Grand Opera: The Story of the Met (61 page)

1
. “a European-style”: Michael Walsh, “Maestro of the Met,”
Time
(Jan. 17, 1983): 58. “Jim has to”: Robert C. Marsh,
Dialogues and Discoveries, James Levine: His Life and His Music
(New York: Scribner, 1998), 20. “stayed with their”: Johanna Fiedler,
Molto Agitato
(New York: Doubleday, 2001), 95. For a biography of James Levine, see Marsh,
Dialogues and Discoveries,
17–60. “I’ve always been”: cited in Martin Kettle, “Staying Power,”
Guardian,
Nov. 17, 2000.

2
. “the company situation”: John Dexter,
The Honourable Beast: A Posthumous Autobiography
(London: Nick Hern, 1993), 81.

3
. “not a single”: Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
120.

4
. “She led a”: Manuela Hoelterhoff,
Wall Street Journal,
Jan. 21, 1976. “Her conducting . . . was”: Schonberg,
Times,
Jan. 15, 1976. Caldwell led ten more performances of
La Traviata
in 1976 and five of
L’Elisir d’amore
in 1978. Simone Young, the second of the two women to conduct at the Met to date, led the orchestra between 1996 and 1998 in thirty-five performances of
La Bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Il Trovatore,
and
Les Contes d’Hoffmann
.

5
. For accounts of marketing and development initiatives in this period, see Martin Mayer,
The Met: One Hundred Years of Grand Opera
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983), 336–40; Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
111–12; and Susie Gilbert and Jay Shir,
A Tale of Four Houses
(London: HarperCollins, 2003), 509–10.

6
. There were two network telecasts from the Met stage during Bing’s tenure: the first was his inaugural
Don Carlo
in 1950; the second excerpts from his gala farewell of 1972, transmitted a week after the event. “This recording embodies”: CD booklet cited in Marsh,
Dialogues and Discoveries,
39.

7
. “There is an”: Mayer,
The Met,
344. “has allowed his”:
Saturday Review
(June 1980): 22–27. For Bernstein’s reaction to Levine’s
Parsifal,
see Hillenbrand,
Time
(Jan. 17, 1983).

8
. “a troublesome colleague”: cited in Gilbert and Shir,
A Tale of Four Houses,
518. “being under some”: Dexter,
The Honourable Beast,
170. “If there is”: letter to James Dolan, cited in Dexter,
The Honourable Beast,
110–11. “When Dexter entered”: Joseph Volpe with Charles Michener,
The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 69.

9
. Reppa designed the 1976
Aïda
. “What Mr. Dexter”: Andrew Porter,
New Yorker
(Feb. 7, 1977): 98. The three
Prophète
principals can be heard in a recording made just months before the Met revival. “with the virtuosity”:
Time
(Jan. 31, 1977).

10
. For Dexter on
Dialogues des Carmélites,
see Dexter,
The Honourable Beast,
108–19. “sensitively direct, lovingly”: Porter,
New Yorker
(March 12, 1979): 125.

11
. “seemed almost incompetent”: Porter,
New Yorker
(Nov. 21, 1977): 175.

12
. “the Lucifer-like”: Andrew Porter,
The Observer,
June 4, 1995. “the work [did]”:
Wall Street Journal,
Nov. 30, 1979. “It is a”:
Times,
Nov. 17, 1979.

13
. “disaster . . . horrid travesty”:
New Yorker
(Nov. 13, 1978): 234.

14
. The 1978
Thaïs
was directed by Tito Capobianco and designed by Carl Toms. The 1978
La Favorita
was directed by Patrick Tavernia and designed by Ming Cho Lee.

15
. The 1975
Le Nozze di Figaro
was directed by Rennert and designed by O’Hearn. The 1980
Manon Lescaut
was designed by Desmond Heeley. The 1977
La Bohème
was directed by Melano. “to indulge in”: Dexter,
The Honourable Beast,
175. “finest hour”: Bill Zakariasen,
Daily News
. “a 20th-century”:
New Yorker
(Jan. 9, 1978): 77.

16
. “If we don’t”: Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
87.

17
. Audience interest in
Parade
fell to 79.2 percent of capacity in 1982–83 and to 64.6 percent in 1985–86. “Every so often”: Donal Henahan, Feb. 22, 1981.

18
. “jerk”:
Opera News
(March 13, 1982): 26.

19
. “Leave it to”: Dexter,
The Honourable Beast,
182. The 1982
Così fan tutte
was directed by Colin Graham.

20
. “The worst new”: Henahan. “serious-minded, ambitious”:
New Yorker
(Dec. 13, 1982): 179.

21
. “it is clear”: Walsh,
Time
(Jan. 17, 1983): 61. For Bliss’s oversight of Levine’s spending, see Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
189.

