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Elegantly wasted, we prepare for the New Year's Eve festivities and send a big fat BUON ANNO NUOVO to OC's readers. Coming back to our regular programming schedule when the cloud of vintage bubbly finally leaves the sky above our heads.
(the awesome image above, of our uncle Bill and auntie Charlotte, was taken by Jurgen Teller for Marc Jacobs)
As OC sits down with some Louis Roederer Cristal (with a side of panettone), she extends the warmest Christmas wishes to all of her readers, everywhere.
(A scene from The Fashion, coming to an opera house [not] near you in January, '08)
Contemporary Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli -- who throughout the years has given us memorable hits such as Linzer Stahloper, Keplers Traum, Frau Frankenstein, and Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit -- is bracing for a world premiere of his latest operatic dabbling titled The Fashion. Raise your hand if you feel like there’s something amiss from the title. Like "The fashion...WHAT WHAT"? The Fashion Addict, The Fashion Files, The Fashion Zone. o gawrd give me sumthing n e thing here...
Opening January 26, 2008 at the Düsseldorf opera house, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, The Fashion is being billed as "a black comedy, in a very British style, about the fashion industry", and promises a full submersion into the world of fashion, with teasers of dueling catwalk stars, feuding stylists, and gender benders. And then there’s this plot summary:
"[The Fashion is] shot through with eroticism and sexual ambiguities: the protagonist is a catwalk star, a model named Tarquin, who’s the toyboy of the stylist from Milan, Maria Maria (Jeanne Piland) and the attractive Mel’s rival, and who turns out to be a woman (Kristen Leich)!"
Awesome. The story has been penned British librettists Bob Goody and Dan Jemmett, and is directed by Michael Simon. Tenor hottie Steven Harrison will be singing one of the leads [as it is written on his website], already having collaborated with the crew in a prior Faust @ Düsseldorf earlier this year.
Conductor John Fiore will hopefully lead the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra to a wickedly fashionable victory! And as someone who owns 14 cheetah-print scarves from Roberto Cavalli's colletion for H&M, I think I know what "fashion" is. \(º_o)/
Now here is a good excuse to insert some pictures of shirtless tenor Steven Harrison as seen in director Michael Simon's take on Faust. Sorry guy, but you'll definitely have to shave ur chest for The Fashion. Enjoy the warmth now while u can, u silly little cub!
Juan Diego Florez, who is clearly aiming for the future destruction of the Tito Schipa legend by dethroning poor dear Tito and installing himself on the overlordy throne of Greatest Tenore Di Grazia Who Ever Inhabited This Sorry Planet, is about to give Catalan music lovers the greatest Xmas gift like evar: this coming Sunday at Barcelona's Liceu, with Joyce Di Donato (whose official website will rudely resize your FireFox window, so please don't visit it), he will appear in Rossini's Cenerentola. A work much appreciated at Casa Opera Chic and wildly dissed by the Telegraph's otherwise perceptive Rupert "McCrankykinz" Christiansen.
Want a ticket to dive into that warm soothing pool of JDF vocal magic? For just about ten bucks, or
it can be yours!
No Crankykinz need apply.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony will kick the NY Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel to the curb this Fall -- showing NYers how it's done with a little bit of West Coast flava -- by opening Carnegie Hall's 2008-09 season on September 24, 2008 in a Lenny Bernstein love-fest titled, "Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds". Lending star presence will be Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, and The Hampy-Hamp Thomas Hampson.
The NY Philharmonic has devoted its upcoming season to the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of Lenny's b-day, and the 50th anniversary of his appointment as Music Director. The Lenny festival will present 30 events (from the opening of the season until December 13, 2008) such as symposia, exhibitions, and film screenings, with many concerts narrated by his daughter, Jamie.
Highlights ahoy, like a November concert with Gustavo Dudamel & the Israel Philharmonic performing Lenny's Halil and Jubilee Games. We might have to rearrange our US vacations for some of these events.
Three years without la signorina Renata: on December 19, 2004, Renata Tebaldi ("la voce d'angelo" -- Toscanini's words) left this earth.
Teatro Regio di Parma and some private sponsors have decided to honor the magic of Tebaldi's voice by creating a museum that will present her memorabilia -- more than 50 original costumes, jewels, documents, even her famous vintage travel trunks.
Photographer/Designer/Professional Provocateur Oliviero Toscani will design the Museum. The management of Teatro Regio di Parma has explained that the beautiful castle of Torrechiara on the outskirts of Parma will be transformed into a Tebaldi museum. If you think that Toscani, between épater the public with campaigns centered around photographs of (ALL following links NSFW, repeat, NSFW) horses having secks, meaty human hearts, of pen1ses and newborn babies and men dying of AIDS, of hot priests kissing nuns, and anoxeric women posing as pin-ups, is also a devoted opera fan, think again:
"I never imagined that I'd be involved in a classical music project -- Toscani said -- I am not an expert in the field, I know the names of the biggest singers and conductors, but I never thought I'd be chosen for such a job: that's why I accepted, it's never too late to learn!"
We have no beef with Ollie, we might even like him, but please, please, no horse pen1ses for la signorina Renata's museum. Please.
At 19, she was the youngest performer ever chosen for the Met's Young Artists' Program, and she was simultaneously picked for the role of Barbarina in a production of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." Other cast members included soprano Renée Fleming, mezzo Cecilia Bartoli and bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.
"I thought that all my Christmases had come at once," de Niese said.
Danielle de Niese impresses with creamy tops & downloadable wallpaper.
Rupert Christiansen, always a joy to read even if we often disagree, goes all Cranky McCrankykins on poor Rossini, blasting a hole through La Cenerentola, that masterpiece (ROH podcast here), with a rhetorical shotgun.
Despite a couple of lovely tunes and some ingenious ensembles, the musical substance of the opera is jejune and banal, stuffed with perfunctory runs, sequences and cadences, and buttressed with crude orchestration and raw harmony. Rossini wrote much better operas - Tancredi and La Gazza Ladra, for example - which get far less exposure.
Now, Toby Spence is no Juan Diego (duh), and Evelino Pidò is no Bruno Campanella, and you might like Madge or not (we do, o yes, we do), and anyway il maestro Alessandro Corbelli is firmly in the "can-do-no-wrong" team; but seriously, somebody must have badly interfered with il Ruperto's mood to the point that they horribly clouded his judgement.
Because one thing is clear to any clear-headed observer: between the blinding flashes of surreal humor (Dandini, DonMagnifico), the sweet moments of introspection (Angelina) and her big arias that sound ripped from an opera seria, Rossini wrote in Cenerentola -- also thanks to the libretto by Jacopo Ferretti that has the bulletproof structure and the sustained wit of a Hollywood classic from the 1930s -- a timeless masterpiece, one of his most musically sophisticated works, and a bedrock example of his true genius.
One does not need to listen to the very best version out there to figure that out.
Gerald Finley, as J. Robert Oppenheimer, in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of John Adams's Doctor Atomic, directed by Peter Sellars.
