New York's Opera Society 5

by Gianni Truvianni

Chapter 5

Luigi’s Ristorante

After the show my friends and I went to one off to one of the nearby restaurants for a drink. I remembered everybody including myself feeling downright giddy as we entered the Restaurant for what we referred to as our "night cap".

We took what we called “our table” at the corner of our usual post opera restaurant. The name of this particular establishment being “Luigi's Ristorante” which we had been coming to for the last two years after each opera.

We ordered our “post opera” drink which was a bottle of "Moet Chandon" and while we were waiting for our waiter to bring the champagne as well as our other orders we began to exchange views on the performance we had just attended. “Today, I felt that Domingo was not exactly at his best” was the comment that started our post opera conversation, this statement was made by Arturo, who was often very critical of things, however his criticism tended to be more analytical then anything else. I could tell by everyone’s reaction that his comment did not come as a surprise because that is what I also felt after the performance. “I would not say that I was disappointed with Domingo but simply that something was missing from his singing” were Barbara’s words that continued this conversation to which she added “though I can’t quit place my finger on what it was that was missing, he did not seem to have missed any of the notes”. Amanda then joined the conversation, “I would not say that his performance was substandard by any means but however I do think that at times it lacked enthusiasm but I was satisfied with his overall performance”. I had been paying close attention to what had been said and decided it was time my turn to join in with a word or two “he was good perhaps we have seen him do better but that is not to say that he was bad and I would even say that for any other singer perhaps with the exception of Pavarotti or Carreras this would have been a great performance”. Brad who was no offense intended the least knowledgeable in our group when it came to opera and music, this not to say that Brad knew nothing about the subject was carefully listening and interjected “you people must have really great musical ears because I myself did not notice much difference between today’s performance and that last time we heard him, perhaps the only difference I can claim to have noticed is that perhaps he was singing more enthusiastically the other day, I might add that I think he has spoiled you because every time he sings you expect him to dazzle you and perhaps the more you listen to him the less of an impression he will make upon you given that you have heard him sing so many times, it is like me when I used to watch Maradona or Baggio , or Bird or Jordan or Montana or Elway or Lemieux play that the more I saw them play, after a while the less they seemed to impress me”. Arturo was one who always tried to see every one’s point of view and though he did not always agree with them he did at least try to understand what had lead them to their conclusion, this feature in his character made him the diplomat in our group so he just said in his typical friendly argumentative voice as he looked directly at Brad “I understand what you are saying and there is a certain degree of truth in what you are saying that we have heard him so many times that he has perhaps, he has stopped impressing us but I think that he for some reason, he was not at his best. I can’t tell you why he was not at his best but all I can say is that like sportsmen even the great ones you have mentioned, they who don’t always play at the same level of greatness every time out I can say that this was not one of Domingo’s best ever performances though it is not say what he displayed today was bad it was just not his best”. That is when Amanda who usually made it a point of changing the topic conversation when she had grown weary of it said “after listing to a 4 hour opera specially one by Wagner, as much as I love him the last thing in the world I feel like doing is talking about opera so can we my future husband and I tell you more about Colombia and our upcoming wedding which needless to say you are all invited to”.

At that point we all looked at each other and smiled as that is what we all wanted to hear more of. Amanda continued telling their Colombian adventure with the same enthusiasm she started it with before we went into the Met by saying “so as you all know, Arturo and I spent the summer in Colombia where my future in laws and I became acquainted and I would even say that we became family as that is how I was treated”.

Just as she finished saying this the waiter ,Antonio (a Genoa born waiter who had come to America to complete his medical studies at Cornell) arrived with our orders and bottle of champagne, this was a tradition in our group to toast the performance which someday we would be giving. Antonio had been our waiter for a long time, who after having served us for over 2 years pretty much knew everything regarding us as we did about him.

“Bona sera, how are you all and how was Wagner this evening?” was his greeting to us all of us who answered him by saying bona sera and telling him how great it was to be back at the Met. Antonio then added a touch of comedy to the evening (while he was removing the cork from our bottle of champagne and carefully pouring it into our glasses) by saying “I once saw on the “Odd Couple” were Felix puts on a helmet with horns to go see the same Wagner opera, do people really put on those Viking hats to go see Wagner?” His question was met with a wall of laughter, which Amanda answered “Yeah, I remember that episode, that’s the one were at the end Felix tells Oscar that his hat got screams from the doorman”. This conversation was continued by Barbara crying out “oh, yes know I remember he said it while Oscar who is coming in as Felix was on his way out says “go, show that to your doorman” after having hung up his jacket on one of the horns on Felix’s hat making the helmet flop to one side”. Arturo, who by then had become familiar with American sitcoms laughingly said “you know Antonio the first time I saw that episode I too wondered if Americans wore such headwear to see Wagner but Amanda told me that fortunately I wouldn’t have to wear anything like that when we went to see “Gotterdammerung”, by the time we got through laughing at what Arturo had said, Antonio said as he finished pouring the last of the champagne into Brad’s glass“ I remember that next time I go to see that opera” then Antonio took his leave by saying with a hurried but polite smile “excuse me, I must get back to my other tables but its good to have you back, enjoy your champagne”.

