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Invano Alvaro
‘Invano Alvaro’ is the last of three tenor-bartitone duets that grace Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino. All three are excellent, but the final one is likely the best such duet ever written by the composer. It’s in the same class as ‘Quando al mio sen per te parlava’ from Act 3 of I Vespri Siciliani and ‘Si, pel ciel’ from Otello. What sets the Forza duet apart is that it moves the plot while being both beautiful and dramatic. Indeed, it is the plot. It starts at the end of the opera’s penultimate scene and runs into its final one.
The duet is found in several places on this site. But I’ve never devoted an entire post to it. Below are 11 interpretations of it sung by noted artists. Most of these selections have not appeared here before. The Italian text with an English translation is at the end of this article.
From a 1943 recording Giacomo Lauri-Volpi is joined by Gino Bechi. The tenor enjoyed a remarkably successful career that spanned 40 years. He appeared to great acclaim at all the world’s great houses. Yet I’ve never cared for his voice. I find it unattractive and somewhat shrill and forced. Given the success and acclaim he enjoyed my opinion must be an outlier. Baritone Gino Bechi had a very successful career based mainly in Italy. He had a big and virile voice which can be heard on numerous recordings.
In 1953, in New Orleans, Mario Del Monaco and Leonard Warren participated in a staged performance of Forza. This excerpt is from that show.
Two duets featuring Giueppe Di Stefano are from 1955 and 1960. The ’55 excerpt is from a La Scala performance. Di Stefano’s partner is Aldo Protti. I’ve recently written about him. Note how good he is in this duet. This period was at the tail end of Di Stefano’s peak. He’s in terrific form. Of course, Alvaro is a role he shouldn’t have sung, but his emotional commitment is so palpable that it’s easy to understand why he and his conductors and directors wanted him to stray from the roles best suited to his beautiful lyric voice. By 1960, he was well on the downward path; yet, in this performance in Vienna, he managed to pull himself together and deliver an outstanding performance. It was perhaps the last time he was at his best. First 1955, then 1960. The baritone in the second clip is Ettore Bastianini.
Net two featuring Luciano Pavarotti. He never sang the complete opera in performance. He felt it was a bad luck opera. Leonard Warren had died in the middle of a performance of it in March 1960. These two excerpts are from recitals. The first is with baritone Piero Cappuccilli. The second is with the very young Dmitri Hvorostovsky. It was made several years before the Russian singer made his first Met appearance.
The next duet is from a Met performance featuring Giuseppe Giacominini and Leo Nucci.
This selection is taken from the complete performance of the opera featuring Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tezier.
Jose Carreras and Piero Cappuccilli recorded the duet in 1981 before Carreras was stricken with leukemia. He recovered and returned to singing, but his voice was never again at the standard it reached before his serious illness.
More recently, tenor Jonathan Tetelman and baritone Adam Unger recorded the duet. It’s with an organ accompaniment which sounds okay. Tetelman recently made his Met debut.
Finally, a recording that’s appeared here before. The now legendary version sung by Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill at the 1972 Gala in honor of Sir Rudolf Bing. It features Merrill’s cosmic finalmente.
It was useless, Alvaro, to hide from the world
and try to shield your villainy
in hypocritical robes. Hate and thirst for vengeance
showed me the road to this cloister where you hide;
no one here shall keep us apart; only blood,
your blood, can wash away the stain
which outraged my honour:
and I shall spill it all, I swear to God.
(Don Alvaro enters in monk’s robes.)
DON ALVARO
Brother –
DON CARLO
Recognise me!
DON ALVARO
Don Carlo! You – alive!
DON CARLO
For five years I have followed you,
at last ah! at last I’ve found you…
Blood alone can cancel
the infamy, your crime;
that I should punish you one day
was written in the book of Fate.
Once you were brave; now, as a monk,
you have no sword…
But I shall have your blood –
choose, for I have two.
DON ALVARO
Once I lived among men – so I understand;
but this monk’s habit – the cloister –
DON CARLO
Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo
e d’ipocrita veste scudo facesti alla viltà.
Del chiostro ove t’ascondi mi additò la via
l’odio e la sete di vendetta; alcuno
qui non sarà che ne divida.
Il sangue, solo il tuo sangue può lavar l’oltraggio
che macchiò l’onor mio:
e tutto il verserò, lo giuro a Dio.
(Entra Alvaro, in abito di frate.)
DON ALVARO
Fratello…
DON CARLO
Riconoscimi.
DON ALVARO
Don Carlo! Voi, vivente!
DON CARLO
Da un lustro ne vò in traccia,
ti trovo, ah! ti trovo finalmente…
Col sangue sol cancellasi
l’infamia ed il delitto.
Ch’io ti punisca è scritto
sul libro del destin.
