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Edgar Allan Poe
1849 “Annie” daguerreotype of Poe

Today is the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (Boston; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849 Baltimore); writer, editor, and literary critic.  Perhaps best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre.  He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.  He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

In January 1845, Poe published his poem “The Raven” to instant success.  His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication.  Poe died at age 40; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.

Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world.  Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television.  The Mystery Writers of America present an annual award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. 

One evening in January 1842, Virginia showed the first signs of consumption, now known as tuberculosis, while singing and playing the piano. Poe described it as breaking a blood vessel in her throat.  She only partially recovered. Poe began to drink more heavily under the stress of Virginia’s illness.  Biographers and critics often suggest that Poe’s frequent theme of the “death of a beautiful woman” stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his life, including his wife.

Poe was increasingly unstable after his wife’s death.  He attempted to court poet Sarah Helen Whitman who lived in Providence, Rhode Island. Their engagement failed, purportedly because of Poe’s drinking and erratic behavior.  Poe then returned to Richmond and resumed a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Sarah Elmira Royster.

On October 3, 1849, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, “in great distress, and… in need of immediate assistance”, according to Joseph W. Walker who found him.  He was taken to the Washington Medical College where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849 at 5:00 in the morning.  Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own.  He is said to have repeatedly called out the name “Reynolds” on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring.  Some sources say that Poe’s final words were “Lord help my poor soul”.  All medical records have been lost, including his death certificate.

Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne, c. 1861

And today is the birthday of Paul Cézanne (Aix-en-Provence; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906 Aix-en-Provence); artist and Post-Impressionist painter.  Cézanne’s often repetitive, exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable.  He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields.  The paintings convey Cézanne’s intense study of his subjects.

Cézanne formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century’s new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism.  Both Matisse and Picasso reportedly said that Cézanne “is the father of us all.”

One day, Cézanne was caught in a storm while working in the field.  Only after working for two hours under a downpour did he decide to go home; but on the way he collapsed.  He was taken home by a passing driver.  His old housekeeper rubbed his arms and legs to restore the circulation; as a result, he regained consciousness.  On the following day, he intended to continue working, but later on he fainted; the model with whom he was working called for help; he was put to bed, and he never left it.  He died a few days later, on 22 October 1906 of pneumonia and was buried at the Saint-Pierre Cemetery in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence.

Gallery 

Les Baigneuses

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  A Modern Olympia
  1873–1874
  Musee d’Orsay, Paris

  

  The Riaux Valley near L’Estaque
  1883

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  The Bay of Marseilles, view from L’Estaque
  1885

• 

  Jas de Bouffan 1885–1887 Minneapolis Institute of Art

• 

  Bather
  1885–1887
  Museum of Modern Art

• 

  The Neighborhood of Jas de Bouffan
  1885-1887
  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Thannhauser Collection

• 

  Mardi Gras (Pierrot et Arlequin)
  1888
  Pushkin Museum, Moscow

• 

  Boy in a Red Waistcoat
  1888–1890
  National Gallery of Art

• 

  Madame Cézanne in the Greenhouse
  1890–1892
  Musée de l’Orangerie

• 

  The House with the Cracked Walls
  1892–1894
  Metropolitan Museum of Art

• 

  Maison Maria on the way to the Château Noir
  1895
  Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

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  Château Noir
  1900–1904
  National Gallery of Art, Washington, US

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  Mont Sainte-Victoire and Château Noir
  1904 – 1905
  Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

• 

  The Bathers
  1898–1905
  National Gallery, London, UK

• 

  Still Life with an Open Drawer
  1867 – 1869
  Musée d’Orsay

• 

  Self-portrait
  1895

• 

  Three Pears, ca. 1888-90, Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum

• 

  Pine Tree in Front of the Caves above Château Noir, ca. 1900, Princeton University Art Museum
• 

  Study of a Skull, 1902–04, Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum

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  Still Life with Carafe, Bottle, and Fruit, 1906, Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum

• 

  Portrait of Achille Emperaire
  1868
  Musée d’Orsay

• 

  Paul Alexis reading to Émile Zola
  1869–1870
  São Paulo Museum of Art
• 

  Madame Cézanne
  1885–87
  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
• 

  Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress
  c. 1890-1894
  São Paulo Museum of Art

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  Portrait of Gustave Geffroy
  1895
  Musée d’Orsay

  

  Woman with a Coffeepot
  Oil on canvas
  c. 1895
  Musée d’Orsay.

