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Cadenza Corner: "Lucia di Lammermoor" (1835) by

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

with Emmanuel Ceysson and Luisa Prandina

Editor’s Note: In this new series, we take a look at prom-inent harp cadenzas in symphonic and opera literature. First up is Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” cadenza with versions contributed by Emmanuel Ceysson, the principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and Luisa Prandina, co-principal harpist of La Scala in Milan, Italy. (Emmanuel Ceysson will be giving the opening solo recital and a masterclass on important opera excerpts at the 2018 National Conference in Red-lands, California.)

We would like to thank Robert Sutherland, Head Li-brarian at the Metropolitan Opera, and Michael Griebel, Tape Librarian of the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Cesare Freddi, the Librarian at La Scala for their invalu-able assistance. We also thank Emmanuel Ceysson and Luisa Prandina for sharing their music and experiences with us.

Part One

“Lucia di Lammermoor” cadenzas at the metropoLitan opera

Below are remarks that Emmanuel Ceysson, princi-pal harpist at the Metropolitan Opera since 2015, shared after listening to archive recordings of Met-ropolitan Opera Broadcasts from the following years:

1937, 1942, 1944, 1956, 1966, 1977, 1982, 1994, 2007 and 2011.

1937: The harpist was probably Florence Wightman (1900-1997) with Lily Pons (1898-1976) singing. The cadenza is in D major and is very much like the one played today at the Paris opera. (Editor: Emman-uel Ceysson was principal harpist of the Opéra National de Paris from 2006-2015.)

There are two main differences from the original printed part. In the original part, shown in Example 1a, the cadenza consists solely of a sparse A7 chord followed by a downward arpeggio. In Example 1b, the part currently played at the Opéra National de Paris and heard on the 1937 Metropolitan Opera Broadcast recording, the cadenza is expanded by adding chords and related arpeggios.

The second significant difference occurs in the 10th measure after 23 , in the tutti section after the solo cadenza. Here, the right hand is simplified and thirds are added to the left hand. There are other small modifications that can be heard on the record-ing, especially near the end.

1942 and 1944: The harpist was probably Reinhardt Elster (1914-2015) with Lily Pons singing. The ca-denza is in EH major and is the strict Salzedo version, except for a small modification seven measures be-fore the end (in the Salzedo version), in the tutti sec-tion after the solo cadenza, one bar before the trills. Here, two ascending 32nd-note EH major arpeggios are added on beats 1 and 2.

1956 and 1966: The harpist was probably Reinhardt Elster with Lily Pons singing in 1956 and Roberta Peters (1930-2017) singing in 1966. The cadenza is in D major and is the strict Salzedo version, except

From left: Emmanuel Ceysson, Luisa Prandina.

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Example 1a: Original “Lucia” cadenza, 1 measure before 23 .

Example 1b: Opéra National de Paris “Lucia” cadenza, 1 measure before 23 .

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Example 2: Deborah Hoffman “Lucia” cadenza, 1 measure before 23 .

Example 3: John Thomas “Lucia” cadenza, 9 measures before 24 .

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Example 4: Luisa Prandina complete “Lucia” cadenza.

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Example 5: Excerpt from “Ghosts in Lammermoor” by Carlo Galante, page 12 of the solo harp part.

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that the solo cadenza is shortened. In 1956, the de-scending triplets sequence is removed. In 1966, the ascending muffled scale remains, but it is very short. It stops just after the first descent and jumps to the turn that ends the solo cadenza before 23 .

1977: The harpist was probably Reinhardt Elster (though it may have been Claude Hill, but my ear tells me no) with Beverly Sills (1929-2007) singing. The cadenza is in D major with the same modifica-tion as in 1966 (i.e. a very short cadenza). Also, there are simplifications five measures before the trills in the tutti section following the solo cadenza, as well as one bar before with descending arpeggios on the last two beats.

1982: The harpist was Claude Hill (1934-1987) with Joan Sutherland (1926-2010) singing. The cadenza is in D major and is back to the European style (like the Opéra National de Paris version of today and also heard on the 1937 recording). After the solo cadenza, in the tutti section that begins at 23 , it is the strict Salzedo version with arpeggios before the measure with the trill.