22
. The afternoon concert of the Centennial Gala was transmitted to Europe.

23
. “‘seen’ the music”: Porter,
New Yorker
(Dec. 12, 1983): 166. The Met premiere of Mascagni’s
Il Piccolo Marat,
announced in 1980 for Freni, fell victim to the disruptions of the delayed 1980–81 season. “the evening stretched”: Henahan. “third-rate music”: Porter (March 26, 1984): 92.

24
.
Phoebus and Pan
(Jan. 15, 1942) was not an opera, but a stage adaptation of a Bach cantata.

25
. “because Jimmy Levine’s”: Volpe
The Toughest Show,
156. “the Met was”: ibid., 104–5.

26
. “the separation of”: Mayer,
The Met,
353. “Either engage me”: Will Crutchfield,
Times,
Sept. 22, 1985.

27
. “My job is”:
Times,
Sept. 22, 1985. “We must”: Bliss to Levine, July 15, 1983. “conservative swing”:
Times,
Sept. 22, 1985. Cecile Zilkha joined the board in 1978, and became a managing director in 1982, vice president in 1993, vice chairman in 1999. For more on Zilkha, see Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
207–8.

28
. Levine on the state of singing in the mid-1980s: “I can’t imagine a world without marvelous performances of
Aïda
. Clearly, we can’t do it with the consistency
we once could” (
Times,
Sept. 22). “a shambles”: Thor Eckert Jr., May 15. “so depressing that”: Hoelterhoff, May 29. “not in most”: Crutchfield,
Times,
Jan. 11, 1987.

29
. The moveable dungeon of Zeffirelli’s
Tosca
was dropped in later performances.

30
. “short list of”:
New Yorker
(April 7, 1986): 75. “only a little”: Henahan,
Times
. “a manic-depressive,” Hoelterhoff,
Wall Street Journal,
March 19. “an object lesson,” Eckert,
Christian Science Monitor,
April 28. Otto Kahn had urged Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern to compose an opera. Berlin was an implausible choice; Kern, on the other hand, given the sweep of his
Show Boat,
was a lost opportunity. “less than convincing”: Porter,
New Yorker
(Feb. 25, 1985): 95.

31
. For an exhaustive history of Met tours, see Quaintance Eaton,
Opera Caravan: Adventures of the Metropolitan on Tour,
1883–1956
(New York: Metropolitan Opera Guild, 1957).

32
. “The tour is”: Bing to Liduino Bonardi, Sept. 27, 1955.

33
. “If you had”: Frank Taplin diary, May 5, 1984, cited in Gilbert and Shir,
A Tale of Four Houses,
642.

34
. “Serious opera fans”: Bernard Holland.

35
. “For box-office”: Henahan,
Times,
March 8, 1987. “The general manager”: Rockwell,
Times,
May 27, 1987.

36
. “about halfway through”: Henahan,
Times,
Dec. 5, 1986.

37
. “lost in the”: John Freeman, July 1987. “elephantine”: Porter,
New Yorker
(March 2, 1987): 104.

38
. “John Pascoe’s sets”: Henahan,
Times,
Sept. 29, 1988.

39
. “all very chic”:
Los Angeles Times,
Jan. 18, 1989.

40
. “has to be”: Kettle,
Guardian,
Nov. 17, 2000.

41
. “even to be”: ibid. “widespread resentment among”: Rockwell.

42
. “I rarely saw”: Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
112.

43
. For the exclusion of Levine in the Southern appointment and Bliss’s reaction, see Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
260.

44
. “passivity . . . failure to”: Rockwell,
Times,
June 27, 1990. “During Southern’s seven”: Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
115.

1
. “Although Jimmy and”: Joseph Volpe with Charles Michener,
The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006), 113. “The translation—‘Not”: ibid., 115. “the triumvirate model”: ibid., 5.

2
. For the story of the Ouija board, see ibid., 4.

3
. “rugged ship”: ibid., 122. “I knew that”: ibid. 126.

4
. “Jimmy Levine was”: ibid., 129.

5
. The conception and gestation of
The Ghosts of Versailles
is recounted by Corigliano in Michael C. Nott, “The Long Road to Versailles,”
Opera News
(Jan. 4,
1992): 9–11, 49; Hoffman in Lanford Wilson, “Ghost Writer,”
Opera News
(Jan. 4, 1992): 16, 18–20, 48–49; and Matthew Gurewitsch in “Revolutionary Strains,”
Atlantic Monthly
(Dec. 1991): 112–17.

6
. “considerable achievement”: Alex Ross (Jan. 10, 2000): 88–90.