Anna Netrebko (detail) as Leonora at the Salzburg Festival 2014

Il trovatore (“The Troubadour”) is an opera in four acts by Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

The premiere took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome, and it soon became popular throughout the operatic world, a success due to Verdi’s work over the previous three years.  It began with his January 1850 approach to Cammarano with the idea of Il trovatore.  There followed, slowly and with interruptions, the preparation of the libretto, first by Cammarano until his death in mid-1852 and then with the young librettist Leone Emanuele Bardare, which gave the composer the opportunity to propose significant revisions.

Today, in its Italian version, Trovatore is given frequently and is a staple of the standard operatic repertoire.

Synopsis

Act 1: The Duel

Scene 1: The guard room in the castle of Luna (The Palace of Aljafería, Zaragoza, Spain)

Ferrando, the captain of the guards, orders his men to keep watch while Count di Luna wanders restlessly beneath the windows of Leonora, lady-in-waiting to the Princess. Di Luna loves Leonora and is jealous of his successful rival, a troubadour whose identity he does not know. In order to keep the guards awake, Ferrando narrates the history of the count (Aria: Di due figli vivea padre beato / “The good Count di Luna lived happily, the father of two sons”): many years ago, a gypsy was wrongfully accused of having bewitched the youngest of the di Luna children; the child had fallen sick and for this the gypsy had been burnt alive as a witch, her protests of innocence ignored. Dying, she had commanded her daughter Azucena to avenge her, which she did by abducting the baby. Although the burnt bones of a child were found in the ashes of the pyre, the father refused to believe in his son’s death; dying, he commanded his firstborn, the new Count di Luna, to seek Azucena.

Scene 2: Garden in the palace of the princess

Leonora confesses her love for the Troubadour to her confidante, Ines (Tacea la notte placida / “The peaceful night lay silent”… Di tale amor / “A love that words can scarcely describe”), in which she tells how she fell in love with a mystery knight, victor at a tournament: lost track of him when a civil war broke out: then encountered him again, in disguise as a wandering troubadour who sang beneath her window. When they have gone, Count di Luna enters, intending to pay court to Leonora himself, but hears the voice of his rival, in the distance: (Deserto sulla terra / “Alone upon this earth”). Leonora in the darkness briefly mistakes the count for her lover, until the Troubadour himself enters the garden, and she rushes to his arms. The Count challenges his rival to reveal his true identity, which he does: Manrico, a knight now outlawed and under death sentence for his allegiance to a rival prince. Manrico in turn challenges him to call the guards, but the Count regards this encounter as a personal rather than political matter, and challenges Manrico instead to a duel over their common love. Leonora tries to intervene, but cannot stop them from fighting (Trio: Di geloso amor sprezzato / “The fire of jealous love” ).

Act 2: The Gypsy Woman

Scene 1: The gypsies’ camp

The gypsies sing the Anvil Chorus: Vedi le fosche notturne / “See! The endless sky casts off her sombre nightly garb…”. Azucena, the daughter of the Gypsy burnt by the count, is still haunted by her duty to avenge her mother (Aria: Stride la vampa / “The flames are roaring!”). The Gypsies break camp while Azucena confesses to Manrico that after stealing the di Luna baby she had intended to burn the count’s little son along with her mother, but overwhelmed by the screams and the gruesome scene of her mother’s execution, she became confused and threw her own child into the flames instead (Aria: Condotta ell’era in ceppi / “They dragged her in bonds”).

Manrico realises that he is not the son of Azucena, but loves her as if she were indeed his mother, as she has always been faithful and loving to him – and, indeed, saved his life only recently, discovering him left for dead on a battlefield after being caught in ambush. Manrico tells Azucena that he defeated di Luna in their earlier duel, but was held back from killing him by a mysterious power (Duet: Mal reggendo / “He was helpless under my savage attack”): and Azucena reproaches him for having stayed his hand then, especially since it was the Count’s forces that defeated him in the subsequent battle of Pelilla. A messenger arrives and reports that Manrico’s allies have taken Castle Castellor, which Manrico is ordered to hold in the name of his prince: and also that Leonora, who believes Manrico dead, is about to enter a convent and take the veil that night. Although Azucena tries to prevent him from leaving in his weak state (Ferma! Son io che parlo a te! / “I must talk to you”), Manrico rushes away to prevent her from carrying out this intent.

