Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Once again, my good friend Mattia got me involved in one of his last-minute trips to see Italian opera. This time it was on a Sunday in Emilia-Romagna at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. My enthusiasm for this occasion in particular was enhanced when Mattia said it was to be a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana, perhaps my favourite opera of all by Pietro Mascagni.

We arrived by late afternoon and parked close by the theatre since Mattia had studied music and singing as a student in Bologna and knew the area well. It was then that he informed me that we did not have tickets for this evening’s performance which we soon realised was completely sold out. Fortunately, RAI TV were there transmitting the opera as an outside-broadcast and Mattia knew the TV personnel involved as well as the artistic director. 
Whilst waiting for the evening performance we indulged in a little sight-seeing that included a visit to the best of many gelaterie in Bologna, the Cremeria Santo Stefano and a glass of wine in a nearby student bar.
When the hour approached and well-dressed people were arriving for the performance, I still had no ticket and Mattia had disappeared meeting colleagues and associates. It was then that the lady in charge of the technicians said, “follow me” and I entered through the stage-door as a ‘guest’ of RAI TV. We went to the first level and entered a box in what would by described in England as the Royal Box that commanded the best view in the theatre!
 

I found myself sharing the box with two RAI TV cameramen and I could observe them at work as well as having a superb view of the opera. As experienced cameramen, this was a relatively easy broadcast and there was an air of calm professionalism throughout the broadcast.

The evening began with the short forty-minute one act opera for soprano and orchestra, La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) composed by Francis Poulenc in 1958. The opera is based on the play of the same name written by Jean Cocteau in 1928 and is a monodrama that involves one woman on stage having her last conversation on the telephone to her ex-lover (who is not seen nor heard by the audience) and who now loves somebody else. During several interrupted conversations, she admits to taking pills in an attempted suicide and after repeatedly telling him she loves him and that the telephone cord is around her neck, she lays back in her bed, drops the receiver and possibly strangles herself in the process.

After the interval, another one-act opera, the famous Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni delights the audience as it has done since it was first performed in 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. The opera is considered one of the classic verismo (realism) operas and is based on a short story set in 19th century Sicily by Giovanni Verga. Such is the opera’s fame, it requires little explanation here except that it is a tale of love, jealousy, passion and revenge that ends in the death of the young ex-soldier Turiddu.

The whole evening was an unforgettable experience for which I must thank the theatre, RAI TV and of course my friend Mattia.