FOR THE LOVE OF OPERA

THE PROLOGUE

"A NIGHT AT THE OPERA," I guess I should say more than two hundred nights at the opera from 1956 to 1979.  Actually it all started in my 8th grade in 1956.  The Metropolitan Opera Guild sponsored  student performances of a different opera every year.  The catch was that in your music class you had to study the opera for the six  months prior to attending the performance. The tickets were free and students from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Many of the schools also participated in the Art in Opera Contest. This was a requirement for all students in my home town of Plainfield, New Jersey.  Our music and science teacher was Miss Laura T. Owens, the teacher that made the largest impact on my life.

The opera was Verdi's Rigoletto and we were immersed in it 3 to 4 days a week from January to April.  By the end of April we not only knew the story but could sing many of the arias, duets and ensembles. By the time we  were to attend the opera I could sing it, however poorly, from beginning to end, even having to la ti da most of it , but I knew every note. 

 ACT ONE

 The Art in Opera Contest, sponsored by the MOG had three categories, stage setting, Opera News Magazine cover and poster.  Every 8th grade student in Evergreen and in all the Plainfield schools had to choose one.   Whatever your choice, it had to represent your interpretation of the opera Rigoletto.  My choice was stage setting. I did a setting for the first act, which took place in the Duke of Mantua's palace throne room in 15th century Italy. I studied for weeks looking at pictures of Italian palaces and castles. I was no artist, but made sketches of what I thought I wanted. I began with a color scheme then designed the floors, walls, lighting fixtures and throne. Actually my first idea and design was what I ended up with. It took me over a month to make everything I wanted. There was a faux marble mosaic floor with a large door to the back stage left ,faux marbled walls with columns and the canopied throne stage right.  The candles in the sconces and the chandelier were made from the ends of rounded tooth picks. The sconces were carved out of balsa wood and painted gold then antiqued. The floor was a mosiac of gray, white, maroon and black. 

 To make a month long story short , the day of submission came and there were more that 15  stage sets submitted along with magazine covers an posters. The art and music teachers from all 12 grammar schools in town chose the 3 winners in each division for the city.  The first place winner would advance to the state competition. The three winners in each division from each state would advance to the finals at the Metropolitan to be judged by a panel from the MOG. Well, I won first place in the town then first in the state competition. A week later the winner’s school would be notified. There was an assembly the morning of the notification, Miss Owens always lead the Star Spangled Banner.  After the last note she said I have an announcement.  Dick Flitz has been awarded first place in the Metropolitan Art in Opera Contest stage set competition and will appear on stage at the Metropolitan House in April. 

 Waiting for that matinee performance was like waiting for Christmas. We all took a bus into New York City. Miss Owens and I were ushered backstage, where we met the other 8 winners and Rudolph Bing General Manager of the Met . The lights went up on the gold curtain and we all walked out on the stage.  There I was, a 12 year old kid standing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera receiving the Best Stage Set award from Rudolph Bing to the applause of over 3,500  students.  We went backstage and met the cast, another thrill.  Miss Owens and I were escorted to our seats, the center box on the Parterre level,  the most expensive seats in the house. Well this was my introduction to the world of opera.

ACT TWO

 Little did I know then that in 20 years I would be asked to direct Carmen for the New Jersey Lyric Opera and 3 more for that company and in 33 years two for the Palm Beach International Opera Company, working with major stars of the Met.  Thanks to my very favorite teacher, Miss Owens! 

Through her, I formed a great affinity for the wonderful world of Opera, which has lasted me my entire life.

This in depth studying of an opera continued throughout high school as well. We studied and attended Carmen, Sigfried, La Boheme and Faust.    

