La Berganza: "The Directors Are Destroying Opera"

Teresa Berganza, in an interview with Peru's "El Comercio", joins the krankykinz of the opera world -- Franco Zeffirelli and Lorin Maazel -- in attacking directors who "are destroying opera", who "don't know about music".

(Via leading Peruvian opera blogger Maldito Candelabro)

Comments

[Coloratura Tempura]

Hey! Still looking good! She's like a brunette Euro version of my granny! I Love Berganza!

[Maria]

Big jewels, big passion, still dreaming for more glory and applause....She hasn't managed to be in good terms with herself yet.

[Flying Pig]

Brava! A true diva, in the best sense of the word.

[alejandra]

"works of art are sacred" (from the interview)

I agree and dissagree... I agree because a true work of art must have be pertinent to the world, to society... and dissagree precisely because of that: if you want it to be pertinent, you have to transform something in it, you have to make it yours so it can tell you things about yourself and the world you live in; otherwise, it is a simple pleasure, nothing exciting...

Ms. Berganza is a great voice, but I am afraid she is very conservative about art..

[Frits B]

"works of art are sacred": in a way, yes. Classic books are not rewritten for modern readers, great paintings are not redone for modern viewers, so why stultify opera? Ms. Berganza has a point here, especially when a director changes the concept of an opera so much that you need to know the story very well to understand what is happening on stage (not to mention the strange discrepancy between words and actions).

[La Cieca]

The photo may be used to illustrate the term "sin amigos homosexuales."

[GtelloZ]

Other quotes from the interview:
"Whose really are destroying opera are the scene directors"
"they have no right to change anything from the great composer's works, not even the period"
"they take advantage to get a Name and be recognised, most of them where unknown even from their mothers"
etc...

[chris]

"...if you want it to be pertinent, you have to transform something in it, you have to make it yours so it can tell you things about yourself and the world you live in; otherwise, it is a simple pleasure, nothing exciting..." What nonsense. Wagner or Verdi is not "yours" to do with whatever you wish. That is disgusting egotistical arrogance: a case of "ME-itis". And whoever decreed that operas should 'tell you things about yourself'? If you need someone to 'tell you things about yourself,' take yourself to a shrink. Opera is meant to be pleasure, complex pleasure, objective pleasure, not some nut case's excuse for silly, selfish indulgence