La signora Montserrat Caballé and her daughter Montserrat Marti gave a benefit concert at Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theater this past Friday in favor of homeless children; they also met the Patriarch of the Georgian Church, Ilya II.
We don't know if Franco Zeffirelli is advising His Excellency the Patriarch on style issues, but we know for sure that the bearded gentleman in (Viktor & Rolf?) black in the middle could sure use some help.
La signora Caballé, instead, with that voice, even now, is beyond and above any kind of criticism, as she'll always be.
Fnac, one of our frequented places to scope out music, is running a special Callas supplement to honor the 30th anniversary of the diva's passing. They have put out a sweet little catalog of all the Callas cds, dvds, and books. Here below is a sample of pages.
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Frengo Zeffirelli dancing with T.J., played by Ricky Schroder, in his 1979 Jon Voight/Faye Dunaway classic film, The Champ. <(^_^)>
We found this full page ad of Bolle yumminess in Corriere yesterday, the Scala étoil posing in Yamamay briefs (Yamamay is a cheesy & cheap underwear company here) for Unicef, the perfect unity of goodwill & tight abs. As you know, Bolle has been a Unicef Goodwill Abassador since 1999.
We have found the true reason for Barenboim's idiosyncratic flinch, visible on the televised versions of Teatro alla Scala's Tristan und Isolde la prima from December 7, 2007. We hear it from a good source that the rogue teddy bear was hurled @ Barenboim by one of the pissed Fials workers .
//You can find the real version here on teh utoobes @ 6:40.
Italian film and opera legend Franco Zeffirelli says he has agreed to become an image consultant to Pope Benedict XVI.
The pope does not have a "happy image", Zeffirelli tells Italian daily La Stampa in an interview published today.
"Coming after a Pope as telegenic as John Paul II is a difficult task," he said.
Two words: gold lamé. Lots of gold lamé.
~&~&~&~&~&~&~UPDATE&~&~&~&~&~
Here's a cap of the La Stampa print version. Additionally, Frengo said that he wants to be elected to the Vatican to act as a sort of watchdog for protecting the church's image in popular culture, a defender of sacred imagery and faith-based reference. He goes onto cite Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, and how much damage it inflicted.
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A big hello to the readers of Crooks And Liars where our main political girl bluegal took a break from waging war on Christmas & on the baby Jesus and from second-guessing the commander-in-chief, and very kindly linked us.
Antonio Banderas spoke with Argentinean newspaper La Nación de Buenos Aires and revealed that he has been commissioned by the cultural powers that be @ the Junta de Andalucía [the gub'mint of Andalucia] to direct a new version of Bizet’s Carmen in 2010. He also asserted that he is a lover of opera, and claimed to have listened to over 40 different operas this past summer. It's all good...only if Banderas doesn't cast his wife somewhere in this hot mess.
(I am not having intimate relations with this woman, says Anna Netrebko)
Update those score cards -- Anna Netrebko is speaking to the German-language press, and has issued the following statement “Ein für alle Mal: Ich bin nicht lesbisch”.
She felt she had to clear the air after recent rumors arose that she was getting cozy with Ludmilla "Lucy" Diakovska, a German-Bulgarian singer who started as one of the original members of the biggest selling German all-girl pop group called "No Angels", which was born out of the 2000 television talent show "Popstars".
The rumors started when Netrebko met with Lucy via a TV show. Both women have gone on the record to state their apparent disinterest in women.
I mean really, all Netrebko had to say is well, just look at her. ~@_@~
***update***
Anna may have watched too many episodes of Will & Grace, hence the confusion.
Not only la Scala is losing tenor Marcelo Alvarez for both their Andrea Chenier next June and their next Prima, Don Carlos on 12/7/2008, as previously reported; they also lost their most exciting choice for director, Terry Gilliam, who was in charge of giving good ole Chenier a patina of provocative genius and whose choice had generated much international attention for the opera house.
In Gilliam's place, French veteran Nicolas Joel, former Monty Python member and famous film director of masterpieces such as Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys.
The good news is, maybe the orchestra will strike again, so it doesn't matter who would have directed the opera because nobody will see it!
Our most beloved, drunkenly-enraged, homophobic, anti-Semite, fallen Hollywood actor has shared with the world that he has other hobbies than h8ing on, well, almost every minority out there. He was spotted at Tuesday night’s Katherine Jenkins/Darcey Bussell Viva La Diva extravaganza in London (that Opera Chic covered in detail here), and declared himself an opera and ballet lover.
In his eloquent words, “When I was a kid I used to go and look at opera and ballet.” Having a “go and look” at an opera is like coincidentally walking by the opera house while you happen to be downtown picking-up your dry cleaning. What the hell is that? He is also quoted on Viva La Diva saying, "I loved it. I thought it was great. They are both amazing talents. I sat there with a smile on my face the whole time.”
C’mon Mel. That's just the liquor talking. Or he was under the influence of Jenkins' scary rack.
Poor Daniel Barenboim.
We really feel like giving him a cookie now: here's a cookie, Maestro.
He's a world-class pianist and conductor, a writer, a peace activist, and a humanitarian: he arrived at la Scala after the stormy Muti years (19) and everybody assured him that the very tense situation of trouble-prone la Scala would vanish, and his arrival would be justly celebrated as a great triumph for the opera house and its future, and rightly so.
Instead.
Instead the Scala unions canceled his two Verdi Requiems (one at la Scala, one in Parma) in memory of Arturo Toscanini, they disrupted the rehearsals for his Tristan Und Isolde with endless union meetings, they barely allowed the premiere and the second show to be staged and then they went on strike again, against their Maestro Scaligero (the only other conductor to obtain the prestigious title of guest conductor was Wilhelm Furtwaengler).
An "appalled and saddened" -- a source told Opera Chic -- Barenboim flew to Berlin immediately after the strike was declared earlier today (he has a Don Giovanni there); Scala GM Stephane Lissner, who had agreed to find in the cash-strapped Scala coffers (as reported here on Opera Chic, they keep losing sponsors and city government funding, millions of euros of loss) 3.2 MILLION euros for the end of the year bonus, and Lissner has also succesfully lobbied the central government to change the laws (the so-called Legge Asciutti) that at the moment make it illegal for him to greenlight a new comprehensive bonus package for his more than 1,000 workers.
And 60 orchestra players, after getting their share of the bonus and agreeing to go ahead with la Prima, went on strike earlier today, as we reported as it happened a few hours ago (scroll down 2 posts).
Which opens a question: if the three unions that gather most of the Scala workers (CGIL, CISL, UIL) cannot basically guarantee the management that after an agreement has been found the operas and concerts will indeed happen, what is the point of dealing with them in the first place?
Seriously. Why should one waste one's time if they cannot control the situation after an agreement has been found?
This was a very bad day indeed. Today a Milanese court awarded the family of a Scala worker who died in 2000 at 56 of a rare lung ailment 200,000 euros in damages: the man had apparently been hurt by asbesto particles present in the Scala stage machines.
