“MARINA” (by Giordano) – ITS WORLD STAGE PREMIÈRE IN FOGGIA. The harmonic language of Marina in certain passages carries unmistakable traces of the late-Verdian chromatic idiom: the plangent inner-voice movement of the central duet, the dense harmonic fabric of the ensemble episodes, and an approach to orchestration -visible even in the piano reduction- in which solo instrumental colours are assigned an unusual prominence and purposefulness.
Month: August 2026
Rienzi. An Epochal Life of Images. The Second Act followed immediately with no break, and the huge screen flew upwards to reveal the same slow-motion clapping citizens seated upon a white bleacher-like section; frankly not one of the most attractive scenic elements, as it also will be over-used until the end of the opera, where it is out of place. Its sole purpose was to house the vast chorus center-stage, neatly arranging them unobtrusively it must be said. As to the length of Act One and Act Two joined for a total of two hours, there is little else to do if the Ballet is to included which it was here. Originally, a wise move by Wagner, opposed as he would be in being forced to insert a ballet into the Third Act of his Tannhauser 16 years later in Paris, which he spitefully did, but at the beginning of the First Act, causing a riot out of which grew his hate for Meyerbeer and his gang. Yet, to paint History rightfully, we must recall that Meyerbeer also helped Wagner produce his operas in Dresden.
Ileana Cotrubaș She believed that performers had the right, and sometimes the duty, to say no when the essence of a work was being violated. Her later book, Opernwahrheiten, provided a lasting expression of these convictions. It formed part of a broader argument for an opera theatre in which music, text, character and staging remained in dialogue with one another rather than being pitted in competition.