It was easy to see that our conversation had gotten sidetracked so I simply said “he’s a nice guy now where were we oh, yes we were in Colombia and you were telling about, you remember what?”. Amanda then said “mmm, thanks Bill now let me get back to my story” and as we did get back to the topic of Amanda and Arturo, I could tell by the way everyone was looking at them (my self included) that we were all really feeling the happiness that Amanda and Arturo were feeling as if it were our own. “Arturo’s family own one of the biggest flower plantations in Colombia to tell you the truth I had never seen so many roses in my life let alone in one place his family exports them to the States and to Europe as well” her voice suggested that she had been truly impressed by who her in-laws were and how close they had become. It was to early to talk about my meeting Gosia’s parents, anytime soon but it did send me to wonder what it would be like. “Brad I have a question for you and you being the one amongst us who is shall we say the most knowledgeable in matters of business, should know the answer to this question, what country is the largest exporter of cut flowers?” .Brad replied with a grin “yeah I know Holland is number one and yes I do know it, your country Colombia is the second largest exporter of cut flowers, I heard it last year on CNN I also heard that your country and no doubt your family as well does great business come every Valentine’s day”. “Arturo smiled as Amanda continued her description of her Colombian vacation “Arturo’s father , whose name is Sergio showed me all around their plantation and it kind of reminded me of what an old cotton plantation must have looked like in the old days before the “civil war”, he really gave me the grand tour de force, he showed me the whole process of how flowers are planted, cut, packed and frozen and then shipped off. I never knew it could be such an elaborate process. When I was there it truly felt like living in a jungle paradise”. “We would wake up almost at the crack of dawn and go for very long walks in Arturo’s family estate and walk through the plantation looking for a place just to be alone and admire. I also met a lot of Arturo’s friends who are among the nicest and I friendliest people it has ever been my pleasure to meet. Every one of his friends and relatives held a dinner in honor of our upcoming wedding, and these dinners what they call ( now turning to Arturo and getting all excited) wait don’t tell me, let me guess “comidas” were so big I think that there must have been at least 50 guest at each one and most of them had music that was the true Latin American Flavor. At one of those “comidas” I remember there was a band or what do they call it in Spanish well never mind”. “you remember that they asked you to get up and sing as I told everyone that you were on your way to be the next Maria Callas or Kiri Te Kanawa , (Arturo said in a most joyful tone of voice almost poking fun at Amanda). I noticed that everyone’s attention had shifted over to Arturo who had taken over the role of story teller from Amanda.

I also stopped to notice one thing that I had thought of quit often but never really noticed when happening, I saw how much I loved sharing time with these people and how much I valued their friendship as much as I did my very own family. This was one of the those moments that I could honestly say was a good moment in my life, the kind that one never forgets, I am just glad that I managed to pause long enough to notice it. One thing that I had observed was that people often remembered good times they had had in the past but I often wonder if they had realized one of those moments when it was happening right in front off them.

Arturo continued telling the story of Amanda’s singing debut in Colombia and the more he told the more he could not hold back his laughter at how Amanda had been so shy about singing this music that to her was very new. “She was asked by my friends whose English is even worse then mine to get up on that make shift stage with the orchestra which even had a band leader who is a friend of the family and often plays at our parties and weddings, to sing some songs in Spanish which I had taught her the words to and with the music sheet in front of her, she got up there and like you Americans say “brought down the house” with her voice. I honestly don’t think that any of them were expecting to hear an opera version (Amanda now looking at him with a pretend to be indignant look on her face) of Colombian cumbias and merengue (now turning to Amanda in a playful tone of voice) you know I am only joking my pet, your voice captured the real soul of our Colombian music”. This was followed by another one of many small kiss on the mouth.

“I hope, well I don’t mean to interrupt your delightful story ( Barbara said now looking directly at Amanda and Arturo) but I would like to talk about the upcoming school year since it is getting late and I think that Brad and I had better call it a night soon, you know tomorrow being a Monday and all”. I added in I don’t recall which words that I felt that we needed to plan certain things, which fortunately Amanda and Arturo did not misunderstand to mean we had grown tired of hearing about their vacation.

