“Hamlet” with a somewhat happy ending? It’s possible, and you’ll hear a grand opera that features one on this week’s Sunday Opera (3/17 3:00 p.m.).
Ambroise Thomas’ 1868 opera had two librettists who based their work on an adaptation of the original done by three others, so this may be a reason for the ending although there seems to have been two or three other endings written to satisfy the Shakespeare purists. This recording from 1993 not only features the original ending, but also includes the ballet which is rarely, if ever, done.
The cast has been pared down to the main eight characters and the two grave diggers and varies quite a bit from the play.
Hamlet (Thomas Hampson) is visited by the ghost of his father (Jean-Philippe Courtis) who informs him that his uncle Claudius (Samuel Ramey) murdered him. Le Spectre wants revenge, but he tells Hamlet that his former wife, Gertrude (Denyce Graves) is not to be harmed – She must live with her treachery because, in this version, Gertrude, Polonius (Michel Trempont), the king’s Chancellor and his daughter Ophelie (June Anderson) were all in on the conspiracy to murder King Hamlet. Here, Polonius’ role has been cut down quite a bit, and he does not get stabbed in the arras in Act IV, so he is one of the survivors.
The action mostly follows the play from there until the end. There is the grave digger scene (Tierry Felix & Jean-Pierre Furlan), and Hamlet’s friends Horatio and Marcellus (Francois Le Roux & Gerard Garino) do what they can to help him. Polonius’ son Laertes does return from his trip to avenge the death of Ophelie whom Hamlet still drives to suicide, after an incredible scene that is more of an extended aria, but that’s where the ending changes.
Hamlet and Laertes fight, but there are no poisoned blades or gems. Although Laertes stabs Hamlet, Hamlet survives. The ghost reappears and reiterates that Claudius killed him with the help of Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia, and that Hamlet should kill him, which he does. Gertrude goes to live out her life in a monastery to atone for her sin, Laertes seems reconciled after the ghost reveals all, and Hamlet is crowned king.
Antonio de Almeida conducts the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and The London Philharmonic.
After the opera, we’ll hear from The Daniel String Quartet with some non-operatic music of Thomas, his String Quartet in E.
Join us for an afternoon of a strangely happy ending and some lovely music this Sunday.