2025.2.26 Jonas Kaufmann Concert in Taipei

It is said that in wine, there is truth. Sometimes, facing the last moment in life, in wine, there is courage.

Jonas Kaufmann’s concert at the Taipei National Concert Hall was impressive. And the most unforgettable to me was the aria “Mamma, quel vino è generoso” from the opera “Cavalleria Rusticana”.

It has been at least ten years since the first time I listened to this aria sung by Jonas Kaufmann in the album Verismo Arias. When I first listened to it, I didn’t know the meaning of the lyrics at all.

However, I was attracted by the deep music and the depressing and fascinating voice of the tenor. I was intrigued by this opera with only one set. Then I found the whole opera on Youtube and listened to it. During my years in New York, I went to the live performance of the double bill Cav/ Pag several times.

After more than a decade, and after many opera concerts in Taipei, I have not had the chance to listen to the live performance of this beautiful aria. Finally, before the end of the winter, the world renowned tenor Jonas Kaufmann came to Taipei, and gave the perfect interpretation of this aria.

The emotional  “Mamma” in the beginning of the aria pulled the heartstrings. After a few drinks, it is the most faint hearted calling for the mother. Even though he had become an adult, the dependence and care for mother never faded. Therefore, with drunkenness, the main character Turiddu let down all of his dignity and struggles. He asked for his mother, and told her about the coming of the end of his life.

Turiddu never ended his relationship with his first love Lola, and met her secretly non stop. Turiddu’s  fiance Santuzza found it and told Lola’s husband Alfio about this scandal. Alfio then demanded a duel to Turiddu.

Before the night of the duel, Turiddu sang this aria to his mother, which was his last words and farewell.

Turiddu had a few drinks, and the “Mamma” tore our hearts apart. Knowing he would never be able to come home alive, Turiddu told his mother with concern and sadness: If he never came back, he wanted his mother to become the mother of his fiance Santuzza. After all, he had already seen Santuzza as his wife.

The entrustment with sadness of Turiddu made his mother anxious and the audience depressed. Facing the struggle of first love and marriage, and in Jonas Kaufmann’s voice, we finally saw life as a whole before the moment of death.  At this moment, the promise of marriage and the bond of  family were all going to end at the duel due to the desire for first love.

There was no going back for Turiddu. Life was cruel at its last moment. Seeing his mother being worried, Turiddu pretended to be sober, and blamed all his words for alcohol. However, death had become closer than ever. Turiddu had lost his love, and he was going to lose his mother. He could only beg his mother to bless him for the last time. Turiddu’s farewell had become his last words.

The deep and broad voice of Jonas Kaufmann sang the love and despair of Turiddu. Though the character betrayed his marriage and had an affair with his old lover, listening to this beautiful music made me empathize with his situation.

This aria was his farewell, and also his apology.

Perhaps this is the magic of music.

In the voice of Jonas Kaufmann, everything becomes unforgettable, and everything becomes forgivable.