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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Panella: El Gato Montes
First performed: Teatro Principal, Valencia 23 February 1916
Cast of Characters
Soleá Soprano
Frasquita Mezzo-soprano
Loliya Soprano
Father Antón Bass
Rafael Ruiz Tenor
Juanillo Baritone
(El Gato Montés)
Hormigón Baritone
Caireles Baritone
A Gypsy Woman Soprano
Synopsis
Act I
Casa de Rafael e Frasquita en Andalusia
Rafael Ruiz, an apprentice bullfighter, is off performing
in the Madrid bullring
while Soleá, a gypsy girl who has been taken in by
Rafael, worries about him
getting injured. He has, in fact, been hurt, but his mother,
Frasquita, reports
that his injuries are minor and that he performed so well
that he has been
promoted to matador. Soon, a group of his fans arrives to
welcome Rafael, and
the bullfighter, now known as "El Macareno," makes
a triumphal entrance before
going off with Soleá and his mother to give thanks
to the Virgin. His friend
Hormigón reads aloud the newspaper account of Rafael's
great performance in the
corrida and Father Antón, who has baptized many toreadores,
takes full credit
for Rafael's achievement.
When they return, Soleá and Rafael publicly declare
their fondness for one
another, and the group begins dancing and celebrating their
love and his
triumph. Soon, however, a gypsy woman emerges from the crowd,
and offers to read
Rafael's palm. Although she sees further success in his palmlines,
she startles
Soleá and his friends by predicting death. Rafael scoffs
at the idea, and urges
the crowd to drink and be merry as waiters serve vino manzanilla
to all.
Just then, Juanillo, who is the mountain outlaw leader known
as "El Gato
Montés", The Wildcat, arrives with a group of
armed henchmen. Juanillo tells the
assemblage that Soleá really loves him, and that his
life as an outlaw began
when he killed a man in defense of her honor and out of love
for her. "I am an
outlaw because of whom I love", he says, and because
he cannot have Soleá "his
heart is accursed and his life is accursed." The crowd
urges Juanillo to "flee
bandit, flee to the Sierra," while Soleá declares
that she will "let no man come
between us!" But whom does she mean?
Alone with Father Antón, Soleá tells how she
and Juanillo grew up together, that
indeed El Gato had to flee because he had killed for her,
and that he is her
true love. Her tender feelings for Rafael are more out of
gratitude than love,
but as Rafael enters to tell her of his great passion for
her, she responds with
warmth and affection. Apparently when Soleá can't be
with the man she loves,
she's in love with the man she's with.
In the distant mountains, a shepherd boy's voice is heard
singing of the bandit
who "...loves the gypsy girl and will kill anyone who
comes between them!" As if
on cue, Juanillo returns and confronts Rafael as they both
pull knives. At this
point, Father Antón decides that discretion is the
better part of valor, and
slips out. Soleá takes Rafael's weapon and throws it
down a well, pleading with
Juanillo not to shoot him, for she will kill herself if he
does. Not wishing to
hurt an unarmed man, Juanillo now gives Rafael an option:
he must fight six
bulls in Seville on the following Sunday. However, he might
as well be gored to
death, for Juanillo will be there to kill him even if he survives
all six. Now
perceiving the depth of feeling between Soleá and Juanillo,
Rafael turns to his
mother for comfort.
Act II
Outside the Seville Bullring
As Rafael prepares for the bullfight, he tells Soleá
that he fights for her sake
and her love, and she responds by singing more of gratitude
than love ("Me
llamaba, Rafaelillo"). When Rafael stops to pray to the
Virgin, Soleá tells
Hormigón, who is one of the picadores, of Juanillo's
threats, hoping that he
will persuade Rafael not to fight. But Rafael enjoins Hormigón
to brace himself
with some manzarilla, and to pray for him. Hormigón
does so, with the comment
that he would not even be a picador were it not for the manzanilla.
Rafael
scoffs at the dangers awaiting him by declaring that he will
kill all six bulls
and The Wildcat.
Soleá and Frasquita remain alone in the chapel as the
Matador and his procession
enter the bullring. They hear the cheers from the crowd as
Rafael starts his
series of six bulls, and we hear the pasodoble. Tragically,
the cheers turn to
screams as a bull fatally gores him. When Soleá sees
Rafael's body, she faints
in the arms of Hormigón, but then goes into the infirmary
to attend him as he
lies in state. Frasquita and the other women, dressed in mourning,
sing of their
loss.
Act III
The Mountains
As mourners grieve for Rafael, Juanillo has taken Soleá,
the gypsy, back to his
mountain headquarters where she belongs. In the moonlight,
they sing a duet in
which we come to have a clearer understanding of their great
happiness when they
were young lovers, and of the tragedy of Juanillo's murderous
conduct out of
love for her. Because he became a fugitive, they were torn
apart, and he was
forced into the life of an outlaw. Always on the run, El Gato
Montés could not
ask Soleá to be with him, and she lived her lone gypsy
life until Rafael rescued
her from the streets.
The townspeople, who have followed Juanillo, arrive to rescue
her. As The
Wildcat confronts them, he professes his awareness that he
is unforgiven and
will always be unforgiven. He asks that they take his knife
and kill him on the
spot, but everyone now seems to understand his great love
for Soleá, and none
will do so. Then, Juanillo is surrounded by armed police who
have come to arrest
him, and there is clearly no escape. Rather than be taken
alive, El Gato Montés
pleads with one of his compadres to shoot him in the heart.
As he falls, Soleá
rushes to him and he dies in her arms as the curtain falls.
synopsis copyright Dan McGrath, 1997
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