in October, 1850. A second production followed in 1855, and then, silence. The score was rediscovered in 2006 as part of its revival of rare Arrieta works championed by Jesus Lopez Cobos and was published under the Dynamic label in 2009. The opera consists of 18 musical numbers, including the prelude, and seems to be strongly influenced by I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata in its level of Christian propaganda and Donizetti and early Verdi in its composition. The opera offers a fascinating concept for cultural historians through the utilization of a nationalistic theory which emphasizes two major elements, the romantic “Orientalist” subplot represented by the soprano role of the Muslim princess Zulema (also a series of woodwind effects), as well as a concept of “Spanishness” represented by the contralto role of Queen Isabella (who appears only three times in the opera) which defines Spanish identity as bellicose, Catholic, and chivralic, with the figure of Gonzalo (the tenor) representing the connection between the two concepts while also animating the Spanish identity. The music is in a heavily Iberianized form of early Verdian composition (with doses of Donizetti), particularly in its more advanced usage of tremolo and pizzicati strings as well as a greater independence given to the woodwind lines than in Ildegonda.

SETTING: Granada, 1492. This one has a complex family dynamic. Zulema (soprano) is the daughter of Muley-Hassem (bass) and sister of Almanzor, as well as the paternal half-sister of Boabdil (bass-baritone), the last Muslim king of Granada. She is also the lover of Gonzalo de Cordoba (tenor) who is the champion knight of Queen Isabella (contralto). When Isabella commands Gonzalo to defeat Almanzor in single combat, he convinces his best friend Lara (bass-baritone) to fight Almanzor instead so he can avoid killing his beloved’s brother himself. After Almanzor is killed by Lara, (disguised as Gonzalo), Muley-Hassem forces Zulema to marry Prince Alamar (bass). The opera ends, however, with the conversion to Christianity of both Zulema and her father, as well as her Christian marriage to Gonzalo.

LOOK OUT FOR:

ACT 1: (58 minutes)

0: The prelude * starts off with a contrast of brass and a lite theme, which evolves into a flute float over a sea of warm strings which seem to think they are working for Josef Haydn, before moving into a mild march tune. In the final minute it gets a more dramatic restatement with percussion instruments and then a Big Bang at the end.

Scene 1: The Spanish Camp, oddly within ear shot of Granada.

5: Oh qual prodigio! After rather a lot of orchestral introduction, we finally come upon the Spaniards in a furious chorus *. It eventually turns to a more energetic movement which could have been written by early Verdi.

10: Santa Fe Queen Isabella arrives to rouse the troops with a holy hymn **. What really makes it work is the vocal line of the cavatina. The chorus is a bit bellicose, which given the circumstances, isn’t off. Gonzalo is charged by the Queen with vanquishing Almanzor’s challenge. The cabaletta is equally rousing, and low (Isabella is a contralto after all). The chorus finishes off with a reprise of their bellicose opener as the Queen retires. It has a very energetic finish.

20: Poserem sotto l’ombre Lara gets his one opportunity for an aria at this point, and it is good *, particularly because of the rich orchestration than for the vocal line.

24: Io l’odio di quell’angelo Gonzalo asks Lara to fight Almanzor for him so he doesn’t have to end up in a situation where he might kill his beloved’s brother. It is a pretty piece *, and, although technically a duet, it is really more of a tenor aria for Gonzalo bookended by duettino passages.

28: Molle zeffiro del cielo Zulema is heard off-stage singing from a nearby (and rather oddly convenient) Muslim castle. This is rather celestial in its accompaniment and beautiful ** (notice in particular the very Iberian flute glissando).

33: Ah! Tu piangi The scene ends with a stronger cabaletta for Gonzalo ** (with echos of Zulema in the background).

Scene 2: A room in the royal palace at Granada.

37: L’udite! The intermezzo is played in the Banda and is rather brief but catchy before we come upon a chorus of Muslim girls flocking about Zulema out of fear that the Spanish are about to take the city **. It has a brilliant woodwind section which resembles a pavane towards the end.

41, 44: Non avrei su questa/Qual da lontan funèreo Zulema’s entrance andantino is okay * but rather a standard item which Verdi could have churned out in half an hour. The off-stage Banda is far more interesting **, especially once the chorus gets involved and we get the usual off-stage accounting of how the mortal combat is going from the very noble sounding Granadans as preparations for Almanzor’s funeral are made.

