Lyric Theatre–Between# Rezist And# Exist

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DOI number 10.2478/tco-2021-0004

Lyric Theatre – between #rezist and #exist

Stanca Maria BOGDAN

Abstract: In general, the arts and, in particular, the performing arts are proving to be both affected and sensitive, reactive to societal convulsions, regardless of their nature. Performance institutions are dependent not only on the audience they have created, but, above all, on the funding through which they can shape and convey their artistic message. Overall, crisis situations are associated with a negative context, expressing a stage marked by great difficulties (financial, economic, political) that impact all areas with a domino effect. In such situations, cultural institutions, particularly those in the performances arts0 and especially lyric theaters become one of the predilect victims to suffer from the rationalization of resources, being considered inessential, the perfect sacrificial pawn. But, at the pinnacle of a crisis, cultural performances, drawing from the creator-artist relation, commit to become a coagulating, driving, regenerating social factor, like a Phoenix rising from its ashes. A great such example is Ciprian Porumbescu’s operetta, „Crai Nou”, which held great significance for the Romanian identity when it was first released to the public.

Keywords: arts, lyric theatre, crisis, identity, Ciprian Porumbescu.

During the events dedicated to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy's state formation, on March 12, 2011, the Rome Opera decide to host an event brimming of symbolic connotations, with Giuseppe Verdi's "Nabucco", conducted by one of the most prodigious contemporary musicians, conductor Riccardo Muti. But what was supposed to be a gala event for the entire political elite, headed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, would

 Soprano, associate professor at the Faculty of Theater and Film of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, PhD student of the Doctoral School of Music and Theater of the West University of Timişoara

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suddenly turn into a sublime act of artistic revolt to which the public fully adhered. Staging Verdi’s creation was not a random decision, since „Nabucco” is not only a musical masterpiece, but also a political one. Composed in 1841 and premiered at the "Scala" in Milan on March 9, 1842, the opera follows the plight of the Hebrew slaves in Babylon, almost instantly becoming a sort of parable for the Italians' fight for freedom under the oppression of the Habsburg Empire. Before the performance in the Italian capital, the then mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, a member of the ruling party and former minister in Berlusconi's cabinet, took the stage with a speech denouncing the government's decision to halve the budget for culture. Thus, when the famous "Va, pensiero" aria was performed by the Hebrew slave chorus, the mood in the audience suddenly became tense and electrifying. At the end of the chorus, the audience gave long ovations, accompanied by the frantic applause and shouts of Encore!, and culminating in "Viva l’Italia!". This was the moment when conductor Riccardo Muti, well-known for his intransigence, overcame his obstinacy not to grant encores, because he believed that an opera should be performed in a continuous flow, from beginning to end, and even addressed the audience: „Yes, I am in accord with that Viva l’Italia! I am no longer 30 and I have lived my life. But, as an Italian man who has travelled cross the world, I am ashamed of what’s happening in my own country. So I submit to your request for an encore of «Va, pensiero». I do this not only for this feeling of patriotic emotion, but also because tonight, as I was conducting the chorus singing «Oh, my country so beautiful and lost!», I thought to myself that, if we slay the culture on which the history of Italy is founded, truly our country will be beautiful and lost”. The speech was interrupted by a storm of applause, including from the artists on stage, who rose to their feet. After that, the conductor continued: „[...] I, Muti, have been silent for too many years. Now I would like, we should, give meaning to this area. Since we are in our home, in the capital’s theater, with a chorus who

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sand magnificently and with an orchestra which has marvelously accompanied it, if you truly wish it, I invite you to sing with us together”1. The artists and audience, on their feet and singing in unison, created a unique energy. To the tempo rigorously dictated by the conductor, like a heartbreaking, yet mobilizing lament, the performance reached reverberant emotional heights. It was one of the rare occasions when the cultural symbiosis between creation, artists and the public became a social manifesto directed against a system whose decisions in extreme situations sometimes risk exploding their own foundations. And the images2 need no further commentary.