BREAKING NEWS
60 workers of Fials union -- you know, the ones who wanted to wear black armbands in sign of mourning for not getting enough money for their Christmas bonus -- decided to strike this coming Sunday at la Scala.
No Tristan, then.
But they will get the 3,200,000 euros bonus anyway!
SuXxorZ for you if u had tkts! lol
Two days ago, the New York Philharmonic held a press conference to announce a new venture within the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: acting as cultural ambassadors, Executive Director Z.Z. Zarin Mehta will send the NYPhil to the DPRK for a two-day musical festival in the capital Pyongyang, ending with a concert on February 26, 2008 under Maestro Maazel. This will be the first time an American orchestra has ever played in the DPRK, and hope they will act accordingly, wearing shorts, firing semi-automatic weapons, munching on twinkies, popping ritalin, and drinking starbucks frapps as they sit in the pit.
The New York Post, one of NYC’s most entertaining newspapers (it costs a freaking quarter) that consistently creates the lamest headlines ever (In May 2007, when NY Yankee's hitter Alex Rodriguez, a.k.a "A-Rod" was seen taking out a blond who wasn't his wife, their headline screamed "STRAY-ROD") fires back hilariously in an ALL CAPS 22 font article, “SYMPHONY FOR THE DEVIL”, and goes on to document a laundry list of offenses from the North Korean government under their most entertaining royalty, Kim Jong-Illiest. We're siding with The New York Post on this one based on headline alone. A++
You'd think that institutions such as the US government (Callas was a NYC-born US citizen), the Greek Government (Callas took Greek citizenship in order to dissolve her first marriage and be able to remarry), the Italian government (Callas lived here for 20 years, married an Italian, became a star here), la Scala, the Met and other opera houses around the world would actually have 42,000 euros (US $60,000) to spare to buy at Sotheby's auction last night in Milan Maria Callas's annotated scores.
Instead a private citizen, and unabashed Callas lover, il signor Bruno Tosi, saved the scores from ending up in the hands of somebody who'd stash them away somewhere forever or, even worse, an investment fund that'd bury them in some safe somewhere, waiting to be resold page by page at a future date to maximize the investment.
So, a big thank you to signor Tosi and big, fat "booo" to all the abovementioned, myopic institutions.
Tosi, a devoted Callas scholar and collector, is planning to create a Callas museum in Venice: let us hope the project comes to life soon.
The Milan Sotheby's Maria Callas auction @ Palazzo Broggi [shown above] was pretty much the coolest thing to happen in Milan in a while, and OC made it her duty to keep you all in the loop. You can find previous threads addressing the anticipated auction here, here, and most recently here. There were two sessions today to auction off the personal effects of La Maria: Lots 1-156 had gone on the block @ 3:00 pm consisting of letters, documents, and images, while the remaining lots 157-317 went down @ 6:30 pm, consisting of art, furniture, clothes, jewels, and other assorted things. btw, word from the front is that everything sold in the second round, with bidders holding tenaciously to their claimed booty, and even the unsold letters reportedly not sold in Round I finally did sell!
(Above: A shot from the Sotheby's 30 euro auction catalog)
Maria Callas e il suo Pigmalione: Gli anni con Giovanni Battista Meneghini (“Maria Callas and her Pygmalion: Her life wiht Giovanni Battista Meneghini”) had opened to the public five days prior for exciting viewing sessions at the Milan Sotheby’s headquarters, and revealed intimate treasures from the life of la Divina. All the items were sold to Sotheby's by Meneghini's estate heirs, all items from his former home on Italy's Lake Garda and Paris, where he had organized and protected her belongings meticulously.
The first lot began with a 1958 telegraph from Maria to Aga Khan; a letter to Elvira Leonardi Bouyeure (a.k.a Biki), her Milanese fashion designer friend, who created many of her gowns and everyday outfits; Reel 2 reels of Maria’s performances; a letter she wrote to Time Magazine after errors appeared in a November 1956 story on her; a document called, "My Defense" about the case brought against her by Richard Bagorozy and all the subsequent correspondence; hundreds of b/w & color photos collected in albums; opera contracts from 1947-55; two letters from Marlene Dietrich; 54 gramophone records of various performances; jewelry-purchased receipts; a Malibran autograph collection; an autographed Ponchielli music sketch for la Gioconda; 250 opera scores; telegrams from Zeffirelli, Visconti, Toscanini, Serafin; and finally, tons of oil paintings of still lives, lots of Byzantine Christ and Italian Renaissance crucifixions, annunciations, and Madonna & childs.
Lot two began with a marble sculpture of Dionysus; wood castanets given to la Callas by Antonio Ruiz Soler in 1959; complete porcelain Limoges dining sets, and more service from all over England, Germany, and Japan; walnut cupboards; chandeliers; 18th century chairs and mirrors; more silver plates, bowls, and trays than imaginable under one roof; tons of gold jewelry, pins, bracelets, necklaces, especially those from Cartier; Callas & Meneghini's Weingrill 1949 wedding bands; various gold medallions given from all over Italian provinces; a huge collection of gold coins; and finally, her wardrobe, most of it made by close friend Elvira Leonardi Bouyeure (Biki) with and her brother-in-law designer Alain Reynaud, and more gowns by Arnell, Biki, Malcom Starr, Yves Saint Laurent, and Dior.
Now let's see look @ some of the more awesome listings!
(Above: Image of Callas and Meneghini in Rome in 1956)
(Above: Image of Leonard Bernstein and Maria, with the inscription, "For my beloved Maria from her almost-lover Lenny B. Paris, Nov. '76")
(Above: An autographed photograph of Gioachino Rossini, given to Maria in 1967)
(Above: 18th century silver tray with velvet and "M.C." initials.)
(Above: 20th century, four piece set of vanity items in silver, ivory, and malachite, photo from her house in 1955.)
(From the wedding in Verona in 1949, gold wedding rings inscribed with 'Maria Batista 21-4-1949'.)
(Above: Collection of various medals, given to Maria from various Italian cities)
(Above left-to-right: House dress by Arnell, black velvet house dress by Biki, house dress in green nylon, caftan in chiffon by Malcom Starr.)
(Above: Biki from the end of the 1960s, "Callas wore this dress in August 1969, in Monte Carlo, during a break in the acting of Medea, the film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and produced by Franco Rossellini.)
(Above: "Callas wore this gown in Paris,1965, to a party given by Guy de Rothschild accompanied by Onassis and also at a reception at the Odeon in Paris, in 1966")
Sweetness...
*~*~*~*~*UPDATE!!!!!!!!!1*~*~**~*~*~*~:
Sotheby's earlier reported Lot #8, consisting of 63 love letters between Callas and her husband, did not sell during the Lot I auction.
However, we've just heard that they finally did sell Lot #8, all 63 love letters, during the evening 6:30 pm Lot II auction.
YAY FOR EVARY1!!!!!!!!!!
@ the Milan Sotheby today are two seperate auctions for "Maria Callas e il suo Pigmalione: Gli anni con Giovanni Battista Meneghini" (Maria Callas and her Pygmalion: Her life with Giovanni Battista Meneghini). Earlier this afternoon (@ 3pm to be exact), Lots 1-156 were sold -- and starting @ 6:30, Lots 157-317 will have their go.
