Puccini’s second opera Edgar (accent on the second syllable) was first performed at La Scala in 1889. It was adapted from a verse play by Alfred de Musset. Set in 14th century Flanders it describes the contrast between the saintly and virginal Fidelia and the wildly sensual Tigrana. Not surprisingly Tigrana lights the passion fires of both the tenor (Edgar) and the baritone Frank. By the opera’s end, Fidelia is dead by Tigrana’s hand. Edgar and Frank who have reformed are devastated as are the people of the village in which they live. The story is not the tight well constructed plot that characterizes Puccini’s mature work. It’s a pulp fiction version of Wagner’s Tannhäuser.
The opera, originally in four acts, was unsuccessful and was revised several times. The last go at it was in 1905 in a three act version. Puccini then gave up on it. He wrote: It (Edgar) was an organism defective from the dramatic point of view. Its success was ephemeral. Although I knew that I wrote some pages which do me credit, that is not enough—as an opera it does not exist. The basis of an opera is the subject and its treatment. In setting the libretto of Edgar I have, with all respect to the memory of my friend Fontana (the librettist), made a blunder. It was more my fault than his.
The only place you’re likely to hear a complete performance of the work is at the annual summer Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago. The weakness of the work notwithstanding anything by Puccini is of interest. Though the opera lacks dramatic cohesion it has several lovely tunes. Puccini’s melodic gift was so great that he was incapable of writing anything devoid of melodic interest as the two excerpts below will demonstrate.
In Frank’s first act aria ‘Questo amor, vergogna mia‘ he expresses his shame over the passion he has for Tigrana. He rids himself of this guilty love before Edgar manages to purge himself of the same lust. Sensitively sung by Juan Pons it is the only lyrical set piece Puccini ever wrote for a baritone. There are dramatic and comical solos for this vocal type, but none like this one.
The prelude to Act 3 contains an amalgam of some of the best tunes in the opera. Edgar is an opera by a genius who has yet to fit all the pieces together in a work for the lyric stage. He got it right with his next Opera Manon Lescaut which marked the start of an operatic career surpassed only by that of Verdi. Nevertheless, If I happened to be near a performance of Edgar that featured first-rate singers, I would go as imperfect as it is, it’s better than anything written in the 21st century.
