Yesterday we had Victor Ragonesi telling us to keep our hands off the “original” entrance of Valletta which nobody has a right to “desecrate”. Ragonesi was Borg-Olivier’s Private Secretary in the 1960s. Which begs the question: did his former political master have any right to desecrate the city entrance the way he did?
Today, Kenneth Zammit-Tabona writes on the Piano plans in Times:
Meanwhile, the government, with pennants flying and trumpets blowing, announced Renzo Piano’s blueprint for Valletta and, if their perennial apologists are anything to go by, are in a right royal miff because it was not received with the right amount of adulation. What on earth did they expect? After waiting for 67 years for something to happen on the opera house site, the government’s brief to Mr Piano was devoid of any thought, sensitivity and without reflection as to what the long-term consequences of this open-air theatre that we need like a hole in the head will mean with regard to Maltese culture or the lack of it.
I don’t know what government’s brief to Piano was and if it said “make the old Opera House into an open-air theatre”. If anything, Piano, it seems, dissuaded the government from constructing a parliament on the theatre’s site. And as I have pointed out elsewhere, Piano is not a starving architect waiting for some commission to come in. I’m sure he has enough artistic and professional dignity to tell the government to find someone else if he felt the “brief” he was given was below him.
But Zammit-Tabona seems to know something the rest of us don’t. He was one of the plans’ first critics:
Art and theatre critic Kenneth Zammit Tabona was not at all amused: “I have never felt so insulted in my life. This is another confirmation of the poor attitude this government has shown towards culture. We’re going to have a roofless theatre which can only be used when the weather permits. But they’re not going to be roofless in Parliament, are they?”
That, by the way, was soon after it was announced that it would be an open-air theatre but before the plans were unveiled. And notice the criticism was directed at the government: Zammit-Tabona, unlike the paTRioTs wIth a caPs loCK prOBlem who comment on the Times, is not so philisitine to accuse Piano of philistinism. Such charges work better with Austin Gatt so that’s were he directs it.
But then Zammit-Tabona goes on:
Last Tuesday, La Traviata, starring Renee Fleming and our own Joseph Calleja, was transmitted live from Covent Garden to an enthusiastic and numerous paying audience at Argotti Gardens. A son of Malta has really made it to the top echelons and will, any minute now, reach iconic status. A suggestion, which, I hope, the ministry will take up should this lovely event happen again, is that it should be shown free of charge in all the towns and villages in Malta that have a suitable open space.
It’s heartening to note that on this occasion — end of June — it was a case of “weather permits” in an “roofless” venue as was the Argotti Garden. And why does Zammit-Tabona suggest that the screening be held in “towns and villages in Malta that have a suitable open space”?
No fear of wind, rain and hail? Adrian Buckle, who had been one of the most vociferous opponents of having parliament built on the old opera house site, spoke in favour of an open air theatre because, bar the ludicrous venue at Ta’ Qali, there is no such thing in Malta. Both Buckle and Zammit-Tabona seem to be aware that the performing arts have stiff competition in the summer and both realise that an open venue is the answer.
But while Buckle’s reaction is the obvious reaction of someone who got something he could have wished for, Zammit-Tabona persists in criticising the plan and the government (not Piano). Why? Is it the cheap and easy way to sophistication?
Coda: Another point in Zammit-Tabona’s op-ed is worth addressing:
This [foreign governments' attempts to popularise opera] was an exercise that took up the trend set by Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo when they performed together in that unforgettable Three Tenors Concert in Rome 19 years ago and which I had the unforgettable privilege of attending. In those days one could hear men attempting to sing Nessun Dorma in the shower as they lathered themselves: so much for the irrelevance and mustiness of opera Lou Bondì.
That’s a hypothesis. Here’s another: Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma (one of the worst renditions of the piece, one should add) was the theme song used for the BBC’s coverage of the 1990 World Cup finals. Most people learnt of the piece (and its existence) thanks to that, not the Three Tenors concert. Which might explain why it was men attempting to sing it in the shower.
Was the BBC’s then attempt a laudable case of “popularising”? Yes. But as “propologia” is pig-Greek so is Puccini-before-a-football-match “pig-opera”.
Just read your comments and your selective quotes.
Lovely to be able to do that and not be accountable because of the privilege of a nom-de-plume while actually denying the right to retaliation with your conditions.
Read what you like into what I write but I can assure you that I have no other agenda other than putting Malta on the cultural map.
For shame!
I’m surprised that my writing with a pseudonym should be the issue here. Not only because it does not seem to be an issue in the case of Times commenters to your article, like “g.portelli” or “c gatt”, but because I’m always careful to tackle the ball not the man.
I’ve re-read my post and, quite frankly, I can’t see the lack of “accountability” you complain about unless you think I’m the undercover agent of the roofless theatres lobby or something. And if there’s anything in the post which is remotely personal in your regard please point it out and I’ll remove it. If you have been misrepresented I’d have no problem in having your comments here (and it’s a right of reply not a right of “retaliation” … or so I hope).
Meanwhile you might wish to get back to the important matters. Like what’s in the brief Piano was given that shows government’s “poor attitude” towards culture. Or why a live transmission of opera in Argotti and “suitable open spaces” in “all towns and villages of Malta” would be fine but not in a purposely designed open air theatre on the old opera house site.
Those are the matters I care about rather than your “agenda” whatever it might be. I care for actions and opinions more than motives.
Those who criticise all or part of Piano’s proposals often do so with such vehemence that they leave little room for dialogue. “I have never felt so insulted in my life” is a typical overreaction; you can imagine Mr Zammit Tabona storming out of the room and slamming the door.
My dear friend Antoine Vella … again and again! You seem just like a very old friend now.
Kenneth, I am old actually: 59 on my next birthday. Glad that you consider me a friend however, despite our disagreement. Let’s be honest now, don’t you think that far too much fuss has been kicked up over issues that are an embodiment of triviality, compared to the real problems facing the country?
[...] Propologia… Mr Piano was devoid of any thought, sensitivity and without reflection as to what the long-term consequences of this open-air theatre that we need like a hole in the head will mean with regard to Maltese culture or the lack of it. … [...]