“Lucia di Lammermoor” with the Canadian Opera Company

The Canadian Opera Company was kind enough to hire me to play glass armonica in their production of Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) by Donizetti. The run was April 17 through May 24, 2013.

In the opera, young Lucia is caught in the middle of a feud between her family and her true love Edgardo. Her brother forces her to forsake her love and marry for money. On their wedding night Lucia kills her bridegroom, plunges headlong into madness, then dies. When Edgardo learns of Lucia’s demise, he kills himself.

The opera is particularly famous for its ‘mad scene’ in which Lucia—covered with blood—sings what is essentially a duet with the glass armonica. (The armonica only appears in the mad scene, nowhere else in the opera.)

Although Donizetti originally wrote the part for glass armonica, the available player proved too difficult to work with, so he rewrote the part for flutes and that’s how it was originally premiered. It is still frequently done with flutes as a glass armonica player is harder to come by than the flautists who are already there in the orchestra.

First, I must say what a pleasure it was to work with all the staff at COC, especially the principals. They were all consummate professionals who did a wonderful job, and very personable to work with:

Stephen Lord, Conductor
Anna Christy, Lucia
Stephen Costello, Edgardo (Lucia’s true love)
Brian Mulligan, Eduardo (Lucia’s evil brother)
Ian Cowie: COC Orchestra Personnel Manager

There have been several reviews of the opera. Those that mentione the glass armonica include:

Stanley Fefferman, Bachtrack David Alden’s edgy Lucia di Lammermoor triumphs in Toronto 19th April 2013 The COC orchestra, including glass armonica and harp soloists, sounded so constantly well in this hall, they functioned like another character. If there is such a thing as an opera that is a real deal, this is it. Read the full review

Arthur Kaptainis, National Post Opera Review: Lucia di Lammermoor not yet worth the price of admission 21st April 2013 It should be noted that the Mad Scene included the glass harmonica originally called for by Donizetti but seldom heard in practice. Read the full review

Glenn Sumi, Now Magazine Lucia Di Lammermoor: Uneven production adds incest and horror movie tropes to romantic opera 25th April 2013 Conductor Stephen Lord and the Canadian Opera Company orchestra bring out all the dark hues in the score, with the addition of the glass armonica – an instrument once thought to induce hysteria – adding some spine-tingling effects in the infamous mad scene. Read the full review

Wayne Leung, Mooney On Theatre Review: Lucia di Lammermoor (Canadian Opera Company) 18th April 2013 Another curious but fascinating musical highlight of the opera is the inclusion of the glass armonica. The rare instrument was originally part of Donizetti’s score but the composer later re-arranged the part for the flute instead. Used during Lucia’s mad scene, the instrument has an ethereal almost electronic sound that adds to the creepy atmosphere of the scene. Read the full review

Colin Eatock, Writer & Composer The COC’s Lucia di Lammermoor 22nd April 2013 Canadian Opera Company’s current production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre has plenty going for it: a fine cast, effective pacing from conductor Stephen Lord, and intriguing stage direction from David Alden. But let’s start with the glass harmonica. In case you don’t know the instrument, it consists of a set of partially submerged glass bowls rotating on an axle that produce sustained tones when touched by the fingers. Developed by Benjamin Franklin, the glass harmonica was to the 18th and 19th centuries what the theremin was to the 20th: a weirdly ethereal novelty instrument. Its decline from fashion was hastened by the rumour that its sound induced insanity. Donizetti intended to include it in the “mad scene” from Lucia. But for reasons not entirely clear, it wasn’t used at the opera’s premiere in 1835, and the composer substituted a flute. However, the glass harmonica seems to be making a comeback (the Metropolitan Opera used one in Lucia in 2009), and this is a good thing. Read the full review

Christopher Hoilek, Stage Door Lucia di Lammermoor 18th April 2013 The Canadian Opera Company’s current production of Lucia di Lammermoor is a feast of beautiful singing and effective acting with no weak link in the cast. … Her mad scene is particularly notable because Alden has used Donizetti’s original version of it where Lucia is accompanied by glass harmonica, not by the flute. The mad Lucia sings of “un’armonia celeste” and the glass harmonica lends an eerie beauty to the entire scene. … And to have a glass harmonica in the mad scene gives it an aura that literally seems out of this world. Read the full review

Sarah Chan, The Scene in Toronto For the Love of Opera: Lucia di Lammermoor 23rd April 2013 The story takes place in Victorian Scotland, the bleak and weathered white walls resembled a mental institution and the lighting cast beautiful dark shadows that carried the heavy tone of the show. The stage pieces swung and moved in a seamless way, cleverly using the back of the wall pieces to further the starkness and bleak emotional tone. Details were strong all the way down to the glass harmonica in the mad scene, which were previously used in sanatoriums in the 19th century to induce hysteria. Read the full review

Opera Going Toronto Lucia di Lammermoor Review April 2013 Conductor Stephen Lord leads the always glorious COC orchestra, tracing Donizetti’s long gorgeous lines of legato with grace and refinement. Tempi are consistently respectful. Harmonies are exquisite. The use of glass harmonica, an eerie nineteenth century Victorian parlour instrument, to underpin Lucia’s mad scene, comes as a welcome surprise. Read the full review

The Canadian Opera Company did their own blog about me, the glass armonica & Lucia (click here).

