Concerning Camille in concert

The wag who says that money is the root of all evil doubtless uses it to indulge his vices. But for the chairpersons in charge of the fiesta of the richest barangay in the country, the money they intended to raise was for a noble cause – to build a new prayer room in their parish church. The persons I am referring to are Justa K. Tantoco and Danny L. Dolor. The barangay is Forbes Park no less. And the church is Santuario de San Antonio parish.

If they were presenting a benefit concert and sold tickets at formidable prices, they had to get the best musical artists. They would not be able to settle for less than the country’s premiere orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic with musical director and principal conductor Ruggero Barbieri. They would have to send for soprano Ma. Camille A. Lopez and tenor Nolyn A. Cabahug. They would have to settle for their own Coro de San Antonio but reinforced by Dr. Myrna A. Lopez’ The Seedlings. And assemble all these vocal and orchestral forces they certainly did, bless their hearts!

From the well-heeled crowd that filled the pews, parish priest Antonio Maria-Rosales, OFM, is certain to get his splendid neo-Baroque church its prayer room. After the concert, the audience gave the PPO, the soloists and the choirs a standing ovation. This concert presented on the occasion of Forbes Park’s fiesta was a resounding success.

In his niche on the main altar, San Antonio de Padua, carrying the Christ Child, beamed a beatific smile, patron saint of the family, lovers, married couples, childless couples, women and children, of animals and lost articles, and of the poor, social workers, travelers, sailors, miners, debtors, students and teachers.

For my part, I shed a tear or two of pleasure and of pain. I was moved by the sight of so many happy people responding to the beauty of classical music. I shared their joy in their appreciation of the music of the masters performed in this hallowed hall, but at the same time I had to react as a moonlighting critic and play the devil’s advocate. This is not to quibble that a note missed half-a-beat or so. That could possibly be attributed expression, if you must. The church has poor acoustics such that microphones had to be installed. In a classical concert, the use of electronic amplification is simply a no-no.

The concert opened with Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino. The brass of the PPO blared most forcefully the notes that signify the call of Fate before the other instruments joined in to present the principal themes of the opera. For me, this overture attests to Verdi’s being the king of melody but it also exposes him at his worst – banal passages and sentimental tunes intended, I suppose, to please the gallery.

The next two numbers presented the star of the evening – Camille – with a glowing "Diche, teure Halle," Elizabeth’s greeting to the hall of song, from Wagner’s Tannhauser, and a seductive "Habanera" from Bizet’s Carmen.

The highlight of the evening had to be the excerpts from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, a short opera which depicts in a naturalistic style rich in local color the lives and loves of Sicilian peasants. The plot comes from a short story by Sicily’s foremost fictionist, Giovanni Verga, a master of Italian verismo.

The story can be summed up in a few sentences. When Turiddu returns to his village from the war, he finds in dismay that Lola, his betrothed, has married Alfio, the carter. Disconsolate, he courts Santuzza and wins her love as his former flame burns with jealousy. Lola applies her charms to win Turiddu back, and succeeds. Santuzza reveals the affair to the cuckolded husband with tragic consequences.

The libretto of the opera focuses on the final hour of this sordid drama which, ironically, takes place on Easter Sunday.

Three excerpts from Mascagni’s masterpiece were presented at the Fiesta de San Antonio concert: the Intermezzo, "Voi lo sapete," and "Regina Coeli." The selections were presented in the reverse order from that in the opera in order to achieve a climactic effect from the serene orchestral interlude to the music of the glorious spectacle of the Easter procession.

In the aria, "Voi lo sapete," Camille poured out all the anguish of a suffering soul abandoned by a perfidious lover for another woman. In "Regina Coeli," she delivered this praise to the Risen Lord with conviction and in a voice that soared brilliantly above the massed forces of the chorus and the orchestra. One could wish, however, that Camille’s Santuzza should breathe with the flames of her volcanic island home – Sicily.

The rest of the program was anti-climactic. The PPO led by Maestro Barbieri played the "Intermedio" from the zarzuela La Boda de Luis Alonso by Gimenez and two Filipino pieces by Ocampo and Cuenco orchestrated by Romero. Tenor Nolyn Cabahug delivered Lara’s "Granada," and Abelardo’s "Bituing Marikit" and sung the comic duet "Makikiliti kang totoo" from Tolentino’s sarswela Walang Sugat with Camille. And Grever’s "Jurame," Sandoval’s "Sin Tu Amor," De Guzman’s "Pamaypay ng Maynila," Molina’s "Hatinggabi" and Abelardo’s "Mutya ng Pasig" were rendered by Camille as much with her heart as with her vocal chords.

The enraptured audience gave the artists a standing ovation and, in turn, they rewarded their admirers with a grand encore – a rousing "Libiamo" from Verdi’s La traviata.

Across the city in Intramuros, Danny Dolor, industrialist-businessman-philanthropist, presented his Tribong Pilipino in a free concert titled Mutya ng Silangan at the Tanghalang Leandro V. Locsin. This is part of a continuing series of cultural events, "Concert Nights at the Old Walls," presented by the Department of Tourism in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Intramuros Administration. The series staged Saturday evenings in different venues are organized by indefatigable project coordinator Zenas Lozada with the support of Secretary Leticia Ramos-Shahani, presidential adviser for culture.

Anticipating the celebration of Araw ng Kalayaan, last Saturday’s concert showcased patriotic songs by Filipino composers sung most soulfully by soprano Gloria Dizon-Coronel, mezzo-soprano Joanna Go, tenor Roger Peñaverde, Jr., and baritone Vladimir Valera.

Composed by the likes of San Pedro, Molina, Abelardo, De Guzman, Obispo, Celerio, Santiago, Canseco, and others, the songs were all familiar and evoked many memories, pleasant and otherwise. "Ako ay Pilipino" reminded me of the horrors of the conjugal dictatorship. "Bayan Ko!" recalled the euphoria of the first EDSA Revolution.

The concert made me reflect on the nature of the Filipino soul. It is a composite of diverse spirits: the animism of the katutubo, the bellicose bravery of the Muslims, the Catholic faith of our Spanish tradition, and the gift of American democracy and altruism. We need to find unity in our diversity.

The singers of Tribong Pilipino reminded me of the beauty of our own music and reaffirms my love for our rich musical heritage. "Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika" sings Ryan Cayabyab with pride and joy. And that inspiring concert of nationalistic songs in Intramuros was for free – which brings me back to the subject of money.

"Money is a good servant," says another wag, "but a bad master."

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