According to a Sotherby rep, the only items that failed to go to the highest bidder at this afternoon's auction were the 63 love letters (all written in pencil: see above)from Callas to her husband, Meneghini. Sotheby's valued the letters at around 70,000.00 euros ($103,000.00 USD). However, the bidding didn't go higher than 38,000.00 euros ($56,000.00), and remained unsold. Here's the official description of Lot #8:
63 signed love letters to her husband, with 12 telegrams, 18 notes, 12 postcards, 2 signed photos, 1947-1950, "This remarkable series document the initial love affair and marriage of Callas and G. B. Meneghini, her early career throughout Italy and her tours of South America in 1949-1950."
Any German-speaking tenors out there?
Anybody up for a five-hour Wagnerian marathon?
Poor Ian Storey seems to have run out of steam after two performances -- last night @ la Scala, after the first act the former rugby player was heavily tackled by Wagner's notes, and finished the night -- the three hours of music left -- in very underwhelming shape.
He has no understudy ready to take over the role.
There are five more performances of Tristan Und Isolde, 25 more hours on stage.
Not only did L’uomo Vogue Italia gift us with a spread on Juan Diego Flórez [see post below], but we were further treated to a large piece on Roberto Bolle in an article called, “une grande étoile”, with photos by Deborah Turbeville, in an update from an earlier summer edition reported on here.
Bolle goes grey for this photoshoot, and loads of text follow that OC is soooo not reading: 8 pt white font on a black background? Sry my vote can’t be bought. Whatever~ Bolle fo lyfe. He's going to make such a hawt old man...granted his muscles are going to turn to fat and he'll start eating all that good, buttery risotto and fatty lardo on toast and cioccolata calda, and get this huge, floppy gut. More to love, eh?
L'uomo Vogue Italia revisits the magic duo of their luglio/agusto issue, which OC reported on here, with a follow-up of the Roberto Bolle/Juan Diego Flórez KO sucka punch [stay tuned next for Bolle].
Over the summer we saw the L’uomo Vogue feature "Private People and Their Own Style", and highlighted the spread of JDF photographed by Bryan Adams. Here in the dicembre issue (with Snoop Dogg on the cover), we find a few outtakes and a small write-up of our favorite Peruvian from Peru.
The article doesn’t divulge anything that hasn’t been heard before: amazement @ Flórez's multifarious accomplishments, his flawless voice & seamless acting, his grace & beauty, his rise to fame, the important players, the life lessons, etc…
But this time, JDF name-drops someone in the industry outside of opera, by mentioning an encounter with Salma Hayek, relaying that time when she asked him all about the strange idiosyncrasies of opera acting. It’s all good, JD, we’d mention Hayek, too, if we knew her and her billionaire husband, François-Henri Pinault, head of PPR, who owns Gucci, YSL, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen (just to name a few). Own it like it’s yours, JDF, we'll never give you any static. They could publish pictures of you kicking kittens and clubbing baby seals, and we’d still <3 u. Even with that mullet in the last picture...
(Above: The image was faux aged/washed-out...think old Kokachrome from the late 70s...not crappy photoshop skillz)
Live in Milan for a few years, and you’ll begin to reshape your cultural icons and local heroes. Here it is undeniable that Milan & Maria Callas share an inextricable link, and one that cannot be severed. With every passing of a Callascentric event, the city of Milan commemorates appropriately, leaving 2007 – the 30th anniversary of Callas’s passing – duly celebrated. Accordingly, Milan’s Museo di Storia Contemporanea on via Sant'Andrea 6 is running an exhibit titled, “Divina! Maria Callas tra Moda e Mito” (Between Style and Myth), an exploration of fashion, costume, and the diva style of la Callas. The exhibition opened a few days ago, and runs until January 20, 2008. It's totally free, and open Tuesday - Sunday from noon to 7pm.
(Image from within the exhibition "Divina! Maria Callas tra Moda e Mito")
The city of Milan asked a selection of 23 of the most prestigious modern fashion designers to tap into the myth of one of the greatest opera singers of the twentieth century, and to freely design for Maria Callas a gown or outfit based on her most laudable qualities, as an icon of style, in either contemporary or classic style, to showcase her beauty and elegance. The task was to present a dress that Maria would have worn on stage, on vacation, at a party socializing with her admirers…something pulled from their collective imagination or created in a fantasy. For instance, Angela Missoni was most enamored with Maria's "lean, sophisticated, statuesque" form, and evoked these attributes in her design, a column-like ribbon gown. Other artists who participated were Emilio Pucci, Etro, the house of Gianni Versace, Gucci, Gianfranco Ferré, Laura Biagiotti, Missoni, Prada, Roberto Cavalli, Trussardi, and Valentino.
(A screenshot from Pasolini's Medea)
Each artist gave a statement about la Callas, and the words hung on wall text behind each gown. John Richmond wrote, "Maria Callas, a marvelous talent and a disarming beauty. Her artistic achievements were so complex that it is difficult to find a significant synthesis of her style. An eclecticism in her image, a pure reflection of that voice, has left an immense heritage of incredible inspiration to rework."
(Quote from Giuseppe Di Stefano: "She wanted to become perfect, the queen of the jet set. She wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but behind it all she lived waiting for love.")
Speakers that run throughout the gorgeous & pristine exhibition space pump la Callas's arias overhead, and there are two multimedia displays: the first is a slide show of intimate and personal snapshots (we see the chunky teenage Maria, and loads of young Maria in family portraits), and the second is a large projection of behind-the-scenes during the filming of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Medea. Also stenciled to the wall were quotes on la Divina from those closest to her: Giuseppe Di Stefano, Franco Zeffirelli (our Frengo compares her to Michelangelo! GO FRENGO), Biki, and Luchino Visconti.
Below, find a tiny selection of the marvelousness that you find in the exhibit (which, for the record, all looked amazingly hawter in person). ONTO THE GOWNS!!!!!!!
(Above: A close-up of Roberto Cavalli's dream for la Callas)
(Above: Prada's cape and short dress...it was made of all black feathers, delicate jewels, all meshed onto the most transparent veiling. But because of the weird tungsten+natural light, the camera captured it in purple. This one was like 100% more stunning in person, by far one of OC's favorite, think shiny deep black.)
(Above: Trussardi's red red red gown in leather and silk)
(Above: Gattinoni's crazy insane creation)
(Above: Next to the Pucci, Cavalli)
(Above: another fabulous creation)
(Above: A gorgeous satin and fur gown)
(Above: This is one we really could have imagined la Callas in.)
(Above: This one is from Etro, click for bigger. The image on the right is a view from the backside of the fur shawl)
(Above: John Richmond's take on la Callas, note the trademark S&M metal chain and cross: la Maria will whip you into submission, and if you happen to prefer La Tebaldi, off with your head!)