Scene 2: In front of the convent

Di Luna and his attendants intend to abduct Leonora and the Count sings of his love for her (Aria: Il balen del suo sorriso / “The light of her smile” … Per me ora fatale / “Fatal hour of my life”). Leonora and the nuns appear in procession, but Manrico prevents di Luna from carrying out his plans and takes Leonora away with him, although once again leaving the Count behind unharmed, as the soldiers on both sides back down from bloodshed, the Count being held back by his own men.

Act 3: The Son of the Gypsy Woman

Scene 1: Di Luna’s camp Di Luna and his army are attacking the fortress Castellor where Manrico has taken refuge with Leonora (Chorus: Or co’ dadi ma fra poco / “Now we play at dice”). Ferrando drags in Azucena, who has been captured wandering near the camp. When she hears di Luna’s name, Azucena’s reactions arouse suspicion and Ferrando recognizes her as the supposed murderer of the count’s brother. Azucena cries out to her son Manrico to rescue her and the count realizes that he has the means to flush his enemy out of the fortress. He orders his men to build a pyre and burn Azucena before the walls.

Scene 2: A chamber in the castle

Inside the castle, Manrico and Leonora are preparing to be married. She is frightened; the battle with di Luna is imminent and Manrico’s forces are outnumbered. He assures her of his love (Aria, Manrico: Ah sì, ben mio, coll’essere / “Ah, yes, my love, in being yours”), even in the face of death. When news of Azucena’s capture reaches him, he summons his men and desperately prepares to attack (Stretta: Di quella pira l’orrendo foco / “The horrid flames of that pyre”). Leonora faints.

Act 4: The Punishment

Scene 1: Before the dungeon keep

Manrico has failed to free Azucena and has been imprisoned himself. Leonora attempts to free him (Aria: D’amor sull’ali rosee / “On the rosy wings of love”; Chorus & Duet: Miserere / “Lord, thy mercy on this soul”) by begging di Luna for mercy and offers herself in place of her lover. She promises to give herself to the count, but secretly swallows poison from her ring in order to die before di Luna can possess her (Duet: Mira, d’acerbe lagrime / “See the bitter tears I shed”).

Scene 2: In the dungeon

Manrico and Azucena are awaiting their execution. Manrico attempts to soothe Azucena, whose mind wanders to happier days in the mountains (Duet: Ai nostri monti ritorneremo / “Again to our mountains we shall return”). At last the gypsy slumbers. Leonora comes to Manrico and tells him that he is saved, begging him to escape. When he discovers she cannot accompany him, he refuses to leave his prison. He believes Leonora has betrayed him until he realizes that she has taken poison to remain true to him. As she dies in agony in Manrico’s arms she confesses that she prefers to die with him than to marry another (Trio: Prima che d’altri vivere / “Rather than live as another’s”). The count has heard Leonora’s last words and orders Manrico’s execution. Azucena awakes and tries to stop di Luna. Once Manrico is dead, she cries: Egli era tuo fratello! Sei vendicata, o madre. / “He was your brother … You are avenged, oh mother!”

Geraldine Farrar as Manon

And today is the premiere date of Manon; an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris with sets designed by Eugène Carpezat (act 1), Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (acts 2 and 3), and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (act 4).

Prior to Massenet’s work, Halévy (Manon Lescaut, ballet, 1830) and Auber (Manon Lescaut, opéra comique, 1856) had used the subject for musical stage works. Massenet also wrote a one-act sequel to Manon, Le portrait de Manon (1894), involving the Chevalier des Grieux as an older man.

The composer worked at the score of Manon at his country home outside Paris and also at a house at The Hague once occupied by Prévost himself.

Manon is Massenet’s most popular and enduring opera and, having “quickly conquered the world’s stages”, it has maintained an important place in the repertory since its creation. It is the quintessential example of the charm and vitality of the music and culture of the Parisian Belle Époque. In 1893 an opera by Giacomo Puccini entitled Manon Lescaut, and based on the same novel was premiered and has also become popular.