M Y H O M E "L A S C A L A"
After the success obtained in
America, Gencer stepped into La Scala where she would later call “home”. She
worked at La Scala for more than 50 years. Gencer spent the first half of fifty
years on the stage and later she worked continuously at “her” La Scala until
May 10 2008, the date she passed away.
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50 Anni alla Scala (Aida 1963) Photo © Teatro alla Scala / ERIO PICCAGLIANI, Milano |
First offer from Teatro alla Scala was Strauss' Elektra under the direction of Dimitri Mitropoulos on June 1954. But she had to refuse the offer as she had commitments in Ankara.
Gencer’s debut at La Scala
stage was on January 26, 1957. She sang in the world
premiere of Poulenc’s Dialoghi delle
Carmelitane. However she had been offered to sing Aida by Victor de Sabata, former artistic director of La Scala.
Unfortunately, due to his health problems, De Sabata retired and
the new opera management gave the role of Aida to the Italian soprano
Antonietta Stella. Consequently, Gencer was asked to perform Dialoghi delle Carmelitane at La Scala
even though she didn’t get along well with the composer and the stage director.
Gencer’s first years at La Scala passed under the shadows of a myth such as
Callas and of Italian artists such as Tebaldi and Stella. Having said “I’ll
sing at La Scala otherwise I’ll never
sing” Gencer unwillingly performed the contemporary opera only because it was
at La Scala. Other than Dialoghi della Carmelitane, Gencer sang
various contemporary operas such as Pizzeti’s L’Assassino nella Catedrale (Milan 1958) and Lo Straniero (Naples 1969), Prokofiev’s L’Ange de Feu (Spoleto, Trieste 1959), Britten’s Albert Herring (Milan 1979, Reggio
Emilia, Modena, Ferrara 1980), Rocca’s Monte
Ivnor (Naples 1956 – Rai 1957), Weinberger’s Schwanda (Rai 1958), Menotti’s The
Council (Ankara 1954), d’Albert Tiefland
(Ankara 1951). But as she declared in some interviews, she wasn’t very
happy about singing them, yet she felt much happier singing operas of Verdi and
Donizetti.
Despite her great desire to
work with Arturo Toscanini Gencer never had the chance. However she sang “Libera me” in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the great
conductor’s funeral service which took place at the Duomo Cathedral of Milan on February 18, 1957. She was accompanied by the Orchestra and
Choir of La Scala and her successful performance was highly praised.
Along with Giuseppe di
Stefano, Gencer sang La forza del destino
at Cologne Opera which was La
Scala’s first tour to Germany after the war. Between the years of 1957 – 1980
she sang leading roles in Verdi's Don
Carlos, La forza del destino, Aida, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, I Vespri
Siciliani; Bellini's Norma;
Donizetti's Poliuto, Lucrezia Borgia;
Mozart's Idomeneo; Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea; Gluck's Alceste; Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and Britten's Albert Herring at La Scala. She also
sang the leading role in the world premiere of Pizzetti’s L'Assassinio nella Cattedrale at La Scala in 1958.
GENCER ALLA SCALA STAGIONI 1957 – 2007
https://www.teatroallascala.org/it/archivio/ricerca.html?guid_=f95288a0-b321-4b77-8420-d6035ef4fb08&type=&title=&author=&artist=leyla+gencer&scene=&season_from=&season_to=&page=1
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with Ibrahim Gençer - 7 December 1990, Teatro alla Scala, "Idomeneo" Photo © Teatro alla Scala / LELLI E MASOTTI, Milano |
Gencer was the glorious
primadonna of La Scala for over 25 years, an era during which legendary names
such as Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Monserrat Caballé, Joan Sutherland and
Beverly Sills reigned in the opera world. About her extraordinary career, it
would only be moderate to reiterate the words of Michel Parouty from Opéra
Magazine: "She was the last diva of the 20th century, an embodiment of
perfection. "Having achieved an
international career in a very short time and performed with distinguished
Italian maestros such as Vittorio Gui, Tullio Serafin, Gianandrea Gavazzeni and
Riccardo Muti, Gencer's outstanding performances of Donizetti's forgotten
operas inscribed her name in all opera books identifying the great soprano with
the "Donizetti Renaissance."
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| with Wally Toscanini, her daughter Emanuela Castelberco and Filippo Acquarone, 1969 Photo © Teatro alla Scala / ERIO PICCAGLIANI, Milano |