The Guardian interviews Editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, one of the top dawgs of the Condé Nast dynasty, Mr. Graydon Carter, who describes behind-the-scenes operations of VF what he imagines would be like running NYC's Metropolitan Opera.
He says that running Vanity Fair, "[...] 'is like running the Metropolitan Opera in a way'. All those egos. Some of them schmoozers of the very famous, some of them off to Afghanistan for six months, Christopher Hitchens, for God's sake. How does he wrangle them?"
We're not sure what that's alla bout, but if anything, the impeccably-dressed Carter should take over the MET for at least a week, provided that he gives MET GM Peter Gelb a fashion makeover -- maybe bringing co-Condé-companion Anna Wintour along?
We couldn't help but notice Mistah Gelb at the Lucia di Lammermoor September 24, 2007 opening night of the 2007-08 Metropolitan Opera season (below with Netrebko)...who looked quite dapper, but was rocking a wildy familiar look to that of the 2006-07 season opener one year prior.
(source)
Now here's the Gelbster one year prior at the September 25, 2006 Madama Butterfly opening night of the 2006-07 Metropolitan Opera season (with Mercedes Bass).
(source)
GRAYDON CARTER GET UR A$$ OVER TO THE MET OFFICES POST HASTE! We have a fashion emergency!
Die Wiener Staatsoper für Kinder, Vienna Opera's special abbreviated opera program for children, has introduced 5-megapixel technology into their production with a supporting role as big as the singers.
Wagner's Nibelungenring [für Kinder], directed by Matthias von Stegmann in an appropriate 1-hour version, features the Samsung SGH-G800 mobile phone, which has such a [gigantically-financially-rewarding product placement package] large supporting role, it's even mentioned in the cast listing. The Samsung phone is apparently used as a modern allegory of the magic wand and used to take a picture of the sleeping Brünnhilde, shown to Siegfried. Nicely, the phenomenon has spun-off an entertainingly-enough engadget caption contest.
We're all for Samsung and their awesome blackjack phones and sweet plasmas that we use daily, but this is a little out of hand. Product placement and viral marketing on the opera stage is pretty weak. I'd be so much more behind this idea if I was posting from my shiny sweet *comped* Samsung blackjack or my R series Samsung notebook.
omg machines r taking over the world! First they came for my hand-rolled pasta, but I did not speak out because I was on Atkins. Then they came for my Starbucks espresso machines, but I did not speak out because I just wanted my caffeine. Now they come for my opera, my precious opera, and there is no one to speak out but me!
Sailors, closets, showers, Bellini and Private Displays of Affection -- l'extase du locker room according to Jean Paul Gaultier (NSFW).
Another version (again, NSFW) is here.
"Making of" promo here, with the inevitable Puccini bonus.
Katherine Jenkins, her b00bs and her mike (see photo above) sang for Camilla & Charles at the naming of new ocean liner Queen Victoria.
Insert joke here.
All ears were on poor Ian Storey/Tristan at la Scala the other night (after all, Barenboim wanted Burkhard Fritz and had to settle for the British singer): but Juha Uusitalo (Wotan or the Terminator, we can't decide, here surrounded by Maori Valkyries in war paint) tried to perform in "Die Walkuere", at the Vienna Staatsoper, and ended up miming.
Seriously.
A new production of Wagner's ``Die Walkure'' at the Vienna Staatsoper included an unscheduled appearance Sunday night by the company's general manager, Ioan Holender.
...
Stepping in front of the curtain before the start of the third and last act, Holender told us Wotan had conked out. The obviously ailing Finnish baritone Juha Uusitalo would mime the god's long duet with Brunnhilde while Oskar Hillebrand would sing the role from the side of the stage where he indeed soon appeared with a music stand.
That the great Staatsoper didn't have an understudy ready to go is more embarrassing than Holender let on in his jokey and excessively long explanation.
Had it happened at la Scala, can you imagine all teh jokes about the Italians improvisionational skillz and their general lameness ?
Where's Walter Fraccaro when you need him????
(photo AP/Lilli Strauss)
How cool is it that the Italian newspapers carry front page headlines from Teatro alla Scala's December 7th la prima? The season opener was widely covered in Italian media, and of course, here on the Opera Chic blog. We only picked-up Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica [ed: updated with La Stampa] @ the newstands for the coverage, and already there was too much to read!
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(**Please go here if you're looking for Marcelo Alvarez's surprise La Scala cancellations...)
OC gets down on her knees and sends giant, soft kisses to Classica Italia for last night's re-broadcast of the December 7, 2007 Tristan und Isolde live from Teatro alla Scala. How sweet it was to stay in last night and nurse my lingering Tristan und Isolde hangover with the hair of the dog that bit me: moar vagnair. Although this time, Triscuits Underpantsies went much better with OC draped across the couch, wrapped in 00s Eres & 90s Paul Costelloe under a 80s Bardelli cream cashmere blanket & sipping on some gin & juice Cremes Gaja red. Yah, it was teh bomb and yah u wish u were here.
We have to say that live, Barenboim's warmth and delicate mastery of the orchestra didn't translate as we had wished to the plasma, nor did the impact of Meier's acting. The suckiness of Act II lulled me again to sleep, but I was roused promptly by some of Meier's howling. So it's all good.
Here below are screenshots of the spectacle. And damn...on 42" plasma, Meier's forehead barely cracked an inch under her most forced of laments. And now the legal stuff: The following shots are pictures taken from a television broadcast, and are not promotional materials of Teatro alla Scala.
Above: Act I, The chorus & Kurwenal, sung by Gerd Grochowski
Above: Act I, scenery.
Above: Act I, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde.
Above: Act I, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde.
Above: Act I, Ian Storey singing Tristan.
Above: Act II, Waltraud Meier singing Isolde and Brangäne's Michelle De Young
Above: Act II, Ian Storey singing Tristan & Waltraud Meier's Isolde
Above: Act II, Ian Storey singing Tristan & Waltraud Meier's Isolde
Above: Act II, König Marke's Matti Salminen
Above: Act III, Barenboim arrives for Act III's awesomeness
Above: Act III, Dying Tristan & Kurwenal's Gerd Grochowski
Above: Act III, You're all gonna die!
Above: Waltraud Meier's Isolde takes a final bow @ curtain call
Above: König Marke as Matti Salminen @ curtain call
Above: Ian Storey singing Tristan @ curtain call
Above: Barenboim @ curtain call
Above: Director Patrice Chéreau
The Marcelo Alvarez decision to cancel his Scala engagements -- Andrea Chenier next June directed by Terry Gilliam & conducted by Daniel Oren, with Fiorenza Cedolins, and next year's prima, 12/7/2008 in Don Carlos under Daniele Gatti's baton -- opens a big hole in the season's roster, and in next season's too: if Ian Storey got his Tristan part only after Barenboim's first choice -- Burkhard Fritz -- said no, well, losing a big name like Alvarez TWICE opens a huge can of contractual worms.
If we ran la Scala -- and one day we will, oh we will -- we'd hire the best Chenier out there, Fabio Armiliato. But then we'd have hired him from day 1, and Dessì in Cedolin's place. Then, for shock value, we'd hire Alagna for Don Carlos, settling the lawsuit and getting lots of press for it.
