Newsgroup: it.arti.musica.classica
Titolo: Ancora sull'articolo di Opera News

Ho appena postato il seguente messaggio
su rec.music.opera
Non me la sento di tradurlo in Italiano.
Comunque dovrebbe essere comprensibile.
---Rosario
======================================================
I have been meaning for a long time to write
down some of my impressions from reading Innaurato's
piece on Opera News about La Scala.
I will start by saying that I read the article
in one blow, I could not put the magazine down.
And that doesn't happen too often with Opera News
these days. Yes the piece was entertaining, funny,
witty and captivating. But that was pretty much it.
Granted, these days and especially on Opera News
this is already something. But
I read adjectives like "fascinating" or "deep" given
to this article ... and I wonder what people found
"deep" and "fascinating" about it.
First of all, I was very surprised by how
carelessly the article was
written. If you read OPERA-L you might have seen
a letter to the editors written by a member
of that list that contains an almost endless
list of mistakes. If you don't read OPERA-L
don't worry, the next issue of Opera News will
probably contain one of the longest errata
column in the history of the magazine.
Dates, birthplaces, nationalities, affiliations
and all sort of things are wrong. Not to mention
several mispellings of Italian words which reminded
me of cheap american mob movies when the screenwriter
doesn't bother to check the correct pronunciation but
limits himself to transcribing what he *thinks*
he is hearing. Of course not all of this is Mr.Innaurato's
fault. One would expect a magazine like Opera News to
have a competent editorial staff which would double-check
all these things. Apparently not.
Yet, I can easily tolerate those kinds of mistakes.
My problems with the article lie at a different
level. Two things in particular upset me.
Thing No.1: La Scala as a paradigm of Italy.
In writing about La Scala, Mr.Innaurato simply
played the old cliches about Italy being a
chaotic, disorganized country that barely gets by.
Look at sentences like
  "Like all of the big institutions in Italy, La
Scala has a hierarchial structure and a feudal feel."
  "As frequently seems to be the case in Italy, it
is not always clear who does what or possesses what
degree of actual, as opposed to titular power. "
  "it's Italy. Chaotic hysteria is routine"
  "Nothing is impossible in Italy."
The entire article does not have a single insightful
theory or analysis of the current situation at La Scala.
What we are given instead are old and tired stereotypes
about the political and social workings of Italy.
According to the author, those stereotypes are sufficient explanation.
Since La Scala is an important institution
in Italy, it is then "self-evident" that it must
work like everything else in that country (or as
it is commonly thought that everything else works
in that country). End of story (apart from those
captivating backstage rehearsal anecdotes).
The opening paragraph (with its colorful description
of the gypsies incident) is in and of itself symptomatic
of Mr.Innaurato's attitude. It sets the stage for
the whole atmosphere of chaos and confusion (the cops
who "merely shrug" for example or the "applause in
the street", something that I have never experienced in
Italy).
Being Italian, you may think that I am just upset
about the depiction my country gets in this
article. But the truth is that I would have welcomed a
provocative or controversial article, even
if that would have made me angry, if the article
contained even the slightest bit of insight.
How disappointing instead to just get the usual,
old, superficial stereotypical analysis.
Thing No. 2: Opera News' editorial slant.
One must put Mr.Innaurato's article in context
with the editorial run by ON in the same issue.
The bottom line seemed to be "La Scala is in
complete chaos while the MET is a perfectly functioning
machine".
Although it's true that the MET is a very
successful organization in terms of management
and financial stability, one should evaluate
an opera company mainly on the basis of its
artistic achievements. If we compare the MET
and La Scala on those grounds I am not sure
I would give the MET my top vote.
Last year I was given a rare opportunity to do
just that: compare the MET and La Scala on a
stricly artistic level. During March'98 I attended
a performance of Khovanchina at La Scala, conducted
by Gergiev. All the main singers and the
production were from the Kirov, but the orchestra and
the chorus were from La Scala. At the end of the
performance I was completely overwhelmed, completely
swept away by the power of the score and of the opera.
A year later, I was at the MET listening to Gergiev conducting a
very similar cast in the MET production of the same
opera (in the same version, as it should be pointed
out in this case). Although it was a very good performance
I didn't get the goosebumps I felt at La Scala.
I have been trying to understand why this happened and
I think the main reason was the performance
of the orchestra and the chorus. At La Scala, it was
clear that orchestra and chorus had been giving their
complete and full attention to the complex demands this
score puts on them (especially the chorus). The net
result was a polished performance down to its finest
detail. At the MET, this did not happen.
Maybe the orchestra and the chorus, being engaged
in 7 performances per week do not have the time
to concentrate all their energy on one thing
and do it perfectly. Another example of this would be
that night last April when I went to the MET to see Susannah,
and while going to my seat, I noticed that the trumpet player
was practicing the opening of Mahler's "Das Lied von
der Erde" for the upcoming MET Orchestra concert
rather than concentrating on the opera to be
played that night.
Not to mention the behavior of the audience (am major factor
in the enjoyment of opera in the theater).
How many people noticed at the MET that the prayer
of the Strelsy at the end of Act III of Khovanchina closed on a long,
soft sustained note held by the chorus until after the
curtain was lowered? How could you, with 90% of the
audience clapping as soon as the curtain started moving?
What a difference from La Scala where the audience
maintained an almost religious silence until Gergiev
gestured to the chorus to cut the note.
ON should be careful to compare the MET with La Scala.
Productions are another area in which the artistic
values of a company can be judged. Should we compare the
MET ideal of lavish, rich, "grand opera style" production
as embodied by the new hideous Zeffirelli "Traviata",
with something like the La Scala production of
Gluck's "Armide" which won praises all over the world
for its lavishness that never crossed over to tackyness?
The real bottom line is that the MET is probably
better run than La Scala in terms of management,
but that same "business oriented" attitude ends
up compromising the artistic values of the company.
Much routine. Scarce excitement.
Besides, if we want to find chaos at the MET we easily can.
Maybe some European magazine should have sent a reporter
here the last time the MET attempted to mount "La Forza
del Destino". What an entertaining story could have
been written about an opera company changing its
season calendar months after selling subscriptions
just because a tenor changed his mind about singing a
specific role. Or what about last season's Traviata soap
opera? How unfair, by the way, to send a reporter
to evaluate La Scala during a production of "Forza",
an opera that is almost impossible to cast nowadays.
Why not send him to see La Scala at his best?
Opening night, for example, or the recent performances
of Armide?
So I will be waiting for the second installment
of Innaurato's piece. I am sure that as soon
as I get the magazine I will jump to his piece
and devour the second part. After all, it's great creative
writing. But I doubt that the second part will do
much to change the lingering disappointment I have
been feeling after reading the first part.
---Rosario
--
	" ... la tua loquela ti fa manifesto
 		 di quella nobil patria natio ... " (Inf. X)
Sent via Deja.com 
http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.


Comprensibilissimo e sottoscrivibile, IMHO, in ogni sua frase.
Bravo Rosario!!!
baci
--
      ___
     ('v')
    ((   ))
---/-"---"-------
Tiziana Pannunzio