More Scala Grudges: Abbado Asks For 90,000 Trees, Muti Snarks Scala GM Lissner

Besides the all-too-present drama of singers pulling out of shows, singers being fired, singers being booed off the stage, singers being kept away from the premises by the police, political backstabbing, conductors fired by the orchestra, frequent strikes, and general feverish unrest, Teatro alla Scala has a historical penchant for generating massive beefs between artists, conductors, managers, etc.

Far from being a recent phenomenon -- Callas snubbed by the then-GM, Tebaldi harassed until she went off to San Carlo and the Met, Freni and even Pavarotti savagely booed by the loggione, frequent guest conductor Herbert Von Karajan eventually snubbed in favor of, all people, Karl Böhm, etc etc -- the situation has gotten worse since Claudio Abbado left as Music Director in 1986 and his successor Riccardo Muti left in 2005, both voted down by the all-powerful orchestra.

The Milan-born Abbado came back in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Music Director of the Berliner Philharmoniker and successor to Herbie Von K., probably the swankiest job in classical music -- always with other orchestras -- but he has never conducted the Scala orchestra again. He hasn't been back since the early 1990s due to a series of problems he had with the administrators back then. Abbado has since turned down every opening, every invitation to come back to his native city.

Riccardo Muti, well, after the early 2005 drama he has become a highly paid freelancer -- Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo -- a guest conductor in New York and future Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, besides his usual summer commitment in Salzburg and the directorship of the Whitsun Festival in Mozart's hometown and the directorship of his youth orchestra, the Cherubini.

Both have apparently been asked by the current General Manager Stephane Lissner, who has never worked with either conductor, to come back to la Scala (the dream scenario, as Scala gossip has it, would apparently have been a Abbado Magic Flute and a Mozart/DaPonte opera with Muti).

The answers?

Abbado, famously an opponent of the current conservative city government of Milan, has just answered that he will come back for free, only if the city government plants 90,000 new trees. (The cost would apparently be around two million euros). The project's feasibility? Kind of up in the air. Which, frankly, seems to be the point of Abbado's request.

Muti, instead, got crankier in an interview with Il Giornale:

"Mr. Lissner says he would like to meet me. But he never called me. No phone calls, no letters. I don't know him. He told a story of an encounter we had in Paris back when I was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, but I met many people, I have no recollection of such an encounter. It must have been a very quick episode. I expected at least to receive a letter, as a courtesy, when he arrived at la Scala, since I had spent so much time in that theater. But not even that."

(...)

"Maybe someone told him that I moved to an igloo; but I really think he knows I don't live too far. I'm often in Piacenza, with Orchestra Cherubini... I don't know what he is waiting for. He lost a chance to meet me in Salzburg, where he saw the Otello I conducted there. Salzburg's Jurgen Flimm told me he had asked Lissner to come see me, but Lissner never came"

Abbado is 75. Muti is 67. Lissner is 55. Abbado and Muti are -- if not the two best -- two of the very small roster of the best conductors out there. Lissner is running the most famous opera house in the world, and one of the oldest. But this I want a forest!, bring me flowers and send me fan mail, no I won't, is totally high school, all over again.

Comments

[Chris]

Florez hasn't sung at La Scala since early 2007, aside from one "recital" in January of 2008. It is not mentioned in his 2009 schedule. Happenstance, or is there a message there?

[Dearly]

I absolutely LOVE the internal politics of this whole thing. It is so intriguing. Opera Chic, what in heaven's name would we do without you???

[nightmusic]

Remind me to never get on Muti's bad side. He's scary! He dismisses Lissner like child. These grown men can be so catty! Meow!

[Maria]

If Lissner paid those two conductors the money they demand, wouldn't Gatti ask for a rise in his salary too? Wouldn't the members of the orchestra protest? So even if S.L. wants to hire them he is afraid of the consequences; above all he has to spend La Scala's money wisely, if he wants to keep his position in this theatre,I think.

[ciocio]

La Scala one of the most famous opera houses in the world? only because conductors of the calibre of Toscanini, Serafin, Abbado and Muti made it such!!! Certainly not for the poor programming of Mr Lissner in the past 3 years 9especially this season) La Scala with just a couple Verdi operas per season is NOT the famous Scala of just 3 years ago! And who are the big stars coming this year? Nearly none.Let's face it: it's a shame for Italy and a shame for the italian tradition.