And it would all be a lot of fun.
Now, not so much.
Rule # 1 for aspiring conductors: wear comfortable shoes.
Maestro Daniel Barenboim, a most pragmatic man, last night on the podium realized that the powah of Wagner had badly torn one of his shoes. So he came back for Act II wearing a new, borrowed pair of black shoes. That were too tight and uncomfortable, and you don't want to conduct an opera that long in uncomfortable shoes.
So he took them off, for the amusement of the orchestra, and led Act II and III of la prima at la Scala in his socks (one hopes they weren't holes in them).
So much for dress codes.
OC is v a r y s l o o o o w l y recovering from a Wagner-induced hangover today, which not even the strongest caffè macchiato & brioche have yet chased away. Since the last time La Scala performed Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, OC was just planetary fumes, she thought she’d go out in style: I arrived last night @ the Piermarini in Alexander McQueen round, bubble toe platform stilettos with white stitching, sans stockings (c’mon…those are for old Milanese grannies), and a matching McQueen black silk suit: cigarette skirt covering my legs, and a fitted matching jacket with a ribbon tie. Underneath instead of ridiculous jewels (OC wanted to go as minimal as Patrice Chéreau’s streamlined production), I wore a Dior white silk ruffle collar blouse. Then to hold lipstick & cash, a vintage Lanvin patent leather clutch, and over everything, a vintage black Chanel wool jacket found this summer at Resurrection Vintage in Los Angeles (although we passed on the Chanel fanny pack).
Sadly last night, OC was in the minority for her choice of outerwear, as there were more old women in fur than you could shake Toscanin's baton at: fur wraps, fur collars, and miles of fur jackets. It honestly made OC a little queasy, all that old, natty, syrupy fur wrapped around black dresses. And yes, as always, black was the color to be seen in, a safe and predictable wardrobe standby @ the Piermarini. And all VIPs -- doctors, lawyers, former heads of media houses, architects -- all the old European money marking that glistens as bright as the ancestral jewels and that scary plastic surgery on the blondest of former brunettes.
OC arrived easily at the theater, having learned from last year the most crowded and anxiety-ridden routes to avoid. Awesomely, this year was markedly less skankeriffic, and displayed more Milan elegance as opposed to last year’s load of horribly appointed escorts and their balding lawyer pimps. @ this year's Teatro alla Scala la prima, the Italian newspapers have a few lovely photo galleries, which you can find online: 24 photos here, 20 photos here, and 5 photos here [ed: found 7 photos here @ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung].
To describe the scene outside, the police close-off the entire Piazza della Scala, with the statue of Leonardo pleasantly looking on, and many surrounding streets as most arrivals stream from via Manzoni. Cops in riot gear lollls heh and police on horseback roamed the cleared areas in the streets, and tons of tourists and locals stood behind the metal barriers to get a good look at the arriving VIPs. A mountain of paparazzi hovered by the front doors. Across the piazza, there is almost always a large demonstration in front of Palazzo Marino (City Hall) where this year, almost 1K VIP guests would be dining after the performance, making a fuss for the heads of state (this year it was a protest from Alfa Romeo – we want moar hoarspowah!!). Again, this year arriving at the theater under overcast skies (better for OC so she didn’t have to figure out where to put her Tom Ford sunglasses during the performance), but leaving the theater in the cold Milan rain was such a huge pain in the a$$ when hauling around all this gorgeous vintage.
The smell of fresh paint greeted us @ the theater, all the burnt-out bulbs had been replaced, and garlands of red roses were hanging over the central Palco reale (the prestigious President’s Box), where sat Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, with the premiers from Austria, Germany, Qatar, and Greece...among others). There were cameras throughout the auditorium, as the show was being broadcast live via Italian Classica channel, and on the French ARTE channel.
A few minutes after 5’o clock, applause for the five heads of state in the central Palco reale, as Italian president Giorgio Napolitano entered. The lights went down, and then an announcement (in Italian, natch) that requested a moment of silence for a Fiat workers who had died the day before in Torino at the German steelmaker plant ThyssenKrupp. [«La direzione, gli artisti, gli ospiti e i lavoratori del teatro invitano a un minuto di silenzio in commemorazione del grave incidente sul lavoro avvenuto a Torino».]
Everyone stood and kept silent, as we shifted around our clutches. Then a final Grazie to mark the end of the silence, and Barenboim took to the podium in all black: a black button down shirt, black jacket, and black pants. Can’t this man wear a freaking frak for once? White tie it's where it's at. This is la Scala. Then Big B raised his magic wand and led the orchestra in the national anthem.
Applause and show time:
The overture began, showcasing Barenboim’s thorough understanding and embrace of Wagner, washing the audience in the most gorgeous strains of orchestral brilliance. Act I's curtain rose on a very dark and misty stage, Tristan’s ship. Slowly a weak light strengthened, and revealed a stone wall background with a cutaway arch. The arch framed a high platform about the size of a tennis court, where all the action took place, which was nice because it pushed everything to the center of the stage for those @ the theater with not-so-central seats. Luggage, wooden boxes, and steamer trunks were stationed all over the floor, and our Isolde, Waltraud Meier, was crouched in a large, sunken section in the middle. Costumière Moidele Bickel had dressed Meier in a long black jacket of fine wool, with a black silk slip beneath. A long, dirty blond wig covered her normally short reddish, brownish wavyish ‘do. Out came her maid, Brangäne, sung by Michelle De Young, who was equally drab in a long grayish, blue jacket with a matching dress underneath, and a white blond bun pulled behind her head.
The excellent Scala chorus appeared, a mixture of men in port-appropriate clothes, suspenders and lots of pirate caps, and some shirtless, but not like in a hot way. They were also clothed in all grays and blues, gritty, a very smoky palette. Then we hear Kurwenal, Gerd Grochowski, and were pleased. But not with his Dragonballz blond wig. Ew. He was also in a rubbery-looking motorcycle suit, with a gray trench coat too, of course. Tristan's Ian Storey was equally given a long gray trench coat. Brangäne and Isolde had a nice convincing dynamic. Meier was off to a great start in Act I, and I was expecting worse. The dirty-blond extensions worked for her, and she had a great stage presence. After Meier drank, she was wrapped in a red coat, which brought a nice burst of color to the drab stage and scenery. Patrice Chéreau’s overall direction didn’t really work for OC. It came across as totally generic for that minimalist thing. It was just too shallow held against Barenboim’s creamy and full conducting, and was a bad match. With Act I over, the crowds loved it, and answered to the curtain call with feet-stomping and screams of bravi all around.
