I Worry for the Catholic Church

The New York Times would be enough to give many of my forebears a stroke, and its credibility would at the very least be questioned. I'm a devotee, and have been since college. Living in Boston in the 70s it was a big deal for me on Fridays to walk to a pharmacy a mile away from my student digs to by the newspaper of record...for 25cents. Said pharmacy was the only store around carrying the Times and you'd better get there wicked early.

Today's paper had two mentions of the Catholic Church that got me thinking. The first tells us that Pope Francis now actively discourages clergy from driving flashy cars, using smartphones and being chained to today's expensive electronic paraphernalia. The second is Frank Bruni's column expanding on the news of Cardinal Dolan's (Archbishop of New York)  correspondence recommending hiding assets from creditors, specifically those winning lawsuits against the church.

It's a mess, isn't it? The 21st century Catholic church seems to have self -destructed. The sins of the fathers-literally-were rampant for decades,  perhaps longer. I believe its only that prosecution and lawsuits are now insisted upon the the Church remains in business. They are too busy in court and too committed against their will to litigation to shut the whole place down.

(And if you think I'm anti-Catholic, think again. I'm pro-choice, pro-children, anti-abuse and pro respecting everybody.)

Why would a church dating itself back two thousand years (chump change to many other faiths) self-destruct. People not raised Catholic would have a devil of a time understanding this. (Sorry)
Here's some context.

I'm 56 years old, just old enough to remember pre Vatican II Catholicism. Pope John XXIII desired reforms in the early 1960s to bring the church closer to the laity. Mass in the vernacular and a relaxation of rules (meatless Fridays.) Sisters left schools and nursing for more active social work. No more habits. Priests had more opportunities for education. What did not change was the status given to the clergy by the faithful. I was raised to stand up whenever a priest entered the room. My mother's cousin was a Dominican and even after she left the Church it was all I could do to call her Helen instead of Sister.

This 'regalization' of the clergy I believe has to do with the immigrants who came here with nothing and made lives for themselves. To see a young Catholic man or woman in a habit elevated them and their communities. It was a mark of a better life. It seems also to have robbed the process of true discernment. Vocations were all about quantity. IT wasn't done to closely ask young people why they wanted to be priests or nuns.  In fact, you didn't ever ask questions. Being too bright marked you as an intellectual and a probable troublemaker. It was fine to be adept at Latin and be a good scholar, but you were trained to follow orders blindly and do everything to grow the church and the collection plate.

Were there good clergy? You bet. Thousands of them. Schools and hospitals served many a neighborhood in good times and bad. The educational requirements were rigorous and rote but you by God could diagram a sentence and work through a math problem . Vatican II began a shift in the Church because for the first time questions were tolerated and encouraged. I was in college when I told a classmate-a middle aged nun-that I still thought it sinful to touch the host. She said, "You put it in your mouth don't you?" Bingo. I was plastered into the dogma very, very young and not able to use my common sense. I believe, I hope, I am the last generation to be so chained.

I love the liturgy. I love the mass. I even accept the Virgin birth, or at least haven't the nerve for rockery. What I abhor is the backlash against Vatican II which has given us horrible degrees of intolerance and a breathtaking arrogance.

It  was easier to be Catholic when everybody believed the same thing. Now,  accepting such beliefs is not a sign of piety but stupidity, and blind obedience is dangerous. We should think. We should be critical and questioning. No organization survives on blind obedience.

But people need to understated a few things. For the Catholic church to flourish the old model has to be stamped out once and for all.  Giving lip service to the laity and parish councils doesn't cut it. The Catholic Church has never been a democracy. An apostolic church takes its orders from the Pope channeled down through the College of Cardinals into the bishoprics all the way to the parish priest. You don't get a vote.  The old edicts kept the public ignorant and poor. It was no joke, those homes with ten kids and insufficient income to care for them. It was no joke, discouraging bright young people out of secular universities. I doubt that happens much today, but happen it did, in my day. Boston  College rather than Harvard (and BC is a superb school) Power is the name of the game. Its little different than Stalin and the North Koreans starving their people.