48: Padre? Muley-Hassem arrives and is very, very angry with Zulema because of her situation with Gonzalo, whom he thinks has killed Almanzor. Their duet is rather good **. He orders her to marry Alamar at once, this prompts a strong, Donizetti-esque father-daughter act finale.

ACT 2: A graveyard, Almanzor’s tomb visible. (32 minutes)

0: Io sposa ad Alamar Zulema bemoans her fated marriage to Alamar and her father’s treatment of her in a gentle aria ** which is preceded by some more Iberian flute work. It starts to bog down into misery but is revived by an off-stage feminine chorus, which improves the situation in the second half of the aria.

8, 15: Io stesso!/Ad ogni istante Gonzalo comes on, and reveals that he didn’t actually kill Almanzor (he got his friend Lara to do it). This somehow appeases Zulema (he essentially ordered his best friend to kill her brother, even if the brother was the original challenger). The duet itself is musically rather lovely, if a little mechanical at first **. The stretta is lively *.

18: Cosparse il crin The chorus of mourners come on carrying in the body *.

23: Ma di frequenti Gonzalo and Muley-Hassem confront each other **. Lara arrives and reveals the details of the situation.

27: Sul venerabile Gonzalo offers his own life to Muley-Hassem, but the old man is magnanimous and forgives him in a rather shocking act finale ** which is made more interesting by Zulema’s vocal line.

ACT 3: (45 minutes)

Scene 1: A room in Queen Isabella’s private chambers.

3: Sola, io sola Isabella, whom we haven’t seen in about seventy minutes, recounts having just come from an interview with Christopher Columbus, who is requesting ships for his plan to find a westward sea passage to Asia. Notice in particular the whirling flute solo **.

6: A me, Gonzalo! Gonzalo reveals his love for Zulema to a rather sympathetic Isabella in a beautiful duet ***.

13: Prendi, la lama Isabella spurs her champion to lead her troops once more: to take Granada! A brilliant presto stretta to what is the best scene in the score **.

Scene 2: A room in the palace of Granada.

18: Qui v’e il sangue The chorus of Abencerrages ** is one of the better numbers as the Muslim forces prepare for one last battle against the Spanish Catholic forces. Zulema and her father have been imprisoned by the Muslims.

Scene 3: The Dungeon in the palace.

22: A four-minute intermezzo comes in at this point *. It is dominated by an Iberian flute solo.

26, 28, 31: Ei dorme!/La sposa mia/Nella terra di Giudea The flute work continues into the following scene between Zulema and her father. She reveals that she has converted to Catholicism, and she attempts to convert her father during the course of their duet (rather successful, Islam must really not have all that much influence after all) **. Oddly, Zulema’s Christianity 101 is actually the least interesting element musically and is rather slow moving even with her Castilian coloratura. They end up praying to the Madonna more so than Jesus (of course, this is an Italian opera after all). A halo appears over his head, he has apparently converted to Christianity in a spiritual sense.

38: Hassem, il debito A trio ** as Gonzalo bursts in and frees the two, with Zulema’s father recognizing him as his new son.

Scene 4: Another room in the royal palace.

42: Prodi abbiam vinto! Isabella, briefly, declares the victory of the Cross ** over the Crescent and gives Zulema in marriage to Gonzalo. Everyone prays to the Cross in a Christian apotheosis. Curtain.

COMMENTS:

What is up with Arrieta and killing off the brothers of his heroines? Here the brother doesn’t even get stage time, but he is more important to the narrative than many of the actual characters! The second act does nothing to forward the plot other than to provide a confrontation sequence and to allow the lovers to actually be on stage together at the same time. The better duet is actually between the tenor and the contralto in act three. Interesting, Gonzalo is the solo tenor role, the rest of the male parts going to basses and baritones. The absence of King Ferdinand turns Isabella into a bit of a girl-boss, sort of a Spanish Catholic Elisabeth Tudor if such a thing were possible (and yes, I realize that Isabella was Elisabeth’s father’s first mother-in-law). Arrieta’s major innovation here over his first opera is the far more developed usage of the woodwinds, the Banda (a notable influence from Verdi), and the vocal lines (tending towards Donizetti at times), which are no longer just copied from the orchestral lead. The flute in particular gets to pull off a lot of Spanish-sounding effects throughout the opera, which is technically authentic because the composer here is actually Spanish for once. Although the plot is formulaic Christians vs. Muslims material with the Muslims sappily converting from Mohammed to Jesus and the score showy and very obviously designed mostly to impress more so than develop a gripping drama, it is still an enjoyable beta as the score is consistently good, although rarely much more, but certainly no less.