Van Dyck’s Palermo Madonna and Child

On Christmas Eve two days ago I posted (link) a photo of the beautiful Caravaggio painting of the Nativity that was stolen from a Palermo oratory in 1960.  Christmastide has me thinking of another Palermo oratory I had the pleasure of visiting a few years ago. 

Oratories are small, Roman Catholic chapels for private worship.  Palermo, Sicily, has three of which I am aware, built by confraternities -- private altruistic organizations of men bound by a trade or specific object of religious devotion.  In walking distance of the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, in which now hangs a reproduction of Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, one can find the Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico.  This chapel sits behind Palermo’s great Dominican basilica of San Domenico (which unfortunately was closed both times the missus and I tried to visit in the spring of 2016). 

The Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico is stunning.  Bathed in white with gold accents, the space is full of three-dimensional ladies, knights, and playful putti.  The magnificent altarpiece is the large painting Madonna of the Rosary with St. Dominic and the Patroness of Palermo, executed by Anthony van Dyck in 1628. 

Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico in Palermo, Sicily

Van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who achieved great success in England, in the Netherlands, and in Italy, where he spent six of his 42 years studying and painting.  His Wikipedia entry states that for him Titian’s “use of colour and subtle modeling of form would prove transformational, offering a new stylistic language that would enrich the compositional lessons learned from Rubens.”  Van Dyck spent time in Palermo, about 20 years after Caravaggio passed through Sicily, and left behind in the Dominican community a stunning painting to be especially enjoyed this Christmas season. 

R Balsamo

Caravaggio’s Nativity

Caravaggio’s Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence is a warm scene of dramatic moment composed with his typical striking use of light and shadow. 

Caravaggio was born Michelangelo Merisi in Milan and came of age in the nearby town of the name by which he became famous.  Pugnacious and temperamental, he spent a fair amount of his all-too-short life on the lam, running from the jailer or the assassin.  He spent some time in Sicily late in his short life of 38 years, and it was probably there in 1609 that he composed The Nativity .  The painting found its way to a confraternity hall in Palermo, the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, where it was on display until 1969 when it was stolen by the mafia, according to all evidence.  It has never resurfaced, and is said to have been destroyed.  Recently, a faithful reproduction of the painting was created and is now on display where the original hung. 

R Balsamo

The Lufthansa Heist at 40

Today is the 40th anniversary of the incredibly-successful, infamous Lufthansa heist by New York City mobsters.  It paradoxically led, through greed and stupidity, to the destruction of many, if not most, of the men who pulled it off.  Moral of the story — be careful what you wish for.  Martin Scorsese, though, got a great movie out of it, Goodfellas, and he may be one of the few who really profited from it all.

R Balsamo

Cendrillon at the Lyric Opera

The Lyric offered up a solid production of Cendrillon, French composer Massenet’s version of the Cinderella story.  This is the opera’s first showing at the Lyric in its 64 seasons, although it has offered up Rossini’s variation on the theme, La Cenerentola, no less than six times.  Massenet’s version is half comedy (awfully slapstick in this production) and half drama, and he gives Cinderella’s father a sizeable role.  Although the story line for the most part is an operatic version of a chick flick, there are a few worthwhile moments.  Particularly of interest, and the highlight for me, is the serious, touching Act III scene between Cinderella and her father, as she despairs of ever again seeing her magical love Prince Charming. 

In popularity Cendrillon does not rank with Massenet’s main four – Manon and Werther, followed by Don Quichotte and Thais.  The Prince is a “trouser” role, written for a contralto and featuring a mezzo in this production; for me, the opera would be more appealing if the part were transposed for a tenor.  

Soprano Siobhan Stagg was terrific in the title role in her American debut, and I also particularly enjoyed bass-baritone Derek Welton as her meek but gentle and caring father.  Sets consisted of various moving panels with writing on them – inexpensive, minimalist, and very uninteresting.  I know opera companies are struggling with cost control, but this was a pretty lame effort.  The show was almost a concert version in costume.  The blame for the set, though, gets spread around to many other opera companies, so the Lyric is mostly off the hook.  Hell, even the Met used it.

I’m happy to have seen Cendrillon, though I don’t think I would go out of my way to see it again.  If an opera company is going through the expense of putting on a show, there are a lot more appealing choices on the list before you come to Cendrillon.  The set was available, sure, but sets abound.  And it’s not as if a packaged cast, already rehearsed, was readily available, for only Alice Coote as Prince Charming was a carry-over from last spring’s production at the Met.  So here are two picks, for example, that jump to mind long before Cendrillon – Puccini’s sleeper Manon Lescaut, last seen on the Lyric stage 13 years ago and just that once since 1977, and even Massenet’s own take on that story, Manon, regarded by some as his best opera and last seen at the Lyric in 1983 – 35 years ago.

R Balsamo