Tu prode fosti, or monaco,
un’arma qui non hai…
Deggio il tuo sangue spargere,
scegli, due ne portai.
DON ALVARO
Vissi nel mondo, intendo;
or queste vesti, l’eremo,
they bespeak my salvation from sin,
the repentance of my heart!
Leave me, leave me.
DON CARLO
Neither that garb nor the hermitage will be able
to defend you – coward!
DON ALVARO (infuriated)
Coward! What a word –
(to himself)
No, no. Help me, o my Lord!
(to Don Carlo)
Fierce words and threats,
be carried off by the wind.
Forgive, have pity, have pity,
brother, have pity, have pity!
Why offend in this way
a man who was only unfortunate?
Come, let us bow before fate,
brother, have pity, have pity.
DON CARLO
You soil the very name of pity…
Ah! When you went away, my sister remained,
abandoned and betrayed,
to infamy, to dishonour.
DON ALVARO
No, she was not dishonoured.
It is a monk who gives you his oath.
On earth, I adored her
as only one in heaven can love.
dicon che i falli ammendo,
che penitente è il cor.
Lasciatemi, lasciatemi.
DON CARLO
Difendere quel sajo, né il deserto,
codardo, te non possono.
DON ALVARO (trasalendo)
Codardo! Tale asserto…
(fra sé)
No, no! Assistimi, Signore!
(a Don Carlo)
Le minaccie, i fieri accenti,
portin seco in preda i venti;
perdonatemi, pietà,
o fratel, pietà, pietà!
A che offendere cotanto
chi fu solo sventurato?
Deh, chiniam la fronte al fato,
o fratel, pietà, pietà.
DON CARLO
Tu contamini tal nome…
Ah! una suora mi lasciasti
che tradita abbandonasti,
all’infamia, al disonor.
DON ALVARO
No, non fu disonorata.
Ve lo giura un sacerdote!
Sulla terra l’ho adorata
come in cielo amar si puote.I love her still; if she still loves me,
my heart cannot ask for more.
DON CARLO
My anger will not be quieted
by base and cowardly words.
Take up you sword, and come.
do battle with me, o traitor!
DON ALVARO
If now it is too late for either remorse
or tears to speak for me.
You shall see me as none has ever seen me –
prostrate at your feet!
(He throws himself at Don Carlo’s feet.)
DON CARLO
Ah, the stain upon your crest
is proved by this act!
DON ALVARO (leaping to his feet in anger)
My crest shines brighter than a jewel.
DON CARLO
It is coloured by your half-breed’s blood.
DON ALVARO (unable to restrain himself)
You lie in your throat! –
give me a sword!
(He takes a sword.)
A sword! Lead on!
DON CARLO
At last!
L’amo ancor, e s’ella m’ama
più non brama questo cor.
DON CARLO
Non si placa il mio furore
per mendace e vile accento.
L’arme impugna, ed al cimento
scendi meco, o traditor.
DON ALVARO
Se i rimorsi, il pianto omai
non vi parlano per me
qual nessun mi vide mai,
io mi prostro al vostro piè!
(Si getta ai piedi di Don Carlo.)
DON CARLO
Ah! la macchia del tuo stemma
or provasti con quest’atto!
DON ALVARO (saltando in piedi arrabbiato)
Desso splende più che gemma.
DON CARLO
Sangue il tinge di mulatto.
DON ALVARO (non potendo più frenarsi)
Per la gola voi mentite!
A me un brando!
(Impugna una spada.)
Un brando, uscite!
DON CARLO
Finalmente!
DON ALVARO
No, the devil shall not triumph.
Go, leave me.
(throwing down his sword)
DON CARLO
You mock at me?
DON ALVARO
Go.
DON CARLO
If now, you coward, you lack courage
to measure swords with me,
I condemn you to dishonour.
(He slaps Don Alvaro’s face.)
DON ALVARO (furious)
Ah, now you have sealed your fate!
Death!
(He takes up the sword again.)
DON CARLO
Death to both!
DON CARLO and
DON ALVARO
Ah! Come to your death, come!
(They rush out.)
DON ALVARO
No, l’inferno non trionfi.
Va, riparti.
(Getta la spada.)
DON CARLO
Ti fai dunque di me scherno?
DON ALVARO
Va.
DON CARLO
S’ora meco misurarti,
o vigliacco, non hai core,
ti consacro al disonore.
(Gli dà uno schiaffo.)
DON ALVARO (furente)
Ah, segnasti la tua sorte!
Morte!
(Raccoglie la spada.)
DON CARLO
Morte! A entrambi morte!
DON CARLO e
DON ALVARO
Ah! Vieni a morte, a morte andiam!
(Escono precipitosamente.)
