Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Franco Zeffirelli

  • Death on the Nile: Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra” Opens the Met at Lincoln Center

    Death on the Nile: Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra” Opens the Met at Lincoln Center

    60 years ago today, the Metropolitan Opera consecrated its new house at New York’s Lincoln Center with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s “Antony and Cleopatra.” Adapted from Shakespeare’s play, the libretto was fashioned by Franco Zeffirelli.

    Zeffirelli could be a fine director, but in the opera house his lust for opulence and grandeur threatened to obscure the human drama. Here, his vision of “Cabiria”-style excess – with 22 principal singers, chorus, dancers (choreographed by Alvin Ailey), extras, and live camels – swelled the cast to 400 players. Many years later, I worked with Justino Diaz, who sang Antony, and he described the opulence of the production as being like Zeffirelli’s “Turandot” times 20.


    There was only so much of this that Barber, or even Shakespeare, could take. The excess of steel, brass, and aluminum sets pushed the house’s state-of-the-art technology to the literal breaking point. The weight proved too much for the newly installed revolving stage, and Leontyne Price, who sang Cleopatra, was trapped inside a hydraulically-operated pyramid. Fortunately, that was during rehearsals, but the costumes continued to prove cumbersome, the technical workarounds awkward, and the spectacle soul-numbingly vulgar. Audience response to the overinflated production made for a cool night in the desert. As for the critics… you think Julius Caesar had it bad?

    You can imagine how Barber, elegant and reserved two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (one for an earlier opera, “Vanessa,” introduced at the Old Met) and composer of the ubiquitous “Adagio for Strings,” would have taken it. In the years following the work’s brutal reception, he struggled with depression and alcoholism.


    “Antony and Cleopatra” was extensively revised by Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti in an edition first performed in 1975. Barber also prepared a concert suite, “Two Scenes from ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’” for Price.

    Barber provided two other works for the opening of Lincoln Center: the Piano Concerto, which earned him his second Pulitzer, and a piece for soprano and orchestra, “Andromache’s Farewell.” The former was performed by John Browning and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. The latter was performed by Martina Arroyo and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Schippers.


    Thankfully, the Met transcended the failure of its opening run. The cavernous, 3800-seat opera house – the largest in the world – has seen some magnificent performances over the decades, featuring many of the world’s – and history’s – greatest singers.

    As you can imagine, you need stellar voices, compelling music, and solid productions to fill such a venue night after night, and in recent years, the Met has struggled. There are plenty of performances that sell out – a lot of the new operas make for good theater, even if the composers can’t compete with Puccini – but new productions of the classics that go dark and contemporary, in a bid for “relevance,” often misfire. Most crucially, voices and personalities that can whip audiences into the kinds of frenzies that greeted the greatest singers of the past are always rare.

    Not all the challenges facing the Met are of the house’s creation. The industry and culture have shifted enormously since the ‘90s. The collapse of the record industry, the selling off or dumbing down of classical music radio stations, the lack of television, magazine, and newspaper exposure, cuts to music education, a shift in the priorities of the donor class, changes in the approaches to vocal training, and lack of interest in opera or classical music within the home have marginalized opera, as an art form, as an entertainment, and as an aspirational, inspirational pursuit with the power to lift us outside ourselves.

    Still, there’s plenty of magic left in the Met. This season, I’m curious to see – and hear – what Missy Mazzoli makes of “Lincoln in the Bardo.”


    ———-

    Documentary teasing “Antony and Cleopatra,” with Barber, Zeffirelli, Price, Thomas Schippers, Rudolf Bing, and Marc Chagall, who painted the Met’s iconic dual murals – which the organization has been trying to sell, with the provision that they continue to be displayed in the Met lobby.


  • Shakespeare Italian Style on Film

    Shakespeare Italian Style on Film

    William Shakespeare certainly has legs. As England’s greatest playwright, his works have been performed, more or less continuously, for 400 years. He’s trod the boards of the Globe, and he’s circumnavigated the globe. This week on “Picture Perfect,” the Bard gets the “the boot,” with film adaptations scored by composers from the Italian Peninsula.

    Just about everyone knows about Orson Welles’ difficulties in Hollywood after skewering William Randolph Hearst in “Citizen Kane.” For flying too close to the sun, all at once cinema’s boy wonder was persona non grata. As a result, Welles spent the bulk of his career trying to secure his own funding and devise creative solutions when the money ran out.