1 http://www.noriimei.ro/nord/silvio-berlusconi-invins-de-giuseppe-verdi-%E2%80%93- moment-magic-la-opera-din-roma/, Nicolau, Valentin: Silvio Berlusconi defeated by Giuseppe Verdi – a magical moment at the Rome Opera, 2011 2 Video capture collage (author Stanca Maria Bogdan): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_gmtO6JnRs

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Radiography of a cataclysm The cause of the event that occurred on the stage of the Rome Opera originated in December 2007 when, amid speculation in the field of real estate insurance on the US interbank market, several financial funds collapsed, generating a domino effect and a great catastrophe. In the context of the increasingly acute shortage of liquidity, the recession gradually became a global phenomenon. The aftermath is well-known. Hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world were compromised and shut down, millions have fallen into unemployment or declining incomes, national budgets turned to austerity measures, and government measures have been among the most drastic since World War II. Moreover, the effects of this crisis continue to have an impact on our lives. The „Nabucco” performance in Rome became the triggering factor of a cultural protest movement, unprecedented in Italy, which the world-wide media covered for a long time3. Three days of protest against the budget cuts for the performance arts institutions, faced with the suppression of over 220,000 jobs. They culminated with a public debate at the Teatro Regio in Torino, where a series of proposals were made to remedy the situation. It was thus requested the reinstatement of the Fund for the Performing Arts (Fondo Unico per lo Spettacolo, FUS), meant to designed to ensure a safe and adequate level of funding for the arts sector, while creating tools for tax deduction of sponsorships and donations for cultural institutions, issues that later materialized into government decisions. The situation in Italy was by no means unique. In England, where the only source of cultural funding was the public budget, subsidies for performing arts institutions were reduced by almost 30%. The political class wanted the reduction to become permanent, while encouraging a private funding mechanism for the arts. Still in 2011, in Spain, funding for culture was

3 https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2011/03/22/news/tagli_cultura_dossier_e_iniziative- 13942949/, Manfredi, Alessia: “Cultura e spettacolo al collasso, stop ai tagli”. Mobilitazione in teatri, cinema e musei (translated and summarized from the original article in Italian by Stanca Maria Bogdan), 2011

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reduced by 30%, and the same applied for the Netherlands, while Portugal cut funding for the performing arts by 9%. All these measures were labeled by the then President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, as „very little intelligent”. This was evidenced by the fact that other countries, such as Germany and France not only refused to reduce funding for culture, but have even created new programs for the development of a system to educate citizens through culture. To some extent, in the current state of facts, financial decisions in the cultural field might have seemed partially justified if they had not been founded solely on bureaucratic calculations. That’s on account of the fact that, even if the authorities always turn to the performing arts to mark significant historical or social moments, for a large part of the political class there is a strong, cynical belief that the artistic act is a mere facile tool of populism and entertaining, residing from the ancient saying „Bread and circuses”.

The lyric theatre, victim and flag-bearer During times of major economic-financial crisis, in the cultural field, among the performing arts, lyric theatre becomes the most affected segment. The reason for that is that a fist glance of the budgets of such institutions, the amounts seem colossal, at least compared to ordinary theatres. However, if theater institutions can adjust their programs to performances with reduced cast and props, this is almost impossible for lyric theatres. This is due to the fact that opera and operetta performances traditionally mean, in addition to soloists, an exemplary mobilization of over 100 people for the orchestra, conductor, director, chorus, and often the ballet corps and technical staff. Is lyric theatre expendable, though? In the modern era, as we also given the choice of musical theatre, opera and operetta may seem an antiquated realm that has only diversified the packaging of a relatively limited repertoire, whose creations consecutively staged become only increasingly more venerable. If the historical role of lyric theatre in the development of art and society is indisputable, it can be still relevant, even in our modern times, enough to justify the substantial funds involved in its operation?

