Sunday, December 7th, La Scala opens with Fidelio

and it should be noted that La Scala has prepared a very well-made page on its own website

http://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/opera-balletto/2014-2015/fidelio.html

under 'listenings' there is a beautiful article-report of the performances/recordings, both historical and recent.

danielescarpetti wrote:

Beethoven, who never married, wrote an
'opera on conjugal love' praising it; Mozart, on the other hand, who did marry, composed Così fan tutte!

A very sharp observation, indeed!

The first is probably driven by the fact that B. never married.

The second..... also!.

PETRUSKA-BEETHOVEN BETWEEN JOY AND FREEDOM

it is the program that will air this evening on Rai 5. Michele Dall'Ongaro interviews Maestro Barenboim about Beethoven's opera Fidelio.

It is not without a subtle sadism that I pride myself on linking so much prose.

Boisterous ground of unshakable certainties.

Where they speak of monumental books etc. etc. etc.

http://www.corriere.it/cultura/14_dicembre_02/fidelio-eroe-liberta-893821aa-7a26-11e4-81be-7152760d3cf5.shtml

I have read it and, once again, I can only observe that Beethoven remains that absolute Genius who is continuously pulled by the jacket from right to left - meant precisely as politics.

It is no wonder: freedom, justice, peace, etc.. are values with which everyone - at least in words - likes to fill their mouths and writings.

Isotta, unlike Buscaroli, follows the path of the Christian faith and for this reason, she likes to think that Christ is behind Beethoven. The difference lies here, but for the rest, just as Buscaroli does not convince me, Isotta does not convince me either.

However, I like to think that in the end, Beethoven is the Genius for everyone: he is also, much more modestly, for me!

I only hope one thing: that a world truly comes where justice, freedom, peace, equality reign... but for everyone. Truly for everyone!

Great success at La Scala and great success for my website.

According to Google statistics, today 3,529 people downloaded the Fidelio libretto from my site!

I am speechless.

Anyway, I liked the performance very much.

The only one who made me feel pity was Marzelline (very good) who, in the end, was about to burst into tears because of how her story had ended.

Terenzio wrote:

The only one who made me feel pity was Marzelline (very good) who, in the end, was about to burst into tears because of how her story had ended.

it's true!... I heard the same thing.

And I think that the directorial choice - keeping her apart from what is the final exultation (not hidden, but in front, clearly visible in her solitude) - intentionally wanted to evoke this pity in the viewer.

Punish the villain,

who oppresses innocence;

Justice holds court
with the sword of vengeance drawn......

Poi....

A loud gunshot offstage!

And my son (textual)

AHAHAHAH Belin (!) and these would be the good guys?

My dear sirs! Far from modern justice, far from trials that last 11 years in defiance of the 'short trial' principle.

This is how it's done: a nice gunshot, maybe to the back of the neck: Gaddafi, Bin Laden, Pizzarro, all bad guys to be eliminated Tex Willer style, with a good dose of "hot lead" and off they go to shovel coal in Mister Satan's mines, in defiance of the very Milanese Cesare Beccaria who said:

"It is not the terrible but passing spectacle of the death of a scoundrel, but the long and arduous example of a man deprived of liberty, who, having become a beast of service, rewards with his labors that society which he has offended, which is the strongest brake against crimes."

Anyway, compliments to the direction: from a mediocre show (knowing it was such) to an unforgettable Fidelio!!!

And thinking back to the comic book exhibition in January: Bang!!! Zip!!!! Zing!!!! (though perhaps Pizzarro - Mephisto saved himself and thought "two fingers lower and I would have been toast"!

Yours, in the style of Bonelli

Armando---------------------

What can I say Armando, your son is right and, to my extreme consolation, I am glad that it was he who said it: a young man, and this, does, if nothing else, give hope to this old chatterbox who refuses to resign himself to the barbarization of mankind, despite everything.

When I heard that gunshot, my whole world truly collapsed. Until that moment, I had even enjoyed everything, aside from certain secondary details. But when I heard that gunshot... my blood ran cold. So much so that I retreated into a reserved silence from which I am only now able to emerge, and thanks to your son.

I am so sorry. Truly so sorry. Once again, a good opportunity has miserably shipwrecked!

Be that as it may, W Beethoven, there is still a great need for him, and there will be a need for him at least until we are a little better.

From your comments, I deduce that that gunshot is not written in the score!... It seems clear to me.

But in other Fidelio productions (I ask those of you who have seen many), what do the other Pizarros do at the "end"?

I seem to remember that years ago, in the forum moderated by Armando, some were discussing a Fidelio in which, in the end, Florestan himself became a tyrant.

Just considering these two things makes me think:

But!... How much room for interpretation! Forget about original metronomes or trills that start from the principal note or the upper note!...

Let the wicked be punished
who oppresses
innocence.
Righteousness, to do justice,
holds unsheathed the avenging sword

Thus cries the people

Pizzarro is dragged away

And thus concludes the libretto regarding the figure of the tyrant.

One might tell me that in Beethoven's time, he would probably have been sentenced to death afterwards but, the libretto does not bother to tell us what happens to him then and, therefore, why condemn him to death today?

In an era in which Fidelio rises as a symbol of the will for justice and freedom, in which it is constantly updated to our own times, why choose this petty act that is everything except justice?

The answer is known only to the English director, obviously, but whatever it may be, it is nonetheless execrable.