    There is plenty of ingenuity on display in Welles’ “Othello” (1949). The film was shot on and off in Italy and Tunisia over a period of three years, as Welles periodically halted production to earn yet another paycheck by acting in somebody else’s picture. When at a point the costumes were repossessed, Welles pivoted by staging a key sequence in a Turkish bath, with the actors clad only in towels.

    For the music, Welles employed Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, a classically-trained musician who turned to film in the 1950s. He was soon to become one of the best-known Italian film composers of the era. Lavagnino would be engaged by Welles for several other projects, including a television movie of “The Merchant of Venice.”

    Lavagnino received very little or even no payment for his work with Welles, though he was honored to collaborate with the legendary director. For his part, Welles was only too happy to work with Lavagnino, whose music he admired, certainly. But there was an additional incentive in that, in Italy, it was the practice that record companies would pay for everything – orchestration, copying parts, and recording – since they kept the rights.

    “Chimes at Midnight” (1965), Welles’ compilation of the Falstaff plays, this time a Spanish-Swiss production, was also scored by Lavignino. Welles’ performance in the picture is considered to be one of his finest. Also in the cast were John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, and Margaret Rutherford. Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote that “Chimes at Midnight” “… may be the greatest Shakespearean film ever made, bar none.” Lavagnino modeled much of his score on Early Music, since Welles had used a lot of it on the temp track.

    Much less frugal was Franco Zeffirelli, who enjoyed notable success adapting the Bard, both for film and the operatic stage. He directed a lively version of “The Taming of the Shrew,” with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and an inexorable one of Verdi’s “Otello,” with Placido Domingo recreating one of his most celebrated roles.

    Ennio Morricone was Zeffirelli’s composer of choice for “Hamlet” (1990). The film featured a venerable supporting cast, with Glenn Close, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Bates and Paul Scofield, and Mel Gibson did a surprisingly respectable job as the lead. At the time, Gibson was known for his action roles.

    Zeffirelli’s biggest success with Shakespeare came with “Romeo and Juliet” (1968). Much was made of the fact that the film’s leads, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, were closer than usual to the age of the characters in the play. “Romeo” became one of the great date movies and retains its broad appeal. The score, by Nino Rota, spawned a popular hit, “A Time for Us.”

    All the world’s a stage! I hope you’ll join me for “Shakespeare Italian-Style,” on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

  • Zeffirelli’s Shakespeare & Film Scores

    Zeffirelli’s Shakespeare & Film Scores

    Franco Zeffirelli died on June 15 at the age of 96. The influential director favored big emotions and grandiose subjects, making his biggest mark in Shakespeare and opera. I’ll leave the opera to other hands. However, this week on “Picture Perfect,” I’ll do what I can to honor his artistry with music from a selection of his films.

    “Romeo and Juliet” (1968) was probably the most culturally significant of these. Not only did it turn out to be a surprise hit, the film has been a staple of high school English curricula for decades. Zeffirelli’s vision proved especially appealing to teenaged audiences – in part because of the refreshing youth of its leads (Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, 17 and 16 respectively).

    “Romeo and Juliet” was nominated for several Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture and Best Director. Laurence Olivier spoke the film’s prologue and epilogue, and reportedly dubbed the voice of the Italian actor who played Lord Montague. Nino Rota wrote the music, and the love theme was popularized as “A Time for Us.”

    Another enduring success for Zeffirelli, a devout Roman Catholic, was his television miniseries, “Jesus of Nazareth” (1977). This time Olivia Hussey plays Mary, mother of Jesus. The all-star cast includes eight Academy Award winners, past and future (Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, James Earl Jones, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, and Peter Ustinov). It makes me happy to learn that the sets for the film were reused by Monty Python for “Life of Brian.”

    The music was by Maurice Jarre, David Lean’s composer-of-choice. I realize we’ve been hearing a lot of late-period Jarre recently, when he was most under the spell of electronics. “Jesus of Nazareth” sports a good old-fashioned orchestral score, with obligatory Biblical chorus.

    Zeffirelli proved again and again that he was especially adept at adapting Shakespeare for the big screen. With the unlikely casting of action hero Mel Gibson as the melancholy Dane, “Hamlet” (1990) was something of a gamble that paid off. Zeffirelli puzzlingly tampers with one of the all-time great openings in the history of drama, delaying the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father in favor of some fabricated funeral that looks like a rejected scene from “Star Wars,” but Gibson brings to the title role a refreshing vitality. The reading is passionate and dangerous. The music was by Ennio Morricone.

