Rome's "Wozzeck" In Memory Of Rome's Victims Of The Shoah

On November 3, 1942, Alban Berg's Wozzeck, banned in Germany as degenerate art, had its Italian premiere at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (then Teatro Reale). Rome's opera house has gracefully chosen to dedicate their recent season premiere -- another Wozzeck, this time staged by Giancarlo Del Monaco and conducted by maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti -- to the memory of the 1,024 Roman Jewish citizen who in October 1943 were kidnapped by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. Ticket prices for the performance had been heavily marked down to a very affordable 20-30 euros.

Corriere della Sera hailed the production's minimalist staging as a "genius" premise, Jean-Philippe Lafont's "impressive" "voice" and "charisma", Gelmetti's "natural" talent for conducting music written by very different composers; big props to Janice Baird's "musicalissima Marie", "most musical Marie".

(production photos courtesy of www.janicebaird.com)

Comments

[willym]

The dedication and offer of affordable tickets was a great thing for the Teatro management to do - it was the only commemoration I recall seeing. I didn't attend that performance but had tickets for the matinee the following Sunday. Wozzeck wasn't part of the subscription and the house was, sadly, half-full. Sadly because Wozzeck is a masterpiece and musically it was an extremely fine performance; however I'm afraid I can't agree with Corriere's review of the staging. As I mentioned in my post after that performance (http://willyorwonthe.blogspot.com/2007/10/we-got-culture-we-got-couth.html) I felt that dramatically the only tension was the fear for the singers tackling the steep rake of the set. And what I have trouble forgiving Del Monaco for is that he sapped the last scene of all its emotional power (and no I don't just mean the hobby horse.) Well at least it wasn't set in a men's washroom or an abitoir so I guess we can be thankful for that.

[jpcd]

good article.
"Shoah" is the Hebrew word for "Holocaust"
of course.... hard to believe that the
Italians were once so in league with the
Nazis.....I recommend "Garden of The Finzi-Continis" if you've never seen it...
a treat...esp good for residents of Italy to see...

[Matthias]

I would love to Wozzeck live. I never had the chance... and now that I am back to Boston, the city without opera, chances are even worse...

oh, well