Venice: Teatro la Fenice

Lucy's random-song feature came up with a piece by Arvo Pärt today, which reminded me of pleasant times in Venice, less than a month ago.

On our first day there, I saw a poster for a concert of "contemporary classical" music in the Teatro la Fenice (recently reopened, nearly eight years after it was burned to the ground by a pair of electricians who deliberately set a fire in an attempt to force an extension of their contract deadline).

I was able to get us good seats, and we arrived early to walk around the building (most of the group were architects).

The theatre has been rebuilt come era e dove era (as it was and where it was) and very pretty it is too: all marble and mirrors, gilt and bright colours. Very little expense has been spared to give the impression that no expense has been spared. The overall effect is nonetheless vaguely unsatisfying: it is beautiful but somehow lifeless. Perhaps a few years of use will soften and humanize the finishes. And it's so tiny! The stalls (aka orchestra) level seats only 300 people, the remaining 980 seats are distributed on five layers of balconies; compare to the Met in New York where the stalls make up roughly two-fifths of the 4000 capacity. Fenice is about the smallest and most intimate opera house I've been in, which makes for a very "lively" audience. (It must be said that the stated capacity of 1280 seats is somewhat theoretical. The boxes do contain six chairs each, but are only two seats wide and face across the auditorium rather than towards the stage; those not in the front row cannot see the stage. There are probably about 700 "good" seats.)

The evening started with the Italian premiere performance of Pärt's 1998 piece for orchestra and solo soprano "Como Cierva Sedienta" (Psalm 42), which I knew from CD. It's a stirring piece, more dynamic than most of his works. Next was a world premiere performance of a piece for oboe and chamber orchestra by Olga Neuwirth; "interesting" and "unusual" are the best words for this. The evening ended with a series of short pieces by Luigi Nono, setting to music some epitaphs by Garcia Lorca; some amusing, some very pretty.

The highlight of the evening for me, was when Arvo Pärt himself came onstage to take a bow after the performance of his work. I'm so pleased to have seen the man, and to have had the chance to shout "bravo". He's written some damn fine music, I hope to be attending premieres of his works for many years to come.