Vanessa

The Metropolitan Opera

January 23, 2010, 1:00 pm

Composer: Samuel Barber
Conductor: Dimitri Mitropoulos

Cast: Eleanor Steber (Vanessa)
Nicolai Gedda (Anatol)
Rosalind Elias (Erika)
Regina Resnik (Baroness)
Giorgio Tozzi (Doctor)
George Cehanovsky (Nicholas)

The Metropolitan Opera presents an archived broadcast from February 1, 1958.

Act I

In the richly appointed drawing room of their country house in the North, about 1905, Vanessa, the Baroness and Erika await the arrival of Anatol. Erika dictates an elaborate menu to the Major-domo; Vanessa fears that her guest is lost in the blinding snowstorm. Erika tries reading aloud to divert her aunt, but to no avail. The Baroness keeps a silence she has maintained toward her daughter for many years. When the tower bell announces the safe arrival of Anatol, Vanessa begs Erika t allow her to meet him alone: she has awaited this reunion for over twenty years. He appears; without looking at him, Vanessa pours forth her heart and asks his love. Turning, she sees it is not the man she expects. Erika rushes in at her aunt’s outraged cry, helps the distraught Vanessa from the room and then returns to confront the imposter. He reveals that he, too, is Anatol – the son of Vanessa’s lover, now dead. The girl berates him for not disclosing this earlier, but she begins to melt under the charm of the handsome young stranger. When he attempts to undrape a mirror, Erika warns him to stop, for thus Vanessa has arrested time through the years. The two sit down to the supper planned so carefully for another couple.

Act II

During the month that has passed since their unhappy meeting, Anatol and Vanessa have become close friends. While they are skating outside, Erika tells the Baroness how the night of Anatol’s arrival she allowed him to seduce her. He has agreed to marry her, but Erika wants a marriage of love, not honor. Radiant, Vanessa and Anatol enter; as they are removing their skating togs, the Doctor arrives. Vanessa announces a gala ball; even the mirrors will be unveiled. She joins the others in folk songs and attempts to teach Anatol country dances. When the men leave, Vanessa tells Erika of the love that is growing between herself and the younger man. The girl is shocked; she seeks out Anatol and demands the truth. Evasively he answers that for this life he wants an unquestioning love, full of immediate excitement – that is all. Erika scoffs at his ideals, but realizes that he is truly what her grandmother has said – ‘the man of today, who chooses that which is easiest.” Remaining behind as the others depart for chapel nearby, she cries that she will allow Vanessa her long-awaited happiness.

Act III

From the entrancer hall of the castle one can glimpse an elaborate New Year’s Eve celebration taking place in Vanessa’s ballroom. The Doctor, slightly drunk, stumbles in, muttering about an important announcement that must be made. Vexed that her mother and niece will not come downstairs to the party, Vanessa is assured by Anatol that all will be well; they vow their devotion and rejoin the guests in the ballroom. At the moment when the Doctor, from within, is announcing the engagement of Vanessa and Anatol, Erika appears at the head of the stairs, weak and pale and clutching her stomach. She falls in a faint as the guests toast the happy couple. Regaining consciousness to murmur that Anatol’s child must not be born, the girl stumbles out into the snowy night. The old Baroness comes down in a dressing gown to look for Erika. Going to the open door, she realizes what has happened and calls after her.

Act IV

In Erika’s bedroom, Vanessa paces the floor asking herself what might have forced the girl to take such desperate action. Erika is carried in unconscious. Rushing to embrace Vanessa, Anatol assures her that Erika will be all right: she suffers only from exposure and shock. The girl is placed in the bed in an adjoining alcove. Regaining consciousness, she asks to be left alone with her grandmother. Then she asks the old woman if anyone suspects the real reason for her actions, but the Baroness does not know. Erika tells her Anatol’s child will not be born, at which the grandmother leaves without a word.

Now married, Vanessa and Anatol prepare to leave for Paris. The Doctor, before his goodbyes, recalls the years of friendship. Erika has not told her aunt the reason for her attempted suicide. When Vanessa confides, however, that she has left her the estate and pleads for a final explanation, Erika replies that hers was a foolish act, one which marked the end of her youth. Swearing that it was not because of Anatol, she tells Vanessa that she is now resolved to remain in seclusion on the estate and care for her grandmother; there is a sad leave-taking. As she watches the happy couple drive away, Erika orders all mirrors and portraits draped again and all the gates to the castle locked. She sits opposite her grandmother, who will not speak; Erika knows that now it is her turn to wait.

The Metropolitan Opera website »