“La Juive,” a tragic tale of religious intolerance by Fromental Halevy, will air on this week’s Sunday Opera (3/2 3:00 p.m.). Eugene Scribe wrote the libretto for this opera which became one of the most popular of the 19th century after its premier in Paris on 23 February 1835. It deals with the plight of Jews in Switzerland in the 15th century, particularly Rachel and her adoptive father Eleazar who are persecuted by the Catholic Church and are arrested after it is found that Rachel’s love Samuel is actually a Christian.
The recording was made over three years shortly before and during Jose Carreras’ battle with cancer, so it’s rather interesting to hear the change in Carreras’ voice over those years.
Rachel (Julia Varady) is young, Jewish and beautiful. Prince Léopold (Dalmacio Gonzalez) is rich, Christian and already married to Princess Eudoxie (June Anderson), but he hides his identity to begin an affair with Rachel, and they fall in love.
Rachel had been saved from a burning house by Eleazar (Jose Carreras) when she was an infant, and she was the only survivor. Her real father, Count Brogni (Ferruccio Furlanetto), assumes his entire family has perished and turns to the cloth, finally becoming a cardinal who is especially bent on eradicating the Jews from Switzerland.
When Rachel and her father Eleazar uncover Leopold’s identity, they fear for her life as relationships between Jews and Christians are forbidden on pain of death for the Jew and exile for the Christian.
When the affair is discovered, Rachel and Eleazar are sentenced to death, but Rachel is able to save Leopold who is then exiled. Shortly before she is put to death, Rachel is told of her true parentage by Eleazar who also tells her that she is a Christian and can revoke her Judaism and be saved. However, she willingly dies rather than live with her father, Brogni, who has caused so much pain to the Jews in Switzerland. Just as she steps into the burning oil, Eleazar finally tells Brongi what happened to his daughter with the line “She is there” as he points to the cauldron.
The remainder of the major cast includes Rene Massis as Ruggiero and Rene Schirrer as Albert. Antonio De Almeida conducts the Ambrosian Opera Chorus and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
After the opera, join Michael Kownacky for more music written for Jewish themes with incidental music from the play “Belthshazzar” by Joseph Akron and an excerpt from the ballet “The Man from Midian” by Stefan Wolpe, both of which come from the wonderful series of CDs from the Milken Archives.
