Nostalgia rules at the Met for the rest of February, first for a classic and controversial Italian producer, then for an adored charismatic Russian baritone. More about the baritone next week.
Zeffirelli comes first. He was a highly controversial figure throughout his career in film, opera and politics, but you wouldn't know it from the Met's website! Here's one of the Met's many celebrations of his work. 'Zeffirelli’s historically informed, intricately detailed, and breathtakingly beautiful approach delighted generations of operagoers.'
So why the controversy and criticism? Tommasini from NYTimes, reviews the works and sees them swing towards 'garish'. 'Even as he stuck stubbornly to a set-is-all, traditionalist style — and a swath of the Met’s audience was stuck there, too — opera was moving on without him.'
Zefirelli created 11 productions for the company over 35 years.
And this week, they are showing us seven.
The delight was mixed with scorn. For opera critics, the productions were flamboyant and fussy with detail, as one critic puts it, 'with more attention paid to décor than to human beings'. That story contains images and videos of some productions and also the fascinating account of his meeting with and making of Joan Sutherland as Lucia. Watch here on Youtube.
It became a big debate. Here's Christian Science Monitor, taking up arms for the producer against a sea of grumbles. 'Director With Taste for Excess' says the New York Times obituary. Here's the Guardian's carefully guarded account of his professional career
It's Franco Zeffirelli Week at the Met.
This week we can marvel at - and discuss - the legendary sets and packed performances, and see how the style developed. We're also given an unusual array of performances by the young Plácido Domingo, starring (Zeffireli-style) in Cav and Pag, '78, La Traviata '82, Tosca '85 and Carmen '97.
It's the Met's classic, multiply revived production, overstuffed but brilliant. The Zeffirelli “Bohème” was first staged in 1981, (with Teresa Stratas) and by this production it had had 347 performances, more than any other Met production. And lots of criticism, especially for what NYTimes described as the overstuffed, hyper-realistic sets . (Video here of the management of those massive sets. ) Bachtrack remarks, "Act II has enough people on stage to make any fire marshal nervous." Somewhere in there are the two pairs of lovers: Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, and Ainhoa Arteta. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 2008.
There's a fascinating video of Zeffirelli's direction of this production here. He talks about his relation to Puccini as he works with the Met's amazing stages "in the best place at the right moment", he says. And here's an interview about the production itself.
Wednesday, February 17 Verdi’s Falstaff Tommasini , regretting Zeffirelli's excesses, remembered this, his first Met production, as the 'lovingly detailed, freshly rethought Renaissance “Falstaff” '
This is the classic production with the wonderful women of the early 90s. (It screened online for us in July - and again in October full detail here in our blog. It's brilliantly sung and brilliantly paced - if you missed it then, try to grab it now.)
Starring Marilyn Horne, and Paul Plishka (above) with Mirella Freni and Barbara Bonney - what a dream cast! Conducted by James Levine. From October 10, 1992.
Want a background to Verdi? Here's our webpage in 2018.
Thursday, February 18 Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
This precious pair of verismo operas (usually performed together and rudely referred to as Cav and Pag) marked a milestone in opera history. And Zeffirelli's productions were a milestone for the met. Read about the operas and this production in our website here. And for detail on Pagliacci, and the great tenors who sang this part, go to our blog post here.
This livestream offers a historic Met performance from 1978 - an early Zeffirelli exercise in verismo realism, lovingly creating the Italian landscapes and social life. It also is a rare Cav/Pag performance - the tenor ( Plácido Domingo) sings both lead roles on the same night in opera's most popular verismo double-bill. Review of both operas here. It's hard not to marvel at Zeffirelli's loving creation of the Italian rustic town that destroys the ruined Santuzza. You know the Intermezzo - here's the Met orchestra playing it during lockdown.
It's Zeffirelli's classic production. The women destroyed are Tatiana Troyanos and Teresa Stratas, Conducted by James Levine. From April 5, 1978.
Friday, February 19 Puccini’s Tosca Do you know Tosca? Here's our webpage intro. It's for many the ultimate opera, and no opera is more realist in its setting - in character, time and place. Read our blog post here with the images of those sites Zeffirelli lovingly recreates. There have been a lot of Toscas at the Met - here's the history. But Zeffirelli's became the classic one. One review says the production is 'breathtaking in its splendor and theatrical impact'.
Starring Hildegard Behrens, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From March 27, 1985.
This was a new production of Tosca, and Zeffirelli pictured in historic detail the grandeur of Rome, and its decadence.
Hildegard Behrens is Tosca, a diva in love with artist Cavaradossi (Plácido Domingo). Listen here to their Act1 love duet. Their enemy, Scarpia, the evil chief of police is played by Cornell MacNeil.)
For a background to Pucchini, there's a post here.
Saturday, February 20 Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Starring Carol Vaness, Karita Mattila, Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Ferrucio Furlanetto, and Kurt Moll, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 1990.
Hear the criticism coming in....! NYTimes commented that Zeffirelli's 'single-minded emphasis on visual grandeur' throws the opera 'off center psychologically... Mr. Zeffirelli seems more interested in creating striking stage pictures than in stimulating thought.' It's an interesting review. And I found this snarly and very negative account.
Samuel Ramey is Don Giovanni, pursued by Finnish star Karita Mattila (Donna Elvira) in her Met debut season and role. She went on to many lead roles at the Met and in Europe - (and provided a hilarious cameo in a Covid-time opera last year!) There's an interview with Mattila here. The avenging fury of Donna Anna is by Carol Vaness.
Starring..? Well, Angela Gheorghiu gets star billing - she's Micaëla, and yes, Plácido Domingo stars again, singing a stolid Don Jose - here's their big duet.
Mezzo Waltraud Meier (left) was Carmen, but the Met announcements don't feature her - Gheorghiu was the coming star and she gets the bold type.
Here's Meier with Domingo in the only ( very poor quality) video I could find. Conducted by James Levine. Production Zeffirelli. March 25, 1997.
This course began with Carmen - and our background to Bizet and his most famous opera is here.
Monday, February 22 Puccini’s Turandot This production was the last straw for Zeffirelli critics. Tommasini again: 'When the lights rise on the massive courtyard of the imperial palace in this fantasy China, we see expanses of celestial whites, silvers and golds, a glittering spectacle so bright you almost have to squint. The set manages to be at once magnificent and cheap... These stagings were not just singer- and conductor-proof. They were drama-proof, almost like a parody of opera.'
Starring Maria Guleghina, Marina Poplavskaya, Marcello Giordani, and Samuel Ramey again, conducted by Andris Nelsons. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From November 7, 2009.
And way back, there was La Traviata
Want a backgrounder to La Traviata? Here's our 2018 webpage.
The Met didn't record Zeffirelli's on stage Traviata, - presumably because it had already made the film with him. Zeffirelli produced the Verdi opera for other opera houses, before he made the film starring Stratas and yes, Domingo - the two who starred in Pagliacci. A piece on Stratas at the Met is here.
Zeffirelli had a long history with this opera - he'd produced a La Traviata with Maria Callas in Dallas, Texas, in 1958. Decadence and romance were his stuff, and this film was a huge success. Frequently referred to as Zeffirelli's last masterpiece, this production was most recently performed at his death in Verona. (Oh to be there!)
La Traviata was first performed at the Met within a month of the company’s opening in 1883 but then was retired during a subsequent all-German period. After returning to the schedule in 1892, it has since been performed more than a thousand times. Zeffirelli created two stagings for the company, one in 1989 and another in 1998. The film was 1982 - watch an excerpt from Act 1 here. NYTimes here.
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