View all episodes
By ‘Invano Alvaro’ is the last of three tenor-bartitone duets that grace Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino. All three are excellent, but the final one is likely the best such duet ever written by the composer. It’s in the same class as ‘Quando al mio sen per te parlava’ from Act 3 of I Vespri Siciliani and ‘Si, pel ciel’ from Otello. What sets the Forza duet apart is that it moves the plot while being both beautiful and dramatic. Indeed, it is the plot. It starts at the end of the opera’s penultimate scene and runs into its final one.
The duet is found in several places on this site. But I’ve never devoted an entire post to it. Below are 11 interpretations of it sung by noted artists. Most of these selections have not appeared here before. The Italian text with an English translation is at the end of this article.
From a 1943 recording Giacomo Lauri-Volpi is joined by Gino Bechi. The tenor enjoyed a remarkably successful career that spanned 40 years. He appeared to great acclaim at all the world’s great houses. Yet I’ve never cared for his voice. I find it unattractive and somewhat shrill and forced. Given the success and acclaim he enjoyed my opinion must be an outlier. Baritone Gino Bechi had a very successful career based mainly in Italy. He had a big and virile voice which can be heard on numerous recordings.
In 1953, in New Orleans, Mario Del Monaco and Leonard Warren participated in a staged performance of Forza. This excerpt is from that show.
Two duets featuring Giueppe Di Stefano are from 1955 and 1960. The ’55 excerpt is from a La Scala performance. Di Stefano’s partner is Aldo Protti. I’ve recently written about him. Note how good he is in this duet. This period was at the tail end of Di Stefano’s peak. He’s in terrific form. Of course, Alvaro is a role he shouldn’t have sung, but his emotional commitment is so palpable that it’s easy to understand why he and his conductors and directors wanted him to stray from the roles best suited to his beautiful lyric voice. By 1960, he was well on the downward path; yet, in this performance in Vienna, he managed to pull himself together and deliver an outstanding performance. It was perhaps the last time he was at his best. First 1955, then 1960. The baritone in the second clip is Ettore Bastianini.
Net two featuring Luciano Pavarotti. He never sang the complete opera in performance. He felt it was a bad luck opera. Leonard Warren had died in the middle of a performance of it in March 1960. These two excerpts are from recitals. The first is with baritone Piero Cappuccilli. The second is with the very young Dmitri Hvorostovsky. It was made several years before the Russian singer made his first Met appearance.
The next duet is from a Met performance featuring Giuseppe Giacominini and Leo Nucci.
This selection is taken from the complete performance of the opera featuring Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tezier.
Jose Carreras and Piero Cappuccilli recorded the duet in 1981 before Carreras was stricken with leukemia. He recovered and returned to singing, but his voice was never again at the standard it reached before his serious illness.
More recently, tenor Jonathan Tetelman and baritone Adam Unger recorded the duet. It’s with an organ accompaniment which sounds okay. Tetelman recently made his Met debut.
Finally, a recording that’s appeared here before. The now legendary version sung by Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill at the 1972 Gala in honor of Sir Rudolf Bing. It features Merrill’s cosmic finalmente.
It was useless, Alvaro, to hide from the world
and try to shield your villainy
in hypocritical robes. Hate and thirst for vengeance
showed me the road to this cloister where you hide;
no one here shall keep us apart; only blood,
your blood, can wash away the stain
which outraged my honour:
and I shall spill it all, I swear to God.
(Don Alvaro enters in monk’s robes.)
DON ALVARO
Brother –
DON CARLO
Recognise me!
DON ALVARO
Don Carlo! You – alive!
DON CARLO
For five years I have followed you,
at last ah! at last I’ve found you…
Blood alone can cancel
the infamy, your crime;
that I should punish you one day
was written in the book of Fate.
Once you were brave; now, as a monk,
you have no sword…
But I shall have your blood –
choose, for I have two.
DON ALVARO
Once I lived among men – so I understand;
but this monk’s habit – the cloister –
DON CARLO
Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo
e d’ipocrita veste scudo facesti alla viltà.
Del chiostro ove t’ascondi mi additò la via
l’odio e la sete di vendetta; alcuno
qui non sarà che ne divida.
Il sangue, solo il tuo sangue può lavar l’oltraggio
che macchiò l’onor mio:
e tutto il verserò, lo giuro a Dio.
(Entra Alvaro, in abito di frate.)
DON ALVARO
Fratello…
DON CARLO
Riconoscimi.
DON ALVARO
Don Carlo! Voi, vivente!
DON CARLO
Da un lustro ne vò in traccia,
ti trovo, ah! ti trovo finalmente…
Col sangue sol cancellasi
l’infamia ed il delitto.
Ch’io ti punisca è scritto
sul libro del destin.
