Verdi’s “La forza del destino” Overture
Notes by TŌN cellist Hannah Brown
We live in a world predominantly ruled by reason and rugged individualism. To quote the poet William Ernest Henley, “I am the master of my fate, the Captain of my own soul.” Yet, so much of life feels utterly unpredictable, or tragically unstoppable. It stands to reason: how much choice do we have in the outcome of our destiny, and how much is left to fate?
This question tantalized the 19th century celebrity composer Giuseppe Verdi. A self-proclaimed retired composer in the early 1860s, he was won over by the Russian Empire to compose an opera for the imperial city of St. Petersburg in 1862. He chose to base his opera on the Spanish Romantic novel La Fuerzo del Sino. The story is tragic and dramatic, like any good opera. Don Alvaro falls in love with Leonora, a forbidden love due to Alvaro’s mixed heritage and Leonora’s high status in society with her father, Marquis of Calatrava, whom Alvaro accidentally murders. He is continually chased by Don Carlo, brother of Leonora, to avenge his father. Following hidden identities, pleas for spiritual sanctification, and honorable living to overcome failures, the opera culminates in an inevitable demise for all. Alvaro mortally wounds Carlo, who stabs Leonora, leaving Alvaro alone to accept his cruel fate and throw himself into a ravine.
In the score, the fate theme is introduced at the beginning with the brass and bassoons, an unwavering and unrelenting three unison E’s. The violins introduce an anxious melody, followed by a somber melody in the flute, clarinet, and oboe, both in the lower register of the instruments, creating a dark and nervous mood. This reflects the main protagonist Don Alvaro and his dance with fate in the opera. Then the mood changes completely, and a cheery and hopeful character is introduced, representing Leonora and Don Alvaro’s love for her. The nervous motifs from the first section return, alluding to trouble ahead for the main characters. In the end, we surprisingly transition to E major instead of our original E minor, leaving the audience to guess the story’s ending.
These pieces make us appreciate stories, but more than this, they make us consider our world views. Do you consider each action you make inevitably linked to the next? If we are captains of our ship, is the sea ruled by fate or can we command the tempest? I invite you to wrestle with the ideas of fatalism and reason through the masterwork that is Verdi’s overture to La forza del destino.