Amanda started by asking me if my mother, who was a teacher in the school all of us (except Brad) attended, had decided on what operas we would be performing during the upcoming school year. I told them that one of the operas my mother had decided on was “The Revenge of the Bat” by Richard Strauss, this bit of info helped to make Amanda and Barbara even happier then they already were, as they were going to be taking major roles in this opera though my mom had not decided which. I no doubt was also going to be taking on one of the major male roles in this production of the same opera which Arturo was mostly likely going to be conducting.

Many of our future plans were discussed that evening .We all talked about not only of our own plans but those of our parents and since all our parents with the sole exception of Brad’s, were involved in the opera it was of great interest to us to hear what would be happening in the opera world in the season which tonight’s opera had already kick off.

Amanda’s father was an opera singer, a Baritone to be more precise who was going to be singing in several performances at “the Met” as well as other opera houses all over the U.S. and overseas. His stopovers would include such prestigious opera houses as Convent Garden, La Scala and the Sidney Opera house. It was safe to say that this was going to be a big year for his career.

I don’t think, I surprised anybody present by stating my mother’s intentions of being on the board of directors at the New York Metropolitan Opera, a position that would give her heavy clout in deciding which new operas would be performed. Even then everybody knew that my mother had always wanted to expand the Metropolitan Opera’s already large repertoire and would be using her position to enlarge the Metropolitan’s program in order to include some operas by lesser known composers or some lesser known operas by well known composers. She even wanted to include modern operas some of which were written in the 80’s and 90’s . She knew it was going to be difficult to get such a position but she also knew that she could count on help from her long time friend James Levine who happened to be the artistic director and in my opinion one of the best conductors of all time.

We were also all aware that even if my mother were to obtain the position she was after, it would not be easy to revolutionize the New York Metropolitan Opera given that there were many, far to many people in that organization who were dead set against any changes that included adding operas that might not necessarily attract large audiences after all operas like “Carmen” , “ La Traviata “ , “ Madame Butterfly”, “Figaro” and others like them were almost a sure fire thing.

One factor that made these individuals averse to taking risks was that operas needed to be sponsored and it was not going to be easy to get a company even one with a large budget to sponsor an opera that was new and might not attract large audiences like the above mentioned.

One of the reasons my mother wanted to include modern operas even one written by Stuart Copeland (ex-drummer and percussionist of the pop group known as “The Police”), was because she felt that adding operas like this one, specially if they could be heavily promoted would help to usher in a whole new audience of younger spectators into the Met. She felt that an increase in the number of “younger spectators” at Met would lead to an increase in the number of people who chose to pursue careers not only in opera but in classical music as well. She was of the idea that what was needed in opera was more talented youngsters and the only way to get them interested in opera was to have operas that they could relate to so in other words what was need was more modern operas added to the traditional ones we already had. She once remarked to James Levine and Luciano Pavarotti “how can we get younger people involved in opera when the newest opera we perform was written at least 50 years ago, and even that is considered modern, what we simply must have is operas that are written about today’s time that include themes from the 21^st century not the 19^th”.

My friends and I were aware of what position my mother wanted and why she wanted it, but however I was to the best of my knowledge the only one who really knew just what and how many things my mother wanted to change. One of the things my mother wanted to do for opera or perhaps to it was to modernize it in the sense that she wanted to introduce technology to a world that resisted it at every turn. The technology which my mother spoke of was the use of giant screens being used during the performances, much in the same way they were being used in rock and roll concerts to give an added dimension to the spectacle. She once described (but swore me to secrecy not to breath a word about it to anybody specially my opera friends) to me how she felt the use of screens would help people’s imagination, making it easier to visualize with the aid of the music what the destruction of Valhalla had probably looked like in Wagner’s mind when he created it.

She was of the mind that scenes like the destruction of Valhalla (in Gotterdammerung) as well as certain scenes from Prokoviev’s “War and Peace” or Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” would never be done justice if they were not shown larger then life on giant screens the way she felt these composers would have wanted their work to be displayed.

Her vision was one of the audience being able to see what had never been witnessed on any stage before, she could picture what it would be like for a captivated spectator when faced with the view of Hagan being drowned by the Rhein maidens or the spectacular sight Brumhilde throwing herself on to a fire that would rise to consume not only Valhalla but the gods who resided their as well, all while being constantly bombarded by the sound of Wagner’s music which even his most ardent critics could not deny it of its grandeur. She did not feel however that the use of screens should be limited to Wagner’s works but she however did feel that it was Wagner’s work that would benefit the most from the use of screens.

Out of all the tasks my mother hoped to accomplish, it was precisely this last amendment to the opera that really made me want to wish my mom the best of luck in her attempt to get the post she was after.

Authors

Publishers

Company Info

Marketing Tools

New York's Opera Society 5