Boito's "Mefistofele"
Saturday night we went to the Israel Opera in Tel Aviv to see Boito's "Mefistofele." Many of you will not have heard of Boito nor his opera, based on the same story of Dr. Faust, written by Goethe, that is featured in the more famous opera "Faust" by Gounod.
Generally, I am not a great opera lover, but I wanted to see this opera for the first time since I remember the music from the time we lived in Cambridge 45 years ago! Then we shared a house with 3 other post-grads, and one of them was Eric Brown, my friend from France (he had an English father). Eric was an opera aficionado, and would play arias very loudly at all times of the day and night. His favorite opera, that he said was the best opera ever written, was - you guessed it - Boito's "Mefistofele." We got to know this opera very well because he rigged his alarm clock to turn on his record player (before tapes and CDs) at 7 am, and the opera he usually played was that one. I enjoyed the performance, especially the famous "whistling aria" when Mefistofele is going back to hell. But, although the staging and the voices were great, I enjoyed it more because I strangely remembered the music.
A word about Arrigo Boito, he was primarily a lyricist, and he wrote the lyrics for operas by other composers. "Mefistofele" was his only completed opera, written in Milan in 1867, partly because he regarded Gounod's earlier version as a "frivolous" and "superficial" treatment of the famous story.
A word about Eric, who was a real character. Here is one story he told me about opera. He was inducted into the French Army, and at his barracks every month they had a fire drill. But, there was only one emergency exit for the huge building with hundreds of recruits. So he stepped forward and pointed out that this was dangerous. As a result he was punished and given administrative duty. In the office he found out how to forge leave and travel documents and so every weekend he travelled by train at Government expense around France attending operas.
On one of his journeys, to Lyons to see Boito's "Mefistofele" being staged there, he was found by an inspector, who turned him in to the Gendarmes, who took him to the nearest army barracks and he was put under arrest and brought before an officer. The officer told him that the documents were obviously forged and he wanted to know why he had been travelling around France. Eric decided to tell the truth, so he confessed that he was an opera lover and was going to Lyons to see Boito's "Mefistofele." Whereupon the officer said "really, I didn't know it was on there, I'm an opera lover too." So the officer invited him to sit down and they shared some wine and then the officer drove to Lyons and they enjoyed the opera together.
Maybe my interest in opera is specifically for the unusual, the last opera I can remember attending in Tel Aviv was Shostakovitch's "Lady Macbeth of Mtensk," and before that "The rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny," by Kurt Weill at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC about 20 years ago.
Generally, I am not a great opera lover, but I wanted to see this opera for the first time since I remember the music from the time we lived in Cambridge 45 years ago! Then we shared a house with 3 other post-grads, and one of them was Eric Brown, my friend from France (he had an English father). Eric was an opera aficionado, and would play arias very loudly at all times of the day and night. His favorite opera, that he said was the best opera ever written, was - you guessed it - Boito's "Mefistofele." We got to know this opera very well because he rigged his alarm clock to turn on his record player (before tapes and CDs) at 7 am, and the opera he usually played was that one. I enjoyed the performance, especially the famous "whistling aria" when Mefistofele is going back to hell. But, although the staging and the voices were great, I enjoyed it more because I strangely remembered the music.
A word about Arrigo Boito, he was primarily a lyricist, and he wrote the lyrics for operas by other composers. "Mefistofele" was his only completed opera, written in Milan in 1867, partly because he regarded Gounod's earlier version as a "frivolous" and "superficial" treatment of the famous story.
A word about Eric, who was a real character. Here is one story he told me about opera. He was inducted into the French Army, and at his barracks every month they had a fire drill. But, there was only one emergency exit for the huge building with hundreds of recruits. So he stepped forward and pointed out that this was dangerous. As a result he was punished and given administrative duty. In the office he found out how to forge leave and travel documents and so every weekend he travelled by train at Government expense around France attending operas.
On one of his journeys, to Lyons to see Boito's "Mefistofele" being staged there, he was found by an inspector, who turned him in to the Gendarmes, who took him to the nearest army barracks and he was put under arrest and brought before an officer. The officer told him that the documents were obviously forged and he wanted to know why he had been travelling around France. Eric decided to tell the truth, so he confessed that he was an opera lover and was going to Lyons to see Boito's "Mefistofele." Whereupon the officer said "really, I didn't know it was on there, I'm an opera lover too." So the officer invited him to sit down and they shared some wine and then the officer drove to Lyons and they enjoyed the opera together.
Maybe my interest in opera is specifically for the unusual, the last opera I can remember attending in Tel Aviv was Shostakovitch's "Lady Macbeth of Mtensk," and before that "The rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny," by Kurt Weill at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC about 20 years ago.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:53 AM
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