parterre box

15 comments

• BillyBoy says:

  Dr. Octavian:
  Frankfurt did a triple bill. The 2 operas you know about plus “Job,” making for 3 hours of music in total.

  on April 23, 2008 at 4:49 PM
• Sanford says:

  J’s Hangout! Remember when Saturday night meant shuttling between The West Side Club, J’s, The unicorn, The Jewel Theater…. ah, memories.

  on April 23, 2008 at 10:52 PM
• m,croche says:

  I’m not entirely sure pairing “Volo di Notte” with “Il Prigionero” is such a great idea. When Dallapiccola wrote the former (1937-9) he was a still a pretty committed fascist (signing his letters using the fascist calendar, for example) and his portrayal of the dictatorial director of the air mail company, Riviere, strikes me as one of grudging admiration. Riviere, the visionary man of action, makes decisions that ar4e unpopular with the fliers and their wives, but in the end they all submit voluntarily to his indomitable will.

  If there’s an element to Volo di Notte that is less politically/ethically problemtic and which maybe makes the work something to be welcomed today, it would be the final monologue of the lost/doomed flier, relayed through an on-stage radio-man. On the page, the poetry and music of this scene look to be gorgeously sbulimey as the Pilot flies out of this world and into the next.

  Dallapiccola turned against Mussolini in the early 40s, as did many Italians, and “Il Prigionero” – reworked if I recall correctly from the 19th century novel Thyl Claes – is unambiguously critical of the state which oppresses its citizens.

  So pairing Dallapiccola’s fascist-friendly “Volo di Notte” with his post-conversion “Il Prigionero” might indeed make for a provocative evening of theater. On the other hand, some audience members might wonder where the fine humanistic feelings of “Prigionero” were when Dallapiccola was supporting, in word and music, a much more popular fascist administration.

  (DISLCAIMER: I’m relying entirely on my memory of LD’s biography and works here, and I’ve only ever studied the score of Volo di Notte – I’ve neither seen nor heard it. If I’ve got any mistakes up above, my apologies. These are just my recollections.)

  on April 24, 2008 at 4:16 PM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  Tony T. ( like Dante with his presumably adorable Vergil) at the Opera’s basement lake:

  “I learned this first-hand today when Joachim Pflieger, the charming and efficient young assistant to Gerard Mortier, the director of the Paris National Opera, took me on a tour of the Garnier. Mr. Pflieger seems to know everything about the building and its history…. You can imagine what kind of personal arrangements were made between the beautiful artists and their older admirers. ”

  c.f. Junge freunde (!)

  http://www.jungefreunde.at/index.php/Latest/Opernfahrt-nach-Paris.html

  on April 25, 2008 at 7:28 AM
• Cocky Kurwenal says:

  I went to see this last Monday. Vocally it wasn’t great from anybody, and there was nothing much to look at either. Some good things about the production, and great chorus work, but it wasn’t a particularly exciting evening in the theatre. The Ode to N was a bit of a waste of everybody’s time, I thought.

  on April 28, 2008 at 8:08 AM