Corriere della Sera: "Sweet, ok, thx...No more tho' OK?"

(It's always Goundhog Day at la Scala now!)

Today's Corriere della Sera carries a great review titled, "Scala, Flórez’s Encore Breaks A Taboo", of last night's Fille du Regiment by the always interesting music critic and scholar Enrico Girardi.

Girardi loved Juan Diego Flórez, “the young, exceptional Peruvian tenor” (of course, who wouldn't), but advises against breaking La Scala's tradition of "NO ENCORES" in the future.

Here's his reasoning regarding "the encore":

“Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it an audience’s sacred right? Is it heresy? There’s nothing more mundane, in opera houses: an especially beautiful and well-sung aria gets repeated because of the audience’s furious requests. Not at La Scala.”

[...]

"Now, there’s no denying that Flórez is a truly exceptional singer, the point isn’t whether or no the derserved such an honor. The point is that until the other day, nobody would have been allowed to do an ancore by La Scala’s management. La Scala è La Scala, they would have told him: It just is not done here. With reason. The reason is not that "La Scala è La Scala", (La Scala needs to earn night after night the reasons for her pride) but that music is more important than those who perform it; it’s even more important than the audience: an unpopular, but flawless concept. It is fact."

"Anyway it happened, and there’s no reason to turn this into a drama. It happened. Amen. But it’ll be better not to have any encores in the future.
We are happy to hear that the management had advised the young tenor against the encore (he had announced his plan the other day in a Corriere interview). Other things are more worrying anyway. For example, La Scala needs to avoid in the future that somebody like the boring and shallow Canadian Yves Abel gets hired to conduct an opera only on surface 'easy' such as La Fille Du Regiment. In his hands Donizetti’s opéra comique loses much of its lively, exciting spirit. This damages the already way-too-seasoned staging – from 1959 – by Filippo Crivelli and Franco Zeffirelli, with his fable-like atmosphere, the painted sets. Today, it looks like a parody of the traditional stagings: and in this sense, it is paradoxically modern."

We kind of agree: NEW RULE @ LA SCALA NO ENCORES FOR ANYBODY XCEPT JUAN DIEGO: JDF IS REQUIRED TO DO THE ENTIRE OPERA AS AN ENCORE @ OPERA CHIC'S HOUSE (AKA LA CASA DE OPERA CHICA) K?

Comments

[Parsifal]

Dear OC, do you have any reviews on the Nabucco del Teatro delle Muse di Ancona? I m particularly interested in Dimitra Theodossiou's debut as Abigaille...

[Donna Anna]

Come on, Cica--when Rolando gets there,let him have his share of glory. You should see the Liceu Elisir. After Una Furtiva Lagrima, the ovation and his response are absolutely touching, a genuine love affair between performer and audience. Slowly, his hand inches up to his heart and then he breaks out into a wonderful, engaging Rolando Villazon grin. One (read: ME) wants to just hug that man. After the bis (sung all the way through, beautifully and if possible, with even more warmth and beauty)and the ovation, he ducks his head and wipes his eyes.
Not to take anything away from JDF--never. We're just so *$#! lucky to have these amazing performers. Viva los latinos!!!!

[Opera Chic]

>>>Dear OC, do you have any reviews on the Nabucco del Teatro delle Muse di Ancona? I m particularly interested in Dimitra Theodossiou's debut as Abigaille...

Sorry, no...but if any come my way, I will mos def send them your way.

>>>> Slowly, his hand inches up to his heart and then he breaks out into a wonderful, engaging Rolando Villazon grin. One (read: ME) wants to just hug that man.

Beautiful gestures, Donna Anna...from an elegant man. If I ever see Villazon wandering the streets of Milan (stranger things have happened), I will give him a big hug from you!

[Gianni Schicchi]

"Scala, Flórez’s Encore Breaks A Taboo"
I remember the "Va pensiero" being encored in the 1986 Nabucco conducted by Muti. Taboo?

[ellie]

OC--on a somewhat more serious note (hope I´m not being a drag)--what do you make of Florez´s bold move? Having openly voiced his unhappiness because of not having Dessay by his side (who clearly backed out because of disdain for Lissner´s treatment of her ailing fellow-french colleague), was Florez also telling Lissner that he sh--ts upon his strict, traditional approach to running the house? I love Florez, and would love to hear him sing a cameo aria any day, anytime, but isn´t it almost disrespectful to the house to go against the rules like that? How did the audience react?

[Donna Anna]

Mille grazie, bella! I wondered why he isn't singing at La Scala until I checked out his schedule. OMG....maybe in 2012!

