This year the Bard Music Festival featured two weekends exploring "Wagner and His World" through various performances of excerpts from his great works and some lesser-known ones.

Young Vincenzo Bellini

Of particular interest to me was the listing for "Supplemental materials for... Norma." Though I didn't attend, I found two live recordings from the first weekend of the festival—both of my new favorite bass-baritone (I am so over that useless term), Daniel Mobbs. The featured piece for Norma was not, in fact, any arrangement or adaptation of Bellini's music itself but rather an odd, mostly-forgotten insertion aria from 1839 that Wagner intended to be substitute for Oroveso's "Ah! del tebro" in Act II, scene 5.

Portrait of the young Richard Wagner, probably 1830s. Who wore it better?

I discovered through some quick digging that it is one of the first pieces Wagner is known to have written in Paris. At that time, being but 26, he was keen on obtaining recognition by producing songs for popular singers to include in their concerts. He had some minor success with a few settings of French texts, but he then got it in his head to write this bass aria specifically for Luigi Lablache, for whom Oroveso was a chief rôle.

Here are Wagner's own words—from My Life—on what transpired:

I next stumbled on the idea of writing a grand bass aria with a chorus, for Lablache to introduce into his part of Orovist in Bellini's Norma. [Samuel] Lehrs had to hunt up an Italian political refugee to get the text out of him. This was done, and I produced an effective composition à la Bellini (which still exists among my manuscripts), and went off at once to offer it to Lablache.

The friendly Moor, who received me in the great singer's anteroom, insisted upon admitting me straight into his master's presence without announcing me. As I had anticipated some difficulty in getting near such a celebrity, I had written my request, as I thought this would be simpler than explaining verbally.

The black servant's pleasant manner made me feel very uncomfortable ; I entrusted my score and letter to him to give to Lablache, without taking any notice of his kindly astonishment at my refusal of his repeated invitation to go into his master's room and have an interview, and I left the house hurriedly, intending to call for my answer in a few days. When I came back Lablache received me most kindly, and assured me that my aria was excellent, though it was impossible to introduce it into Bellini's opera after the latter had already been performed so very often. My relapse into the domain of Bellini's style, of which I had been guilty through the writing of this aria, was therefore useless to me, and I soon became convinced of the fruitlessness of my efforts in that direction. I saw that I should need personal introductions to various singers in order to ensure the production of one of my other compositions.

It seems the piece was never performed and lay undiscovered until 1914. The only record of its performance I can find is when it was offered on June 11 and 13, 1971 in the Sarah Caldwell's Boston production of Norma with Beverly Sills in the title role and Donald Gramm as Oroveso. As luck would have it, a pirate recording exists. And as counterpoint (both sonically and vocally), I'm also presenting the recording of Daniel Mobbs's August 2009 concert performance:

Norma il predisse, o druidi, aria for baritone, male chorus & orchestra (for Bellini's Norma), WWV 52

Oroveso:

Norma il predisse, o Druidi,

Ancor non false il giorno

Di vendicar lo scorno

Che sulle Gallie sta.


Già gli Dei preparano

Terribile vendetta;

Come del ciel saetta

Sugli empi scoppierà!

Ratti dell'armi al suon

Da' boschi uscite, o forti,

Che Dio a più liete sorti

V'appella a libertà!

Coro:

Sulle Gallie alfin risplenda

Al nemico il di d'orror,

E sull'armi nostre scenda

La vittoria e lo splendor.

Oroveso [insieme al coro]:

E voi tremate, o barbari,

Dell'aquil vostre il volo

Fia tronco e infranto al suolo

Il giogo vil cadrà.