1994: The harpist was Deborah Hoffman (1960-2014) with Mariella Devia (b. 1948) singing. The cadenza is in D major and appears to be Deborah’s, shown in Example 2.

2007: The harpist was Deborah Hoffman with Nata-lie Dessay (b. 1965) singing. The cadenza is the same as in 1994.

2011: The harpist was probably Mariko Anraku (as-sociate principal harpist at the Metropolitan Opera since 1995) with Nathalie Dessay singing. The ca-denza is in D major and begins with a descent like the Salzedo version. It is then followed by a succes-sion of arpeggios (A dominant 7th, GG diminished 7th chord/+9 with A bass pedal, A diminished 7th chord, and back to A dominant 7th), then the writ-ten turn before 23 . After 23 , in the tutti section following the solo cadenza, there are a few modifica-tions of the original version: in measure 6, a glissan-do over two octaves is played instead of an ascending scale; in the seventh measure before the trill, the left hand plays eighth-notes instead of following the right

hand movement; in the ninth measure before 24 , a passage similar to the John Thomas version is played (see Example 3); and in the measure with the trill, the last two beats are replaced by an ascending domi-nant 7th arpeggio on A.

Emmanuel Ceysson added: “One funny thing to notice is that up until 1956 people would applaud the harpist, then stop, and applaud again for the entrance of the diva (singer). The staging must have been changed in 1966 as people started clapping for the entry of the diva before the passage is even fin-ished. From 1982, there was no more applause and the soprano started singing as soon as the cadenza was finished.”

Emmanuel closed our conversation with the fol-lowing: “Concerning my cadenza this year at the Metropolitan Opera, I plan to rework it with the conductor and change it a little bit every night if I can. It’s one of my guilty pleasures to improvise!”

Part Two

“Lucia di Lammermoor” cadenzas at La sca-La and “Ghosts in Lammermoor” (2007) by carLo GaLante

Luisa Prandina began playing at La Scala when she was 17 years old and became the co-principal harpist in 1991. (She shares the job with harpist Olga Maz-zia.) In addition to her version of the “Lucia” caden-za, shown in Example 4, Luisa shared the story about a piece that was written for her by Carlo Galante and that is based on the “Lucia” cadenza.

Luisa’s version of the “Lucia” cadenza is very close to the original. This is, in fact, deliberate. Luisa men-tioned that Italian conductors specifically request the original, written part. In the past when she tried to play more, they asked her to stop, remarking that they did not want any additional material or a longer cadenza. In masterclasses that she teaches in Euro-pean countries outside of Italy, Lusia noticed that other versions of the “Lucia” cadenza are accepted. As a result, she keeps all of the versions of the “Lu-cia” cadenza in her teaching book, as well as all of the other important harp excerpts and cadenzas from symphonic and opera repertoire.

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There are a couple of small note changes in Luisa’s version of the “Lucia” cadenza. In measure 7, the chord that begins the solo cadenza contains ad-ditional notes to give it more volume. For idiomatic reasons, on the third beats of measures 10 and 12, in the tutti section, the chords in the left hand are slightly rewritten. Likewise, with the downbeat chord in measure 22.

In addition to the cadenza that Luisa plays at La Scala, she shared a work that was written for her by Carlo Galante and that is based on the “Lucia” cadenza. Example 5 is an excerpt from the solo harp part of “Ghosts in Lammermoor” and here is her commentary.

“Ghosts in Lammermoor” was written for me by Carlo Galante in 2007. It was originally composed

for solo harp and string orchestra and the first per-formance took place at Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 2008. Since then I have performed it many times alongside the Debussy “Danses” as it is a very good fit. In 2014, I was asked to perform a concert at La Scala with twelve cellists. Carlo made a second ver-sion of “Ghosts in Lammermoor” for me then. And after rewriting it for harp and full orchestra early in 2017, we made a recording of this third version in June of 2017. The recording is with the Milano Orchestra of Pomeriggi Musicali. On December 3, 2017, I also performed it as a part of Arpissima Sal-vi in Firenze (Florence) with the orchestra of Mag-gio Musicale Fiorentino.”

The music is available from Casa Musicale Sonzogno in Milan. V