The first intermission came at 6:30 pm, and OC was gifted with a headache, which was expected. The break was a very long 45 minutes, and Act II began at 7:15 pm. The curtain rose again to gloominess and darkness, another stone wall, blue light coming into the scene from the right, and a few cutouts. König Marke’s castle. I had thought that Act I was barely visible, but this was ridiculous yay. After 45 minutes of intermission, I was expecting um, something more. This act was really terribly boring and lame. Everyone around me seemed to be snoozing, and I can’t honestly deny that I didn’t drift off a few times. Brangäne was in the same costume as Act I, and Meier again in a red robe, very boxy and large. I wasn’t crazy about Ian Storey, which didn’t bring the impression I was searching for. The dynamic between Storey and Meier went well enough, but Meier’s singing took a nosedive, and was barely sustainable.
After their big duet, the back of the castle splits apart, and yay, it’s finally daylight. Two giant pine trees and some better lighting make the action turn a bit more exciting, and my eyes can at last make-out something colorful on the stage. The fight between Melot and Tristan was vary cool, with a very shaolin warrior feel to it with everyone holding long sticks. The second pause came at 8:30 pm, and again lasted for 45 minutes.
At 9:15 pm, we sat for the final installation of Triscuits & Iced Tea. There was insane applause this time when The Big B stepped up to the podium. It was thrilling. Everyone was excited for the prelude, especially OC after suffering through Act II. Which was off the hook. Oh noes, the curtain rose again on that same brick wall. Ugh. This time we had some stairs on the left and a big bed on the right (well, a concrete slab) where Tristan was laying, to represent the castle @ Kareol.
Then Tristan dies, crawling around the stairs, blood all over...Melot dies, and Kurwenal says bi. Meier is singing her butt off, and OC’s mild headache has turned into a throbbing hummingbird. Then Isolde dies, blood on her temple, and it’s over, and it’s 10:30 pm. Dang. Followed ten minutes of applause for the curtain call, and tons of flowers raining down on the stage, singers included.
At the end of the night, we just weren’t impressed with Storey’s Tristan. He saved his a$$ in Act III, but was overall a downer. Meier was much better than expected, and excluding her Act II blow-out, we were happy to have her singing Isolde. Barenboim led the orchestra on a gorgeous Wagner quest that made us not hate his composition a little bit less, although we always truly hate the playa.
Corriere della Sera annually does a special 20-ish-page supplement in their December 7th newspaper (screen shots -- not production stills -- below), which includes interviews, production shots, special advertisements, and the T&I libretto. You can find the link for the December 7, 2007 pdf download here. Enjoy~
Very few notes very late at night after la prima of Barenboim's Tristan Und Isolde -- full review tomorrow because, really, our McQueens are soaked (it went on so long that the mildly cold afternoon -- the performance started at 5PM -- turned into a wet rainy messy Milanese horror winter night by the time we exited la Scala). The paparazzi frenzy + endless Wagner + 40-minutes-long intermissions + the usual horrible hangers on that plague every Prima here + rain on the way to dinner then home = not good.
Daniel Barenboim gave -- as expected -- a textbook performance on how you conduct a classic Wagner (with an orchestra that doesn't really play Wagner more than once every 20 years or so), a delicately precise, loving, warm and muscular piece of conducting. If Barenboim were a watch he'd be one of those beautifully sturdy submarine Rolexes from the 70s.
Waltraud Meier, as expected, showed everybody that no matter how old she gets, time isn't taking her Isolde away -- a crystal clear first act, much trouble in the second, an earth-shattering third, and a death scene that almost paralyzed the entire house with its intensity.
Ian Storey, all ears on him, started out pretty weak and gained confidence in the course of the performance -- a crescendo that saved Barenboim, and the Scala management, the embarrassment of having to explain to pitchfork-wielding Milanese opera lovers why they had chosen someone who hadn't really sung Tristan before and had to learn the part in six months. Nice acting, but how do you avoid being owned by Meier? You don't.
Patrice Chéreau's staging -- his Wagner comeback after his historic Ring 31 years ago -- was surprisingly static and drab, all slate gray sets and gray walls and those horrendous heavy gray overcoats for everybody -- Tristan in the DDR, only even more glum. Like a black and white movie from the old Eastern bloc shot on expired Russian film or something.
The chorus? Maestro Bruno Casoni does not make mistakes. He doesn't. No, he doesn't. That's the Coro del Teatro alla Scala, period -- and he runs it beautifully. He may be the best out there, seriously. It's what he does.
Now OC needs to go to baed; it was a long long night for us who don't worship Wagner.
BREAKING NEWS Posting @ intermission via Blackberry from la Scala, 7PM Milan time; just received by txt msg the news that Karlheinz Stockhausen is dead @ his home near Koln, Germany. he was 79. more much later tonite after Tristan is over
Instead of getting ready for la prima that starts at la Scala in a few hours (5PM Milan time, a 5 hour and a half Wagner/Chereau gloomy extravaganza) Opera Chic took the time to go to Palazzo Broggi check out the Callas loot going on the auction block next week at Sotheby's here in Milan (more pictures tomorrow).
It's strange to actually thumb through Callas's scores, and touch her clothes -- she would have been horrified by the invasion of privacy, obviously.
The Biki dresses are out of this world. The Saint Laurent stuff is pretty cool, too, but there's no comparison. We'd really like the navy blue overcoat -- so you know what to give OC for Hanukkah.
We really hope, as we wrote last month, that her annotated scores are kept together and not scattered. If the Greek govt cannot come up with the cash, I'm sure the US government can spare a couple millions -- the Lord knows they're spending much more for much less noble endeavors. I mean, she did get Greek citizenship eventually to dissolve her Italian marriage. But la Maria was a New Yorker.
We don't care about the love letters, no. Neither should you. They're the tackiest part of the entire lot.
We lightly touched the hem of her fire red jacket the way Catholics touch the relics of their saints.
She was so small.
Last year we had the La Scala chocolates. This year we have the panettone. Today is the feast day of Sant'Ambrogio, one time bishop, now patron saint of Milan, which is marked by the opening of La Scala's new season. Milan reacts kinda like the USA does for the Superbowl, with stores placing la prima themed displays and Italian companies making la prima themed ads. More later, but for now, Cafe Sant Ambroeus on Corso Matteotti, 7 tributes the Milan theater with a candied, sugary display.
(btw...triva: don't be fooled...the Manhattan Sant Ambroeus's (and the Southampton one) are no longer under the domain of our Milanese friends. they sold it off a few years ago.)
(The widown displays of downtown cafe Sant Ambroeus, a wrapped panettone and a candied Tristan und Isolde placard. Below see more detail)
Maria's metronome. Her personal letters. And so much more.
Sotheby's in downtown Milan will auction off next week Maria Callas's treasures (previous OC post here), including an Yves Saint Laurent cape, dresses, and her annotated scores.
***update***
LPs, paintings, dresses. Furniture.
Our beloved Ian Bostridge, former post-doctoral fella at
Corpus Christi, Texas, Oxford, has never been to a pop concert. But he went clubbing with Netrebko, and allows that "there was certain Romanticism in punk - Sid Vicious was an archetypal Romantic tragic figure".
Much moah in this Telegraph interview:
After moving into cabaret, maybe he should go and see his first pop concert? "I saw a documentary about Bob Dylan and would quite like to see him. In the programme they had footage of these old blues guys doing amazing things with their voices. It reminded me of some of the avant-garde music of the 1960s."
