An image and a metaphor to define the ideal embrace with the golden mosaic of music, from the ancient, to the baroque, to the great classics, to the 800th century opera, up to the contemporary ones. From listening to his numerous discography, one of the most beautiful vocal pages of the ancient musical literature “Amarilli, mia bella” by Giulio Caccini emerges. Letizia Calandra gives us an intense and passionate interpretation of this masterpiece, remaining in the bed of a great refinement expressed with a rigorous "vocal sound" devoid of inappropriate vibrations. A physiological process of vocal phonation that so elaborated by the "pleasure areas" of the mind, thus characterizes it.
Naples, a European cultural crossroads as early as the sixteenth century, where a form of profane song was born, with a rustic, comic and often satirical content "La Villanella". In your latest CD “Erotica Antiqua” Neapolitan Villanellas, published by Brillant Classics, authors such as Orlando di Lasso and Andrea Falconieri appear. In the cd dedicated to Domenico Scarlatti and ancient Neapolitan songs, you propose an original contamination between cultured and popular. Do you feel heir to the fascinating cultural world of an unchanging Naples over the centuries?
«The Neapolitan School was a true musical source for all of Europe, starting from its origins in the 20th century where the first form of Neapolitan song was born, called“ Villanella ”. In my last one we have chosen 94488 villanelles with erotic content not even work, too implied. "Matona mia cara" written by a cultured author dedicated to sacred music like Orlando di Lasso is an extraordinary example. This villanella, tells the deeds of a Lanzichenecco soldier who arrived in Naples expresses all his ardor to a maid "... stick all night, bump like monton ...", rather than the desperation of a young girl for the loss of her virginity " ... me the cicinnatella broke "in" Let the water be cursed this morning ", or the fruit-flavored Eros that refers us to" Boccuccia de nu pierzeco apreturo ", with the allegory of a girl's mouth in the image poetic and erotic of a peach not yet fully ripe, from which the milk flows, which wishes to be opened by skilled hands. In my other cd dedicated to ancient Naples "Scarlatti and the neapolitan songs" (Brilliant Classics XNUMX) also this one realized thanks to the precious collaboration of the extraordinary Bolognese harpsichordist in love with Naples, Francesco Cera, we wanted to highlight how much the influence of the popular song Neapolitan (and not only that of Spanish popular music which we always talk about) was decisive in the production of Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas for harpsichord. As proof of this, we have chosen and matched a song for each sonata, and the result is surprising ». The Neapolitan folk song is at the origins of the great eighteenth-century Neapolitan school. In my career I have been lucky enough to play many roles in works by authors such as Jommelli, Pergolesi, Cimarosa, Paisiello, Traetta, Leo, Porpora, Mercadante, authors without whom Mozart's genius would not have been the same. Unfortunately, even the musical heritage of the Neapolitan eighteenth century has been forgotten in favor of nineteenth-century melodrama. Italy has never done anything to re-evaluate all this, but in recent years these authors have re-emerged thanks to the commitment of Maestro Riccardo Muti who, with his authority, has been able to re-propose them in suitable contexts ».
The most celebrated Neapolitan romances are substantially proposed by powerful tenor voices, which are also fascinating, when they are interpreted by an unforgettable and unattainable Giuseppe di Stefano (just think of "Core n'grato", "Na sera e maggio", "Torna a Surriento ”or the maximum icon“ O Sole mio ”) where, however, it is easy to trespass into blatantness and bad taste, constantly lurking. Where is the right fit for these vocal wonders. Perhaps the intimate, subdued interpretations of Roberto Murolo, Fausto Cigliano or Carlo Buti?
«All extraordinary singers for a thousand different reasons, but there is one of them that I believe was the greatest for vocal beauty and interpretative refinement: I'm talking about Sergio Bruni. This incredible artist of peasant origin, at over sixty years of age, has left us perhaps the most beautiful collection of Neapolitan songs, I am referring to the Neapolitan anthology edited by Maestro Roberto De Simone. Italy has too often proved ungrateful towards its great artists, Sergio Bruni was not adequately recognized in life and was unjustly forgotten in the dead and the list is long! Naples has its grave responsibilities in all of this. The Neapolitan song, through 500 years of history, represents our cultural identity and should be considered our chamber music, as the Germans do with lieder and should finally be performed in contexts reserved for classical music. For too long, the Neapolitan song has reached us through bad interpretations bordering on bad taste and the usual cliché of an exaggeratedly folkloristic Naples. Little or nothing is known about cultured Naples and its immense musical heritage and no one in Italy is willing to invest in this. For years I have dedicated myself to the rediscovery of the great classics of Neapolitan literature, explaining the texts and telling the stories during my concerts. Technically I worked by subtraction, convinced that in this repertoire the elegance and simplicity of a beautiful unset voice, accompanied even by just a guitar, are enough to convey all the emotion that these songs require. In my CDs dedicated to Naples I was lucky enough to avail myself of the collaboration of splendid musicians, all from classical music such as Francesco Cera and his baroque ensemble ArteMusica, the Cuban pianist Marcos Madrigal and the great Fausto Cigliano. Unfortunately the Neapolitan song, which the whole world envies us, dies under the indifference and ignorance of an Italy and the Neapolitans, who put pop and other forms of xenophile fashions that have nothing to do with their musical history. our cultural identity ".
