PBS Great Performances at the Met: La Forza del Destino

PBS Great Performances continues its series of opera performances from the Metropolitan Opera in New York with “Great Performances at the Met: La Forza del Destino” (The Forces of Destiny) by Giuseppe Verdi, a recorded performance from the Met’s 2023-24 season.  This powerful drama of ill-fated love, revenge and family conflict was given its first new production from the Met in nearly 30 years with lauded singers Lise Davidsen and tenor Brian Jagde.  WETA Metro is delighted to present this performance on Sunday, July 21, 2024 at 11:00 am (ET).  

To enhance our enjoyment of this presentation, we provide a brief history and description of the opera, followed by a synopsis of each Act. 

The title refers to forces of destiny that command tumultuous events set in motion by one accidental motion.  Composed in 1862, La Forza del Destino stems from Verdi’s mature period in which he masterfully transformed the genre from the bel canto tradition of Rossini and Donizetti to musical naturism in the style of verismo, a form that focuses on common people and their real-life situations rather than mythical heroes and nobility.  Verdi was at the height of popular acclaim; audience shouts of “Viva Verdi” would often accompany performances of his operas not only because of the power of his work but also for his support for Italian independence from Austria, a movement known as Risorgimento.  La Forza comes after his blockbusters Il trovatore and La traviata and just before his grand-scale works Don Carlos and Aida.   

After La Forza’s premiere in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1862, Verdi noted that it “is an opera of vast dimensions and needs great care.”  A correct assessment, due to a storyline that spans years of lost love, suffering, vengeance and sacrifice, and to the great care necessary to sustain the long dramatic thread and motivation of the characters.  

Verdi undertook several revisions to the score that resulted in its Italian premiere in Rome in 1863 as Don Alvaro, the name of one of the leading characters. The score evolved further, with writer Antonio Ghislanzoni providing revisions to the final libretto. 

The story is based on a Spanish play by Angel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas and centers on three main characters: Don Alvaro, a South American nobleman of Inca heritage; Leonora, daughter of a Spanish marquis; and Don Carlo, the Marquis’s son and Leonora’s brother.  Alvaro and Leonora are lovers, but the Marquis opposes the union because he deems Alvaro’s Incan background to be unsuitable. Alvaro accidentally kills the Marquis, which causes a chain of calamitous events: The lovers’ escape to avoid persecution; Don Carlo’s years-long quest for revenge against Alvaro and Leonora for the murder; the unintended separation of the lovers due to the perils of their escape; disguised friendship between Alvaro and Carlo during wartime that turns to enmity; Leonora’s refuge as a recluse; Carlo’s murder of Leonora as he lays dying from Alvaro’s dagger; and Alvaro’s ultimate redemption. 

La Forza del Destino has been a staple in the Met’s repertoire.  But in this new production, Director Mariusz Treliński set the action in modern day, using a rotating stage to seamlessly move the chain of events -- the forces of destiny.  Soprano Lisa Davidsen, who has been making quite a splash at the Met and on international stages in the last few years, makes her role debut as Leonora.  Tenor Brian Jagde, one of the Met’s leading tenors, performs the role of Don Alvaro and baritone Igor Golovatenko is cast as the vengeful brother, Don Carlo.  The Met’s Artist Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conducts.  The opera is sung in Italian, supplemented libretto is in Italian, with English subtitles. 

Of this production, the New York Classical Review wrote, “The Met forces were in top form with Nezet-Seguin leading the chorus and orchestra in a thrilling performance that captured all of the energy and drama which Verdi instilled in the score. . . He is at one with the expansive emotions in Verdi’s score.”  Of Davidsen, the long-suffering heroine Leonora, the Review said:  “[I]t was the sensitivity and suppleness with which she sang that was so impressive.”  

Here is a detailed synopsis of each Act. 