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Although it’s not at all apparent, the answer couldn’t be more positive. And it's not just about the reactions the intertwining of elaborate music, vocal and theatrical performance, stage movement and dance, shape and color generates in the audience's hearts and minds. At least in the lyric theatre's homeland, Italy, it proves not only a real asset of intangible heritage, and an extremely prolific international ambassador, but also an industry that creating value both culturally and economically, given that it contributes about 40 billion euros to the state budget, totaling about 2.6% of gross domestic product. From language to the technical-interpretive science of bel canto and to vocal mastery, Italian opera dominates the world. Between 2004-2020 alone, of the top 10 performances in the world, 8 were Italian, with Verdi's "Traviata" at the top of the hierarchy, and another 16 compositions are among the top 20, while among the composers whose creations are performed the most, 4 of the top 5 are also Italian, with Giuseppe Verdi coming in first place, seconded by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and followed by Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti4.

The concept of crisis and its effects We’ve notices that the word “crisis” is so much and so frequently disseminated that its manifestations feels almost omnipresent, at both a personal and a collective, global level. The word „crisis” originates from the Greek word krisis, meaning turning point. At its core, any individual or social system can exist in two states: one of balance or an opposite one, associated with the concept of crisis. In art, this translates into drama. In theory, drama is defined as a relationship between inner necessity and outer reality. The more disproportionate the relation, the more intense and powerful the drama becomes. It is an imbalance that has been labeled as "crisis". All systems seek to find a balance that allows it to function, a middle ground,

4 www.apemusicale.it/joomla/terza-pagina/lettere-in-redazione/11301-lettera-appello-da- assolirica, Floris, Giovanni "Gianluca": L'opera sia patrimonio culturale, non intrattenimento, (translated and summarized from the original article in Italian by Stanca Maria Bogdan), 2020

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often described by compromise, and this balance requires a relative equality between the outer and inner nature, meaning the absence of drama. However, in the natural evolution, over time, under the influence of outer changes, but also of inner build-ups, the need for a new operating paradigm is born. Basically, the crisis comes to represent that stage taken in finding and establishing the new paradigm, at the end of which the changes can be so substantial that the new order has nothing to do with the old one. However, „crisis is only one part of the development cycle, the lowest, most discussed and most disputed part. This is because this part of the cycle of development is also the part that people would never want to go through. We crave evolution and development, but we want this evolution to never go through crisis, which is impossible, unnatural, against the natural laws of nature and society. There is a lot of discussion around crisis and its negative effects, but there is no conversation about expansion and its positive effects. Mankind is accustomed to the bright side of their existence and receives it as a gift, as something earned, deserved, but at the same time they lament about the less fastidious aspects of their lives and consider evil as something undeserved. In fact, as in life, this is not the case. Both good and evil are part of us and our lives, just as darkness and light are part of the natural passage of the day”5. Therefore, crisis is a result in the absence of which there is no change, and its manifestation can bring a plus, a benefit that, in other conditions, would not have existed. From the perspective of the 2007-2013 recession, we can conclude that this has led to a redefinition and even refinement of the relationship between culture and the decision-making environment responsible for its funding. Although strongly shaken, the performing arts came out victorious, strengthened and with more diversified tools to ensure their operation.

Performing arts as a factor of progress in overcoming crises „A historical crisis is a serious trial of man's spiritual maturity, an exacerbation of desires and a test of his limits and powers, a shocking clash

5 https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/societate/articol/ce-este-o-criza-1, Dorel Dumitru Chiriţescu, Ce este o criză?, Dilema Magazine, June 16-22, 2016, no. 643