If the Church would be truly open to all, if gender, color, wallet size and sexuality were all irrelevant I'm guessing the churches would be packed. If children were truly cherished and loved, there would be an endorsement of birth control. What does forbidding condoms in Africa do but further condemn a continent to AIDS? You don't want a lot of clergy.  You want the best clergy: mature, unselfish, ready for long ours and not a lotta reward, married men, straight men, gay men, gay women, married women, straight women...What a tragic waste of resources for the current church to be so limiting.

And finally, the very idea of power should be reorganized. Power belongs to the individual who should have every ability needed to join the community and help others. The pope in Rome, the flashy cars, the arrogance,  the silence, the ignorance of reproduction rights, the demonization of gay people, all of that is designed to keep the power base compact. And its ruining the Church. Remember, in terms of the sex abuse scandals, the image of the Catholic church has always been far more important the putting pedophiles away and protecting kids. "I'm sorry" from Rome isn't enough. Making an all inclusive church with a transparent leadership would be a beginning.

But the Catholic church won't be here in 100 years. I think that's sad. The Church insists on its old models that may have worked in the pre-information age. And there's nothing to be said about an organization that allows children to be abused except GO AWAY.

Gianni Schicchi Diary pt. 2a Giuseppe de Luca

Giacomo Puccini (1856-1924)

You can go to all the language labs you want, take all the classes there are, spend your money, but if you're a singer wanting to learn beautiful Italian, go to the library and get recordings of Italian singers. Nothing is more beautiful than listening to Pavarotti sing Donizetti and Verdi. Tebaldi in anything. The great baritones Tito Gobbi and Ettore Bastianini.Bass Cesare Siepi.  Renata Scotto in Lucia or Traviata. Scotto was the diva of my operatic youth. You couldn't avoid her, and her voice was long shot. And yes, they'd flock to her today. Just a few lines of Mi chiamano Mimi were riveting.

Why do I harp on this? I don't like young singers being bilked for money. I've never been sold on the

Giuseppe de Luca

college/grad school route. Better to get a marketable degree and study voice, languages and theory on the side. Then try for the competitions and young artist's programs. If after several years nothing happens, start your own preforming organizations, conduct a choir for underprivileged kids and go make yourself a life in music. Tend bar or do IT during the day. No disgrace in any of these. The goal is to have a life in music and share that life with others.

Wow. Focus Christopher.

Giuseppe de Luca. He was the first Gianni Schicchi. You can lean so much about words and legato from him.







Giuseppe de Luca (1876-1940) sang well into his seventies. He came to the States in 1915 and three years later was the first Gianni Schicchi. He had created Sharpless in Madama Butterfly in 1907 and Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur in 1901, the latter with Caruso who he frequently partnered.

I'm not surprised to read raves about his singing in 1918, 1930, etc.
But in 1940 he made a comeback at the age of sixty-four.
He sang Germont in La traviata.

Giuseppe de Luca, the veteran baritone...stepped from the wings in the second act. It is not surprising that on receiving the thunderous tribute from the audience, it was hard for Mr. de Luca to control his features or summon the breath to sing. ...When he did open his mouth the first five notes made the pulses beat because of the art and the beauty of the song...The quality of the legato, the perfection of the style, the sentiment which ennobled the melodic phrase, struck the whole audience...

       Olin Downes, New York Times February 8 1940

(They really had critics then,didn't they? Olin Downes was no pushover)
             
de Luca sang Schicchi twenty -six times from the premiere in 1918 through 1934.  De Luca returned to Italy the following year and came back to New York in 1940. (I'm surprised Mussolini allowed him to leave)

Geraldine Farrar as Suor Angelica...unimpressed

By the way, Il tabarro disappeared after 1920 until 1946. Suor Angelica did not impress soprano Geraldine Farrar, who created the role. She and Caruso were the Met's biggest box office attraction. After she retired in 1922, Suor Angelica disappeared until Renata Scotto sang it in 1975.

