| This article is for you if you're a behind-the-scenes | | | | They're listed in the program, of course, and |
| kind of person - the admin assistant who gets the | | | | given their bows at the curtain calls, but we only |
| presentation ready for the guys in marketing but | | | | hear them, seated down below in the orchestra |
| doesn't get to go to the meeting; the PR pro who | | | | pit as they are. |
| writes all their speeches and answers all the | | | | Many elements go together to produce the opera |
| complaint letters for the president or CEO; the | | | | we see that bears the name of one man only. |
| at-home mother who makes sure the concert | | | | Take "Turandot" for instance. It was librettist |
| pianist practices; the deputy chief whose job | | | | Semoni who gave Puccini the suggestion for the |
| description is doing all the things the chief doesn't | | | | opera in the first place, telling about "Turandotte," |
| like to do or can't do; or the paralegal who | | | | a play written by Gozzi, based on a fable from |
| prepares all the pleadings, knows all the codes, | | | | the Arabian Nights. |
| and does all the licking and stamping. | | | | Puccini had been searching for two years for a |
| Temistocle Solear, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Henri | | | | suitable plot for an opera, and at the age of 61 |
| Meilhac, Jules Barbier, Michael Carre, Guiseppe | | | | began "Turandot," instructing his librettists, Adami |
| Giacosa, Luigi Illica, Renato Semoni, and Nicola | | | | and Semoni to "pour great pathos into the |
| Haym all know what this is like. | | | | drama." Puccini was known, incidentally for being |
| Who on earth are these people?? | | | | extremely demanding, requiring endless rewrites |
| Well even if you're not an opera fan, I bet you've | | | | from his librettists. |
| heard of the composers Verdi, Bizet, Mozart, | | | | From his point of view however, the librettists |
| Strauss, Gounod, Handel, Donizetti and Puccini. And | | | | were difficult. We can read his letters begging |
| I'm sure you've heard of some of their operas - | | | | them to do their work. He wrote frantically to |
| Aida, Carmen, Cosi fan Tutte, Madame Butterfly, | | | | Simoni, in charge of Act III, "The third! The third! |
| Faust, and Don Giovanni, for instance. | | | | The third!" |
| Did you know that these composers wrote the | | | | At one point, he confessed to a friend "Music |
| music for their operas but not the lyrics? Solear, | | | | disgusts me...", as he evidently had periods of |
| Ghislanzoni and the other individuals in the list are | | | | self-doubt and composer's block. Toscanini paid |
| what's called "librettists." It is they who wrote the | | | | him a visit and gave him the encouragement to |
| words to the music that tell the story, without | | | | keep going. Every team has their Toscanini; or |
| which you would be listening to a symphony, not | | | | needs one. |
| an opera. And we never hear their names! | | | | Puccini was justified in urging completion of the |
| They're called "librettists" because the words to | | | | opera as he died before the team had completed |
| the songs, which basically comprise the script of | | | | the third act. The collaboration continued on, as |
| the opera, is called a "libretto." It's Italian for little | | | | Toscanini found a composer named Franco |
| book. | | | | Alfano, whose name is rarely mentioned, to |
| Like Gilbert and Sullivan, the pairs worked | | | | complete it. The world premier took place on April |
| together. The inimitable Richard Wagner was the | | | | 25th, 1926, the work of one guiding genius and |
| only one to compose all his operas entirely by | | | | many hands, hearts and minds. |
| himself, creating both music and lyrics, which may | | | | It isn't that teamwork and collaboration is new, it's |
| account for why they are so powerful, so | | | | that it's newly being recognized. Most of us realize |
| "Wagnerian." | | | | we couldn't accomplish anything alone, while those |
| This is quite a feat because composing music and | | | | behind the scenes who work long and willing |
| writing words require different parts of the brain. | | | | hours, long for some recognition. Appreciation, |
| Sometimes the composer and librettist met in | | | | after all, is what tops the surveys when |
| person, while other times the work was done by | | | | employees talk about what they want at their |
| correspondence. Strauss worked exclusively with | | | | job, and it's so consistently there, it's a wonder it |
| one librettist, after writing his own lyrics for his | | | | isn't heeded more. |
| first opera and finding out he wasn't good at it, | | | | Richard Montuori, town manager of Bellica, |
| but most other composers switched around, | | | | Massachusetts, knows and appreciates his team. |
| finding the right librettist for the job, or one who | | | | "I love [my] job," he said a newspaper interview. |
| was available. It's not unlike the way a lot of us | | | | "Every day is different and presents new |
| work these days - long distance and by contract. | | | | challenges. Finances are a daily and yearly |
| Again, grasp the significance of the work these | | | | challenge, but no one person ever accomplishes |
| unsung heroes did. The words are so integral to | | | | anything alone. We have excellent department |
| the opera they are never translated. Subtitles run | | | | heads and town boards that help keep the town |
| across the big screen on stage, or the little | | | | moving in the right direction." |
| screen on the chair in front of yours at the opera. | | | | Isn't it nice to hear someone publicly acclaim the |
| We read them in our native tongue while they are | | | | team that makes him shine? I hope your boss or |
| sung on stage in the original German, Italian, or | | | | manager does this for you, and that if you're the |
| French. (For aficionados, anyway. Beginners may | | | | boss or manager, you appreciate and |
| enjoy translations, such as The Chandos Opera In | | | | acknowledge - and sing - the unsung heroes in |
| English series, which translates the lyrics into | | | | your midst. |
| English.) | | | | But how do you praise everyone? There are |
| What an incredible collaboration an opera is. It | | | | always so many. |
| takes costume designers as well, because an | | | | Here's a leadership trick I learned from a pro. At |
| opera is as much visual as it is auditory. The | | | | the culmination of an anniversary banquet, |
| Grand Opera is known for its elaborate sets and | | | | engineered by many, and funded by many more, |
| costumes. In "Turandot," when the mob turns | | | | the director of the benefited-agency rose and |
| surly and the moon appears, she is personified | | | | thanked "everyone who helped make it possible |
| and costumed in a magnificence dominated the | | | | to raise the $50,000." Then he added, looking |
| stage for what seems like half an hour, that will | | | | around the room, "And I'd especially like to thank |
| keep you transfigured. | | | | someone whose name I won't mention, but they |
| One opera I hope to see one day is Verdi's | | | | will know who I mean." |
| "Aida," excuse me, Verdi and Ghislanzoni's "Aida" | | | | I thought it was me! So did a dozen other people, |
| at the Bath of Caracalla in Rome, where the | | | | I'm sure, and that was what the director had in |
| Triumphal March of Rhadames features live | | | | mind, he told me later when I asked him whom |
| elephants and horses on stage. Now that's | | | | he had in mind, because his glance around the |
| entertainment! | | | | room was professionally ambivalent. |
| What we don't see at an opera is the orchestra, | | | | It works, and it's always, always true. |
| perhaps the most important element of all. | | | | |