Opera is full of tragic characters and I hear that Rigoletto might be the most tragic of them all. I have an exciting day ahead of me though before I will learn just how tragic.
My morning begins with a surprise text.
“You in NY bro?”
My sister is here with her kids to see Wicked. I rush to see her and glad the streets are maneuverable now the holidays are over. After a quick meet up for a photo and promises to see each other again soon, I head over to the Museum of Modern Art.
There is a Bruce Nauman retrospective I’m excited to see, but first I will slurk past some famous works of modern art.
I retrieve a special key to enter Bruce Nauman’s artwork “Kassel Corridor.”
Excerpt from my personal journal about the amazing Kassel Corridor experience:
Bruce Naumans sculpture, Kassel Corridor: Elliptical Space (1972) is a curved structure made of wood and centered on the inside curve is a locked door. One person per hour is given the key and allowed to go inside for that hour. Imagine two seashells spooning one another. Inside I was very conscious of being within a space, within a space. I was isolated from the other museum goers, but could still hear them. I was both a part, and separate, no longer having a communal museum experience, but an experience more uniquely my own. It is a soft gray/green inside. The tops and the sides are open but narrowed to about six inches, Inside, the curves and the light are reminiscent of Richard Serra who said about his sculptures “I found very important the idea of the body passing through space, and the body’s movement not being predicated totally on image or sight or optical awareness, but on physical awareness in relation to space, place, time, movement.” Based on my own experience Serra’s quote rang true and offered several avenues to explore. The space was not claustrophobic even though at its widest was little more than a shoulders width. The first few minutes I walked back and forth testing the limits of the space. I walked, ran, skipped, and layed down. I tried to climb the wall back on one side and feet on the other. At the center I could remain anonymous an unseen, but for the dressing room space beneath the door, but move a few steps to the left or right people outside could see into the curved space. This tilted the experience from a personal one, to a social one. At first I found the people looking inside violating and confrontational. Many maintained a sustained eye contact with me, at first, like a veteran introvert, I looked away, but after some time I stared right back, then I charged. I felt more ownership of the space the longer I was in there. Never claustrophobic because I could easily walk out of the door whenever I wanted. The more time I spent in the space the more comfortable I was, I whistled a relaxed repetitive tune and followed the arcs of light with my arms and let people observe me within the space and welcomed it.
Before even making it to the opera this day has been a lot to process. Maybe too much, and I find the beginning of Rigoletto difficult.
At the start of Rigoletto I’m feeling really anxious, which is funny because on the crowded subway yesterday, even though it was after a long long week of work I thought to myself, “This is the most space between panic attacks I’ve had since they began. It was a victorious feeing to be sooo relaxed in a very crowded commute, kinda like inside the Kassel Corridor but shoulder to shoulder. I guess I sensed a storm on the horizon. My thoughts now are like a bee in the audience flitting from flower to flower. Focus, or focus less, or I don’t know whatever works, something that’s not this. I settle down pretty quickly thankfully and enjoy the show, but I feel like I have to peel off the 200 days without an accident sign and replace it with a 0.
I’m not a fan of the Las Vegas production, It’s somehow simultaneously contemporary and also a dated cliche.’ Interesting to compare to the Nauman exhibit who’s work is decades old but feels fresh, immediate, and vital. The Las Vegas setting feels like a tired first solution. The sets for the 2nd and 3rd acts aren’t as garish as the 1st, just dark.
Nadine Sierra’s voice is ethereal singing “Caro nome che il mio cor” which translates to, sweet name that made my heart. It is beautifully heart wrenching because the sweetness and beauty of the song is soured by the audiences knowledge that she is writing about the Duke who has disguised himself and lied to her.
This was a great day, and a good night at the opera, but I look forward to seeing a different production of Rigoletto some day. Though some might say the entire affair is just a frame to hold the uber famous aria, “La Donna E Mobile.”
It is an aria about women being fickle, sung by the Duke. I love the pause after the theme is introduced, to me that pause feels so modern and spontaneous, like I’m hearing a rehearsal that wasn’t quite ready and will start over. That same theme will come back around in dangerous consequence later in the opera.
So what is Rigoletto all about? It begins with the title character performing his job of making fun of the members of the Duke’s court. He is not well liked for this. His secret and redeeming quality is his daughter who is hidden in a convent. Unfortunately, the Duke has his eye on her. To protect her Rigoletto has Gilda disguise herself as a man and sends her away. Meanwhile, thinking she is safe he hires an assassin to kill the Duke. The opera ends with one of operas most tragic endings.
Listen for :
Caro Nome
La Donna E Mobile
Gilda singing to her father
Notes on the Production
_______________________________
Composer…………………………… Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto…………………………….. Roberto Frontali
Gilda……………………………………. Nadine Sierra
The Duke……………………………. Vittorio Grigolo
Borsa……………………………..…… Scott Scully
Marullo………………………….……. Jeongcheol Cha
Count Ceprano…………….…….. Paul Corona
Monterone…………………….…….. Robert Pomakov
Sparafucile……………………….…. Stefan Kocan
Giovanna…………………………..… Jennifer Roderer
Maddalena………………………..…. Ramona Zaharia
Conductor………………………..….. Nicola Luisotti
Metropolitan Opera
2/16/19