I recently saw a “Live from the Met” at the local movie
house. It was the Zefferelli production
of La Boheme. It was wonderful. “Mimi” was a last minute replacement as the
scheduled soprano had the flu and called in sick at 7:30 am. The soprano had performed “Madama Butterfly”
the night before, setting a Met record.
No soprano has ever sung 2 leading roles so close together.
Watching the performance, reminded me of my years attending
the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 1960’s.
I had never been to an opera or a ballet prior to college. My friends in Chamberlin House were
incredibly musically knowledgeable. I
learned a great deal from them, starting with the fact that Shostakovich is not
a mispronunciation of Tchaikovsky. Additionally, they dragged me to my first
opera, my first symphony performance, and my first ballet. My first 2 operas were Met productions of
“Tosca” and “Turandot”. “Turandot”
starred Birgit Nilson in a stellar performance with Franco Corelli as the
Prince. “Tosca” had Tito Gobbi as
Scarpia in an amazing production that I’ve never seen equaled. At the end of the first act Scarpia sings an
aria describing his lust for Tosca. His costume included black shoes with red
heels. In the background clergy are
entering in procession to sing a Te Deum. The final bombastic crescendo finds
Scarpia kneeling before the Archbishop to receive a blessing after finishing
that evil aria. The timing was perfect
and unforgettable.
After attending these two operas, I joined my friend Jeffrey
in attending the Lyric with a yearly subscription. My first year there included some of the
greatest singers of the age. Boris
Christoff started the season singing “Prince Igor.” During the season, he sang Colline in Boheme
and Don Basile in “The Barber of Seville”, while Fernando Corena sang both
basso roles in Boheme (Benoit and Alcindoro), the sacristan in “Tosca,” and
Doctor Bartolo in the Barber. Richard
Tucker sang Rudolfo. In those days, the
singers just had to sing. Now they have
to act and look the part. Tucker sang
well but could not act. He just stood
there and made beautiful music. One of
the operas that season was “Samson and Delilah”. Unfortunately, Samson weighed close to 300
pounds and Delilah weighed over 300 pounds.
Their performances were not very romantic or seductive!
In “Prince Igor” they announced that a new refugee from the
Soviet Union would be dancing. It was
Rudolf Nureyev who had just defected to the USA. That was in retrospect amazing!
Over the years, I saw Nicolai Ghiaurov sing Boris Gudunov,
Teresa Stratas in several operas such as in “La Cenerentola”, Renata Tebaldi in
“La Boheme”, Jon Vickers sing “Otello” bare-chested, Tucker as Rudolfo and as
the Duke in “Rigoletto” and so many others.
We went backstage on several occasions.
Tucker was a very friendly and charming man. He gladly signed programs and chatted with
us.
After leaving Chicago, I did go to the opera in DC. Once we moved to LI, we got tickets for
either the City Opera or the Met and went in often. We continued the yearly subscription to the
City Opera until tickets became outrageously expensive. The City was willing to do different and new
operas. We saw “Regina” based on “The
Little Foxes”, “Evangeline” based on a Judy Blum book set in early 19th
C New England, and “Dead Man Walking”, one of the more powerful modern operas written.
“Love for Three Oranges” was just fun and “The Dialogue of the Carmelites”
upsetting.
One of my favorite operas is “La Traviata”. The music is wonderful and I’ve seen it
several times. I’ve also seen Boheme and
“Madama Butterfly” several times. I took
Margaret to see “La Boheme” at the Met and Joe to see” Madama Buttefly”. They were both about 6 or 7 and we had a
great day in the city each time.
We also saw some
things we did not like, such as Virgil Thompson’s “Vanessa” which had the most
ridiculous story every written, and Mark Adams’s “Little Women”. We laughed at the Met production of “Macbeth”
in which the witches hung upside down and Lady Macbeth (Renata Scotto) entered
wearing a 19th C riding habit with a crop! Some of the chorus in that production looked
like they were wearing costumes from Nabucco.
I’ve always hated historical inaccuracies! The saving grace was that Sherrill Milnes
sang Macbet. Another non-sequitur
occurred in Il Trovatore. Grace Bumbry sang Azucena. Franco Corelli played her son. That was fine. Opera became color blind long before
theater. However, Corelli played the
role in a blond wig, a genetic impossibility. I’ve also seen Ms. Bumbry sing
Tosca. She sang her second act aria lying
on a sofa!
The one opera I’ve never seen is “Aida”. Must put that on my bucket list.
My first ballet was the Bolshoi production of “Swan Lake”. During my time in Chicago, the Sadler Wells
Company (now the Royal Ballet) brought their production of “Romeo and
Juliet.” Sir Frederick Ashton
choreographed Prokofiev’s music. The
company had two important guest artists travelling with them: Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fontaine. I bought tickets for the final performance
which was the only one I could attend.
During the week, the regular dancers performed the roles. Each night, anticipation mounted until the
cast was announced. By Sunday evening,
when I attended, the guest artists had yet to perform. Sunday was the final performance. They had to dance that night! I was offered $100 for my ticket, a great
deal of money in 1965 for a student. But
I declined the offer and went in to see Margot Fontaine who was in her 40’s
dance 14 year old Juliet so beautifully that the audience was breathless. Nureyev leaped across the stage like a
gazelle. That was one of the most
amazing and beautiful performances ever done and I was there!
We did attend to the Washington Ballet a few years
later. Margot Fontaine danced several
times there and was still miraculous as Sleeping Beauty. I find ballet interesting but less of a
dramatic art form that theater or opera.
There is more passion in opera and despite long arias as the heroine or
hero dies, it can be very powerful. The
end of ”La Boheme” is still moving and the scene between Violetta and the elder
Germond very dramatic.
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