[Opera Chic]

> Taboo?

as you can read belowin the Chaliapin post, the chorus was allowed to do 3 encores since Toscanini's time (twice for Va Pensiero, once for Oh Signore dal tetto natìo).

soloists were never allowed that -- Callas, Tebaldi, Kraus, Domingo, Pavarotti, you name it. no soloist was allowed an encore, no matter how wild the cheering.

the last encore by a soloist happened in 1933, so I guess yes, it qualifies as a bit of "taboo".

[Opera Chic]

> who clearly backed out because of disdain
> for Lissner´s treatment of her ailing
> fellow-french colleague

mostly, she thought that the Zeffirelli 1959 staging was very lame, and then she pulled out. she's right, frankly.

> isn´t it almost disrespectful
> to the house to go against the
> rules like that?

stay tuned for a Scala management reaction post later, or tomorrow!

> How did the audience react?

OMG JUAN DIEGO BRAVO OMG BRAVO SI SI SI!!!

[ellie]

Thanks for the in-depth response. I still suspect that despite Dessay´s claim that it was because of the old sets, her decision may have been strongly influenced by what went down with Alagna. How many singers cancel at the last minute because the scenery isn´t new? And I suspect that Florez´s behavior was in the same vein. Of course we´ll never know. I look forward to your posts about the house´s response. These scandals certainly give us something to talk about!

[ellie]

OMG! I just (belatedly) read your post about the last singer to pull this stunt--it must be the sign of a communist uprising! What is happening to the world? (Just joking);-)

[Mei]

I totally agree with Donna Anna about Villazón's Elisir performance at Liceu. The last singer that encored Una furtiva lagrima was Alfredo Kraus and, believe me, that was an ovation I'll never forget.

I can assure that with Villazón the ovation was very similar. What happened at the theater that evening, between the singer and the audience was magical.

This is the reason I don't understand why La Sacala is so rigid about encores. Encores is what makes a difference between a good performance and a superb one.

[ellie]

"Encores is what makes a difference between a good performance and a superb one"
??
I think that the performance, if superb, does not need an encore to be considered superb. That is not to diminish your appreciation of how magical an encore can be. Still, there is something to be said for the opera ending when it ends--that is magical--that we are transported and remain in the story line, for one thing. Another argument is that the music industry is practically forcing cameo arias down our throats because people don´t have the attention spans to watch entire operas. Villazon gives plenty of high-paid concerts, where he sings one aria after another--all riveting, I´m sure. Florez I consider in another class of singers.

[fignaz]

I go back & forth with myself on this encore business and usually end up saying, "it depends." Many composers expected them since it was the practice of the time. At the end of arias like "Una furtiva lagrima" & "Pour mon âme," they bring the music to a full stop to accomodate & even invite an audience reaction, which might or might not include a bis. So there really isn't any breaking of the flow of the piece as such with an encore of one of these set pieces (particularly in a comic opera). Even Verdi, whom some characterize as "anti-bis," complains as late as FALSTAFF that German theaters weren't allowing the title character the repeat of "Quando ero paggio" which had become common in Italy. While I wouldn't like to hear Falstaff encoring his bit, I see no problem musically or dramatically with what Florez did in FILLE or Villazon in ELISIR. The biggest problem, I feel, is not musical but political, by which I mean singer X throwing a fit because he/she was denied an encore & singer Y wasn't. And tangentially related: if you bring back encores, then you bring back in a major way the claque.

[Mei]

I don't pretend to have encores every now and then, only in very moving performances.

JDF is a very talented singer and his performances in this role are very moving. Ellie, don't forget it is the singer who encores. It's up to him to decide, wisely, when to encore.

[Donna Anna]

Everyone makes good points about this practice. Clearly there's a house policy and then, as was pointed out, it's up to the singer. Rolando also encored Una furtiva lagrima in Vienna. If you watch the videos enough (what makes you think I do?), you can see him give a subtle cue to the conductor to go for it. I've never heard encores in the USA--with the exception of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Pinafore's Bell Trio, Mikado's Flowers That Bloom in the Spring, and Pirate's With Catlike Tread always get encored--whether they should be or not. It just adds to the fun.

[ellie]

There is something exciting, and even very personal, about hearing a singer give an encore. I think fignaz summed it up, though, when he said that biggest problem is not musical but political. It allows a singer to put himself back in the spotlight, which can enrage other fragile egos. I would add that in this case, given Lissner´s struggles to maintain "order" at La Scala, Florez´s decision was clearly provocative. As far as Villazon giving encores in Vienna and elsewhere, I personally don´t think you can compare. Villazon does not sing at La Scala, where another standard and stricter tradition are meant to be upheld. Conservative as I am, this is how I see it.