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THE
MEETING WITH GIORGIO STREHLER
With the suggestion of Carlo de Incontrera, the great Italian
Director calls the young singer to Milan for an audition,
confirming her for Fiordiligi.
"I was still a student. No experience in theatre. I arrived
in Milan without knowing a single word of Italian and without
a penny. Friends in Karlsruhe advanced me money for the flight".
The big question was: How will she know to move on stage ?
Eteri appears calm, perhaps too much for the demands of the
director. All the perplexities dissolve after the first rehearsals.
Eteri is able to have a perfect agreement with Dorabella of
Terese Cullen and with Ferrando of Jonas Kaufmann. The three,
and above all the two sisters, are able to give mutually,
unexpected artistic incitement. The naturalness of the movements,
the intimate expressions which appear from the voice and the
nobility of the soul engraved on her Fiordiligi, collect all
the surprises in theatre.
Giorgio Strehler died in the morning of 25th December 1997,
after only 11 days of rehearsals, "I could not believe
it. I felt half left out. But at the same time I felt selected
becouse I had received so much from him in the last 11 days
of his life. I learned from him how to interprete with naturalness
the intimate sentiments, the candour, the honesty".
"Così fan tutte" opened on 26th January 1998
at the Nuovo Piccolo Teatro of Milan. The success is matchless:
43 performances between January and March, the theatre always
full. The spectacle was recorded for the Italian radio and
television with repetitions planned in Italy, France, Spain,
Germany, Japan.
WORK DIARY
Notes
from the trials of Giorgio Strehler
12-23 December 1997
I see you all together for the first time; you seem very disciplined,
very serious, but I already know that between you there is
a fraternal rapport, that it is possible to form a group.
A group, not first and second company. Simply, necessarily,
some of you will sing before and the others afterwards. It
is important to know that everyone, even with his individuality,
is interchangeable, must know to do the same things. Because
the idea that is under that smile, that gesture is identical.
Before starting the rehearsals with you I have caressed for
a moment the dream that you would never have either sung or
seen "Così fan tutte". That your "first
time" should have been with this old man who has in mind
a "Così fan tutte" very different from usual,
for certain revolutionary aspetcts. I tell you immediately
that it will not be easy to do, but that should not be afraid.
You must be fresh, spontaneous, happy to have this, yes, because
this opera is so precious to my heart that it seems to me
very great. It is so great what the genius of Mozart has made
in the book of Da Ponte, a nice adventurer, but who knew a
lot about life and about love, about their vanity. And he
wrote this opera, thinking as a "joke" of old libertine.
And instead....... here is the great music of Mozart, even
in the trilogy that covers "Don Giovanni", "Le
nozze di Figaro", it happens that "Così fan
tutte" is often considered a small opera. Instead it
is only the last of the trilogy of passions: "Le Nozze
di Figaro", on the variety of love; "Don Giovanni",
the tragedy of passion and of non passions in continuous touch.
And then, here is "Così fan tutte", a "joke"?
But no, a wonderful opera, full of simple music, naturalness,
that is so basic in all arts.... the less it appears the more
it is great..... even if it is not a realistic story, it seems
that it is born out of an event that happened in Triest, of
which the newspapers spoke in that time. "Così
fan tutte" is real musical theatre in the sense that
it crosses the music of Mozart who "saw" the action,
suggested the developments in a perfect, but simple connection.
In every gesture we should corroborate all this and we should
be more helped if we follow the truth of his music. That what
we all have to do involves a lot of stylistic difficulties
because we find ourselves in front of an oscillating, mysterious
opera. Like sentiments: the two sisters of Ferrara, Dorabella
and Fiordiligi love or perhaps not. Or perhaps yes. Is it
true or is it false that what happens? It is impossible, you
say, at leat that it is not seen as a parable..... But, young
fellows, I repeat once again, or we can put together in light
the unknow side of this absolutely ambiguous opera where the
doubt, the truth, the false, the passion, of the game can
become true or in the contrary it is better to give it up.
However, we have these two girls and these two officials who
will then trasform in Albanians, Turks does not matter what;
what matters is that they are exotic, that they are "others".
Both the two girls are liked because they are amusing, they
are less formal and the women - you know - look to the point.
The false Guglielmo is better than the real, the Albanian
Ferrando is more stimulating...... First there are the two
young simpletons, with some difficulty. All of a sudden an
old, devil of a man, Don Alfonso, who tells him "attention
young fellows that the women are all equal, all ready to betray
if necessary". They no, they believe that love is eternal,
and not betrayed. Even when we were young we had tought. Then
we realised that life is more complicated, suffering like
dogs, maybe. Initially, here we are in a coffee shop. There
is this devil of a man, a little run-down, a little corrupt,
a little intellectual, a man of advice, skeptic and weary,
who drinks coffee, reads newspapers and gives lessons in erotism
because he has a libertin. Young fellows, you must take it
into your heads, this is an erotic opera, full of desires
and of sex. It is not an edifying story of stupid young girls
and young boys; it is a story of persons who love, who desire,
who desire to interchange like it happens in life. Does everyone
woman do it like this? But no, rather, every man does it like
this. It is not an opera against woman: Imagine Mozart and
Da Ponte. No, here everyone desires each other, everyone betrays,
everyone lies..... The public understands immediately that
these characters behave like how it happens with us.... It
is then..... let us forgive each other because we all have
the ability to err..... a little of compassion and kindness
one for the other, because not only we characters, not only
we sho sing, not only we who make the theatre, but also those
who listen and see us can err...... Now you look at me like
who knows that I will say, but when you are more mature you
will remember what this old man gave you, that what I had
asked you. Young fellows, life is this. In life everything
is in motion, nothing is still, inactive, cold. The couple
is a temporary affair, you can always break it or reverse
it. The passions are neverdefinite, but short-lived. Eros
is always on the other side of convenience. If these is convenience
they excel with tricks, comedy, theatral pretences, excuses
or others. But you must have comprehension, because we are
all full of faults. You will say..... but not us, we are different.
But no, maybe you have not yet done but will do because we
are fragile......
Mozart
recommended not to make a tragedy of it, you need to consider
that the reality of life is complex and terrible. Mozart liked
girls; but knew that even Constanza did not keep silent to
wait for him and with indulgence he wrote to her "behave
yourself with discretion at the baths of Baden-Baden....."
A man who knew the good and the bad and with an ironical smile,
even a little evil, but alsowith a little compassion said
that man and woman are fragile beings.... Think "Così
fan tutte": when the couples are scattered, when there
was deceit, when there was betrayal, then the two girls say
"Pardon, pardon, I will not do it anymore....."
Could be true? Doesn't matter, let us not consider it too
much. Let us reason it out, one change humour and behaviour
quickly and where there was to cry one can laugh.....
In
"Così fan tutte" there is a lot of laughter
- sweet, ludicrous- but there is also, at the end, compassion
for us poor puppets who recite with relatively sincere love.
At the end of one always interchanges the roles. This game
is typical of human life; Mozart collected it an put it is
a cruel light, ridiculous and pitiful at the same time. "How
poor and ridiculous things we humans are when we lowe".
Photos:
Luigi Ciminaghi / Milano
"WORK DIARY". Text edit by: Nuovo Piccolo di Milano
- Teatro d'Europa
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