Lucky for Alagna that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died last night, which relegated the tenor’s fantastic temper-tantrum to the front pages of the Spettacoli (Entertainment) sections of the Italian newspapers, instead of dropping shameful little blurbs between the front pages.
Of course, the newspapers today are filled with coverage of Alagna’s walk-out of last night's Aida, as well as historical recaps of “The history of booing and blackballing performers at La Scala”, most ostentatiously with Pavarotti’s 1992 Don Carlo, and Ricciarelli’s 1989 Luisa Miller.
I’ll summarize and paraphrase the most interesting fodder from the prominent papers later today, but wanted to first highlight one of the gems, which is found in Corriere della Sera, written by music critic Enrico Girardi.
Girardi discusses the phenomenon of fussy divas, but openly mocks Alagna’s upcoming contractual decision to sing “cross-over” at the fifty-seventh Sanremo Italian Music Festival in February, 2007. To explain for those unfamiliar, Sanremo, which is both the name of the annual festival, as well as the city in Italy where it takes place, is like the lamest of the lame music festivals you could ever imagine. It spans over a handful of bleak days in February, and its' appeal is usually coveted by ninety-five-year-old senior citizens, who enjoy the washed-up announcers who introduce cruise-ship cabaret-acts and Vegas-esque lounge singers. Last year, John Travolta showed-up in full pilot regalia for a brief interview, which included a rather icky foot massage to host Victoria Cabello. It’s horrendously bad.
Signore Girardi wrote:
I capricci di un giocatore che sogna Sanremo (Translation: "Tantrums of a player, who dreams of Sanremo")
"At the end of the 1950s, Maria Callas left Rome’s Opera after the First Act of Norma because the audience had booed her. Joan Sutherland left Venice the day before the premiere of La Sonnambula because of a fight with conductor Nello Santi, who did not allow her to follow the cadenza that she wanted."
"Nellie Melba threatened Covent Garden because she didn’t want the opera house to cast Titta Ruffo as Rigoletto because he was way too young to act opposite her. Geraldine Farrar got yelled at by Toscanini at the Met (she had been late for the rehearsals), and shot back that she could afford to be late, because, after all, she was a star (the opera was Aida, and the two ended up becoming lovers). The list could go on forever, and one can go back decades in time."
"The fact is, in recent times singers have become more serious, cultured, and professional. They know that diva tantrums are a folk phenomenon from the past. Hence, there are isolated episodes, and essentially pathetic. Take for example the recent instances when Angela Gheorghiu (pictured above with Alagna) left Ravenna in a huff because Muti had the gall to scold her during Pagliacci rehearsals. And now we have this new case of her husband Alagna, who because of a few rustlings from the audience (or little more) leaves the stage in a huff."
"He’ll blame the critics, of course [ed: this article was written before Alagna made his public statements: Go Enrico!], whom he considers guilty of influencing the audience’s sensibilities; or he’ll blame the present system, which gives an edge to directors and conductors, and diminishes the singers’ influence: these are indeed, ' note stonate' [ed: literally, “missed notes”] that a good tenor such as Alagna [ed: meee-OW!] would be well advised to avoid."
"To use a soccer metaphor, Alagna missed a penalty shot: it happens. A 'ballsy' player, as they say in sports, has the courage and the spirit to turn boos into cheers. He knows that sports stadiums’ peanut galleries and opera houses’ loggioni need little to take you from the gutter to the stars (or vice cersa). But it is much easier to play an away game in Sanremo thanto stay in San Siro [ed: this is the historic Milan soccer stadium where my beloved Internazionale FC plays the super-lame, Berlusconi-owned Milan AC] and give everything to 'tornare vincitor' [ed: 'return as a Victor']."
And there you have it. Girardi eloquently captured the sentiment of what the majority here is attributing to Alagna's petulant temper-tantrum.