November 8, 1958 I took the bus into New York City, walked the 3 block to the Met and waited for the doors to open. I was attending my first performance of Madame Butterfly. But most important I was attending my first performance Renata Tebaldi. I had been listening to her recording with Carlo Bergonzi. I had listened to it so many times  I could hum it from beginning to end.   My seat was in the right orchestra about a third of the way from the stage. This was a treat from my dad who used to attend the opera when he was a teenager as well.  I remember him telling me the first time he attended the Met he stood to hear Caruso.  After this performance, I stood many time as well, both in the SRO in the back of the orchestra and the side of the Family Circle. This performance, unbeknownst to me, was her debut in the role in New York. It was a feast for the ears and eyes. The review in the New York Herald Tribune said,” Renata Tebaldi, in singing the role of Madame Butterfly for the first time at the Metropolitan on Saturday evening, has given what will be remembered as a historic performance.  The opera is as authentically Japanese as minestrone can be.  In spite of the cherry blossoms, Butterfly is an Italian product and that is the way Miss Tebaldi sang it. She gave us the impression that she was in love with her role, singing it with the beauty and glory of the grand Italian style. The Japanese illusion was therefore of secondary importance, even though she was made up splendidly and had learned to make all those affected gestures and to bow deeply. But it was the voice that created the character of Butterfly.”

It was amazing !  Although I had been to the Met 6 times before through the student performances this was the first time I had heard major voices. Actually, the greatest soprano in the world.  At the student performances we heard utilitarian singers, very good but not great.

 It was widely known and accepted that Renata had her claque and I fell into it and was accepted immediately. That first night I was swept up in the voice and personality of that which was "Renata."  During the intermission I went to the main lobby and purchased tickets for another performance of BUTTERFLY on Nov. 19,  LA BOHEME December 12 and TOSCA on Jan 5th 1959. That would be her last performance at the Met for 15 months. March 15, 1960 I saw my first SIMON BOCCANEGRA with Richard Tucker and Anselmo Colzani. later that month was TOSCA  with Barry Morell and April, another BUTTERFLY again with Barry Morell. December that year was another BOCCANEGRA and December brought two Bohemes with Richard Tucker and the other Barry Morell.  December 29th was my first MANON LESCAUT with Tucker and February 21, 1961 another BUTTERFLY with Nicolai Gedda. WOW !

ACT THREE

Renata was absent from the Met till Jan 1963. At that, she only sang 6 performances of ADRIANNA LECOUVREUX . Another 14 month absence due to vocal problems kept her from singing for over a year. Her return to the Met was on  March 14, 1964 in BOHEME.  What an incredible night. Sandor Konya was Rodolfo. This was the first I had heard him and want a beautiful voice. The place went wild just hearing her voice off stage.. Then her entrance a few seconds later stopped the show with a standing 5 minute ovation. Renata was back !

A week later on Sat the 22nd of March I attended the most incredible TOSCA ever. I got in the city about 1 p.m. to get on the SRO line. It was cold and snowing, I learned that the line started at 1 a.m. It was Renata's   first TOSCA at the Met in exactly 4 years. The line for standing room was around the block. I parked myself at the end of the line and started chatting with some of the regular standees I knew. About 5, I was so cold and hungry, I went to get something to eat. (we always held each other’s place for food or bathroom breaks.) On my way back after eating at my favorite little haunt, the deli across the street, I headed back to the front of the Met before getting back on line. I struck up a conversation with a little lady I had seen at the opera a few times. After a couple of minutes she said I have a ticket for tonight and I can't go, would you like it, I only had about $25 on me, SR were  little over $5 then, which gave me enough for food and the $1.25 bus fare. I told her I would love to buy it but only had $25. left.  She said, "Oh sweetie, I said would you like it ,not would you like to buy it. I know how much you love Renata. You can have it." I thanked her and said that wouldn't be right.  She put the envelope in my hand and said, "you enjoy it."  She turned and walked away.  I opened the envelope and looked at the ticket and just about fainted. The ticket said Parterre Box 35 Seat 1. That was THE CENTER BOX, back then $150.00 .  I have no idea who she was and I never saw her again.  I went back to the SR line and no one believed me till I showed them the ticket. Never so glad I wore my tux.  Well, I wore them every time even if I was standing, respect I guess. But that was what you did then. Now you can wear jeans.  I felt like a million bucks, sitting in the center box, the front row, center seat, surrounded by silks, satins and diamonds.  The entire audience was waiting for Renata's TOSCA debut after a 2 year absence in that role.

  The headlines in the 3  NYC papers read. " Outstanding Tosca at the Met, Thrilling Tosca at the Met and Met's Evening of Miracles--Tosca With 3 Great Artists."