    Art imitates life in Zeffirelli’s first feature as director, “The Taming of the Shrew” (1967), a showcase for the famously tempestuous husband-and-wife Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. In addition, “Shrew” and “Romeo” provided notable supporting roles for a young Michael York. Nino Rota supplies an alternately rollicking and melancholy score in a manner that seems characteristic of Italian composers – perhaps the influence of Italian opera?

    Of course Zeffirelli made a magnificent imprint in the world of opera, with his opulent, eye-popping productions. For film, he directed adaptations of “La traviata” and “Otello,” with Placido Domingo.

    Among his other films were “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” “The Champ,” “Endless Love,” “Jane Eyre,” and “Tea with Mussolini.” But we’ll go with the spectacle – I think Franco would have wanted it that way – this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

  • Shakespeare Goes Italian: Welles & Zeffirelli Films

    Shakespeare Goes Italian: Welles & Zeffirelli Films

    Not only is William Shakespeare arguably England’s greatest poet and playwright, he certainly has legs. The Bard’s influence has been felt all around the globe. His plays have been translated into virtually every language, and filmmakers in such diverse cultures as those of India, Japan and Argentina have adapted his work for the silver screen.

    This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll be giving the Bard “the boot,” as we turn our attention to Italy, with two films by Orson Welles and two by Franco Zeffirelli.

    Just about everyone knows about Welles’ difficulties in Hollywood after skewering William Randolph Hearst in “Citizen Kane.” But Welles also was never one to take compromise lightly. As a result, he was frequently forced to strike out on his own, secure his own funding and come up with creative solutions when the money ran out.

    There is a famous bit of ingenuity on display in Welles’ adaptation of “Othello” (1949). The film was shot on and off over a period of three years and at various locales in Italy and Tunisia, as Welles would race off to earn money by acting in other pictures. One important scene was shot in a Turkish bath, with the actors clad in towels, since Welles’ couldn’t pay for the necessary costumes.

    For the music, Welles employed Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, a classically trained musician who, after a career in concert hall and conservatory, turned to film in the 1950s. He became one of the best-known Italian film composers of the era. He was actually Sergio Leone’s first choice to score “A Fistful of Dollars,” but his distributor insisted he use a young, less well-established Ennio Morricone instead.

    Lavagnino would be engaged by Welles for several other projects, including a television movie of “The Merchant of Venice.” Sadly, as was generally the case with Welles’ later films, lack of funding played a role in keeping “Don Quixote” from reaching the scoring stage.

    Lavagnino received very little or even no payment for his work on Welles’ pictures, though he was honored to collaborate with the legendary director. For his part, Welles was only too happy to work with Lavagnino, whose music he admired, certainly. But there was an additional incentive in that, in Italy, it was the practice that record companies would pay for everything – orchestration, recording and everything else – since they kept the rights.

    “Chimes at Midnight” (1965), Welles’ compilation of the Falstaff plays, though a Spanish-Swiss production, was also scored by Lavignino. Welles’ performance in the picture is considered to be one of his finest. Also in the cast were John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau and Margaret Rutherford. Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote that “Chimes at Midnight” “… may be the greatest Shakespearean film ever made, bar none.” Lavagnino modeled much of his score on Early Music, since Welles had used a lot of it on the temp track. (Coincidentally, this film is now on the schedule of the Princeton Garden Theatre.)

    Speaking of Morricone, he was very well-established by the time he was approached by director Franco Zeffirelli to score his screen adaptation of “Hamlet” (1990). The film featured a venerable supporting cast, with Glenn Close, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Bates and Paul Scofield, and Mel Gibson did a surprisingly respectable job as the lead. At the time, Gibson was known for his action roles.

    Zeffirelli has had notable success adapting Shakespeare, both for film and the operatic stage. He directed a lively film version of “The Taming of the Shrew,” with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and an adaptation of Verdi’s “Otello,” with Placido Domingo recreating one of his most celebrated roles.

    By far, however, his biggest success came with “Romeo and Juliet” (1968). Much was made of the fact that the film’s leads, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, were closer than usual to the age of the characters in the play. “Romeo and Juliet” became one of the great date movies and retains its broad appeal. The score, by Nino Rota, spawned a popular hit, “A Time for Us.”

    I hope you’ll join me for “Shakespeare Italian-Style,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

    #Shakespeare400

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