At La Scala for 11 € (travel notes)

< Anastasia Girenkova



Visit the Milan opera was not in my plans, to be honest, the ability to get at least to the Museum of La Scala seemed a unique opportunity to touch the history of world music. When half an hour before the presentation (given the "Nutcracker" by PI Tchaikovsky) at the box office tickets were for € 11, by Italian standards, token money, I could not believe my eyes: in my hands a cardboard ticket allows to visit La Scala. Separate entrance to the audience the orchestra and gallery, a few floors up the old marble stairs, first gallery, second, at the entrance to present your passport, tickets registered, slightly forward on the narrow ornate labyrinth of corridors, and in front of my eyes the scene with glowing lights inscription "The Nutcracker" seething life of the stalls and bright lighting huge chandeliers. Among the spectators schoolchildren, students, people of venerable age, well dressed, and the older age of the audience, the more old-fashioned suit with an essential attribute of classical-style tie -babochka Signor, a little black dress from Lady. Children noisy communicate, share experiences, but only the lights go out, calm down and take heed of action. I, like many of my peers, I remember the classic directed by Yuri Grigorovich with great Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev, the apotheosis in their performance, with glowing chandeliers in the Palace, taking off easy Masha, a waltz of flowers ... It was later restored ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa. Italian choreographer modern solution like a good fairy tale Christmas Eve: first appear on stage puppets, Clara and the Nutcracker, backstory tells tales of Italian master magician. And then on the stage there is a huge room, which is filled with children, they find gifts under the Christmas tree, share with each other their dolls and swords, boys play with toy soldiers, the girls circling hand in hand. Young parents are delighted with their children, they have the ball, champagne, a few rounds of dance ... a carefree holiday fun in a wealthy house of the early twentieth century. The story of the mouse king, whose formation is more like evil hairy gargoyle than fatty rats, a very short and not tightened, the Nutcracker is not difficult to plunge his sword into the body of the King, it as the logs, bodies entourage rolled up behind the scenes, and the feast begins after Nutcracker victory. Divertissements not prolonged, laconic, some parties committed not look like familiar from classical postanovki- no Sugar Plum Fairy, dancing in the party Clara and the Nutcracker duet instead pas de trois solo Prince and Princess. A waltz of flowers really look like a bunch of Mediterranean flowers, lush, exotic, fragrant. Emotionally perceiving music, choreography, set design, color palette suits, inexplicably I cried for two hours, trusting in a fairy tale, in a celebration of beauty, love, youth. I returned home elated, many years ago, as a student, after seeing the play at the Theatre Mark Zakharov and Pyotr Fomenko Studio. Happy carefree state when penniless rich find yourself so that you do not think about the mundane problems, and breathe deeply and sing out loud, do not hesitate passers-by. The next night was able to buy a pass-on the Verdi opera with Placido Domingo. Opera is little known to the general public, and when Alex reseller of tickets to my question about the libretto with unconcealed emotion replied: "Well, the duo is two, and I had to learn a musical instrument," - I was somehow funny, because, Therefore apparently, not very self Alex knew about the plot and wanted to show off knowledge. I read the libretto after the play, the plot was borrowed from a poem by Byron, the action takes place in the Venetian Republic, told the audience about the many lions on the scene and a large number of actors crowd scenes in typical burgundy robes. Tragic opera, Placido Domingo, the hero dies of grief-torn heart of a loving father, he can not help his son. Signed a performance difficult to understand, with a pause of two minutes in the first act, a break of half an hour before the second and the short twenty-five minutes of the second act. Choreography Alla Segal, I was not quite clear and pretentious, though gondoliers movements were recognized in the absence of canals and gondolas on the stage. Surely this is not the most successful opera by Giuseppe Verdi, but all knowledge enriches. After the opera again a sense of wealth without a penny in his pocket, one and half hours walk from the center to the hotel (eight stops Metro Red Line), burning soles of the feet after fourteen hours of festivities of the day, light rain, a hot bath before going to sleep, and deep sleep, in which arias parties interspersed with walks through the halls of the palace, singing tenor, talking in Italian, loud arguments, men's voices ... Yes, busy day in Milan has excited the imagination and stirred a reality with a dream. Before the trip was still where the dream, and it was destined to sbytsya- climb onto the roof of the Duomo. We all stood in forty minutes, made their way up the stairs, not lazy, but could be reached by elevator, saw the lace in the sky, the marble tower, and then the roof, descending down triangle plate from under the slab. Someone sunbathing, lying on his back, someone confessed his love, endless photo shoots, a city in full view, and above all this, the gilded statue of Our Lady, the patron saint and the symbol of Milan, above the level which is not accepted to erect buildings. Descend down harder than the climb, sometimes it begins to seem that the earth is about to go away from under his feet, and steep marble steps cunningly dropped from its height. And at the bottom full of life, people scurry shopping, dancing on the square, drinking coffee and wine café in a crowded ... Milan carefree, stylish and closed to outsiders. You can not be here or get their best friends, the south of Italy. Milan - a city inaccessible. And in order to grasp its special atmosphere, you just need to be yourself, throwing a mask and looking at the world through the eyes of a child