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Act I 

The action takes place in Spain.  Don Alvaro, a South American nobleman of Inca heritage, has settled in Spain but it not accepted due to his background.  He and Leonora, the daughter of a Marquis, have fallen in love.  But the Marquis opposes the union; he believes Alvaro is unsuitable due to his background.  The lovers plan to escape and elope.  At the appointed time, Leonora hesitates because she wishes to see her father one last time.  Alvaro believes Leonora has doubts, so releases her from their engagement.  But Leonora agrees to depart with him.  The Marquis enters and finds them.  He becomes enraged, believing that Alvaro has seduced Leonora, and he threatens to kill Alvaro.  To prove his innocence, Alvaro throws his gun to the floor.  It accidentally discharges and kills the Marquis.  The terrified couple escapes. 

Act II 

Leonora and Alvaro become separated during their escape.  Don Carlo seeks revenge for the murder; he hopes to find Leonora and Alvaro and murder  both.  A year later, Carlo enters an inn disguised as a student named Pereda.  A foreteller at the inn sees through Carlo’s disguise and foretells misfortune.  And she encourages the men to join the Italian army to secure Italy’s independence. Leonora, disguised as a man, arrives at the inn and recognizes Carlo.  She hides, knowing that he wants to kill her.  When questioned, Carlo says that he is helping a friend find his sister and her lover, who is believed to have returned to South America.  Leonora overhears this and believes that Alvaro is alive but has deserted her.  She journeys to a monastery and requests refuge; traumatized by the year’s events, she wishes to live as a recluse. She admits her real identity to the monastery’s abbot.  He agrees to allow her to live in a cave near the monastery on the condition that she remain alone and see no one.  He gives her a bell to use to summon help if she is in danger. 

Act III

The action now moves to Italy, during the War of the Austrian Succession.  Don Alvaro is a soldier, using the name Don Federico Herreros.  He discloses to his battalion that he is the son of a Spaniard who married an Incan in Peru while trying to free Peru from Spanish rule, and he was born in a prison in Peru and raised in the wilderness.  He prays that Leonora is still alive.  He is interrupted by cries for help from a man who is being pursued by assassins.  Carlo comes to the man’s rescue.  The man is in fact Don Carlo, who identifies himself as Don Felice de Bornos.  The two men, unaware of each other’s real identity, swear eternal friendship and go into battle together. Alvaro/Federico is shot and, believing he is near death, asks Carlo/Felice to burn an unopened packet of letters from his belongings. Carlo/Felice tries to comfort Alvaro/Federico, telling him that he will be awarded the Order of Calatrava for bravery in battle. Alvaro/Federico reacts violently to the name “Calatrava”, which rouses suspicions in Carlo/Felice. Carlo/Felice finds a portrait of Leonora in Alvaro/Federico’s belongings, which confirms that Alvaro/Federico is in fact Don Alvaro, the former lover of Leonora and murderer of Carlo’s father. Carlo’s vendetta is revived and he confronts the now-recovered Alvaro. The men fight, and as others step in to separate them, Alvaro pledges to join a monastery. 

Act IV 

Now in Spain, five years later, Alvaro is a priest in a monastery and is known as Father Raphael.  Carlo comes to the monastery, having learned Alvaro is there, to resume his vendetta against Alvaro.  Alvaro tries to offer peace and avoid the conflict, but Carlo insults Alvaro’s heritage, which inflames Alvaro.  The two men leave the monastery to fight into a remote area.  Leonora is living as a hermit in the vicinity, still longing for Alvaro and pleading to God for peace.  She hears cries of the men fighting; she hides and rings the alarm bell that the abbot gave her to use in dangerous situations.  Alvaro’s sword mortally wounds Carlo; he runs into the hermit’s (Leonora)’s cave, seeking last rites for the dying Carlo.  Alvaro and Leonora recognize each other, but she runs to Carlo’s side.  As Carlo lays dying, he stabs Leonora. The abbot arrives, having been summoned by Leonora’s alarm bell.  In despair, Alvaro curses fate but is stopped by Leonora and the abbot, who implore Alvaro to accept humility before God.  Leonora dies as Alvaro stands humbled.