Wen 丨 Robinson's diary
Edit 丨Robinson's diary
At the end of the third act, Othello is like a crazy beast that can no longer control his emotions, not only humiliating and cursing Desdemona in public, but also shouting at everyone, losing the grace and dignity of a leader, and Othello has decided to kill his wife Desdemona that night.
The fourth act begins with a prelude played entirely on woodwind instruments, with the alto oboe taking on the sad "C minor melodic part" developed from an ancient Italian folk song that was later the melody theme of Desdemona's aria "Song of the Willows".
The transparent timbre and clear melodic lines of the woodwind instruments allow a moment of serenity after the conflicting scenes of Act III. After that, viola, cello and double bass play a low, slow descending melody that creates a terrifying and ominous atmosphere.
Desdemona appeared in the company of Emilia and began a narrative of her, at this time Desdemona had a premonition that misfortune was coming, and asked Emilia to take out her wedding dress and use it as a mortuary dress after her death, and Desdemona's heart was like a knife, and then she remembered the tragic story of a maid beside her mother in the past, which showed that Desdemona had a premonition that she and this maid were connected to the same fate. Next are Desdemona's famous arias "Song of the Willows" and "Virgin Mary".
What Giusepina, the wife of Verdi's wife, said
The Last Lament - "Song of the Willows"
The aria "Song of the Willows" is Daisy Demona by describing the sadness of the handmaid Barbara after falling out of love to express her inner pain, an aria to create a rich and complex Daisy Demona, from this verse we see the pain and despair of Daisy Demona after losing love, and also see her persistence and unrepentance for faithful love; I saw her fear of impending death, and also saw her helplessness and weakness about her tragic fate.
After specific analysis, Verdi portrayed Daisy Demona's mood at that time through the following techniques. First, lyrical melodic lines portray feelings of pain and despair. The melody of this aria comes from an ancient Italian folk song, full of melancholy, "F Minor Committee expresses the sadness in Desdemona's heart."
Most of the melodic lines are pushed from the low level to the highest point and then progressed down, except for the pronouncement and the phrase "He lives for glory, I am for love", all other phrases end downward, such examples can be seen everywhere, mainly to describe Daisy Demona's sad mood.
The lyricism of the aria is constantly undermined by the constant intrusion of the narrative tune, and these sudden interventions are the true reaction of Daisy Demona's emotional changes. For example, the first insertion of the narrative tone expresses Daisdemona's fear of what will happen next, which haunts her from time to time, and even makes her hallucinate, such as in the second intrusive narrative, she seems to hear someone crying, and as if someone is knocking on the door, the voice is rapid and hoarse, which is a more serious manifestation of her fear. The band uses tremolo to express Daisy Demona's inner fear and panic.
Third, it expresses Daisy Demona's complex mood through variable intensity, speed and emoji marks. This lyrical passage is divided into five parts due to the intervention of the intermezzo and the declaratory key.
The theme melody of the first part is presented twice, the first presentation is performed at a weaker intensity, but there are two accents to emphasize in this sentence, one is the high point of the sentence "f², which is also the strongest note", followed by the second beat of the sixth bar "c²", and the descending is the end of the fading. Next, sing the tone of the song of the willows in Desdemona's memories with very weak force, which is a descending minor third repeated three times, and here is a very detailed singing prompt:
"Coneunavocelontana", which means "as if the same human voice came from a distance", caused the memory of the voice to linger in the ear. Then the memory seems to become clear, the second repetition of the theme is strengthened in intensity and the rhythm is more compact, especially the sliding crescendo is pushed to the second "salce!salce!salce!salce!", one of the three "salces" is weaker than the other, one is longer than the other, and the third "salce" is almost still, and Daisy Demona is immersed in the reminiscence of the past.
The melodic theme was developed next, in the tender two "Cantiamo, Cantiamo!" Later, Desdemona sings with a little excitement the phrase "The sad willow is put on my head in a flower crown", progressing in a crescendo, rapid way to a high point and then gradually progressing down to the "main note in F minor". At this time, Daisy Demona suddenly returned to reality from memories and sadness, and hurriedly said to Emia: "You hurry up, Otello is coming".
The second part of the lyrical melody is still developed on the basis of the tone of the theme, and because Daisy Demona recalls the gurgling water going around the garden, the theme melody also becomes coherent and flowing, but Barbara cries more sadly, so the music of the second part is slightly more excited than the first part, and the sadness is deepened.
In the third part after the four-bar interlude, the melody progresses from the treble and the light and short ornamental sound of the flute vividly depicts birds flying down from the branches to listen to Barbara's singing, and then the band pushes the music to a climax with crescendo tremolos, to bring out that such sad cries should move the heart of stone, and uses accent marks to emphasize Daisy Demona's grief.
At this time, a "Please put the ring away" broke the lyrical line again, and after the four-bar interlude, Daisy Demona still could not suppress her inner pain, and burst out a strong note "f², this sentence ends with a strong tone beginning to fade, and in the strength of the ppp by speaking at the height of one tone: "She always ends the story with this simple tune:"
Later, she used Barbara's mouth to express her loyalty and dedication to love: "He lives for glory, and I live for love." The phrase "I am for love" adopts the voice of Dolciss, singing the "f²" tone in a high, soft and weak voice, expressing the tenderness and love in Daistelmona's heart.
