a broadcast from 2017 (Oh happy time!); a Saturday matinee--I actually attended the performance before that, a few days earlier. A terrific performance---what an opera! There is so much heart and passion in it, that I almost feel we are lucky that Beethoven never wrote another opera. Fidelio is enough to consider and think about.
Fidelio---memories. The first performance of Fidelio that I attended was in January of 66; the last year at the old house. I sat in the first row of the side of the Family Circle, and I had a date: Irene, a scene partner from my acting class. It was a nice afternoon for us---later we went back to my apartment to rehearse and-----but that was only part of it. The other part was discovering the opera. Experiencing for the first time the power of the first scene of the second act. Then to top off the triumph of Leanore and Florestan as they leave the prison cell, where she has just saved him, the curtain fell and the orchestra played the Leonore Overture Number 3---an affirmation of the triumph that the audience has just been witness to. The Overture is no longer played in productions---it ended at the Met when Rudolph Bing retired---playing the Overture was obviously part of his vision. But someone seeing Fidelio for the first time---well it was breathtaking! Birgit Nillsson was Leonore, James King the Florestan, and Karl Bohm, (I think) conducted. I have seen the opera at least 4 or 5 times since--but thiat afternoon in 66--it was like watching a cannon shot!
Well, Florestan is freed from prison, what about me? Am I "in prison", because of my situation. Today I felt really strong in the morning---and I did not sleep that much last night. But there is only one place in the neighborhood where one can go in, sit and read, and have coffee, and even that place, the nearby hotel, will be eliminated on Monday. Three really interesting books to read that I can't get enough of, still, I would love to be able to read them somewhere outside my apartment. I have friends with no illnesses who remain locked in their apartments---they won't take the risk---I wonder if my illness had never happened, would I be going out to Brooklyn to hang out on the open streets there? Is it possible that i could risk doing it now? I don't feel like risking anything with the bag. I suppose I just have to follow my instinct on a day by day basis.
Tonight the Met is Streaming the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, the Brecht-Weill opera that they presented in the late 70's I love that music---will try to hear it---and, at the same time, wqxr is presenting probably an all Beethoven concert, as they celebrate his 250th birthday. So some confict, yet the Beethoven will continue for the next few days. Finally a kind of immersion---I think that is great! Will report soon...
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