The composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) was born into a musical family: his father was a musician and his mother an opera singer. He enrolled in music school in 1806 and was already composing operas as a very young man. He is probably best-known for his comic operas such as Il barbiere di Siviglia – despite its opening night in 1816 being a famous fiasco. Most of his later compositions, however, were in the opera seria tradition. He wrote many of these for Naples’ Teatro San Carlo and La donna del lago (1819) was among them. The story is based on a poem written by Sir Walter Scott in 1810. The setting is Scotland during a rebellion by highland clans against King James V who is wandering the countryside disguised as Hubert. He meets Ellen, the daughter of one of his enemies. She’s in love with one man, her father has promised her to another, the disguised king seems to be making advances on her, there’s a battle and, strangely enough, it all ends happily. It’s a romantic story and the music is lush and melodious. The Metropolitan Opera is now staging its first production of this opera starring (the fabulous) Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Florez. You can see it on various dates through the next few weeks at the opera house itself or at a movie theater: the March 14th matinee will be simulcast.
Category: News (page 7 of 24)
Rome’s Palazzo Valentini, off of Piazza Venezia, was originally built starting in 1585. Throughout the centuries it was a residence, a library, a theater and eventually the seat of the Provincia di Roma. More recently, excavations under the palazzo have revealed various Roman “domus” or noble residences which have been turned into a “multimedia museum.” Visitors follow a set path and virtual reconstructions and videos recreate the past. At the end of the tour is an exhibition on the area around Trajan’s column and a video gives a close up view of the column and explains the story that is told in its bas-reliefs. The whole visit takes about an hour and is truly fascinating: technology aids the imagination in bringing the past to life.
A walk in Rome’s Testaccio neighborhood, at the foot of the Aventine hill in the opposite direction from the Centro, presents yet another vision of the city. It’s named after a small hill, Monte Testaccio, made in Roman times out of piled up amphorae. This area, certainly not pretty but still authentic, was for a long time the home to the main slaughterhouse, now closed and repurposed as a branch of the Macro modern art museum. With cobblestones underfoot, surrounded by old animal stalls and meat hooks, one views avant guard art installations. The neighborhood was traditionally working class and today, of course, attracts its share of hipsters, artists, intellectuals, politicians and expats. At night what seem to be holes in the wall turn out to be trendy clubs heaving with people. Testaccio is also a food destination (especially for carnivores…), full of restaurants both long-standing and newer – many built into the Monte’s grottos. Those who are looking for gourmet delicacies or special ingredients head to the crammed Volpetti alimentari on Via Marmorata. And, of course, the Testaccio market, once held in a local piazza and now in a covered area near the slaughterhouse, is considered one of the best in Rome.
The Academy Awards are coming up and Paolo Sorrentino’s film La grande bellezza is in the running for the best foreign film award. Italian reviews were lukewarm while foreign ones were mostly positive. (Beppe Severgnini recently wrote an article about this that appeared in the International New York Times.) It’s a lush, visually beautiful film, appropriately, as one of the themes is that Rome (and Italy by extension) is the great beauty and not much else. There are references to Italian cinema of the past, the most obvious of which, between the actors’ faces and the scenes of decadent lifestyles, is to Fellini’s La dolce vita. Many of the performances are wonderful – notably Toni Servillo as the protagonist Jep Gambardella. I didn’t love this movie: it’s perhaps too realistic a vision of Italy’s stasis and pretension to be anything other than profoundly depressing. However, since seeing it, I have found myself often referring to various of its scenes and themes, so, it’s obviously a film that makes one reflect and leaves a marked impression.
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