Opera i tre akten. Running Time: 2 hours 22 minutes
Fredrik Pacius (1809-1891) is known as the Father of Finnish music, although he was actually German and born in Hamburg, and his first opera (or more properly, a Singspiel), was written to a Swedish text. Pacius revised the score four times (the last in 1880), and although he managed to have it staged in Stockholm in 1856, it has never really taken off internationally, with its performance history being confined to Sweden and Finland. As with much Swedish music from the time period, Weber is a dominant influence.
SETTING: Fasta Aland, 1671. The plot is actually taken from history. The Aland islands are located between modern day Sweden and Finland in the Gulf of Bothnia, Fasta Aland being the largest where 90% of the population resides. Charles XI (speaking role), the then sixteen year old King of Sweden, is the only person permitted to hunt the elk found on the islands. Gustaf Gyllenstjerna (baritone), a confidant of the king, plots to have him dethroned, but this is foiled by Leonora (dramatic soprano) the daughter of a fisherman, who saved the young King from death when his boat capsized years before. Meanwhile, her fiance, Jonathan (tenor) is caught shooting one of the royal elk, which carries a death sentence. Leonora is successful at exposing Gyllenstjerna’s plot against the monarch (having accidentally overheard the conspirators at their midnight rendezvous), and wins the freedom of her beloved as a result.
This one is also hard to find on the internet. I own a copy of this opera, which I purchased several years ago. There are videos of parts the opera from the two recordings which have been made (here, I am using the 1991 Finlandia release in the original Swedish (I am using the English translation of the libretto to work on this review), although a later Finnish translation is also available if one searches for it), but no single complete video of the entire work exists as far as I know. Incidentally, the break between discs 1 and 2 is actually the act two scene change, which is the only act with scene changes although it is not quite the mid-way mark in the score.
Finnish Translation Recording (Swedish videos interspersed into the review below):
LOOK OUT FOR:
ACT 1: A forest clearing, the royal tent with its blue and gold streamers center stage. (50 minutes)
0: The overture ** is obviously pseudo-Weberian with hints of both Beethoven and Meyerbeer (notice especially the march in the third to last movement which comes back as the final hymn and which sounds a bit like the act five finale of Le Prophete) although the finish (which is relatively quiet) seems very similar Wagner’s Die Feen.
8, 10, 13: Halla I den/Mig sans att/Drick! Njut! The standard all-male hunting chorus starts off the opera * followed by a long quintet * and then an attractive drinking chorale led by Gyllenstjerna **. They haven’t much else to do other than conspire to usurp the throne (and the Queen Mother) since only the King is allowed to shoot deer or elk. Baner, the tenor in the group, gets most of the vocal ornaments, although Gyllenstjerna’s baritone dominates the action.
17: Jag marsk Yet another conspiracy quintet ** as they all decide to go to Kastelholm Castle at midnight to determine which of them will set upon the King. They disperse.
23: Att ga pa jakt Two random ladies-in-waiting arrive on the scene and sing about the cuckoo (the horns oblige frequently) and the general natural environment in a lovely duet which could have been modeled on Fides and Berte in Le Prophete although it is tinged with Mozart coloratura **.
29: Vad oerhört The Queen awaits news of her son the King (fearing possible attack by Gyllenstjerna) when Reutercrantz, his minder, arrives on horseback, alone. This briefly frightens the Queen, but Reutercrantz reveals that the King is alright, however, a shot was heard while he and the King were hunting, and it was not the King’s shot! An ensemble of shock ensues ** (notice the woodwind work in particular). It improves in the second half into a rather glorious movement (particularly from the coloratura lady-in-waiting and the chorus).
38: Nu ar han min! Gyllenstjerna fantasizes about seizing power in a very brief but Weberian aria *.
43: Kom, lat oss fresta The first act finale **: the King finally comes on (ironically just after Gyllenstjerna’s fantasy aria) announcing a shooting contest (spoilers: he wins! and Gylennsterjerna and Reutercrantz totally mess up their shots). The chorus (called the “target shooting chorus” here is a little bit retro, but rather charming as it waltzes about to a most Mozartean tune until the curtain.
ACT 2: (48 minutes)
Scene 1: An open place on the sea shore near the cottage of the castellan’s cottage at Kastelholm, a fisherman’s cottage on the other side of the stage where Leonora is hanging up fishing nets, evening.
2: Och havets unga tarna After a rather deep and dark prelude, Leonora embarks on a Donizettiesque ballad * about a Baltic mermaid whom a King falls in love with her, but they are doomed to forever be apart. This reminders Leonora of when she saved the King (a few years earlier) from drowning off the shore of Aland (lots of details about his golden hair and blue eyes). The ballad itself is oddly sad, and this is even before she mentions her worry over her boyfriend Jonathan (she doesn’t know that he was the one who illegally shot the elk in act one).