Their blog included a rather nice video about me and the armonica (click for video or view in this player):

Trip to Finland

Musicians of the King’s Road hired me to play glass armonica with their ensemble–specifically the Mozart Armonica Quintet (K617) and other music by Wolfgang’s contemporaries. Their website is here:

http://en.kuninkaantienmuusikot.fi

I left my house at about 5pm on Saturday Aug 11, and changed planes in London. As we were landing in London it was strange to look down and see everyone driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. Obviously I have seen Brits driving on the left countless times on TV and movies, but in person it just seemed strange all over again. The pilot even landed the plane on the left-hand side of the runway! (Just kidding!)

I arrived in Helsinki 9pm on Sunday–a change of 10 time zones. My brane was mush! I walked up to the passport guard:

Guard: “Are you here for business or pleasure?”

Me: “Business–I’m here to play a couple of concerts.”

Guard: “Uh, huh. Are you performing with someone?”

Me: “Why yes, but I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce their name in Finnish… but I have my itinerary right here in my briefcase!”

Guard: “That’s OK. Where are you performing?”

Me: “In Turku and R…. R….. it starts with R but I can’t remember the name. But it’s right here in my briefcase!”

Guard: “Uh huh. And where are you staying?”

Me: “My hosts are putting me up in a hotel in Turku, called the… called the… I can’t remember! But it’s right here in my briefcase!”

Guard: “That’s O.K. Welcome to Finland!” (I’m thinking if this had been Homeland Security in the U.S., they’d already have me in a little room with bright lights!)

So now I need to get through customs–always fun with a glass armonica. Wait–there’s a fork–to the left a sign says “Nothing to declare” and leads out to the street. To the right is a booth labeled “Something to declare” but it’s closed. Apparently they’d would rather be home with their families on a slow Sunday evening than worry about folks with ‘something to declare’. I’m liking this place!

The pace of everything in Finland felt slower. Check out the elevator buttons in my hotel: there’s the button to open the doors, but there isn’t one to close them (as is universal in the U.S.)–I guess you just have to wait until the elevator feels like closing the doors!

The second concert is in the “Fireman’s Hall”–so called because the fire department built it, and the fire station is actually in the basement!

Here’s the performance in the same hall:

To make more space on the stage they have the back leg of the old Bluthner concert grand on a trestle (I’ve never seen anything like that done before):

Here’s the poster for my concerts:

And here are the programs for the two concerts:

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Musicians of the King’s Road, chamber ensemble

William Zeitler, glass harmonica
Vera Välimäki, Leonore Prohaska

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Adagio für Harmonika KV 356 (KV 617a)
Adagio und Rondo für Harmonika KV 617

Johann Friedrich Reichardt:
Rondeau

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Musik zu Friedrich Dunker’s Drama: Leonore Prohaska, Melodram

Karl Leopold Röllig:
Kleine Tonstücke für die Harmonika, Grave

Joseph Aloys Schmittbauer:
Adagio für die Harmonika

Bernhard Romberg:
Divertimento sopra un tema Finlandico e Sueco
Quatuor dédié à Joseph Haydn, Op.1

William Zeitler:
“Prelude to an Enigma”

The Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimäki
Wednesday 15 August 2012 at 7 p.m.

- Pre-concert event at 6 p.m.

Tickets: 15 €

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Musicians of the King’s Road
Markus Yli-Jokipii, conductor

William Zeitler, glass harmonica
Vera Välimäki, Leonore Prohaska
Singers from the CCI choir

The Night of the Arts 2012

In co-operation with: Leluliike Casagrande
- toy merchandise in Turku since 1912

J.G. Niederegger / Palotron Oy
- Marzipan with love – since 1806

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Bernhard Romberg:
Toy symphony

Johann Friedrich Reichardt:
Rondeau

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Adagio für Harmonika KV 356 (KV 617a)
Adagio und Rondo für Harmonika KV 617

Leopold Mozart:
Toy symphony

Ludwig van Beethoven:
Musik zu Friedrich Dunker’s Drama: Leonore Prohaska, Melodram

VPK-talo, Eskelinkatu 5, Turku
Thursday 16 August, 2012 at 8 p.m.

The series of concerts that presents rare historical instruments begins.