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between real and ideal, between necessity and freedom, between subjective and objective, between individual desire and «the laws of the citadel», between the rainbow projected by the consciousness of values and the sharp cliffs of reality”6. In the evolution of humanity, the major historical crises were based on the identity struggles building up under the national matrix and the will to freedom in asserting one's own destiny. „It is enough to remember how the current European nations, including ours were built. What founded them, if not the well-told stories - through fiery speeches, memorable national gatherings, the establishment of national theaters where patriotic plays were staged, history books where national ethos had its well-thought-out place? It was all about the heroes who founded this nation, but also about the common values that held people together, gave them common sense, brought them together, despite the historical uproar from which these nations had been born. Obviously, there is no need to idealize national exaltation, because, as we all know, and should never forget, there have been many times when this national identity has been «forged»”7. After the fall of the colonialism that dominated the world from Antiquity until the World War I, the new "imperialism", an imperialism of political and economic globalization, proves to gradually turn from a mechanism of progress and balance into a factor of stress and threat at national identity and social stability. A sign that the world has entered the dawn of a new crisis. Throughout this historical merry-go-round, one of the pillars that fortified and consolidated values was and still remains the pillar of culture. Moreover, among all performing arts, through its complex artistic force, lyric theatre has undertaken, through its composers and its artists alike, to contribute in the most substantial manner to the promotion of national identity.

6 Constantin Ionescu Gulian, Hegel sau filozofia crizei, Academiei Publishing House RSR, București, 1970, pag. 11 7 https://revistascena.ro/editorial/identitatea-nationala-ca-material-explozibil/, Cristina Modreanu, Identitatea naţională ca material explozibil, inScenaMagazine, January 13, 2021

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The trailblazer: „Crai Nou” by Ciprian Porumbescu In the Romanian landscape preceding the World War I, at the end of which the Europe of Nations was built, after the 1848 revolutions and the creation of the Romanian state through the unification of Moldavia with Wallachia in 1859, the next focus for the political and cultural elites of the time was the joining the other Romanian territories, especially Transylvania, together with Romania. That is how, in 1881, one of the most prominent local composers, Ciprian Porumbescu, abandoned his musical studies in Vienna and returned to the country to fulfill his national ideal for which he had always campaigned. He chose to live in Brasov, but he did not settle with his professorship at the Romanian Gymnasium in Brasov and its position as conductor of the “Saint Nicholas” Church choir in Şcheii Braşovului, but he felt the need to address the entire Romanian nation through what he knew how to do the best: music. This is how the first national operetta – Crai Nou – was born. With a special libretto written by Vasile Alecsandri, „Crai Nou” it constitutes an intertwining of two musical styles, being founded, like a tree, on the root and stem of the already consecrated Viennese classical operetta, opening up to an entanglement of Romanian folk motifs ingeniously and harmoniously growing, combining joy and poetry in an authentic local ambience, particularly tonic, by exploring a popular myth according to which the New Moon can bring happiness to people in love. The synopsis is a gest where asteward is fooled by two young men helped by mountain peasants. His niece, Anica, and her love, Leonaș, run away from home to get married, and are pursued by the steward and the gendarmes. Protected by Dochița and Moș Corbu, the lovers manage to hide, and in the end, the steward betroths them.

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Its absolute premiere took place on February 27, 1882, in the Festive Hall of the Romanian Gymnasium (today, the “Andrei Șaguna” National College) in Braşov, under the direction of Ioan Bucur Popp. Over 60 amateur artists were used in the show, and the accompaniment was performed by the Philharmonic Society of Brașov Orchestra8. At that time, Romanian folklore was little known in Transylvania. Most of the folklore collections hadn’t even been printed yet. Doar Moldova was better acquainted, with the folklore collections of Vasile Alecsandri and Dimitrie Bolintineanu. Thus, Ciprian Porumbescu's composition marked a turning point in the entire Romanian creation of this genre. Basically, „[...] only with the creation of «Crai Nou» can we register a quantum leap in operetta, only then the features of the genre, founded on the creations of Offenbach and Johann Strauss, are fully identified in a Romanian operetta. From this moment on, we can talk about the national operetta in the classical sense of the notion, meeting the dramaturgical and musical requirements of the genre”9. The press reviews of the time emphasized that the success of the operetta was not only due to the author's great popularity, but especially to the artistic value of the composition itself. The performance “was received with a

8Photo source: https://www.facebook.com/operacluj/photos/pcb.3066530356703117/3066523086703844/ 9 Titus Moisescu, Miltiade Păun, Opereta. Ghid, Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor din R.S.R., Bucureşti, 1969, p. 279

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sold-out house and endless applause. [...] If we do not want to overlook this success in which national pride and personal preference have their say, we must admit that operetta can count on an aesthetic success, especially in front of the audience. It is created with great skill and routine, the choirs in particular are beautifully composed, and romances will always make a great impression on the audiences, allowing the creation to find its permanent place on the stage.”10. Last but not least, the public was seduced by the patriotic message it propagated by appealing to the defining values of the Romanian spirit, as well as by the mention on the premiere poster's post-scriptum:„Clean income is intended for philanthropic - national purposes”.