7: God morgon, vackra barn Reutercrantz tries to make a pass at Leonora, and is rebuffed and leaves rather quickly, but not before identifying a belt which belongs to the man he tracked down as the elk shooter from act one (it is Johnathan). Jonathan comes on and the number continues as a duet in which he informs her about the one major plot element he contributes (having illegally shot the King’s elk and having a death sentence on his head). This is odd since the number * doesn’t have any musical breaks and is marked solely as a “recitative”.
12: Kom du min gosse Leonora tells Johnathan that he must flee the islands at once (for where exactly?). This second movement is more melodic ** (it is actually marked as a “duet” in the score and has a lot of orchestral ornaments), and the two end up fleeing the scene in opposite directions.
Scene 2: The ruins of Kastelholm, around midnight.
19: Ve den som yppar vad There is no orchestral interlude, instead the scene immediately goes into Gyllenstjerna and the arrival of the other conspirators in a sextet *** which becomes rather grand with the inclusion of Leonora (who has come to look over a small treasure she has buried under the ruins, although the men start to believe that she is actually the phantom of their consciences haunting them as they plot out having the King killed by a “stray” bullet. The conspirators flee in terror, but Leonora has pieced together their conspiracy from all the fragments of blurting.
26: O du Nattens Leonora dominates the scene with a massive, ten minute, mono-cant *** about the silvery moon and Diana the huntress. She resolves to save the King, again.
Scene 3: The shore, dawn.
37: Den Kallar Jag Jonathan resolves to leave, but not before seeing Leonora one last time, and engages the fishermen and their wives in an attractive sea shanty **.
42: Vad? Jonathan? The act finale **. Reutercrantz arrives, enchanted by the sea shanty, and Jonathan admits to what his name is, and Reutercrantz has him arrested as the chorus takes massive umbrage and Jonathan screams for Leonora.
ACT 3: An open market square by the shore where the royal frigate is moored with the Swedish standard colors, a cottage on the right side of the stage. (44 minutes).
0: De Droja An! The opening chorus ** of market goers includes various vingettes as a peddler, a fisherwoman, and an innkeeper. Pacius then contrasts two Jewish peddlers (one selling “historical pictures” the other acting as a barker for a dancing circus bear!) with Leonora worried about the two men in her life: saving the King and making sure Jonathan is safe. It gets weirder as the two Jews start speaking in German and accuse the other of being a foreigner, then both claim that the Åland Islands are either Swedish or Finnish respectively depending on which ethnicity they claim. It is 19th century Germanic nationalistic accusations about Jews being nationless in a musical microcosm.
11: En kung, ja ser du Greta Two girls randomly talk about what it must be like to meet the King, and get vaguely bawdy about it in a duet *. The King and Gyllenstjerna arrive in the market incognito.
16: Och viljen I veta The chorus starts to perform a round dance *** in the center of the stage as Leonora tries to find a way to warn the King of Gyllenstjerna’s plot, or at least to mess up the conspiracy. The orchestral effect of the two types of music is rather brilliant (the joviality of the dance contrasted with Leonora’s panic (which is amplified by the orchestra). The King is seized, but Leonora manages to trick Gyllenstjerna into going into the cottage, locking him inside. This gives enough time of the marketers to take up arms and rescue the King.
22: Dyrkade, skona flicka! Jonathan is brought in as Gyllenstjerna’s fails to charm Leonora into releasing him. The chorus finishes off the number ** in a brilliant stating that they have rescued their Charles from the conspirators. The King banishes Gyllenstjerna (knowing he deserves death), and learns that it was Leonora who has (again) saved him. He offers her anything she wants as reward for her actions, and 10 years tax-free for the Alanders.
30: Och havets unga tårna Leonora embarks on a reprise of her mermaid ballade ** from act two and declares her prize: Jonathan’s life. The King grants this, although it appears as if he himself is smitten with her, and, in a cut portion of the dialogue, offers her any manor house on Aland in exchange for she marrying Johnathan that very day.
35: Konungens nad The finale ** is multi-part, first with Leonora and Johnathan rejoicing with the chorus, then Count Horn and the Queen Mother come on, with Horn claiming that the King is too young to legally give pardon, but the Queen reminds the Count that the King is mature enough. This moves into a long melodrama (a speech for the King about Finland over the orchestra).
40: Och ila vi bort från Finlands strand The opera ends with a long hymn *** from the chorus and farewells as the royal party departs on the royal frigate. Curtain to more of Die Feen material.
COMMENTS:
This is a delightful work! The plot is engaging, the characters are interesting, and the music, in particular the orchestra, have very strong material to work with. I was wondering what I was going to do next and was getting writers block but thankfully I remembered that I have had this opera in the back of my mind for around seven years and finally got around to it. Hopefully viewers can piece together the opera from the videos I have included and the Finnish version. It is a very late Singspiel, and the title character is a speaking part, but I am calling it an alpha.
Phil's Opera World 
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