7
. In the most recent directory of Opera America,
Susannah
is third in the list of North American operas, after
Amahl and the Night Visitors
and
Porgy and Bess
. Opera America, founded in 1970, is a national organization devoted “to supporting the creation, presentation and enjoyment of opera” (
www.operaamerica.org
). The organization maintains a database of opera performances in North America. “modern-day Mascagni”: Anthony Tommasini,
Times,
Dec. 7, 2002.

8
. After his recovery, Carreras sang only once at the Met, a single act of
Carmen
at a gala in May 2000. For Levine’s tours and fees, see Johanna Fiedler,
Molto Agitato
(New York: Doubleday, 2001), 324. For “The Three Tenors” and the diffusion of opera, see James R. Oestreich,
Times,
April 28, 1997. For opera attendance, see
1997
Survey of Public Participation in the Arts: Research Division Report #39
,
December
1998
, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC. The percentages had declined to 3.2 by 2002 and 2.2 by 2008.

9
. The 1996 production of
Andrea Chénier
was staged by Nicolas Joël and designed by Hubert Montloup. “He . . . spent a”: Martin Bernheimer,
Los Angeles Times,
April 18, 1996.

10
. For Volpe’s economies on
La Forza del destino,
see Barry Singer, “Mission Accomplished,”
Opera News
(Jan. 2006): 14.
Samson et Dalila
was directed by Moshinsky and designed by Richard Hudson.

11
.
Cyrano de Bergerac
was staged by Francesca Zambello and designed by Peter J. Davison. “especially good”: Tommasini,
Times,
May 16, 2005. “fifty works that”: Ross,
New Yorker
(May 30, 2005): 95. The Beppe De Tomasi/Ferruccio Villagrossi production of
Fedora
originated at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre de Liceu. “allusions to old”: Bernard Holland,
Times,
Feb. 19, 2000.

12
. For Volpe’s firing of Kathleen Battle, see Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
219–23. “Bing will be”: Manuela Hoelterhoff,
Cinderella & Company: Backstage at the Opera with Cecilia Bartoli
(New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1998), 53. Volpe later regretted his handling of the Battle affair: “I find myself thinking maybe there was something I could have done. Maybe I could have prevented it. But I wasn’t able to. In one way, let’s say that I failed to keep it together.”
Opera News
(Jan. 2006), 14. “not banning them”: Tommasini,
Times,
April 4, 1998.

13
. “When Plácido Domingo”: Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
164. For Crawford on Met Titles, see “The Met Looks to the Future,”
Opera News
(Sept. 1993): 66. “Jimmy and I”:
Times,
Feb. 7, 1994. “it is much”: Edward Rothstein,
Times,
April 9, 1995.

14
. “false alternative”: Rupert Christiansen,
The Telegraph
(London), Dec. 13, 1997. “The Met continues”: Holland,
Times,
May 2, 1999.

15
. “I don’t understand”: interview, Aug. 1999, in Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
337. “The Met has”: interview, Dec. 17, 2000, in ibid., 339. Peter Gelb, too, has a copy of a Met chandelier in his Manhattan apartment: Chip Brown,
Times,
March 24, 2013. “manipulate opera world”: Allan Kozinn,
Times,
Oct. 8, 2000.

16
. “to get nervous”; “Some board members”: Volpe,
The Toughest Show,
258. For a detailed account of the Vilar story, see James B. Stewart, “The Opera Lover: Onward and Upward With the Arts,”
New Yorker
(Feb. 13. 2006): 108–22.

17
. “the most difficult”: minutes, May 23, 2002. “to underwrite traditional”:
Times,
July 24, 2003.

18
. “By 2005–2006”: minutes, Sept. 18, 2001. Robert Whitehead, also rewarded with membership in the Golden Horseshoe Program, although for a far smaller donation, $50,000, was charged with grand larceny and securities fraud and convicted in 2001.

19
. Five of the thirteen operas of Gatti’s Slavic project have not returned to date:
The Polish Jew, Snegurochka, Sadko, The Fair at Sorochintzy,
and
Schwanda
. A sixth,
Prince Igor,
returned in the 2013–14 season.

20
. For the Lacy/Zarubin agreements and US/Soviet cultural exchanges, see Yale Richmond,
Cultural Exchange and the Cold War: Raising the Iron Curtain
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 2003), 10, 15. For the Soviet pique, see “Russians Hurt by Met Failure to Invite Their Leading Singers,”
Times,
May 21, 1958. Obraztsova returned to the Met between 1987 and 2002 for
Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in maschera,
and, in Russian at last,
The Gambler
and
War and Peace
.

21
. “the most important”: John Rockwell.