After a narrative full of tension and horror, Daisy Demona still repeats her vows of love in a soft voice: "I would rather die for love". Then, Willow's melody once again lingered in her mind, and this was the last presentation of "Salce!" Salce! Salce!", the intensity and emotion are the same as those presented for the first time, which is actually a reproduction, indicating the end of the memory of Willow.
Desdemona returns to reality, she begins to say goodnight to Eméra, the band plays four long octaves to imitate the late night bell, and Desdemona whisperes to Emia: "Buonanotte (Good night)"
At this moment, Desdemona seemed to feel that misfortune was about to befall her, she might die, never to see her faithful servant Amelia again, never to see this wonderful world again, and suddenly shouted out her inner fear of death and longing for the world, shouted out her accusation of her innocence, and also shouted out the heart-rending pain after she lost love, and then the melody fell sharply, and Daisy Demona sang urgently and excitedly: "Amiara, goodbye, Amiara, goodbye!", The music ends in a fading "f."
This last cry created an emotional climax, which shocked the audience, people could no longer control their tears, a beautiful and noble life was about to die innocently, people regretted it, and their hearts ached.
Last vespers "Virgin Mary"
Desdemona has realized that she is about to be in trouble, but she has no power to return to heaven, she can only wait quietly, she still has to do evening prayers as usual, the difference may be the last prayer. She knelt before the idol and prayed reverently to the Almighty Virgin to show mercy to the unfortunate, expressing her pain of bullying and her helplessness and helplessness in the face of an unfortunate fate.
In the preceding narrative, Verdi imitates the chanting prayer of Daisy de Mona by repeating a note that is ^A major, and imitating the breaking and tone of speech through changes in rhythm, so that the declaratory tone composed with only one tone does not sound flat.
This is followed by a very lyrical aria by Desdemona, with a beautiful melody, mainly in progressive intervals, and a soft and coherent voice expressing Desdemona's devout prayers.
This passage has no big ups and downs in the aria melody, nor is there a strong contrast of dynamic changes, and the mood seems to be very stable on the surface, but in fact, in this seemingly smooth and soft melody, there is hidden in the pain, grievance, accusation and helplessness in Daistelmona's heart. These complex emotions are still expressed through the means of strength, tonality, orchestration, etc.
The dynamic distribution of the entire aria is weak at both ends and strong in the middle, which determines that the most emotional period of the whole song is in the middle part. The two prayers in the first six bars are presentations of the theme, with an average intensity, little mood fluctuations, and a stable tone in A major.
The third to fourth sentences, that is, the seventh bar to the twelfth bar, complete a process of emotional ups and downs through crescendo: from the eighth bar b' to crescendo, the highest note "g² is also the strongest note, the key turns to 'G major, which is also the first climax of the whole song."
When the music seems to stabilize in °G major, the next phrases, that is, the thirteen bars to fifteen bars, depart into the main key A major of the same main key 'a minor, and the progressive triplet is pushed to the high point *f, and the high point is emphasized by the homophonic repetition, which is the second climax of the whole song.
"A minor is not yet stable, sixteen and seventeen bars are separated from the relationship minor key of °G major" E minor. These two climactic parts portray the torment and suffering brought by bad luck to Daisy Demona through the constantly changing tonality and the gradual strengthening and weakening of the intensity. While suffering and telling her grievances of being insulted and framed, she could only pray before the Virgin Mary for all those who were equally unfortunate with her: "Pray for those who have been bullied, how they are distressed, pray for those who are at the mercy of bad luck...".
The music reproduces the opening theme in the eighteenth bar after the second climax, and the key returns to "A major, and the dynamics also fall back." "Pregapernoi Please Be Us" is repeated three times from bars 24 to 26, the first two times are emphasized by off-key and accent marks, and the high c' is reached in a crescendo, crescendo, and then the third "Prega" is sung in the "e²" with a soft voice.
After the interlude of the two bars, Desdemona chanted on the 'e': "AveMaria! Even if we were to die. "expresses the strong and devout prayer of Desdemona. She then sang the soft, ethereal, heavenly "Ave!" on the main chord note in A major. Amen”。
Finally, the strings play a soft and weak melody in the extremely high register, and the haggard Daisdemona slowly lies on the bed, waiting for disaster to come.
Verdi used only strings on the orchestration of this aria, and the continuous melody was superimposed and intertwined in four parts, just as the heroine's wounded heart was aching, and the heavy melody of the double bass always made people feel like an ominous undercurrent was surging, shrouding this seemingly peaceful night with a thick black fog. Desdemona's bleak, helpless and devout prayers touched people's deep sympathy for the weak, and people wept for it.
The arias "Song of the Willows" and "The Virgin Mary", together with the prelude to the previous scene, occupy more than half of the time of the fourth act, and are the highlight of this act, and in the whole play, it is also the highlight of Daisy Demona. These two arias express the complex psychology of Daisy Demona in many aspects, ranging from the persistent and unrepentant love that cannot be escaped from her husband, to the resentment caused by her husband's misunderstanding and insults;
There is both attachment to a good life, despair of love for death and fear of impending bad luck; Both looking forward to seeing her lover Othello, but also afraid that Othello's appearance will bring her misfortune and disaster. Uncertain and helpless, she prayed religiously that the Virgin Mary would protect a weak person like her, who had been bullied.
Therefore, the emotional content of these two arias is a lot, and the singer can only interpret this character truly and movingly on the basis of a deep understanding of the character's situation and complex mood at that time.