La rondine has always seemed to be the Cinderella of Puccini's operas. It has some oddities about it. It was first performed in Monte Carlo rather than Milan - neutral territory! It was surely good to have it on the Côte d'Azur, setting of the last act. It could have been my old villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer where I lived for three years 1994-97! Here you see the view I had!
And it was NOT published by Tito Ricordi (who was not interested), but by the rival house publishing house of Sonzogno.
It has always been regarded as something of a lightweight although it has some passionate music and some wonderfully evocative sultry sexy Parisian atmospherics - some charming stuff indeed. I have done it twice in my previous incarnations, firstly at Wexford in 1970 in a beautiful production by Anthony Besch, and then in 1990 in Toronto with Sheri Greenawald, now director of the San Francisco Opera Center, in the title role.
It needs special protaganists for Magda and Ruggero, and there is no doubt that the renowned couple of Angela Georghiu and Roberto Alagna did the piece a service by performing it widely in recent years. They have now lived out the story of the opera and separated, so that is that until another magic pair comes along!
Last night two of the very best of the COT young artists, both in the diploma program at CCPA took on these crucial roles in the production up at North Eastern Illinois University. And they were just right. These were our greatly loved Catalina Cuervo and Jorge Prego. Good for them - they were really splendid and we were proud of them.
We have a lovely day here in Chicago - a quiet Sunday with a dear old friend for lunch, and then the Oscars this evening. I think a walk along the lake this afternoon is called for.
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