Tu prode fosti, or monaco,
un’arma qui non hai…
Deggio il tuo sangue spargere,
scegli, due ne portai.
DON ALVARO
Vissi nel mondo, intendo;
or queste vesti, l’eremo,
they bespeak my salvation from sin,
the repentance of my heart!
Leave me, leave me.
DON CARLO
Neither that garb nor the hermitage will be able
to defend you – coward!
DON ALVARO (infuriated)
Coward! What a word –
(to himself)
No, no. Help me, o my Lord!
(to Don Carlo)
Fierce words and threats,
be carried off by the wind.
Forgive, have pity, have pity,
brother, have pity, have pity!
Why offend in this way
a man who was only unfortunate?
Come, let us bow before fate,
brother, have pity, have pity.
DON CARLO
You soil the very name of pity…
Ah! When you went away, my sister remained,
abandoned and betrayed,
to infamy, to dishonour.
DON ALVARO
No, she was not dishonoured.
It is a monk who gives you his oath.
On earth, I adored her
as only one in heaven can love.
dicon che i falli ammendo,
che penitente è il cor.
Lasciatemi, lasciatemi.
DON CARLO
Difendere quel sajo, né il deserto,
codardo, te non possono.
DON ALVARO (trasalendo)
Codardo! Tale asserto…
(fra sé)
No, no! Assistimi, Signore!
(a Don Carlo)
Le minaccie, i fieri accenti,
portin seco in preda i venti;
perdonatemi, pietà,
o fratel, pietà, pietà!
A che offendere cotanto
chi fu solo sventurato?
Deh, chiniam la fronte al fato,
o fratel, pietà, pietà.
DON CARLO
Tu contamini tal nome…
Ah! una suora mi lasciasti
che tradita abbandonasti,
all’infamia, al disonor.
DON ALVARO
No, non fu disonorata.
Ve lo giura un sacerdote!
Sulla terra l’ho adorata
come in cielo amar si puote.I love her still; if she still loves me,
my heart cannot ask for more.
DON CARLO
My anger will not be quieted
by base and cowardly words.
Take up you sword, and come.
do battle with me, o traitor!
DON ALVARO
If now it is too late for either remorse
or tears to speak for me.
You shall see me as none has ever seen me –
prostrate at your feet!
(He throws himself at Don Carlo’s feet.)
DON CARLO
Ah, the stain upon your crest
is proved by this act!
DON ALVARO (leaping to his feet in anger)
My crest shines brighter than a jewel.
DON CARLO
It is coloured by your half-breed’s blood.
DON ALVARO (unable to restrain himself)
You lie in your throat! –
give me a sword!
(He takes a sword.)
A sword! Lead on!
DON CARLO
At last!
L’amo ancor, e s’ella m’ama
più non brama questo cor.
DON CARLO
Non si placa il mio furore
per mendace e vile accento.
L’arme impugna, ed al cimento
scendi meco, o traditor.
DON ALVARO
Se i rimorsi, il pianto omai
non vi parlano per me
qual nessun mi vide mai,
io mi prostro al vostro piè!
(Si getta ai piedi di Don Carlo.)
DON CARLO
Ah! la macchia del tuo stemma
or provasti con quest’atto!
DON ALVARO (saltando in piedi arrabbiato)
Desso splende più che gemma.
DON CARLO
Sangue il tinge di mulatto.
DON ALVARO (non potendo più frenarsi)
Per la gola voi mentite!
A me un brando!
(Impugna una spada.)
Un brando, uscite!
DON CARLO
Finalmente!
DON ALVARO
No, the devil shall not triumph.
Go, leave me.
(throwing down his sword)
DON CARLO
You mock at me?
DON ALVARO
Go.
DON CARLO
If now, you coward, you lack courage
to measure swords with me,
I condemn you to dishonour.
(He slaps Don Alvaro’s face.)
DON ALVARO (furious)
Ah, now you have sealed your fate!
Death!
(He takes up the sword again.)
DON CARLO
Death to both!
DON CARLO and
DON ALVARO
Ah! Come to your death, come!
(They rush out.)
DON ALVARO
No, l’inferno non trionfi.
Va, riparti.
(Getta la spada.)
DON CARLO
Ti fai dunque di me scherno?
DON ALVARO
Va.
DON CARLO
S’ora meco misurarti,
o vigliacco, non hai core,
ti consacro al disonore.
(Gli dà uno schiaffo.)
DON ALVARO (furente)
Ah, segnasti la tua sorte!
Morte!
(Raccoglie la spada.)
DON CARLO
Morte! A entrambi morte!
DON CARLO e
DON ALVARO
Ah! Vieni a morte, a morte andiam!
(Escono precipitosamente.)