Theater Royal resurrects Maria Callas

Maria Callas asked Leonard Bernstein. In those distant days of 1953, the North American diva achieved dazzling success with a work that was almost unknown in Italy, this Medea Author: Luigi Cherubiniwhich is not quite the same score that the Royal Theater is now preparing to start its new season next Tuesday, as the opening piece for its new Spanish Lyric course.

LaCarras had just scored a resounding victory at the Florence May Festival, conducted with superb judgment by Francesco Sisiliani. But yesterday was the same as today, The jealousy among art directors is epic. Reporter Ghinhirelli of La Scala canceled one of the elections scheduled for December of the same year, reinstating another unknown title, namely Mitrida Eupatore Scarlatti’s works were replaced by works by another Italian composer.

Milan Stadium is valued for its special proposals Medea Participation Victor de SabataBut the music director of that temple “in pectore” unfortunately fell ill. LaCalas heard on the radio a concert given by one of her young compatriots who was already starting to make a name for himself. Bernstein speculated that he had extraordinary qualities for opera (who had never directed), he proposed that he be the director instead.

The beginning of tragedy

Theaters are often eager to see hidden curiosities from the past, sparsely programmed to balance audience proportions La Traviata Due to the lack of contemporary games that truly connect with fans. Fiorentina boss Sisiliani is an expert in this type of excavation. Callas found in the tragic story of the abandoned woman a foreshadowing of what would later happen to him.There was also a famous Greek who was obsessed with the sea and interesting women, a bit like Jason the Argonaut.

Soprano holds nothing back as she delves into Medea’s tormented character, a glimpse of all the possibilities of a character, requires a volcanic performer, half actor, half singer (like all great characters), able to transform her gestures and words into music, convince the public of her guilt, and speak with a A very special way of convincing the public that his crimes against his own children were in fact the product of temporary madness. This deplorable state of affairs is undoubtedly contributed to by the ominous, intolerable and eternal influence of so-called heteropatriarchy.

The latest feminist thesis supports, or at least excuses, the crime of matricide committed by the noble granddaughter of the god Helios. The myth itself had provided him with safe passage. In the past, he had actively participated in the murder of his brother to help his lover Jason escape, and later killed his new girlfriend and her father, and included his own friends in the same group of children, Medea was ultimately absolved of her many vengeances. The “serial killer” became immortal and eventually ruled Elysium, and according to some testimonies, it was she, not Helena, who married Achilles. One nail pulls out another, although the offspring must first be exterminated to express their rage at the betrayal that often comes with heartbreak.

acquitted of infanticide, while her ex-husband, the unfaithful Jason, decided to exile her with the children in exchange for a new lover so as not to cause trouble, only to be condemned for his meanness in the rest of the Wandering place. Living all over the world, I feel like a wanderer without a country or a home. He was hated by other humans for his adultery, and eventually he attempted suicide. The pagan wanted to say goodbye to the vale of tears hanging on the bow of the ship, but the ship capsized at that moment, saving him his strength. Medea was tested by marriage at least twice.

In what Euripides and Seneca tell, more emphasis is placed on the story of the horrific revenge that Medea apparently (without any apology) enacts; in addition to the innovative implications of Cherubini’s music for its time, we also Will see what he does with all this packaging Director Paco Azorín is at the helm of a new production of “Medea,” which opens at the Theater Royal on Tuesdayin the busy inauguration ceremony, the current monarch sometimes also participates.

Eye! Today, in some misleading publicity, it is suggested that the public will be able to see Maria Callas’s work in person.Let’s not say for a moment that the singer was “promoted” back then… but what can be seen now at the Oriental Plaza Theater This is not the work of “La Divina” directed by and starring Bernsteinthe performances will take place as it celebrates its centenary in December.

We won’t overwhelm you with census results for nearly all of the population Twenty versions of this opera exist.askBut it’s worth knowing in advance that what was seen in Milan in 1953 is not what is seen in Madrid now. Cherubini composed his Medea, which was a reflection of the formal classicism of Haydn, the tragedy of Gluck, who aspired to rescue the ideals of Greek drama, and later Romanticism (from Berlioz to Wagner, from Rossini to Donizetti), It will premiere at the Opéra Comique in Paris during the French Revolution. The works that were shipped there had to have a basic requirement, namely, a spoken dialogue in a purely musical moment.

The first version, the original version (which Cherubini later modified by cutting some strips), was actually only available in Martina Franca in 1995. The rest are bogus adaptations. The first role played by Callas, which she played almost thirty times in her short career, Between Florence and Dallas (among the cast was Teresa Berganza), to a sung recital Rather than feature the original dialogue, the work was conceived by an enthusiastic supporter by the German Franz Lachner around 1854.Like other parts of the work, these recitations were translated into Italian and constituted Bernstein-Callas duo ‘ignite’ La Scala’s version (There are records proving these historical functions) at that time.

Strangely enough, the heroine attributes the recitation as the most important and interesting part, which is the true dramatic nature of the work. Cherubini (if not his admirer Rachna) never imagined any of this. Now in Madrid, the version of choice is not this one, but another, even later one, sponsored by the late conductor Alan Curtis. Inspired by Cherubini’s style, this expert in historicist interpretation composed a new recitative while respecting the rest of the music, which we will hear in the French version, hence the name “Medée”.

These types of archaeological excavations often take place when it is thought that an artist with special conditions could make some interesting contribution to the rescue of a work. Sicilini discovered in Callas more than the “bright eyes” that Hesiod so prominently emphasized in the features of Circe the Magician’s niece. The soprano lost thirty kilograms to define the height of her cheekbones and give her a powerful expression that fascinated Pasolini until a few years later, when he proposed to her and even Visconti in ” Senso”, which had her starring in his only film, didn’t achieve much from her. The movie “Medea”. But beyond the physical allure, the allure of those flaming eyes, the performer is also able, through the suggestive power of her voice, to reveal every edge of this tormented woman, from tenderness to cruelty.

Cherubin’s Medea, since its encounter with Callas, has had countless interpreters, from Gencer or Rysanek to our Caballé, more or less Both have been successful and have experienced a bit of a renaissance in recent years, especially since the Turin area decided to bet on good productions. Singer and actress Anna Caterina Antonacci, 2008. To this day, the Salzburg Festival has reclaimed the title for Sonia Yoncheva to critical acclaim. The New York Mets opened the previous season with the same scheme, entrusting it to Sondra Radvanovsky, who has a marked theatrical temperament. Do not forget that Zubin Mehta, when they still loved him in Valencia, also attracted his attraction and in his case Violeta Urmana Urmana) is the title character in a stage play by the late Gerardo Vera.

But no one (perhaps only the great Magda Olivero) could identify as completely with Callas as the wife of King Aegeus. This time, Real Madrid called up three sopranos to take part in the challenge: Italian sopranos Maria Agresta and Maria Piscitelli and Spanish soprano Saoa Hernandez. Don’t be fooled by the faux tinsel and artificial glamor of opening night, which has been entrusted to the aforementioned first Italian artist. If you have a choice, do not hesitate to choose from Madrid, send to the second actor. Hernández seemed a priori the man who best embodied the characteristics of Medea, if not ideally, which is almost impossible today, but close in temperament and vocal talent to a substantial, turbulent of, the expectations of real witches, those who dismantled their stalls.