Samuel Barber's VANESSA premiered at the Met in 1958 and apart from a revival of that production in 1965 (with Mary Costa in the title role) it has not been performed by either of New York's major opera companies since. New York City Opera is about to make amends for this 40-year absence with a new production which opens on November 4.
The opera takes place in 'a northern country' in the early part of the 20th century. In her mansion surrounded by a forest, Vanessa has kept a twenty-year vigil for the return of her lover, Anatol. Her companions in this remote place are are her aged mother - the Old Baroness - and her niece, Erika. The Old Baroness has not spoken to Vanessa for years; Erika is shy and modest and has never been exposed to the ways of the outside world. The only regular visitor to the house is the Old Doctor. Vanessa has long ago ordered all the mirrors and portraits in the house to be covered in an illusive effort to stop time until her beloved comes back to her.
The opera begins on a winter's evening with Vanessa in a state of nervous anticipation: the long-waited Anatol is due to arrive. Overdue, in fact: a blizzard has delayed his journey from the train station. A table for two has been set and Vanessa fusses over the menu; she tells her niece and mother they must withdraw when Anatol arrives so she can be alone with him.
Looking out into the snowy night, Erika sings "Must The Winter Come So Soon", possibly the most famous aria in all American opera. As the aria ends, the distant sound of sleigh bells is heard and Erika spies the lanterns of the approaching sleigh bearing Anatol thru the snow-covered woods. Erika and the Old Baroness leave Vanessa alone.
The doors to the salon fly open but Vanessa turns her back to the man who stands in the doorway. "Do Not Utter A Word" begins her great narrative aria as she tells Anatol of her long years of waiting and of her desperate attempt to stop time: "...I have scarcely breathed so that life would not leave its trace and that nothing might change in me that you loved..." and later: "Beauty is the hardest gift to shelter, harder than death to stay..." Over the restless yearning of the orchestra, Vanessa says: "Unless you still love me, I do not want you to see me Anatol...because all change begins when love has died." And then she puts it to him: "Do you love me, Anatol? Do you still love me as once you did? For - if you do not - I shall ask you to leave my house this very night!"
Vanessa turns and finds she has poured out her heart to a stranger. In a state of collapse she staggers from the room. The young man is not Anatol, but his son of the same name. Because of the snowstorm he cannot be turned out into the night, so with awkward politeness Erika invites him to dine with her. Thus the story is put in motion.
Erika is seduced and although Anatol says he will do the honorable thing and marry her, Erika tells the Old Baroness: "...I do not want his honor so that mine be saved...I want his love so that my love stay aflame!" As the days pass, Vanessa has become captivated with her young guest, so like his father. He courts her fawningly, seeing the advantage of her fortune while nevertheless stringing Erika along.
In a moment alone together, Vanessa tells Erika that Anatol has proposed to her. Unwilling to break her aunt's heart, Erika stays behind when the others leave for chapel. In the dramatic climax of Act II, as the distant sounds of the church service echo from the estate, Erika rips the dustcover off the huge portrait of Vanessa - painted in all her radiant youth - and makes her choice: "No, Anatol! My answer is no! Let Vanessa have you...she who for so little had to wait so long!"
During the party announcing the engagement, Erika refuses to come down from her room. Vanessa is troubled and in a tempestuous duet with Anatol both pour out their feelings. "Love has a bitter core, Vanessa," sings Anatol, "...do not taste too deep..." and together their voices soar into a rather pessimistic ecstasy. As they go in to the ballroom, Erika steals down the staircase in her nightgown and rushes out into the freezing night.
After an all-night search by all the household servants, Erika is found nearly dead by the frozen lake. Anatol carries her home and she is left in her grandmother's care. The Old Baroness quietly asks the girl: "And your child?" "It will not be born." With that, the Old Baroness withdraws leaving Erika alone.
Vanessa and Anatol prepare to leave for Paris. Alone with Erika, Vanessa in agitation seeks to calm her own doubts by questioning the girl about her erratic behavior. "I thought I loved someone who did not love me," Erika tells her. When Vanessa presses her further, Erika merely says: "It was a foolish thing...it was the end of my youth." The five characters then sing a Quintet in which they comment on one another's emotional states; for a few moments everything is exposed. Then the walls go back up; Vanessa & Anatol depart. The Old Baroness will never speak to Erika again. In a weak moment, Erika cries out Anatol's name but then steels herself. She orders the mirrors to be covered again and sits down opposite her silent grandmother: "Now it is my turn to wait."
Rosalind Elias created the role of Erika at the world premiere and with a nice sense of continuity NYCO have invited her to appear in their new production as the Old Baroness. Roz was my first Dorabella in COSI at the Old Met and later a sumptuous Laura in GIOCONDA, Maddalena in RIGOLETTO and Charmian in ANTONY & CLEOPATRA. When I was working at Tower, she caused a flurry of excitement one afternoon when she came in to shop. The manager, the buyer and I were all big Elias fans and we scurried around finding favorite things for her to sign. She was very kind and patient, signing the booklet of the VANESSA recording for me.
But who is Erika? Rather than being Vanessa's niece, is she not actually the daughter of Vanessa and the first Anatol? Does her aborting of her child terminate an incestuous pregnancy? These questions are never answered.
Barber's score is melodic and often haunting, with a prelude to the third act that depicts the longing and underlying sadness of all the characters. Gian Carlo Menotti's libretto, in an old-fashioned style, is sometimes overblown but can also make a poetic impact with something like this from the Old Doctor's aria: "For every love there is a last farewell; for each remembered day an empty room..." Or the bitter irony of Anatol's leave-taking of Erika when he says: "When I see you again perhaps you will have learned to smile," to which she replies: "I hope you will still be smiling when I see you again. Goodbye, Anatol." It is an opera steeped in romantic delusions and regret, with a final echo of loneliness.
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