In the scores of the great operatic masterpieces, the dramaturgy, the historical context, the places and the scenic action are defined, clearly traced by the musical composition. The musical values pointed out in the text and in the orchestral accompaniment in Alfredo's aria in the second act of La Traviata reveal a young heart that beats for love. The grandiose leitmotif in Verdi's Don Carlos evokes the gloomy grandeur of a world dominated by church power and the impotence of Don Carlos torn between reason of state and an impossible love. The flashes of the "Fire of Joy" of the first act of Verdi's Othello clearly evoke clashes of pewter goblets, wine and the smell of leather, obsessive rhythm and saber clash between Saracens or the Turkish anger transfused there! All this is inherent in the musical composition. What is the message of a Boheme or a Traviata carried out in a train station?
«The temporal, scenographic and costume distortion, but even before the“ dramaturgical ”one of an opera do not completely convince me. However, if at the origin of an upheaval there was a valid idea, it could become interesting, but unfortunately we often only see provocations as an end in themselves, made to make people talk and highlight the immense ego of certain directors at the expense of all. Before imposing "shocking" and often "squalid" scenarios that have now also become "obvious", it would be better to demonstrate that you know how to do a period reconstruction well and have more respect for tradition. In some cases a return to the ancient and to tradition would represent real progress ».
"O beautiful hair", "Vezzosette dear pupillette", "Occhietti amati" by Andrea Falconieri: three wonderful vocal miniatures present on one of your CDs, recall the image of a distant paradise with gardens and rose petals that bend under the weight of a drop of dew, in a humble and silent homage to balance and beauty. What does the image of this musical spirituality of such a distant world have in common, with a time that advocates with a beating drum, a sequence of rudeness?
«When I listen to Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Frescobaldi, Sigismondo d'India… I feel a deep melancholy, because in those harmonies of perfect beauty I find a bit of that lost paradise. Today music no longer has the importance it once did, the world has changed. The geniuses of the past were called Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Mozart, in the time of technology they were called Steve Job, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates. Faced with a much faster and more democratic sharing of information and possibilities, the references that for centuries indicated beauty and harmony have been lost. People today no longer distinguish good from evil, beautiful from ugly, they no longer have reference points and they pursue false models of appearing and having. At one time, simple people were aware of their ignorance, but at the same time they were the guardian of a very important "popular culture" for our identity, today that too has been lost and people as well as ignorant have also become arrogant. In a period like this it is essential to offer the public beauty and culture but in Italy this has become very difficult. The Italian political class, the school, the media, those who hold power have a great responsibility in all this… the speech would be long ».
Opera singers, unlike instrumentalists, are relegated to vaguely muscular categories or vocal characterizations, defined as sopranos, tenors, baritones or basses, now dramatic, heroic, lyrical, light with "Verdi voice" "masked voice" "chest voice" and so on, which even if they try to explain the technique of phonation, seem to exclude the fundamental origin of the voice, that is the physiological process from which the word is born, the spiritualization of the same which becomes song, color and interpretation. In essence, the professional singer can only be intelligent, because it is the music that requires it. In which position of vocal technique do you recognize yourself?
«In the world of opera, we work to make voices large, dark, powerful, with the result of building voices that are all the same and artificial. Singers are often asked to interpret repertoires not suited to their vocal possibilities, ruining beautiful voices forever and this explains the brevity of certain careers. I have always sought the naturalness and purity of vocality, in the belief that the natural timbre of the spoken voice should be recognized in the sung voice. Once you have acquired a good “technique” you need to be interpreters and above all “intelligent artists”. This also means knowing how to choose, depending on the repertoire, the right color, the vibrato, the type of emission that the piece requires stylistically, always trying to respect the music and the text. But more than just a musculature process, I like to think that the brain is giving a command and making the right sound or phrase. Then there is the most interesting aspect, which no one can teach, convey an emotion. There are artists who “pass” and artists who “don't pass” ».