Gianni Schicchi Diary: Introduction

Dante

 It's my custom to keep a diary when working outside the studios, so welcome to The Gianni Schicchi Diary! 


The good people at Opera Project Columbus have asked me to direct their production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Tonight is the first staging rehearsal.
This one act delight is Puccini's only comedy. It is part of three one act operas (Il trittico-The Triptych) the world premier of which was given in New York at the Metropolitan Opera n December 14, 1918. The world was in the mood to celebrate one month after the armistice was signed.

Giuseppe DeLuca , the first Gianni Schicchi

Il tabarro and Suor Angelica were qualified successes. Gianni Schicchi was a bona fide hit. W.J. Henderson, dean of music critics for the New York Times, was gentle with the first two operas but called GS "one of the most delightful bits every put on the opera stage".

The libretto is by Gioacchino Forzano. The basis is an episode, a few lines really, from Dante's Divina Commedia. In the XXX canto, we encounter Gianni Schicchi, who had advised Simone, relative of Buoso Donati on amending an unsatisfactory will. In so doing, Schicchi is consigned by Dante to hell. Some of this story reflects Dante's own antipathy toward the 'peasant class' and especially of his wife's family, the Donati.

What's not to love with this 45 minute opera? You get a deliciously nasty family, a dead guy on stage for much of the action, a 'peasant', his daughter who sings a big hit:




"Un Donati sposare un figlia di villano?! cries Simone, the elder of the family.
A Donati, to marry the daughter of a peasant?!
That's just one of several great lines in this opera.

Splendida Firenze!

When the will is found and read leaving all of Buoso's property to the monks, his cousin Zita, a hateful old lady grumbles:

Ch l'avrrebe mai detto che quando Buoso andava al cimitero si sarebbe pianto per daverro!
Who could have told that once Buoso went to the cemetery, we'd be crying for real!

Gianni Schicchi arrives with his daughter Lauretta. She's usually portrayed as a sweet, innocent girl. I think she's more of a princess. Daaaaaadddy!

Schicchi's first line is one of my favorites in all opera:

Quale aspetto sgomenta e desolato
Buoso Donati certo e migliorato

What a lot of sad looks
Buoso Donati must be getting better

 I've directed Suor Angelica and yes.  I loved it and yes I cried,  nice Catholic boy that I am.
But now we get down and dirty, and we have fun. Newsflash: Opera can be fun!

Opera Project Columbus was formed to give local singers an opportunity to perform. We have a terrific cast

Alessandro Siciliani. Opera can be fun!

for this production: attractive, talented and a world class baritone for the tile role. And our conductor?
Alessandro Siciliani, former music director of the Columbus Symphony, veteran of the New York City Opera and the Met, not forgetting a slew of Italian opera houses. Alessandro is  Florentine himself. Watching him dart around at rehearsal coaching the Italian texts has been the joy of my late spring. He gets all of the inflection and double meanings unavailable at first to non native speakers.

The big challenge of this staging is not musical, its the venue. We have a small stage, and no pit. With the orchestra onstage we're going to use the house more than the stage. You may be sitting next to Rinuccio as he pours out his love for Lauretta, or Simone or Zita as they scheme away Buoso's money. Gianni Schicchi might pick your pocket.

Performances June 15 and 16.
Check back here for more dish.
First staging rehearsal is tonight.

MET HD: Zachary Woolfe

Zachary Woolfe, -a marvelous writer on music-is discussing the Metropolitan opera's HD transmissions in the New York Times. The first installment in today's paper and if I knew how to post a link I would bloody well do it. Go to www.nytimes.com Part 2 next week. MEANWHILE, a few favorites from past seasons: