Milan- Travel guide for opera, classical music and culture

The collaboration with the librettist Romani

Milan was Vincenzo Bellini’s most important artistic station. The impresario Barbaja arranged the contact with the main librettist of La Scala, Felice Romani, who, with the exception of “I Puritani”, was to write all of Bellini’s subsequent libretti.

Felice Romani:

Triumph and defeat

The first opera “Il pirata” hit Milan like a bomb and Bellini wrote six operas for La Scala and the Carcano in the next 4 years. In Milan he also came into contact with 2 of the 3 Giudittas who played an important role in his life. On the one hand, it concerned the affair with the married Turina (which was blown up because of an intercepted letter) and, on the other hand, the artistic (and probably private) partnership with the famous Giuditta Pasta.

Bellini moved skillfully in the aristocratic Milanese salons and quickly created a network of relationships. However, this did not protect him from the greatest disgrace of his career, the scandalous premiere of his “Norma” at La Scala (more about this in the excursus at the end).

Battle for the Queen’s Realm of La Scala

In 1950 Maria Callas had sung at La Scala for the first time and she became the “prima donna assoluta” of La Scala in the 1950s.

But she had to fight for this position. When she came to La Scala, Renata Tebaldi occupied this position, enthroned as the “angel’s voice” at the reopening of La Scala in 1946 by Toscanini. What followed was not only artistic competition but also personal animosity. Tebaldi captivated with her angelic voice, Callas with her dramatic expression and stupendous technique. The claques of the two singers did their part to fuel the rivalry. Eventually Callas gained the upper hand and Tebaldi focused on the Met, and so both singers got their queen realms.

Callas’ relationship with audiences and management was never free of tension, however; perhaps the magnitude of her importance was only realised in retrospect, for many of the greatest performances and most of the great recordings were made at La Scala. The last performance was in 1962, with over a decade of emotion in between.

Career kick in Milan

Milan played a minor role in Donizetti’s personal biography alongside Bergamo, Naples and Paris. And yet the northern Italian metropolis was decisive for the career of the Lombard. In 1830 his international career began there with the triumph of his first masterpiece “Anna Bolena” starring the dream couple Giuditta Patsa and Giovanni Rubini.

Two years later he presented himself to the Milan audience with “Elisir d’amore”. When the opera premiered on May 12, 1832, Donizetti experienced one of the most brilliant moments of his career. The ovations from the audience were gigantic, and the reviews in the newspapers were overwhelming. Donizetti thus brilliantly confirmed the success he had achieved with “Anna Bolena” two years earlier. Now he was finally on a par with his friend and rival Bellini, and the two became Italy’s leading opera composers.

TO THE COMPLETE DONIZETTI  BIOGRAPHY

Triumph as a 14-year-old with an opera

In January 1770, father and son Mozart arrive in Milan. After the hardships of crossing the Brenner Pass in snow and cold, the two hope for a lucrative commission.Mozart takes lessons from the old Sammartini and is allowed to perform in public several times. The commission arrives and Mozart receives a libretto for “Mitridate re di Ponte”.

In the autumn they return with the finished opera. The 14-year-old Mozart conducts the first three performances himself and the Milanese are over the moon, ensuring sold-out performances for months. Mozart returns twice more with operas for Milan (“Ascanio” and “Lucio Silla”) until Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg stops the commissions. All three performances took place in the Pallazio Regio Ducal, which burned down three years after the premiere of “Lucio Silla”. Next stop on the Italy tour is Bologna.

TO THE COMPLETE MOZART BIOGRAPHY

The 14-years-old Mozart:

Many points of contact with Milan

Two successful premieres in Milan frame Puccini’s artistic life. First the one-act opera “Le Vili” at the Teatro Verme in 1884 and 40 years later the posthumous premiere of “Turandot” at La Scala. Both performances were successes, the former the respect success of the newcomer and the latter the homage to the monument of Puccini, who with Turandot had given birth to his last giant. In between, however, Puccini had more than once quarreled with Milan, more precisely with La Scala, see also the digression on the premiere of “Butterfly” at La Scala below.

For him, Milan also meant the mouse-poor student years at the Milan Conservatory, where he shared a room with Pietro Mascagni, among others. He recalled these years fondly in “La Bohème.” As a composer, Milan was also important to him because it was home to the branch of his publisher Ricordi, with whom he had completed all but one of his opera projects (La Rondine).[/sc_fs_faq]

TO THE COMPLETE PUCCINI BIOGRAPHY

Successful works between the ages of 18 and 25.

