Notes Par/by Hélène Boucher, Joseph K. So
/ October 16, 2008
In a report
by John Hooper of The Guardian,
of the twelve leading opera houses in Italy one quarter are “under
special administration” – euphemism for bankruptcy. The latest is
the venerable Arena de Verona, famous for its summer open-air performances
in the acoustically friendly Roman amphitheatre where it routinely draws
audiences of up to 16,000. Yet the opera house has an accumulated debt
of 20 million Euros, joining Teatro San Carlo (Naples) and Teatro Carlo
Felice (Genoa) on the bankruptcy list. The problem rests with a particularly
lethal mix of arts, money and politics; especially in a country like
Italy where for many years bureaucratic bungling, political interference,
and corruption on all levels were legion. The sluggish Italian economy
certainly contributed to the problem, as deep funding cuts by the Berlusconi
government, coupled with a drop in private and corporate sponsorships,
led to its demise. While opera remains popular in many parts of Europe
such as Germany and Austria, it has suffered a steady decline in Italy,
the birthplace of opera. Attendance in Verona may be high, but tourists
make up a huge segment of the audience. Unlike Germany and Austria,
classical opera has largely ceased to be a major force in contemporary
Italian popular culture. Culture Minister Sandro Bondi announced the
appointment of a senior official, Salvatore Nastasi, to take over the
foundation that runs the Arena. Nastasi was given sixty days to put
Verona’s house in order, but pundits expect the job to last a great
deal longer.
JKS
Wuthering
Heights: the genesis of a new opera
French conductor/composer
Frederic Chaslin has written a “cross-over opera”, Wuthering
Heights, based on Emily Brontë’s eminent novel. The internationally
ranked, Paris-born Chaslin is a frequent guest at major opera houses
including Paris, Berlin, Munich, and the Met, working with singers like
Rolando Villazón, Anna Netrebko and Natalie Dessay. In November, Chaslin
will be in Montreal to conduct The Pearl Fishers. The new opera
project is the brainchild of librettist Paula Heil Fisher, a noted American
theatre and film writer/producer. Fisher has a particular affinity with
the Brontë novel, and in Chaslin she has found the ideal collaborator.
I was one of five international journalists invited to Valencia, Spain
to cover the recording of this new opera which took place in mid-September.
As critics,
we are used to the “finished product”, but rarely do we have the
opportunity to witness the genesis of a new work. I attended the recording
sessions and the press conference. The singers were uniformly excellent,
led by American tenor Andrew Richards as Heathcliff and the beautiful
Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko as Catherine. An interesting Canadian
connection involves bass Wolfgang Rauball as Earnshaw. An exploration
geologist, Rauball had a contract with New York City Opera years ago,
but decided to leave the opera world when he struck gold! As befitting
of a major recording project, the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valencia
and the London Philharmonia Chorus were engaged for the recording. It
was fascinating to see the project continuing to evolve during the recording
sessions. Unlike other works based on the Brontë novel, this version
deals with two generations and is thus truer to the original. At press
time, the ending has yet to be finalized, and plans for a premiere will
be announced in the near future.
JKS
Découverte
d’un fragment de partition de Mozart en France
Le 18 septembre
dernier, le quotidien Presse-Océan révélait une rare découverte
qui a mobilisé les musicologues et les responsables de la culture de
Nantes. La bibliothèque de la ville détenait depuis les années 1860
le fragment d’une partition écrite par nul autre que Mozart. Jean-Louis
Jossic, adjoint à la Culture de la ville, a confirmé la nouvelle lors
d’une conférence de presse tenue le jour même de l’authentification.
La nouvelle
est tombée au terme d’analyses réalisées par un expert allemand
en la matière. Ulrich Leisinger, directeur du département de musicologie
du Mozarteum de Salzbourg, avait visité la Médiathèque de la bibliothèque
de Nantes en 2007. Il avait profité de son passage pour évaluer trois
documents rares de Mozart dont on pressentait l’authenticité. Ses
travaux ont permis de confirmer l’écriture de Mozart et d’identifier
la nature de la partition, une mélodie à caractère religieux.
Sur le précieux
papier de 16 cm sur 29 cm jauni par le temps, on peut lire quelques
mesures d’une sonate ainsi que des mesures apparentées à un credo
en ré majeur. Deux lettres originales complètent la collection, l’une
adressée par Mozart à son père Léopold, en date de 1783, et la seconde
écrite par le père du compositeur à sa fille. Agnès Marcetteau,
directrice de la Médiathèque de Nantes, a précisé que «les notes
auraient été écrites dans l’année 1787». D’autres analyses
suivront dans ce dossier.
HB
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