Tickets: 25/20/15 €

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And where would we be with out Esko? He’s the ‘muscle’ for various musical organizations in Turku–setting up the chairs, taking down the chairs, etc. etc. No orchestra can function without someone like this, and apparently he has been all over the world helping various Finnish music organizations. He was very helpful slogging my own equipment too–we managed just fine even though he doesn’t speak a word of English nor I of Finnish. Here we are standing in front of the Fireman’s Hall:

Between recovering from jet lag and trying to function at rehearsals and performances I wasn’t able to see much. But I did see a few things:

Amongst other things, Markus took me to see the Turku Cathedral, which has been functioning for some 800 years. Fortunately someone was practicing the organ so I was able to hear a little of it:

I guess when ordinary gas isn’t good enough, you should buy “God’s Gas”:

And there are three MacDonalds in all of Turku. But these HesBurger stands are everywhere. I of course tried one–hmm, I think HesBurger is the ONE thing I won’t miss about Finland!

Sami had sent me the tourist book for Turku, and the picture for this chapel caught my eye. It’s called St. Henry’s Ecumenical Art Chapel, and Sami was kind enough to take me to see it. Doesn’t look like that much from the outside–designed to resemble a ship (upside down):

But inside was spectacular!

And here are my hosts: Markus Yli-Jokipii (left, Music Director) and Sami Palsio (right, Chief Executive)

All in all it was a really great trip. The concerts went well, everyone was really friendly and professional, and Musicians of the King’s Road was a really great organization to work with: the players were solid, and Markus and Sami had everything under complete control. Concert trips can’t go much better than this!

Glass Armonica in ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ at the Kennedy Center

I’m playing the glass armonica part in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center (Nov 10-19, 2011)—eight performances in all.

In the opera, Lucia is in love with Edgardo but her family wants her to marry Arturo—because Edgardo is broke but Arturo has money. Edgardo goes away on business, so Lucia’s brother forges letters and generally convinces her that Edgardo has been faithless.  So she reluctantly marries Arturo after all, but of course Edgardo returns from his trip just in time for the conclusion of the wedding—too late. Despondent, Lucia stabs & kills Arturo on their wedding night, goes mad and dies. Then Lucia’s brother kills Edgardo (it takes him an entire aria to die, of course) and the opera ends.

They have a faux glass armonica which they use in the ‘mad scene’  — a fun prop (the glasses are actually plastic bowls):

The glasses turn — powered by batteries. During the ‘mad scene’ it sits on the side of the stage, the glasses turning & the foot treadle going up and down by itself, adding marvelously to the general spookiness.

Meanwhile, I’m down in the pit: I’m actually under the stage, all the way in the back:

Whew, that darn Lucia gets her bloody paw prints on everything:

All in all it was an extraordinary experience, as you might well imagine. Aaron Doty, the operations & personnel manager (he manages the musicians — think ‘herding cats’) deserves a special shout out for elegantly handling my logistics and shepherding me through the whole process.

Here are excerpts from reviews in which the glass armonica and/or yours truly were mentioned:

Washington Times

Nov 11, 2011

(Entire article)

Enhancing this haunting performance was the musical master-stroke of the evening, as the orchestra added a “glass armonica”** to its accompaniment. Actually scored by Donizetti himself for the opera’s initial performances, its spooky, shimmering echoes underscore the pure madness of Lucia and her hopeless situation. It’s a shame that most performances of the opera today neglect to employ it.

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** Although the “glass armonica” for this production actually appears on stage, the performing instrument in the orchestra pit and is being played by soloist William Zeitler for these performances.

ConcertoNet.com

Nov 11, 2011

(Entire article)

Maestro Auguin worked from the critical edition and made very few cuts. He employed the glass harmonica in the Mad Scene, which gave Ms. Coburn the opportunity to do wonderfully imaginative touches. Most notable was the cadenza of the Mad Scene, in which the eerie sounding glass harmonica replaced the traditional flute. Whoever wrote her cadenza did something really brilliant. It was completely outside the 19th century bel canto style of music. It was like a young Arnold Schoenberg had composed it. It was lush and explored new possibilities in the tonality as she searched for that final Bb. To say the very least, her performance of the Mad Scene completely brought down the house.

DC Theater Scene

Nov 12, 2011

(Entire article)

Conductor Philippe Auguin makes wonderful music, and the orchestra, once warmed up, did well. I very much liked how Auguin let Coburn shape her mad aria. I was especially delighted that the production returned to the original score, restoring the glass armonica as accompaniment in Lucia’s mad scene.  (Its unworldly sound was thought to induce hysteria.) It suitably evoked the voices echoing in Lucia’s head.

Baltimore Sun

November 16, 2011

(Entire article)

 In this visual and theatrical context, the use of an armonica for the mad scene, as Donizetti intended, is the crowning touch. (It is quite rare to hear this instrument in a “Lucia” performance, live or on recording.)

This Benjamin Franklin-perfected instrument of musical glasses produces a sound so eerie and ethereal that it can’t help but reflect Lucia’s fragile mental state. Heck, people used to think the instrument itself could trigger nervous disorders. (William Zeitler is the accomplished armonica player here.)