The years 1810-1820 were Rossini’s galley years, during which he wrote over 30 works for a dozen theaters. Yet in Rossini’s biography, Milan was overshadowed by Naples, Bologna and Paris. Nevertheless, the Lombard capital saw the premieres of half a dozen of Rossini’s works, including “Gazza ladra” and “Il turco in Italia.”

The famous partnership with Barbaja

Rossini met Domenico Barbaja there, who was in charge of the “entertainment center” at La Scala. The Scala of Rossini’s time must be imagined somewhat differently than we are used to nowadays. While the music was important, the social aspect of a visit was at least as important. Scala also included a café, a pastry shop, a kitchen, and game rooms. The resourceful Domenico Barbaja was responsible for the latter. With the French coming to power during the Napoleonic years, gambling was legalized and Barbaja turned La Scala into an entertainment center with music, gastronomy and gambling.[/sc_fs_faq]

TO THE FULL ROSSINI BIOGRAPHY

The young Rossini:

Built in record time

The Scala was built in 1778 under Austrian rule in a record time of 2 years, as the previous building had burned down. It got its name from a church with a monastery on the site, which held that name. The auditorium is made of wood covered with velvet and thus has excellent acoustics.

In the following 150 years La Scala became the place of many important premieres of composers like Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.

In 1943 it was badly damaged by bombs and opened with a glorious concert conducted by Toscanini. A soprano solo by the still unknown Renata Tebaldi became a sensation.

Originally the theater had 3000 seats, many of them in the 600 boxes. Today there are still 150 boxes and 2300 seats. Above the boxes are the seats of the Logionisti, the notorious, uncompromising visitors, who have brought many an established star to fury with boos.

Rossini became one of the most important composers for La Scala early on, his name was enough to fill the theaters. La Scala honored Rossini with a large statue in its premises.

Rossini’s Statue in the Scala:

5 of Donizetti’s 71 operas were premiered at La Scala. Among them was his “Lucrezia Borgia”. This piece struggled with censorship in the 19th century and was performed with 6 different titles in its first 10 years; in 1845 in Paris, Italians even became Turks (“La rinnegata”).

La Scala honored Donizetti with a statue in the foyer of the theater.

Donizetti’s bust in the Scala:

Toscanini had an eventful time at La Scala. He experienced La Scala as a cellist and got to know Verdi. He had an artistic partnership with Puccini. With the rise of fascism, he refused to play at La Scala its anthem, the Giovinezza, and left Italy and La Scala. It was he who, 20 years later, as the Immaculate, had the honor of gloriously opening La Scala, which was reopened and renovated after the war.

Toscanini’s bust in the Scala:

Two operas were premiered at La Scala during Puccini’s lifetime, both of them failed there. The premiere of Butterfly even became the most bitter moment of Puccini’s career, read more about it in the digression below. Only the premiere of Turandot became a triumph, but Puccini did not live to see it. Many of Puccini’s works are still among the most performed at La Scala today.

The famous “punto Callas”

La Scala was the artistic center of the most important opera singer of the 20th century. The severely myopic Callas knew La Scala acoustically like the back of her hand and had a point on stage where her voice could develop the best acoustic effect, the so-called “punto Callas”. Where this point was located is disputed.

The stage:

The high C of Verdi’s “di quella pira”

The opera house is still a central cultural place of Milan and still makes the hearts and blood pressure of the Italians rise higher, as the following story about Verdi and the high C proves: The famous aria “Di quella pira” from “Il Trovatore” is usually concluded with a high C.  Interestingly, Verdi did not compose a high C at this point. Enrico Tamberlinck, one of the first Manrico had explicitly asked Verdi for permission. The maestro had explicitly allowed it, on the condition that the C would also be sung beautifully. Thus this convention has prevailed and most listeners know the aria only in this way; following the original low note of the score would cause irritation, if not disappointment, in the audience.

The controversy

Even Toscanini, who forbade any liberties taken by singers in the 19th century, accepted the convention. In 2000, for the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Verdi’s death at the opera house “La Scala” in Milan, Riccardo Muti, the conductor and artistic director of La Scala, ordered that this aria be sung in the original version, that is, without the high C. After the aria there was a hail of boos and the result was a real theater scandal that moved the press and the minds for days.

Di quella Pira – il trovatore

World premiere site of Verdi’s Requiem

Deeply shaken by Rossini’s death, Verdi wanted to persuade various musicians to write a Requiem for the national saint in 1868. Verdi wrote a final movement, but the work did not materialize. Fifteen years later, at the death of the artist and inspirer of the Risorgimento, Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi took the reins himself and wrote his famous Requiem for a memorial service that was finally held in the church of San Marco a year after Manzoni’s death. Verdi did not attend the first performance, but conducted another performance of this massive work a year later at the same venue.

