In Alan Mallach's bio of Mascagni --which I highly recommend-- he writes about the three acts of Parisina that were performed on the second night, Act 4 being excised for being too long on the first night. Since Act 3 ends with Ugo and Parisina being led off by the executioner, I wondered 'what happens in Act 4?' And after reading what I can of the Italian libretto on the mascagni.org site, it seems that it is a long, extended farewell at the foot of the executioner's block, lasting, according to Mallach, 40 minutes. And if I read the stage directions aright, Parisina cradles Ugo's head on the block and holds it just as the executioner is going to behead him when, mercifully, we assume the curtain falls.
Is that right? That is probably the apotheosis of D'Annunziism. I cannot imagine a more gruesomely intimate expression of decadence in all of opera - and that's a lot of good company, too. After all, even Salome had the delicacy of allowing Jokanaan's head to be struck off down in the cistern. John Mucci 9 DeForest Rd Wilton, CT 06897 203-722-6751(c) 203-761-0083 (h) www.jmucci.com _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail -- Unsubscribe by sending unsubscribe in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
