vilaine fille

Paolo Conte

Far off, in the supernal realms, the souls of Nino Rota and Robert Schumann collided. (Irving Berlin and Astor Piazzolla delivered glancing blows, too.) Tiny bursts of incandescence showered down upon our dim and feckless earth and brought forth Elegia, the new CD by Paolo Conte.

Children, you can take your Comte Ory and your Want Two, your Pepito-in-bondage and your unbound Prometheus, your raunchiest Bach and your most sizzling Mozart, dip them in Michel Chaudun chocolate and serve them alongside fresh white peaches from Provence, and still they might give less joy than Elegia.

là voglio arrendermi
in braccio a una musica
che chiuda il discorso
dell'urbanità,
forte e petòmane
scritta dal diavolo
in spregio solenne
dell'umanità…

If you are unfamiliar with Conte's work, I commend to you Barry Singer's fine 2001 article. Be warned that Conte's old smoker's voice crumbles and oozes like Roquefort.

My (short) review of Elegia appears in the 28 April edition of Time Out New York.

Chanticleer

In Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," the henpecked cock Chauntecleer talks out of both sides of his beak, declaring that woman is man's ruin and also his "joy" and "bliss." His namesake, San Francisco's 12-man choral ensemble Chanticleer, pulled off a similar feat of conceptual legerdemain Friday in "Women, Saintly and Otherwise," their Metropolitan Museum of Art program exploring the ever-shifting images and voices of humanity's feminine half.

Read more.

P.S. Make better use of your time and reread The Nun's Priest's Tale, featuring literature's most unreliable and least bestial narrator.

P.P.S. Visit the online home of today's Chanticleer (what a bunch of cuties!) and check out their fabulous recordings.

P.P.P.S. I want to move to a civilized country. Maybe I wouldn't even have to cross the Atlantic…

Exodus

Even vilaine fille, irreverent wench that she is, must bow before cosmic alignments.

Pesach, the festival of redemption from bondage, and TV-turnoff Week coincide this year. The Sages teach: "In every generation, we are commanded to view ourselves as if each one of us was personally brought forth out of Egypt." This article about TV-turnoff Week, inviting people to pull the plug on television, Internet, and video games, struck a nerve. The organization that sponsors TV-turnoff Week

argues against TV as the culture's default mode, challenging the ever-more-entrenched assumption that illuminated screens should always be within sight.

With that in mind, TV-turnoff Network fights two different battles: In the home, where TV, whatever the dosage, is self-administered; and in the rest of the world, where TV is a forced-fed intravenous drip.

In public spaces—whether stores or schools, arenas or elevators, airline seatbacks or downtown sidewalks—TV has staked its claim as an electronic overlay, mediating and often competing with the real life that accompanies it.

In honor of Pesach and TV-turnoff Week, and excepting brief article call-outs, vilaine fille is turning off, tuning out, and dropping out. She returns on or around 2 May.

Speaking of the Exodus, please visit Progetto Mosè to learn about the restoration of Michelangelo's Moses. Giorgio Vasari wrote of this work:

The beautiful face, like that of a saint and mighty prince, seems as one regards it to need the veil to cover it, so splendid and shining does it appear, and so well has the artist presented in the marble the divinity with which G-d had endowed that holy countenance. The draperies fall in graceful folds, the muscles of the arms and bones of the hands are of such beauty and perfection, as are the legs and knees, the feet being adorned with excellent shoes, that Moses may now be called the friend of G-d more than ever, since G-d has permitted his body to be prepared for the resurrection before the others by the hand of Michelangelo. The Jews still go every Saturday in troops to visit and adore it as a divine, not a human thing.

"Moses may now be called the friend of G-d more than ever, since G-d has permitted his body to be prepared for the resurrection before the others by the hand of Michelangelo." Who but Michelangelo deserves such praise? And who but Vasari has uttered it so eloquently?

P.S. Learn why Moses is not mentioned in the Pesach seder.

P.P.S. L'shanah haba'ah b'Yerushalayim!

Yom huledet sameach

This striking image comes to you courtesy of Peter "Hopper" Stone, Los Angeles-based photographer and commendably mauvais garçon. You can view a larger rendering of the photo at Peter's site.

Happy birthday, mauvais garçon! *smooch*

(Incidentally, here is an interesting midrash on the notion of birthdays in Judaism.)

Image © Peter "Hopper" Stone / stonefoto.com. All rights reserved.

Il maestrone

Let's have fun with this story while it lasts, what do you say?

Tuesday's Repubblica published an interview with Riccardo Muti, who receives an honorary doctorate (his fifth overall) in Naples tomorrow and is just back in Italy after a most interesting visit to New York. AP and other English-language sources ran excerpts, but vilaine fille offers you the interview in its entirety (minus some narrative blah-blah).