He does, however, confess to having gone to his first nightclub last summer, having been persuaded by the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko.
"It was the night before a performance of Don Giovanni in Amsterdam and Anna said, 'Let's go clubbing'. We ended up drinking until four in the morning. I woke up the next day at midday and couldn't even speak, let alone sing. Somehow after four hours I managed to get my voice back. It was a fun night, but I don't think I'll do it again."
In bocca al lupo for tomorrow nite, Ian!
Earlier tonight @ La Scala was a special conference/piano recital honoring the memory of late Italian conductor/composer Victor de Sabata, and the 40th anniversary of his death. He passed away forty years ago from a heart attack, between the nights of the 10th & 11th of December 1967, ten years after he had retired from performing.
Tonight's event was in the Ridotto dei Palchi Toscanini, a small (but beautiful) hall above the la Scala lobby & accessible from the palchi, with inlay hardwood floors, cream walls with accents painted in gold-leaf, gigantic columns spanning floor to ceiling, and three gorgeous chandeliers sheltering above.
Here tonight @ la Scala, was the premiere of de Sabata's piano composition, never before heard in a public venue. A few of de Sabata's piano compositions were recently recorded by young Italian pianist Alessandro Marangoni for La Bottega Discantica, on a CD titled "Victor de Sabata: Composizioni per Pianoforte", thirteen tracks weighing-in a bit over one hour (there's more de-Sabat-as-composer coming out in '08, of that in a later post).
The event was free to the public -- with a spurious catch: the hall holds less than 200 seats, and la Scala had reserved about three-quarters of those seats for VIPs/press/friends-of-friends, so it meant maybe 60 representatives of the general public could gain access, most who were 70+, and had waited an hour and a half outside the theater prior to the performance (a couple brave elderly music lovahs just freezed & passed away, quiet as mice, waiting in the cold -- kidding!).
So, once inside, GM Lissner took the microphone and spoke about the upcoming Tristan und Isolde that everyone (but OC, who'll be there nevertheless) is wetting their pants about. Then it was Eliana de Sabata's turn to speak, the 70-something daughter of the late conductor. She beamed in her white coif and magenta jacket, and was visibly touched by the reception honoring her father. She shared anecdotes of her father when she was younger, and spoke lovingly of la Scala (de Sabata, just like it would happen to Abbado and Muti, was effectively fired by the orchestra players, a weird Milanese tradition).
Then Quirino Principe spoke, another 70-something man/professor/musicologist, who despite having a pretty cool name, mercilessly sucked all the life out of the room, and if there’s one thing I know about all those words is that I didn’t listen to them. OC started to daydream about Die Entführung aus dem Serail set to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Roméo et Juliette with an all-rodent-cast, running mice for Montagues and rats for Capulets and pooping everywhere.
Principe droned-on for so long that he was cut-off mid-sentence about 20 minutes into his synthesis, and was told that Maestro Barenboim needed to get on stage to play like NOW. llloools. It was the best part of the evening. Just when I was praying for divine intervention! Even better...after a minute or two, with no appearance of Barenboim and a very awkward silence, another mic was grabbed and explained that Barenboim was far away from Ridotto, and they had to go find him. 404 BARENBOIM NOT FOUND.
Barenboim arrived, and explained that he never met de Sabata, but could reflect on the conductor by what he heard on CD. He then said it was unfair to judge a man by a taped recording, but went on to share his opinions of de Sabata's greatness. He then gave props to Giulini (another example, Barenboim said, of an Italian conductor who understood deeply German music, just like de Sabata), and said he never had the time to play Juventus (a poema sinfonico, track #13 on the new disc) because he was too busy. Then he sat his pin-striped suit self down at the baby grand piano and played his impression of de Sabata's Habanera.
Then came out pianist Alessandro Marangoni, who then played a few selections from the new CD, including a gran valzer, a marinaresca, a poka, caline, and he finished with “Do You Want Me?” (track 12).
All in all, de Sabata’s composition came across as lively, upbeat, and sweet, and one can’t argue with the wash of capriciousness that swept over the hall and reflected on Eliana de Sabata's face. However, at the end of the night, we'd prefer to remember de Sabata as the great, unsurpassable conductor he was. Everybody who loves opera is familiar with his opera recordings made with Callas, esp that Tosca, you know, that one, the best Tosca ever recorded and the best that ever will be recorded, yeah, that one.
But there's so much more about him, the taciturn, softspoken, fastidiously elegant polyglot Jew from Trieste who politely corrected the Paris Opéra chorus diction in a French opera: his K626 is a dark, frightening wartime meditation on nothingness with a Lachrymosa that keeps slowing down, slower than you would ever think possible, and then you finally get it, Mozart died writing those very measures, and that is de Sabata's farewell to the great man; his Pastorale is simply otherworldy, with the scariest storm you'll ever listen to, and his Eroica is the most German, burnished Eroica ever recorded by a non-German; his Falstaff -- just like Giulini's, many years later -- is rich with dark, unexplored corners at every turn, a comedy in name only, except the finale. And his Macbeth, well, let's just say that in it he makes the orchestra sound as frightening as Callas's voice.
De Sabata -- often accused by the usual windbags of being, of all things, "cold" -- shocks you with the most merciless, measured conducting -- and he uses that restraint to crank up the emotion higher than any "Dyonisian" conductor could ever do. He can do loud better than anybody -- but more often than not, he'll kill you with a whisper.
Judging by the -- very few -- devastating scraps spared by WWII bombings that survive to this day, we still think that Gino Marinuzzi may very well have been the greatest conductor of the XX Century; de Sabata, if not his equal, is almost as great.
As Opera Chic told you on Nov. 27, the strike that was threatening this year's prima of Tristan Und Isolde has been revoked: Scala GM Stéphane Lissner -- who has just lost the sponsorship of tyre maker Pirelli, that was worth 2 million euros a year, thus making the bloated Scala budget all the more dependent on government subsidizing -- nevertheless has managed to raise 3.2 million euros for the end of the year bonuses to the more than 1,000 Scala workers (obviously it averages more than 3,000 euros for each worker -- about 4,700 dollars).
But about 40 of the 138 orchestra players are unhappy with the deal, because their union wanted much more money: hence, they have decided to play at la prima with a black armband, as sign of mourning.
OC supposes that since black armband on black jacket is very difficult to see, they'll play in their shirtsleeves.
OC will probably wear a black armband as well, in sign of mourning for the scandalously bad playing of the orchestra this past July for Traviata.
Ah, the music of chance; just last weekend Casa Opera Chic's 19th-century walls have been throbbing with the sound of George Szell's ripping Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola & orchestra in E flat major, K. 364, blasting it so loud that we're surprised the neighbors didn't call the police.
And today a folio with Mozart's manuscript for that immortal piece has set a new record for a single page of his work, at US $228,000, or €165,000 -- it was purchased from Sotheby's by dealers based in London who were bidding on behalf of a private client.
Sadly, it wasn't Opera Chic.
