8. Murder Afloat. We end the course with the last half-hour of Puccini's Il tabarro ("The Cloak," 1918), an opera which pushes its three soloists to emotional extremes that end in violent death. In this, it is similar to the Werther scene from a fortnight ago, but the milieux could hardly be more different. Instead of middle-class comfort, Giorgetta, the heroine, lives in the cramped cabin of a working barge on the Seine, owned by her older husband, Michele. Her plans to escape to the arms of the younger deckhand Luigi lead inexorably to murder.

I must admit to regarding this as sheer melodrama, until I was assigned to direct it 50 years ago with a cast of unusually sympathetic singers, and realized that if we treated all three major characters as fully-rounded human beings it would lead to a surprisingly even distribution of sympathy, and heartbreaking drama. It is thus a perfect summary of the main themes of the course. The script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class. rb.