Today as ever, a director can use and dare any free will on an opera from a scenic and formal point of view. This ensures there are brilliant productions and others that are execrable. It is appropriate that this happens, let it be clear: it would make no sense to re-propose the same scenarios in the same manner. But the risk is high. And that is the beauty and also the ugliness of the theater!

In general, a link to this discussion doesn't hurt

http://www.pianoconcerto.it/forum/index.php?/topic/4243-fidelio-caratterizzazione-dei-personaggi-come/

Honestly, I liked the scenic choice, I liked the singers, excellent actors, the orchestra (the woodwinds and especially the brass were notable), Barenboim's direction.

http://www.ilgiorno.it/milano/prima-scala-1.468810

12 minutes of applause, mmhm

Fidelio grossed an amount equal to 2.3 million euros on its opening night, mmhm

LucaCavaliere wrote:

It is not without a subtle sadism that I pride myself on linking so much prose to you.

An exuberant terrain of unshakable certainties.

Where monumental books etc. etc. etc. are discussed.

http://www.corriere.it/cultura/14_dicembre_02/fidelio-eroe-liberta-893821aa-7a26-11e4-81be-7152760d3cf5.shtml

Dear Luca, I confess that I have thought and rethought about what was written by Paolo Isotta.

During the week, a few lightbulbs had already gone off for me, and today, finally, I had the time to re-analyze the libretto in its second act, in light of what Isotta asserted, and I must conclude that he is probably right; if so, a vision of Fidelio opens up for me that overturns many things settled within me.

In fact, the reference to the Gospel and to Jesus' last supper with his apostles seemed very evident to me, when Leonore and Rocco give bread and wine to Florestan, who is now devoid of strength.

Don Fernando, the state minister who comes to inspect the prisons, sings:

The sign and the will of the excellent sovereign

Bring me here to you, oh wretches,

to reveal the criminal night,

which, black and heavy, encloses you all.

No longer on your knees like slaves,

far from me is the severity of the tyrant.

The brother seeks his brothers,

and if he can help, he helps gladly.

The excellent sovereign, whom Fernando refers to, is God and not an enlightened king as Isotta claims. But I would say more: Fernando could be John the Baptist who, in the Gospel of John, is mistaken for the Savior and responds: "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. The bridegroom belongs to the bride, but even the friend of the bridegroom, who stands beside him and listens to him, rejoices greatly at his voice. Thus my joy is complete." This text was linked to the Song of Songs, and the opera Fidelio concludes with the song of the people:

Never will it be praised enough

The woman who saves the bridegroom.

"}

danielescarpetti wrote:

What can I say Armando, your son is right and, to my extreme consolation, I am pleased that it was none other than him saying it: a young man who, and this makes one hope, if nothing else, this old chatterbox who does not want to resign himself to the barbarization of mankind, despite everything.

When I heard that gunshot, my whole world truly collapsed. Until that moment, I had even enjoyed everything, apart from certain second-order details. But when I heard that gunshot... my blood ran cold. So much so that I closed myself in a reserved silence from which I am only now able to emerge, and thanks to your son.

I am so sorry. Truly so sorry. Once again, a good opportunity has miserably shipwrecked!

Be that as it may, W Beethoven, there is still a great need for him, and there will be a need for him at least until we are a little better.

I haven't seen this Fidelio, alas, due to the usual thousand commitments... but from how Armando wrote about it, I had believed that gunshot was a good directorial idea. You, Daniele, don't seem to agree, or am I wrong?

That is, let's admit that Beethoven would not have agreed. In reality, it is very likely that in a "true" story Pizarro would have been the object of atrocious vengeance anyway, like Mussolini. I think theater is the right place to highlight what is not highlighted in an opera like Fidelio.

No, you are not wrong, I find that choice to be wrong. The point is not whether Beethoven would or would not have agreed: Beethoven was nonetheless a man of his time. The point is that productions of Fidelio tend to modernize it to highlight the problems of injustice that, even today, remain. If we want to talk about justice today, we cannot continue to think that the death penalty is just. Mussolini, and even more recently Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi,... are horrors that we must no longer accept

dear Daniele,

your post about a 'christological' Fidelio (am I wrong to call it that?) gives one pause.

This production as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_q0KvPEQM

on the other hand, strongly pushes the music in a prayerful key when Leonore frees Florestan;

with that melody that Beethoven already used for Da stiegen die Menschen an's licht

for the rest, regarding Thallo's post and your latest one, I am writing "under my breath" (in the sense that I am not adding anything) to say that I feel BOTH of your statements are TRUE.

What do we want to ask of Fidelio? Or rather: what do we want to ask of a production of Fidelio? To be the mirror of an ideal of justice, or to be the mirror of a plausible thirst for vengeance?... I really wouldn't know.

Open content (youtube)

in my opinion, it is a matter of theatrical mechanism. That is, from Daniele's response, I seem to understand that the gunshot would appear to be the demonstration that the director is "in agreement" with that ending. The effect of that stratagem, in reality, was the opposite: you and Armando and I imagine others stopped to reflect on a dark point of the opera and felt revulsion for that act. Without that gunshot, there would have been no reflection but unconscious acceptance. Going even deeper, without knowing "how" the tyrant died, none of us would feel revulsion for his death; I imagine this is part of a normal empathetic principle.

Then, well, I think that directors must modernize the opera, because the opera has languages that not everyone understands, and rather than digging in their heels on the idea that "if you don't understand it on your own, then you are not worthy of it," I prefer there to be some kind of explanation, a different point of access.