Well, THAT takes me back. Indulge me some recollections if you will…
It starts yesterday, with an excursion up to the “Theatrical Library,” a store reliably known to have everything in stock that you could possibly imagine, concerning all plays, past and present. And we found what we came for, the text for the wonderful contemporary play “Un diner d’adieu,” seen the other night on TV.
That store is situated right near the Opéra Comique (picture), across the plaza, called Place Boieldieu. So many memories crisscross in my mind whenever I come near this spot. The present opera house shown here was actually constructed in 1898, replacing its two predecessors, which burned. This historic spot, incredibly rich with history, is where ‘Pelléas et Mélisande,’ and of course ‘Carmen’ were given for the first time. Because I have seen so many remarkable recitals and performances here, and later sang here many times, they all blend for me into a handsome patchwork quilt, where I like to think my own little stitch is somewhere to be found.
The theater store I mentioned used to be right next to a true gem of a record store, ‘Papageno,’ which very sadly is no more. It was a legendary spot where music lovers and opera aficionados could dependably find any vinyl in print, especially historical reeditions. This is where one lucky day almost forty years ago Jacques pulled up an album dedicated to Mattia Battistini, and said to me, “This looks quite interesting!”
Of course his research during the following 13 years led to his biography/analysis which was later translated and successfully published in the US (‘Battistini, King of Baritones and Baritone of Kings,’ Rowman and Littlefield, edit.). And in the Grand Foyer of this theater, under the sumptuous paintings and decorations, is where we gathered with international specialists and an enthusiastic audience, for a daylong event which I can only now call a marathon, to celebrate the great baritone’s career, bringing together several of his most beautiful costumes from Rieti, Italy, listening to his unique voice, and launching the book. It was my job to arrange, fundsraise, and MC the event, and a proud, culminating moment.
Digging farther back, one day, in around 1980, I had been walking around Paris with a young man visiting from my little home town, showing him various points of interest in my adopted city. When we came to this exact point, he asked me if I thought I would ever sing here. With the assurance and blind self-confidence of youth, I answered “Yes, probably within four years.”
I was spot on, as it turned out. The Opéra de Paris ran the theater at that point, and it turns out that in 4 years my first engagement with that institution, ‘Il Matrimonio segreto,’ happened, followed by a world premier by Henze, and on and on, at the Bastille and the Palais Garnier, until my retirement. How much I learned about stagecraft from the gifted German director from Cologne Michael Hampe in that production, from the music staff, and from my colleagues! And that opera by Cimarosa is still one of my favorites, its music being the perfect evocation of the charm of Venice and the 18th century. When I worked with Dr. Hampe in San Francisco just a few years ago, I was able to warmly thank him again.
And I can’t forget my first Thanksgiving Day in France. In 1978, my dear friend Craig Rutenberg suggested we find a restaurant to prepare for us a typical dinner, since neither of us had an oven. Since he already knew everyone in town, he asked the owners of a restaurant right on this square to please come up for us with the nearest possible thing to a turkey! We were served a delicious dinner of ‘coq au vin,’ which was the first time I ever tasted that famous specialty. It wasn’t turkey, it was rooster, but luckily we’re still best friends, this despite my living miles from New York City or Saint Petersburg, Russia.
“I was twenty, and a lover, and in Paradise to stay…” *