The scheduled singers were Renata, Tito Gobbi and Barry Morell. Normally when there is going to be a cast change there was a sign in the lobby stating who was subbing for who.  Rudolph Bing was the master of suspense at the Met. I wound my way through the beautiful crowd up the one flight of stairs to the Parterre level. The boxes each had an anti room where you could sit, hang your coats or in some cases get away from the opera. I entered the anti-room and was the first in the box.  took my seat and excitedly read my program, anticipating the excitement of the performance to come.  Little did I, or anyone else, know what was in store for us. The house lights dimmed, the din of voices hushed, Fausto Cleva was on the podium just standing. The footlights came up on the magnificent gold curtain, which was not normal. You could feel the collective intake of breath from over 3,500 people. It was like one more person and the gold curtain would have been sucked to the footlights. It seemed like an eternity, then Rudolph Bing walked from stage left to center stage, he was handed a mike. The first words out of his mouth were," Miss Tebaldi is quite well and will be singing tonight." The roar of applause was deafening. He just stood and waited for silence. " Mr. Gobbi is well and will be singing." This after a 5 year absence from the Met.  Another round of deafening applause. He stood and waited. Well there you are, two of greatest singing actors of the time.  Bing continued, "However, Mr. Morell is indisposed and Mr. Franco Corelli has kindly ------" You could not hear anything after that. As the New York Herald Tribune stated, "Well, sir, that just about got the demolition job on the opera house underway two years ahead of schedule. "   I continue from the Herald Tribune. " So there you have the ingredients of an evening for the books: three of the world's greatest exponents of the Puccini repertory, all of them at the very top of their condition, showering each other and the audience with sparks of the most brilliant imaginable intensity. One forgot the inadequacies of Puccini's dramatic conception, one forgot the drabness of the Frederick Fox sets, one just surrendered to the irresistible flow of vocal lava that poured off that old stage......" Miss Tebaldi was stupendous...here was a gorgeously conceived and stunningly projected enkindling of the title role, brilliantly thought out in terms of every gesture and stance, and enveloped in dramatic singing of the highest quality.  Likewise, Mr. Corelli....gave the best that lies deep within him. It was a strong, vibrant Cavaradossi he created, one that could well set the standard for this generation of tenors. As to Mr. Gobbi, his Scarpia was in a class by itself. The voice.. is still marvelously in focus, colored into every cranny with the malevolence and venom of the role. There were small touches in his acting that were to marvel at: the byplay with Tosca in the first act, the sly little teasing with a feather near the end of the second act. But there was more than that, a total command of the role beggared description.....When an opera company and mount this kind of evening, one tends to forget and forgive those other nights in the week.  Last night at the Metropolitan was opera at its purest, and most incandescent."

Curtain calls for Renata lasted so long that the house lights came up, the fire curtain came down and we were still yelling.  By that time, I had left the box and gone to the front of the orchestra to help call Renata back.  It was 45 minutes after the final chord from the orchestra, but there were probably 200 of us still calling for Renata to return. Return she did! Costume off and fur coat on.  When she walked off the stage we knew that was it for the night.  Everyone made a mad dash out the side door and down 7th Ave to the stage door. Her limo was still there, we made it!  A few minutes later the stage door opened and out she came. What an end to an unforgettable night. I will never forget running down 7th Ave. with over a hundred others in the ice and snow after her car. People were throwing flowers from every direction.  I turned and walked the 3 blocks to the bus terminal with echoes of TOSCA in my head.

This was such a magical night my words could not possibly describe the pure excitement. Hence, the long quotes from the Herald Tribune. I went on the 30th to see the same cast in TOSCA again. It was another wonderful night but lacked the magical aura of the week before. This time I did stand. And we did all run after her car again.

 ACT FOUR

During the next 8 months I saw Dorothy Kirsten in BUTTERFLY,  Leontyne Price as AIDA and Joan Sutherland in LUCIA DI LAMMEROOR. I got backstage to meet both Dorothy Kirsten and Joan Sutherland. Joan was amazing. Her curtain calls after the Mad Scene lasted 39 minutes.

THE EPILOGUE

I didn't think anything could surpass my night at the opera on March 22, 1964.....until my night at the opera on November 29  !  Please see my post, " the Night I Met Van Cliburn."