How does a serious, intelligent, prepared young musician stand today in the face of a market system that promotes disarming mediocrities lying on nothingness through the media, if these are then correlated to the unreachable myths of a glorious past? One name is enough for all as a symbol of an entire period. Maria Callas.
«We live in a time where very modest“ musicians ”who in other times would not have even been taken into consideration, become stars. Italians, increasingly ignorant and lazy, ignore, snub and forget their "great artists" in order to genuflect in the presence of nullity. The world of entertainment and show business has managed to pass incredible models to the detriment of even the great myths of the past, today unjustly forgotten. Try asking a young man who Giuseppe Di Stefano was! The thing that pains me a lot is to see how much the media and institutions are involved in all this. People only recognize what goes on on television, if they don't see you on TV you simply don't exist ”.
For young people and not only, access to a career is very difficult and often determined by "tolls" that have little to do with merits (I Mercanti della Lirica by Norman Lebrecht. La Repubblica 22.09.97 pag. 23 culture section - Leonetta Bentivoglio). Even if today talents emerge with merits that nevertheless can be subjected to some unwritten rule. After an intense activity on the opera stage and in full vocal possession, you dedicated yourself to concert activity in the Baroque repertoire, in search of rarities of classic Neapolitan songs and to record publication. What are the reasons for this spontaneous abandonment of your theatrical activity? Can you tell us about your positive or negative experiences?
«The career of a young opera singer today depends exclusively on the agents and artistic directors of the theaters, it is they who decide who 'should' and who 'should not' make a career. Years ago, I auditioned with a well-known Italian agent, we were in his office where he personally accompanied me to the piano and after singing various arias from different repertoire he made me sit in another room and told me very frankly: "You have a beautiful voice, she sings well and is also a beautiful woman, I will be honest with her, if she wants to make a career she has three possibilities: the first is that she has a father, a husband or a political lover; the second possibility is to fund the artistic directors of the theaters by finding five hundred euro tickets in the boxes of chocolates; and the third possibility is that she makes herself available for sexual encounters ”. In recent years, I have chosen to dedicate my time to rediscovering obsolete music and musicians, self producing all my CDs. All this has so far been possible thanks to the support of musicians and people who share the same ideals of musical beauty with me and believe that certain music should not be forgotten but should be kept and shared with as many people as possible. In this sense, a Dutch record company, Brilliant Classics, welcomed my proposals, printing and distributing my CDs all over the world, contributing to an important cultural operation. They should have done it in Italy, but they didn't, on the contrary they consider chamber music and the Neapolitan song a genre that is no longer in fashion ».
You live in Rome, but you have a long professional relationship with Lugano, where you make most of your recordings, as well as your collaboration with the Swiss Radio and Television and with the Barrochisti directed by Diego Fasolis. Unlike Rome, where a lot can happen, Lugano certainly offers a more relaxed environment, excellent professional and logistical conditions and not least competitive costs. So an ideal venue for making music ...
«For me, Lugano has represented for over ten years a happy shore where my musical projects can be realized. Prices are competitive compared to Italy, professionalism guaranteed and human relationships much more relaxed. Moreover, I remember with great pleasure my experience at the Swiss Radio Television where I was a guest of radio broadcasts and where I recorded the “Ercole Amante” a 1662 opera by Francesco Cavalli directed by Maestro Diego Fasolis ».
What are your next projects and your wishes?
Between 2018/2019 I have three CDs coming out. A tribute to Gaetano Donizetti and his Neapolitan period, with two complete cycles for voice and piano, the “Nuits d'été à Pausilippe” and the “Soirées d'automne à l'Infrascata”. By the way, my partner in this cd is called Fausto Tenzi, do you know him? The other cd "Ninna Nanna" is a collection of 17 classic lullabies, a journey from the seventeenth century to today, through great authors such as Merula, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Puccini, De Falla, Tosti, Davico, Del Bono etc., which they ventured into this "sweetest" musical form. In March, together with the pianist Marcos Madrigal, we will record two monographic CDs dedicated to “Carlos Guastavino” Argentine musician of the twentieth century in Lugano. The first CD dedicated to piano production and the second dedicated to two cycles of romances for voice and piano, extraordinary both for their musical beauty and for the poetic texts. “Floras Argentinas”, a collection of twelve songs each dedicated to a flower and the “Siete canciones sobre poesias de Rafael Alberti”. My greatest desire is to introduce these wonderful music to as many people as possible. After all, the need of every artist is precisely this, to be able to share their ideals of beauty with others ».
