Gloria Degiorgio, Swieqi
What would our forefathers have done?
Let us consider that there was the option to rebuild the opera house 40 to 50 years ago (when most European countries rebuilt their historical buildings). The contemporaries of those years would certainly have opted for the rebuilding of the opera house as it would have brought memories of their youth and the splendour that the building itself promoted. Are we not still whining for the "old and grand entrance" Valletta used to boast of? History, they say, repeats itself but this mistake must not!
It has worked for the Valletta Waterfront; let's have the opera house!
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Joe Xuereb
Feb 5th 2009, 18:51
cont./ Opera today is - well, opera today. Often stark. Quite often very stark (economics? eccentric producers? you name it). But to the true connoisseur, this often enhances the drama. Haunting and beautiful, without the distraction of visual aids. This not 'tijatrin'. This is opera as seering human emotion. This is the real thing. And like so much else, is tiny Malta ready for this? The opera house, the house for opera: whether to Barry's re-design, or Piano's, or some local worthy, is immaterial. It is what it is capable of presenting to an appreciative population ithat is material. Maybe, just maybe, successive governments have been aware of this issue. And that is why government prefer to spend comparatively little money on plans, and shelving them, and plans again, Keeps the monster at bay and the money in the coffers. Maybe one day a palace of opera will materialise overnight, as if by magic. Stranger things happen in opera you know.
Joe Xuereb
Feb 5th 2009, 18:33
Of course none of this angst is about opera. This is about pride, and principle, and scoring points, and nostalgia (very sad), nationalism (very dangerous), favourite pastime (aka jerking the knee). Anything in fact, but opera. Commentators here MAY well be opera buffs but, given the nature of the beast, they are hardly representaitve of the small island's population as a whole.
Opera was popularised in Italy and frequented by the masses. Because they understood the sentiments and the language. Their (the audience's) responses where both predictable and unpredictable. They were the masses after all. It was a veritable 'tijatrin' atmosphere. TThis explains the popularity of main characters (barbers, cut-throats, etc.) and other fantasy figures. Politics came into play of course. These were the masses.
Opera was exported. It had snob value. It was in a foreign language. Fur capes and fancy bags became de riguer. And that was just the guys. And so it flourised. In Malta in a very limited. indeed seasonal, way. cont./
lgalea
Feb 3rd 2009, 08:59
Alfred Camilleri
Piano's projects simply do not fit in a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen.
They may fit in a modern city, but not in our Capital City.
And by the way, this is all a waste of money and a poor attempt to deviate the peoples attention from the incompetence of Gonzipn and the disaster we are in.
As has happened before the architect will be paid, but the project will not materialize.
Joe Xuereb
Feb 3rd 2009, 02:02
The Opera House, the ROYAL Opera House no less, was nothing but the coloniser's crude attempt to leave a lasting imprint. The Anglican Cathedral(British architect) in front of the Curia was already up and running. Hence the Royal Theatre. Not Maltese royalty surely. It was a self-glorifying exercise. Other examples of Victoriana abound. All markedly incongruous. What will it take to dismante the seated Victoria in Pjazza Regina? Even the pigeons are losing their appetite. Someone is proposing the building in the square to be used as a Palace of Thinking. Well, they would not need to go very far for inspirational subject matter.
The theatre was built for the amusement of resident officers and visiting grandees, royalty and so on. None of who great patrons of opera (in UK, opera is still a dirty word). Which left
a select Maltese elite who shuttled between Italianism and Britishness, depending on the weathervane. Opera productions, notoriously expensive (think Caruso, Gigli) then as now were essentially seasonal, the House opening its doors to occasional companies from abroad, Largely on a par with travelling circuses which were visitors in their own right. A white, very beautiful elephant. Nostalgia? Whatever for?
laurence schembri
Feb 2nd 2009, 22:57
@ Alfred Camilleri
Yes I am. It reminds of an inside of an old power station or a ship`s engine-room, but that it the way I look at it, read my little blog properly.
Sorry our Capital hasn`t got an Opera House, just a Theatre, and may I add, not suitable to stage an Opera, it hardly accommodate the National Orchestra and that is saying something.
`The past that is no more`, to some it isn`t, but to others is, so I say it again, let us do away with the Cittadella and put a disco in its place
Charles DeMicoli
Feb 2nd 2009, 20:53
@D Vella: You wrote: "Are we so poor and pathetic that we must always fall back upon things which symbolise a long gone age rather than making a proud statement of OUR OWN IDENTITY??"
Who knows 'our own identity' better than a local, home-grown architect? Where can I find architectural expressions of 'our own identity'? Would you like to put up a glass tower with an 'inside out' facade' or something of that sort?
Personally, I do not want to see a copy of the old design, but a modern interpretation that refers to and has flourishes of that design, and respects the architecture and identity of Valletta. As far as what to house in it, I would prefer to see a Museum of Modern Art, a Museum of Maltese Folk Art, and a performance space for traditional and experimental theatre and of course an opera house.
Alfred Camilleri
Feb 2nd 2009, 19:51
I wonder how many of those who are clamouring for the rebuilding of the old opera house are genuine lovers of opera or just nostalgic for a past that is no more.
Lawrence Schembri. Are you suggesting that Piano had poor eyesight when he created the 'Centre Pompidou'? Would you insist for Hagar Qim to be rebuilt were it to be wiped out by some catastrophe? Valletta already has an opera house. It is the Manoel Theatre. O.K., it's not La Scala or The Metropolitan in New York. But then, neither Malta is Italy or the USA.
Peter Aquilina
Feb 2nd 2009, 18:16
@D. Vella
If it is not the "things that symbolise the long gone age" ,can you please explain to "everybody" what actually does form a nation's culture ?
"Everybody" is eager to learn.
laurence schembri
Feb 2nd 2009, 16:02
@ D. Vella
i admit, I haven`t got the slightest knowledge about architecture, but then I thank God I still have good eyesight.
If you think or class `Centre Pompidou` in Paris as an iconic piece of architecture, then we look at things in different ways.
A long gone age. Are you suggesting that we should also do away with Hagar Qim?
Why do you politicise everything
laurence schembri
Feb 2nd 2009, 15:12
It will be a great shame if our Capital remains without an Opera House,not only that, we will be unique.
D Vella
Feb 2nd 2009, 14:09
People who pontificate about architecture should take the trouble to learn something about it beforehand.
Go ahead, build a fake copy of the old opera house 'as it used to be' and make Malta a laughing stock once again by denying everybody the opportunity to have an iconic piece of architecture that reflects OUR culture and the age that we live in . . . Are we so poor and pathetic that we must always fall back upon things which symbolise a long gone age rather than making a proud statement of OUR OWN IDENTITY??
Emmanuel Marmara'
Feb 2nd 2009, 12:53
WELL SAID