[CrewMantle]

Finally this HAS to be said.....

There are top tier houses, second tier, and then the provincial house (They all know who they are, and tastefully should know and respect their station).

Teatro alla Scala is different.

Period. End of Story.

To this mind it has only one equal in the world, and that would be the Taj Mahal in Agra. Both represent unrivalled testaments to the human spirit driven by the deepest emotions we know.

Opera the art form itself is essentially human emotion conveyed in vocal extremis. Does ones voice not rise and fall when emotions are directly connected? Does opera not represent the purest replication of high emotions to ones ears?

What can be said of the current management and estate of La Scala? Very little that is commendable and worthy. However the greatest opera theater in the world will regard this point in its storied life benignly. It will still be there when the fools have left and their betters are ensconced.

Milan, like Agra are cities that are fortunate by circumstance alone. These cities are entrusted with a great responsibility to maintain these two extrordinary edifices. The Ghiringelli era, is THE greatest postwar administration the august theater has known, and for good reason; too many to speak of here frankly.

Agra has continually over the centuries upheld the Taj Mahal with the finest dignity it well deserves. Milan today, sadly, currently utilises Teatro alla Scala as a side show that can only make one blush with shame.

[val]

This only confirms what I've always thought, which is Abbado >> Muti. BIG TIME!!

[delpippo]

What Maestro Muti has said in Il Giornale is quite reasonable.

Mr Lissner unfortunately seems to be a man of saying, not a man of doing.
He always says, "We La Scala will gladly open the door to Maestro Muti forever". But he seems to do nothing to realize his words.

And Minister Sandro Bondi has made the same appeal as Mr Lissner's.
Why only La Scala?

Maestro Muti has devoted himself to the Italian culture greatly and has expressed his sincere opinions about the Italian culture for long, long years.
He always says he himself is like an ambassador of the Italian culture.

Maestro Muti always carries out his mission excellently!

[Marshie]

Do not for Milano or the world or whatever miss listening to the stupendously gorgeous EMI Don Giovanni on CD with Muti conducting the resplendent VPO and with the 5-diamonds cast of Cheryl Studer, Carol Vaness, William Shimell, Frank Lopardo, et al.

[Gert]

I love that: I'll appear for free if you plant trees. It's got a touch of class about it, much better than I want bowls of M&Ms with all the blue ones removed.

[JAG]

Correction: two of the very small roster of the best conductors AND non-pederasts out there.

[Maria]

Thank you JAG for the remark! Nice of you!
Those musicians are people who respect themselves first, and then the others.
Having moral principles and keeping them is also artistry and adds the most to their excellency.

[ellie]

I have to agree with those who said that La Scala is indeed a temple of great tradition in opera, if one exists. But nowadays, even the Indians would paint the Taj green in the name of capitalism, and La Scala is no longer a house where one can expect the traditionally oustanding performances that its incredibly disciplined, if also tyrannical conductors brought to life...no, Lissner would rather pad the behind of someone like Harding rather than pay Muti and Abbado the respect they deserve...even if it meant talking to them face-to-face and acknowledging that they are the ones carrying on the tradition, not him. That being said, Don Carlo was pretty good, even if I hate that opera...at least he did some Verdi with some decent singers!

[vick]

I wish Lissner would stop worrying about La Scala's immediate past and delve into the historical memory of the Ghiringelli cast lists and administration... It's kind of like a Templar secret that needs to be resolved: After Ghiringhelli left, in came REAL politics with Grassi and Abbado. That's when the walls started to chip and crumble but the blindfolds were well distributed and noone (well almost noone...) seemed to notice.

[Chris]

I would think the best houses are the reasonably happy houses, not the ones rent by discord and scandal. To return to its traditional greatness I would think La Scala would need a new administration and a new attitude, and perhaps even a new audience, so that serenity could reign and happiness bloom. Then the great singers might be happy to come back too.

[Don Ciccio]

If Abbado was serious about the environment perhaps he should first stop using private jets and fly commercial like anyone else. The French have a great phrase for that: gauche-caviar.

Anyway, I don't care about neither Muti nor Abbado both of which are so Booooooooooring......