Simon Boccanegra

Opera by Giuseppe Verdi, in LaScala Milan

Years ago I entered into "Dost CD music store" in Ankara Kızılay . I asked for a record of "Leyla Gencer" opera. The clerk said, "We do not have studio record, we have only one live recording, only one CD, Simon Boccanegra from Giuseppe Verdi. I did not know anything about this opera, an opera that has been composed, played in the past, and then forgotten. It was staged in 1858 for the first time in Venetian opera house, and the work of composer was renewed in 1881, but then the opera was forgotten after a while.

Leyla Gencer sang such forgotten operas. She preferred not to record. La Scala's other Diva, Maria Callas, while performing clean banding at the studio and singing only the most beloved operas, La Scala's another Diva Leyla Gencer voices difficult old forgotten operas and she did not want to record voice recordings. So in the CD I purchased, there background was filled with unwanted voices, cries applause. Leyla Gencer accomplished a very difficult singing for "Simon Boccanegra".

Simon Boccanegra opera took place in the Izmir Alhambra scene in 2009. Eralp Kıyıcı and soprano Ayşe Tekin had wonderful performances.

Simon Boccanegra is a very popular opera nowadays. When the great artist Placido Domingo (75) plays, he gets high credits. The artist plays alternately in New York Metropolitan and Milan LaScala. For this opera, he turned from tenor to baritone voice. Leo Nucci in the character of Simon Boccanegra, Carmen Giannattasio the soprano in the character of Amelia. South Korean chef Myung-Whun Chung was fabulous. Let's not forget the director, Federico Tiezzi. Each chorus member played a separate character. In the huge big scene there were decorations that were in reasonable size, the costumes of the 13th century were great.

In LaScala opera, on 23 - June 2016 Wednesday evening we watched Guiseppe Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" opera on the first balcony. We got our seats at 19:00. The main gates opened at 19:30, we walked in, guided by special ushers with black robes like parliamentary norms, directed us to our seats. Audience was dressed very seriously. The balcony room door was opened with a big old type key. We were seated at the front seats. The orchestra was very big, the acoustics of the place were great. I do not know how 3-hour spent there.

The opera began, suddenly we heard an high volume angry criticism of a female voice from a balcony. In LaScala, the traditional critisizm was made at loud voice immediately by the audience. The conductor who's not performing properly, the singer who has detonation, the bad decorator, the bad costume-maker, and even the director have all taken care of that immediate verbal criticism. The artist who is detonated is immediately protested, his/her opera life is over. We did not understand what it was, but I suppose it was worth to protest.

During intermission, we entered into the foyer, a small space. The opera shop was open for sale, they were selling everything which may come to mind about the opera. There were CDs, DVDs, books, souvenirs, whatever you were looking for. The last EMI record CD Simon Boccanegra was going from € 25 each.

In the LaScala stage, Italian artists taught us, as if "Opera is staged like this, it is played like this, it is presented like this." On the big stage, the ritual of entrance to the hall and the balcony was very different, with a reasonable décor, a wonderful staff, a wonderful acoustics, chorus elements playing in a separate roles. After seeing the LaScala opera, I would have to say that I find unnecessary and erroneous decorations in unnecessary erotic variations in Istanbul, unnecessary decorations that fill the scene in Ankara.

The opera was over, there was no grand parking lot nearby, since opera house was built 200 years ago, all the business men wearing black suits, lovely ladies and we all went to the Duomo Metro station, and were scattered to our houses by the Metro after 23:00.

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Haluk Direskeneli, is a graduate of METU Mechanical Engineering department (1973). He worked in public, private enterprises, USA Turkish JV companies (B&W, CSWI, AEP), in fabrication, basic and detail design, marketing, sales and project management of thermal power plants. He is currently working as freelance consultant/ energy analyst with thermal power plants basic/ detail design software expertise for private engineering companies, investors, universities and research institutions. He is a member of ODTÜ Alumni and Chamber of Turkish Mechanical Engineers Energy Working Group.

This article is released in the "EurasiaReview" news web site.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/haluk-direskeneli/

Prinkipo, 15 May, 2018