u***@mvdaily.com
2006-05-31 00:13:46 UTC
http://www.mvdaily.com/
'Some censors are more senseless than others. The Venetian officials
who insisted Verdi's 1853 opera on a strictly contemporary subject
should be staged in the Paris of 1700 must have been historical
ignoramuses. The "Fallen Women" of that era were in positions of
mastery, and the most prostrate of them all, such as Mme De Montespan
or Mme De Maintenon, were the virtual rulers of France. The idea of
passing out from consumption at the age of 23 was inconceivable. In the
end Verdi protested only there must be no wigs.'
- Robert Anderson, writing in today's Music & Vision about a
performance on DVD from Zurich Opera House.
'Some censors are more senseless than others. The Venetian officials
who insisted Verdi's 1853 opera on a strictly contemporary subject
should be staged in the Paris of 1700 must have been historical
ignoramuses. The "Fallen Women" of that era were in positions of
mastery, and the most prostrate of them all, such as Mme De Montespan
or Mme De Maintenon, were the virtual rulers of France. The idea of
passing out from consumption at the age of 23 was inconceivable. In the
end Verdi protested only there must be no wigs.'
- Robert Anderson, writing in today's Music & Vision about a
performance on DVD from Zurich Opera House.