In lieu of corollary Without being a masterpiece of the genre, "Crai Nou" has the great merit of being the first creation in the Romanian repertoire through which, based on the composer-artist relationship, lyric theatre programmatically committed itself, through its specific means, to become both a cultural and a social catalyst. Capitalizing on a personal emotional substrate and creating local innovations by inserting pieces of folkloric creation in a classical musical-dramatic architecture, Ciprian Porumbescu's composition gives substance to the Romanian identity on universal coordinates and vibrantly stimulates the overcoming of a crisis stage in asserting the national consciousness for forging a unitary state, a destiny which, on a historical scale, would prove relentless. Extrapolating to the contemporary dimension, in the face of the hybrid challenges and the resurgence of the extremist trends the planet is facing subject to globalization, enhancing the original identity and its harmonious integration into the vast fabric of human diversity remains one of the fundamental roles that lyric theatre and performing arts in general can successfully exercise as an effective lever for cultural mediation and positive overcoming of any type of crisis.

10 Crai Nou, operette von Porumbescu, în Kronstädter Zeitung, March 15, 1882, no. 3, pag. 3

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Bibliography: Gulian, Constantin Ionescu: Hegel sau filozofia crizei, Editura Academiei RSR, București, 1970 Moisescu, Titus – Păun, Miltiade: Opereta. Ghid, Editura Muzicală a Uniunii Compozitorilor din R.S.R., Bucureşti, 1969 Sbîrcea, George: Ciprian Porumbescu. Un cîntăreţ al neamului, Ion Creangă Publishing House, Bucharest, 1984

***: Crai Nou, operette von Porumbescu, în Kronstädter Zeitung, March 15, 1882, no. 3 Cosma, Viorel: Cântecul popular în creaţia lui Ciprian Porumbescu, in Muzica Magazine, Editura Uniunii Compozitorilor, 1953, no. 3, pag. 52-56

www.apemusicale.it/joomla/terza-pagina/lettere-in-redazione/11301-lettera- appello-da-assolirica, Floris, Giovanni "Gianluca": L'opera sia patrimonio culturale, non intrattenimento, (translated and summarized from the original article in Italian by Stanca Maria Bogdan), 2020, www.apemusicale.it/ https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A6506/pdf, Nistor, Eugeniu: Teorii despre crize şi comunicarea de criză, inDiacroniaMagazine, 2014, pag. 75- 87, https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/ https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/societate/articol/ce-este-o-criza-1, Chiriţescu, Dorel Dumitru: Ce este o criză?, in Dilema Magazine, June 16-22, 2016, no. 643, https://dilemaveche.ro/ http://www.noriimei.ro/nord/silvio-berlusconi-invins-de-giuseppe-verdi- %E2%80%93-moment-magic-la-opera-din-roma/, Nicolau, Valentin: Silvio Berlusconi defeated by Giuseppe Verdi – a magical moment at the Rome Opera, 2011, http://www.noriimei.ro/ https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2011/03/22/news/tagli_cultura_dossier_e _iniziative-13942949/, Manfredi, Alessia: “Cultura e spettacolo al collasso, stop ai tagli”. Mobilitazione in teatri, cinema e musei (translated and summarized from the original article in Italian by Stanca Maria Bogdan), 2011, https://www.repubblica.it/ https://revistascena.ro/editorial/identitatea-nationala-ca-material-explozibil/, Modreanu, Cristina: Identitatea naţională ca material explozibil, in Scena Magazine, January 13, 2021, https://revistascena.ro/