22
. Beňačková, who was first scheduled for Eva in
Die Meistersinger
on October 13, 1976, did not make her debut until 1991 in
Kát’a Kabanová
. The Met had also offered her Micaela, a role she judged inadequate for her debut. In 1988, the
Times
commented disapprovingly that “she was told that Micaela was the only part in which the casting department felt she could be useful to the Metropolitan. This from a company that has recently had in the repertory such Slavic works as
Khovanshchina
and
Jenufa
” (Donal Henahan, Nov. 27). “This is the”; “This relatively modest”: Manuela Hoelterhoff,
Wall Street Journal,
March 4, 1991.

23
. “So difficult was”: Holland, March 15, 1997.

24
. “I don’t know”: Richard Morrison, cited in
Times,
Mar. 15, 2009. Netrebko, Austrian since 2006, was circumspect; her statement made reference neither to Russia nor to the controversy: “As an artist, it is my great joy to collaborate with all of my wonderful colleagues—regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. I have never and will never discriminate against anyone.”

25
. “Gergiev must not”: Igor Shabdrasulov, cited in John Ardoin,
Valery Gergiev and the Kirov: A Story of Survival
(Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 2001), 252. “Gergiev is the”: Matthew Gurewitsch,
Times,
April 19, 1998.

26
. For Billinghurst on the Met’s relationship to the Kirov, see Ardoin,
Valery Gergiev,
256. “[Gergiev] won’t be”: Fiedler,
Molto Agitato,
322. The Kirov returned in July 2003, copresented by the Metropolitan, with
Semyon Kotko, Khovanshchina, Eugene Onegin, Macbeth, The Demon
(in concert), and
The Invisible City of Kitezh
. “tense relations with”: Tommasini,
Times,
Aug. 21, 2003.

27
. For an account of the negotiations to secure
War and Peace
for the Met in the 1940s, see Peter Clark, “Early Attempts to Stage
War and Peace
at the Met,” Met Online Annals.

28
. “The set is”: Tommasini. “the most visually”: Ross (March 4, 2002): 86–87. “a conscientious patron”: Bernheimer,
Opera
(June 2001). Olivier Tambosi directed and Frank Philipp Schlössmann designed
Jenufa
.

29
. “all the prisons”: cited in Geoffrey O’Brien, “Sparks of God,”
New York Review of Books
(Jan. 14, 2010). “the Met found”: Mike Silverman,
Associated Press,
March 6, 2010.

30
. See chapter 5 for the George Balanchine/Pavel Tchelitchev
Orfeo ed Euridice,
the only true pre-1950 experimental rereading.

31
. “impossible snarl of”: Ross,
New Yorker
(March 8, 1999): 84, 86. “daydream . . . a journey”: Peter Mossbach in John W. Freeman, “Doktor Faust’s Lab Partners,”
Opera News
(Jan. 2001): 26. “anti-pretty”; “a dream by”: Tim Albery in Matt Wolf, “Dream Team,”
Opera News
(Dec. 14, 1996): 26.

32
. Peter J. Davison designed the 1997
The Rake’s Progress
. “the brave task”: Holland,
Times,
Nov. 22, 1997. Santo Loquasto designed the 2004
Salome
. “With all those”:
Opera News
(Jan. 2002): 47.

33
. Gottfried Pilz designed the 2003
La Juive
.

34
. A dream/nightmare/hallucination had previously framed
Der Fliegende Holländer, Doktor Faust,
and
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
. For Volpe on
Il Trovatore,
see
Times,
Nov. 7, 2004.

35
. Schenk directed and Schneider-Siemssen designed the 1993
Die Meistersinger
. Schenk directed and Rose designed the 1992
Elektra
. Moshinsky directed and Yeargan designed the 1993
Ariadne auf Naxos
. Mark Lamos directed and Robert Israel designed the 1997
Wozzeck
. George Tsypin designed the 2004
Die Zauberflöte
. Lesley Koenig directed and Yeargan designed the 1996
Così fan tutte
. Davison designed the 1998
Le Nozze di Figaro
.

36
. Moshinsky directed and John Napier designed the 2001
Nabucco
. Guy Joosten directed and Johannes Leiacker designed the 2001
Roméo et Juliette
. “the most self-serving”: Marion Lignana Rosenberg,
Newsday,
April 4, 2006. “a caricature of”: Heidi Waleson,
Wall Street Journal,
April 5, 2006. Langenfass designed the 2006
Don Pasquale
. Copley directed and Conklin designed the 1990
Semiramide
and the 2002
Il Pirata
.

37
. “left Mr. Volpe”: Robin Pogrebin,
Times,
Feb. 10, 2004. “the overall artistic”: Tommasini,
Times,
Nov. 1, 2004. “with empty seats”: Rockwell,
Times,
Feb. 10, 2004. “persistent criticism . . . that”: Singer, “Mission Accomplished,”
Opera News
(Jan. 2006): 14.