On the honorary doctorate: This is a special satisfaction for me, because after graduating from the liceo classico I enrolled in the philosophy program of the Ateneo Federico II of Naples. I did not have any particular philosophical gifts, but I sensed that this type of study could nourish my musical studies. I still have my exam booklet, which is dear to me because this university was founded by Federico II, a figure whom I have long studied as a man and a monarch of immense learning and enlightenment.* And then, my mother, who was Neapolitan, would have been proud of me.

* [Translator's note: Dante placed Federico in the sixth circle of hell, among the heretics. Federico is a longtime hero of mine, too.]

On his warm reception in New York: New York is a city in which I have always worked very well. I have a great understanding with the musicians, and I sense that the public is close to me. Let us not forget, too, that this was the orchestra of Mahler, Walter, Bernstein, Toscanini. Starting in the 2006 season I will devote long periods of time to the orchestra: four weeks a year for a three-year period. After that, we’ll see.

Interesting narrative blah-blah: Still, William McDonough, a Philharmonic Board member, does not give up easily. "Ours is considered one of the best orchestras in the world—he said publicly—but in the hands of Muti it would become so without a doubt. I offered it to him [translator's note: the music directorship?] in 1999, and he told me that he wanted to devote his full attention to his theatre. Now I'm asking him again, and I hope, in the end, to find the right arguments to persuade him." Consul Antonio Bandini, himself Neapolitan, adds his voice to those supporting Muti's candidacy: "New York is his home away from home. And we are at his complete disposal."

On his ties to Daniel Barenboim and Chicago: In the past few days Daniel wrote a beautiful letter of support for me. He is a friend and a conductor for whom I have great esteem. Yes, it's true: Musicians and a delegation from the management of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra came to hear me [in New York]. Barenboim officially leaves his post in 2006. They asked me to consider their offer. Given that Chicago is one of the most important orchestras in the world, I greatly appreciated their invitation. For now, I don't wish to make further statements. In the meantime, I am about to go on tour.

In the immediate future: I'm traveling with the Vienna Philharmonic for several weeks and then getting ready for the Mozart celebrations in Salzburg, where I conduct Die Zauberflöte, directed by Graham Vick, in July. Salzburg is the ideal place to think.

Where would he choose to go? I'll answer with the words Piave gave to Padre Guardiano in Verdi's La forza del destino: "Who can read the future?"

E deggio e posso crederlo?

I waited to post about this because, Cassandra that I am, I was convinced that it had to be a hoax, but apparently it's not.

According to The Independent, scholars have found a way to use infrared technology to read the Oxyrhyncus Papyri, a treasure-trove (some five million words strong) of ancient texts, sparking hopes of a "second renaissance." Update: Additional coverage from Slate and Salon. Further update: The debunking has begun. (I hope the debunkers are wrong, but the story does seem too good to be true.)

Hesiod, Sophocles… No one yet has mentioned Sappho, perhaps the greatest of the ancient poets, whose works were systematically destroyed by Christian bigots because she was a woman who loved other women. (See Page du Bois' Sappho is Burning for an excellent study of Sappho's continuing power to disrupt societal pieties.)

An Etruscan babe illustrates this post because I love and revere the ongoing mysteries of Etruscan language and civilization. Plus, I respect all peoples of "dainty and expensive tastes."

Riccardo Muti

Some critics get their thongs in a tangle because maestro Riccardo Muti is supposedly hot-blooded, authoritarian, and rigid. Funny, that's just how vilaine fille likes her men—and her conductors. (She keeps lashes and cuffs on hand for the overly saucy ones.)

18 April update: From today's Newsday, a review by vilaine fille alter ego Marion Lignana Rosenberg of last week's New York Philharmonic concert under Riccardo Muti. Unfortunately, an error was inserted during production: late in the story, it should read "Wagner raided," not "Wagner aided."

I hear not only Walküre but also Tristan and Parsifal all over Liszt's "Faust Symphony," which had its world premiere in 1857 and was slightly revised in 1861 and 1880. (I hear Lohengrin, too, whose world premiere Liszt had conducted in 1850, though he had begun "A Faust Symphony" some years earlier.) The chronology and specifics of who influenced whom are extremely tricky, to be sure, but who knew how much mighty Riccardo (the earlier one) owed to his dashing beau-père?

Further update: Check out the detective work by ACD regarding Liszt and Riccardo the elder. Visitor JLB recommends the Bernstein recording of "A Faust Symphony," available in the DG Originals series; here's a review from Classics Today comparing several versions, including Muti/Philadelphia.