Campanile of the Basilica San Marco:

Visited by Mozart

In this church Mozart played for the first time in front of a larger audience on one of the oldest organs in Lombardy. The church is definitely worth a visit and has, among other things, very beautiful frescoes. It was built in 1254 and was visited by Martin Luther, among others. Another beautiful church, frequented by Mozart, is the Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate.

Frescoes in San Marco:

Monday and Thursday are days of market on the square

https://www.centrosolidarietasanmarco.com/

The museum of the opera house

In the interesting theater museum next to La Scala you can find many exhibits such as costumes, paintings, etc. During the visit you can usually also enter boxes and take a look inside the theater hall. In the exhibition room 4 you can find a well-known portrait of Verdi by Scalese and the autograph of the famous chorus “Va pensiero” from “Nabucco”.

Verdi painted by Scalese:

https://www.museoscala.org/en/

The museum of the opera house

In this museum  is the famous portrait of Bellini by Carlo Arienti, painted in Milan in 1831.

Painting of Bellini:

https://www.museoscala.org/

From 1952, Maria Callas and her husband Meneghini lived in the top-floor city apartment at 38 Via Buonarotti when she was in Milan (they owned a house in Sirmione). At the end of the 50’s Aristotle Onassis was also seen there. Today, a plaque still commemorates the famous inhabitant of the house.

Callas in the appartement at Via Buonarotti:

Tomb in the Casa di riposo

In the last years of his life, Verdi initiated a generous deed. He bought a large area at the Piazza Buonarroti and had a rest home built there for impoverished, old musicians. He deliberately did not want to build a hospital-like nursing home, but a home for guests who were to live in 2-person rooms instead of dormitories.  Since then, more than a thousand people have enjoyed this tastefully furnished boarding house, which, at Verdi’s request, was opened only after his death.  He supervised the work meticulously and spoke “of his most beautiful work” (‘mia piu bella opera’). The garden with the crypt of Verdi and his wife Giuseppina is accessible by appointment at the reception, more (concert hall, Turkish room and many interesting memorabilia) depends on the events of the day.

Casaverdi:

Gravesite:

https://www.casaverdi.it/

Toscanini died in New York in 1957 at the age of 90. He was taken to Italy, where a ceremony was held at La Scala.

On this Carrara marble block you can see 3 Norns holding the threads of fate in their hands.

Finally, on the reverse side, one sees a naked man and a naked woman: they embrace each other in pain. Between them is the inscription in memory of the little Giorgio Toscanini , who died in June 1906 at the age of barely 5 years, the youngest son of Arturo Toscanini.

Vladimir Horowitz, the famous pianist, was the son-in-law of Arturo Toscanini and was buried with his wife Wanda in Arturo Toscanini’s family vault.

He died of a heart attack in 1989 at the age of 86.

Arigo Boito was a writer and musician. Among other things, he wrote libretti for Verdi (Simon Boccanegra revision, Otello, Falstaff) and wrote the famous opera “Mefistofele”.

Boito with Verdi:

Corelli was a famous but controversial tenor. His powerful voice resounded in the 50s and 60s. In the link below you can hear a slow aria by Corelli, in which he offers more drama than lyricism. Nevertheless, one cannot escape the pull of this voice (Kesting speaks of a “macho magnetism”). Somewhat disturbing is the lisp, which was a negative trademark of Corelli.

Ah si ben mio (Il Trovatore)

Two historically significant things took place in this hotel.  First, it was the death house of Giuseppe Verdi, who at the end of his live permanently occupied a suite here.

Verdi Suite

Even today this suite can be booked as the “Giuseppe Verdi Suite”, it has continued to be kept as close as possible to the original décor.

The hotel room has also become famous for the balcony that belongs to the room. Here Verdi received ovations from crowds several times. Most glamorously after the premiere of Otello, when the tenor of the premiere, Francesco Tamagno, accompanied him and the latter sang arias from Otello from the balcony to the delight of the crowd.

Caruso Junior Suite

Secondly, it was the place where Enrico Caruso made the legendary very first musical recordings of his voice with Fred Gaisberg. He recorded half a dozen arias, accompanied by the piano, and became the first record milionaire in history.

Suite 306, where the recordings took place, can be booked as “Enrico Caruso – Junior Suite”.

Maria Callas Suite

Maria Callas was also here. Before she moved into her apartment in Via Buonarotti, she often stayed at the Gran Hotel. There, a junior suite has been designed in her honor.

This restaurant was one of Callas’ favorite places. A place where Puccini, Verdi, Toscanini also once frequented. She liked to sit at table number 7, on the second floor, an intimate table where she could relax after the evening performances.

Savini:

Tavolo 7 im Savini:

https://www.savinimilano.it/

With Visconti in the Savini: