Il Grande Inquisitore

James Morris and Samuel Ramey having a deep voice-off. Awesome for that even if the orchestra is second rate and there is no attempt at an actual presentation. Over their careers they've both been rather underrated: Americans aren't supposed to be this good. But listen to them. Morris could easily be mistaken for Cesare Siepi, Ramey for Boris Christoff.

There's no Don Carlo performance that completely satisfies me (though the legendary Royal Opera Giulini performance from the mid-50's probably comes closest). We're still coming to terms with this sprawling monster which has at least four different editions. Like Boris Godunov, there can never be a perfect performance because the composer's ultimate intentions are so unclear. What's probably needed is a chronically visceral conductor to forget the score and create his own version of it the way Nikolai Golovanov, Ettore Panizza, Dobrowen and Gergiev did for Boris. Don Carlo has attracted most of the biggest names of the last half-century: Karajan, Fricsay, Solti, Giulini, Abbado, Haitink, Muti, Levine, Pappano. But by and large, they've been a timid lot that treats the piece with kid gloves - as though it's the same kind of perfect masterpiece you get in Otello and Falstaff where the score merely has to be followed to achieve maximum impact.

In any event, there are moments when I (and thousands of others) think that this scene is...well if not the greatest single scene Verdi ever did, then the scene where Verdi stretched his imagination to its final limit. After Don Carlo comes Aida, the Requiem, Otello and Falstaff - each displaying a different kind of perfection. But in the whole realm of art, this is the only companion scene to Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor (both based on a play by Schiller that is nearly forgotten by now). The primary subject of the scene is the relatively light one of filicide, but within it are all the same issues of tyranny, subjugation, the misery of the world, and the absence of God. Once this scene is experienced, it is never forgotten.




COUNT DI LERMA
The Grand Inquisitor!

INQUISITOR
Am I in the King's presence?

FILIPPO
Yes; I sent you, father!
I am in doubt.
Carlo is filling my heart with bitter sadness;
The Infante is rebelling against me,
He has taken up arms against his father.

INQUISITOR
What mode of punishment do you choose?

FILIPPO
Extreme measures.

INQUISITOR
Let me know them!

FILIPPO
Let him escape or let the axe...

INQUISITOR
Well?

FILIPPO
If I send my son to death will your hand absolve me?

INQUISITOR
The peace of the Empire is worth a rebel's life.

FILIPPO
Can I, a Christian, sacrifice my son for the world?

INQUISITOR
To redeem us God sacrificed His.

FILIPPO
But can you put into force such a stringent law?

INQUISITOR
Everywhere it will have force, as it had it on Calvary.

FILIPPO
Can nature and love be silenced in me?

INQUISITOR
Everything must be silenced in order to exalt the faith.

FILIPPO
Very well!

INQUISITOR
Has the King nothing further to ask me?

FILIPPO
No.

INQUISITOR
Then it is I who will speak to you, Sire,
On Spanish soil, heresy has never prevailed, but there is one who wishes to undermine the divine edifice.
He is the King's friend, his constant companion, the demon of temptation who spurs him on to ruin. Carlo's treason, which has enraged you so, in comparison with his, seems a futile sport. And I, the inquisitor, I who have often raised my powerful hand against the vile hordes of miscreant for the great men here below, forgetful of my faith allow to go uncurbed a dangerous rebel... and the King!

FILIPPO
To help pass sorry days, in which I live, at my Court I have sought in vain what I long for. A man! A loyal heart! Then I found him!

INQUISITOR
Why a man? Why, then, have you the title of king, Sire, if a lesser man be your equal?

FILIPPO
No more, priest!

INQUISITOR
The ideas of the innovators have tainted your mind! You wish to break with your feeble hand the sacred yoke extending over the Roman Catholic globe! Return to your duty: The Church can offer to the man who has no hope, who repents, complete forgiveness: I demand of you the noble Posa.

FILIPPO
No, never!

INQUISITOR
O King, if I were not with you in the royal palace this very day, I swear to God, tomorrow you would be before the Grand Inquisitor at the Supreme Court.

FILIPPO
Friar, I have suffered your harsh words too long!

INQUISITOR
Why then evoke the shade of Samuel?
I have already given two kings to your mighty realm!
Madman, do you want to destroy the work of years?
Why am I here? What does King want of me?

FILIPPO
Father, let there be peace between us again.

INQUISITOR
Peace?

FILIPPO
You must forget what has passed here.

INQUISITOR
Perhaps!

FILIPPO
So the throne must always bow to the altar!