Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera
In a bit of a reversal of the recent Ocean Marketing fiasco, Prospero Bertani (whose descendants are surely now Metropolitan Opera subscribers) wrote to Giuseppe Verdi on May 10, 1782, requesting a refund for his expenses to see Aida. Upon the first viewing, he wrote: “I admired the scenery, listened with great pleasure to the excellent singers, and took great pains to let nothing escape me. After the performance was over, I asked myself whether I was satisfied. The answer was in the negative.” Upon a second viewing, he said “It will fill the theatre a few more times and then gather dust in the archives.”
Verdi’s response was to reimburse Bertrani for his two tickets (“This isn’t the entire sum for which asks me, but… to pay for his dinner too! No. He could very well have eaten at home!!!” he writes to his publisher), noting that in return he expected from Bertrani “a receipt for that sum and a note, by which he promises never again to go to hear my new operas, to avoid for himself the danger of other specters and for me the farce of paying him for another trip.” He saw to it that the letter was published in several newspapers.
The best part is Bertrani’s response: “If Maestro Verdi reimburses me, this means that he has found what I wrote fim to be correct.”
The full exchange can be read at Letters of Note. Aida continues to gather dust this spring at the Met, with a recent casting change announced for Marcelo Álvarez’s final few appearances in the run being shared by Riccardo Massì and Marcello Giordani.
(In other news: Hi, it’s 2012 and I’m going to make a better commitment to the newly rechristened Daily Klang before the world ends in 11 months.)