I commend to you David Patrick Stearns' smashing article on "the fabulous, brilliant and sometimes imperious Muti." (Try BugMeNot.com for a username and password.) Also not to be missed: Dr. Martin Bernheimer's Financial Times review.

Questo e quello

From today's Newsday, a review by vilaine fille alter ego Marion Lignana Rosenberg of Opera Orchestra of New York's Mignon:

Once upon a time, Freedom Fries didn't exist, no one made apologies for charm and grace, and operas like Ambroise Thomas' Mignon (1866, revised 1870) ruled the boards…

Read more.

Stephanie Blythe is a vocal miracle. I thought that she stole the show in the Met's Rodelinda, and her Alice Tully Hall recital and Brahms/Wagner/Mahler disc (Virgin) wowed me. I don't know what she has coming up at the Met besides Quickly (Falstaff) and Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica); I do know that I'd like to hear her in Le Prophète, Alceste, Cavalleria, Tristan (Brangäne), Parsifal, Tancredi, Samson et Dalila, Trovatore…

No less than Renée Fleming, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and other distinguished artists of today, Blythe deserves her own showcase projects.

I couldn't attend yesterday's opening of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de perles at NYCO, but reports from my sources are good. Here is my essay on Pêcheurs from New York City Opera's souvenir program.

Peppino alert: The annual benefit concert for the American Institute for Verdi Studies, an organization of which I am proud to be a member, takes place on 24 April. Information here.

Note, too, that starting 15 April, NYU's Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò hosts the exhibit Parma: The City of Opera. Exhibit hours are Monday through Friday, 9h00 to 17h00 (grazie, signori, di aver pensato a noialtri plebei). The Verdi-themed lecture and video offerings feature Martin Chusid, Francesco Izzo, Carlo Bergonzi's 80th birthday concert, and more.

Hello kiddies redux

Before I take off for a few days, I wanted to thank the following folks for their links. I promise to update the lists of vilaines filles and mauvais garçons real soon.

(If you have linked to vilaine fille without being acknowledged, I either don't know about you or don't see you in today's referrer log.)

The Laurel Letters, an elegant and beautifully written blog from Boston. (We will not discuss baseball.)

no guru, no method, no teacher, blog di lingua italiana (lieta cosa!), gestito da un'altra ammiratrice dei bassi-baritoni. (Giorgia, ho anch'io un debole per il gagliardo Ildy. E non ti preoccupare : da me e da tantissimi altri, l'italiano è e rimarrà per sempre *la* lingua per eccellenza dell'arte e della civiltà.)

I am ever grateful to AllAboutOpera and Opera Today for their callouts, and for the invaluable service they provide to all opera lovers. I visit those sites every day.

Thank you, too, to ACD for the over-the-top praise. (Now, the interesting question is: Do you love Gianmaria? Hemispherical does.)

Bon week-end à tous ! *smooch*

Jordi Savall

My feature article on Jordi Savall appears in the current (7-13 Apr) issue of Time Out New York.

Maestro Savall is honored this month at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a series of three concerts and a screening of "Tous les matins du monde." For tickets and program details, visit this page.

Given the maestro's austere air and my absolute reverence for him, I was intimidated at the prospect of interviewing him. Instead, he turned out to be a sweet, whimsical gentleman with an easy laugh and a passion for all kinds of music.

When we spoke of Pablo Casals, he slipped into the present tense:

He speaks to the instrument, he sings, he dances. His body and soul are together with it. The other thing, maybe more important [for me], was the fact that Pablo Casals discovered in a shop Bach's six suites for cello. In this moment, nobody had played this music. People thought they were exercises, not complete music. He studied this music *ten years* before he played it in concert. Then, he started to say to the world: Listen to this music. It's beautiful.

Now I realize that in a certain way, when I started to play older music in addition to the normal repertory, it was in fact a reaction to say: I have to find my six suites! And my Bach suites were Marin Marais, in a certain way.

He also mentioned Victoria de los Angeles as an important influence, particularly since he met his wife, Montserrat Figueras, when both played on the soprano's "Songs of Andalusia" disc with the Barcelona Ars Musicae.

I asked him about his AliaVox label—whether anyone had told him he could not run a viable business while issuing beautifully recorded and sumptuously packaged discs of arcane and demanding music. "Yes, I know this!" he answered with an uproarious laugh. (As it happens, AliaVox has sold more than one million discs since 1998.)

Here is an ample and beautifully documented discography for Maestro Savall. If you don't own it already, you need his sublime set entitled Le parnasse de la viole. See also Bradley Bambarger's superb article in the Newark Star-Ledger.