GIOVANNA D’ARCO Malmö 2024 Bror Magnus Tödenes, Fredrik Zetterström, Ania Jeruc

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Giovanna d'Arco  
• Composer: Verdi Giuseppe  
• Libretto: Temistocle Solera    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Storan, Malmö Opera, Sweden  
• Recorded: November 2024
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Bror Magnus Tödenes, Fredrik Zetterström, Ania Jeruc, Gustav Johansson, Tor Lind
• Conductor: Daniela Musca  
• Orchestra: Malmö Opera Orchestra  
• Chorus: Malmö Opera Chorus  
• Stage Director: Philipp M. Krenn  
• Stage Designer: Leslie Travers  
• Costume Designer: Leslie Travers  
• Lighting Designer: Alessandro Carletti  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Malmö Opera  
• Date Published: 2024  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs, othersubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) is an operatic dramma lirico with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, who had prepared the libretti for Nabucco and I Lombardi. It is Verdi’s seventh opera.

  The work partly reflects the story of Joan of Arc and appears to be loosely based on the 1801 play Die Jungfrau von Orleans by Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi wrote the music during the autumn and winter of 1844/45 and the opera had its first performance at Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 15 February 1845.

  Synopsis
  Place: Domrémy, Reims and near Rouen, France
  Prologue
  Scene 1: The French village of Domrémy

  Charles (the not-yet-crowned King of France) describes to his officers and the villagers his vision of the Virgin Mary commanding him to surrender to the invading English army and laying down his weapons at the foot of a giant oak tree. (Aria: Sotto una quercia parvemi – “Beneath an oak she appeared to me”). Later, he expresses his frustration with the limitations of being a ruler. (Aria: Pondo è letal, martirio – “A deadly burden, a torment”).

  Scene 2: A forest

  By a giant oak tree, Giacomo prays for the safety of his daughter Giovanna, who before she falls asleep by a nearby shrine offers prayers to be chosen to lead the French forces. (Aria: Sempre all’alba ed alla sera – “always at dawn and in the evening”). Suddenly, Charles arrives, prepared to lay down his arms at the base of the tree. Meanwhile, the sleeping Giovanna has visions in which angels ask her to become a soldier and lead France to victory (Tu sei bella, the Demons’ Waltz). She cries out that she is ready to do so. Charles overhears her and thrills at her courage. Her father Giacomo weeps, believing that his daughter has given her soul to the Devil out of her devotion to the future King.

  Act 1

  Disegno per copertina di libretto, drawing for Giovanna d’Arco (undated).
  Scene 1: Near Reims

  Commander Talbot of the English army tries to convince his discouraged soldiers that their imminent surrender to the French is not due to forces of evil. Giacomo arrives and offers up his daughter, believing her to be under the influence of the Devil: Franco son io (“I am French, but in my heart…”) and So che per via dei triboli (“I know that original sin”).

  Scene 2: The French court at Reims

  Preparations are under way for Charles’ coronation. Giovanna longs for her simple life back home. (Aria: O fatidica foresta – “O prophetic forest”). Charles confesses his love for Giovanna. She withdraws despite her feelings toward the King, because her voices have warned her against earthly love. Charles is taken to the Cathedral at Reims for his coronation.

  Act 2
  The Cathedral square

  The villagers of Reims have gathered in the Cathedral square to celebrate Giovanna’s victory over the English army. The French soldiers lead Charles into the Cathedral. Giacomo has decided he must repudiate his daughter who, he believes, has entered a pact with the Devil. (Aria: Speme al vecchio era una figlia – “An old man’s hope was a daughter”). He denounces her to the villagers (Aria: Comparire il ciel m’ha stretto – “Heaven has forced me to appear”) and they are persuaded, although the King refuses to listen. Charles pleads with Giovanna to defend herself, but she refuses.

  Act 3
  At the stake

  Giovanna has been captured by the English army and is awaiting her death at the stake. She has visions of battlefield victories and begs God to stand by her, explaining how she has shown her obedience by forsaking her worldly love for the King as the voices had commanded. Giacomo overhears her pleas and recognizes his error. He loosens his daughter’s bonds and she escapes. She rushes to the battlefield to turn the French defeat into victory once more.

  Giacomo pleads with the King, first for punishment and then for forgiveness, which Charles grants. Charles learns of the French victory on the battlefield but also of Giovanna’s death. (Aria: Quale al più fido amico – “Which of my truest friends”). As her body is carried in, Giovanna suddenly revives. Giacomo reclaims his daughter, and the King professes his love. The angels sing of salvation and victory, as Giovanna dies and ascends into heaven.

  Quoted from Wikipedia

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