UN BALLO IN MASCHERA [Gustavus III]
Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901)
Opera in three acts in Italian [Sung in Turkish]
Libretto: Antonio Somma
Premièr at Apollo Theatre, Rome – 17 February 1859
02 October 1955 (11 Performances)
Ankara State Opera and Ballet, Ankara
Conductor: Ferid Alnar
Chorus master: Helmut Schaefer
Stage director: Aydın Gün
Scene and costumes: Ulrich Damrau
Count Riccardo Governor of Warwick (Gustavus III) ÖZCAN SEVGEN tenor
Amelia LEYLA GENCER soprano [Role
debut]
Renato Secretary to the Governor (Anckarstroem) ORHAN GÜNEK baritone
Samuele (Count Ribbing) enemy of the Governer SELİM ÜNKOKUR bass
Tomaso (Count Horn) enemy of the Governer AYHAN BARAN bass
Silvano a sailor (Cristian) NEVZAT KARATEKİN baritone
Oscar a page AZRA ÇAPLI soprano
Ulrica a fortune-teller (Arvidson) NECDET DEMİR mezzo-soprano
Un guidice NURİ TÜRKAN tenor
Un servo d’Amelia EDİP AKTUGAN tenor
Time: Boston (USA) or Sweden
Place: End of Eighteenth Century or 1792
STATE THEATER MAGAZINE
1955 October
STATE THEATER MAGAZINE
1955 November
HAKİMİYET DAILY NEWSPAPER
1955.11.04
It’s become a
national right to boast about Leyla Gencer who performs enthusiastically even
in her smallest concert. The praise and
the fame that she has deservedly obtained abroad in the artistic countries is
rather immense. The more quiet and
humble Leyla Gencer goes to western countries, the more fame and pride she
brings. And yet we insist on disregarding this obvious fact, which is like
ignoring the radiance of the sun. (Sadi Günel)
HAKİMİYET DAILY NEWSPAPER
1955.11.08
02 Kasım 1955 Çarşamba akşamı, Aydın Gün tarafından sahneye konan Maskeli Balo operasında şu sanatçılar rol almışlardır: tenor Özcan Sevgen, bariton Orhan Günek, soprano Leyla Gencer, mezzo Necdet Demir, soprano Azra Çaplı, bariton Nevzat Karatekin, Selim Ünkorur, bas Ayhan Baran. Orkestra’yı, ilkinde olduğu gibi, gene Ferid Alnar idare etmiştir. Aryaları uzun uzun alkışlanan Leyla Gencer, sadece batı sınırlarını aşan şöhretiyle değil, kaliteli sesi, onu bilgi ile kullanışı, dramatik temperamanı, jestleri, mimikleri ve duyuş kudretiyle, bir primadonnadan beklenen her hüneri göstermiştir. En titiz seyircilerin bile apaçık övmelerini, boşuna kazanmadı. Hakketti.
On November 2nd, 1955 Wednesday evening: “Un ballo un maschera” staged by Aydın Gün. Leyla Gencer’s arias were strongly applauded not just because of her fame which is far beyond the western countries but because she was able to exhibit all the abilities expected from a primadonna: her high quality of the voice, vocal mastery, dramatic temperament, gestures and profound sensibility. She gained the appreciation of even the pickiest spectators and she very well deserved it! (Sadi Günel)
AKİS WEEKLY MAGAZINE
1955.11.12
LETTERS FROM LIFE BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN
1955.12.09
LETTER 845: DECEMBER 1955
1 British reformer of hospital nursing (1820-1910), who took nurses out to the Crimean War in 1854 and revolutionized conditions at the barrack hospital. She was christened by the wounded 'the Lady with the Lamp!
2 Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), Turkish political leader who, following the First World War, was the leader of the Turkish nationalist movement and became President, 1923-38, of the new Turkish republic. He was a West-orientated reformer who modernized his country's educational, legal and economic systems, but who largely ignored his own political institutions and ruled as a benevolent dictator.
3 Britten and Pears flew to Ankara at 10 a.m. on 5 December, Pears remarking in his travel notes that they found it in snow. Both men's pocket diaries record a 'cocktail party' on the evening of their arrival - presumably the diplomatic occasion mentioned by Britten in this letter - which was described by Pears as a 'huge endless party of 200 people' (PRPP, p. 25). They gave a concert in the city on 6 December and visited the Hittite Museum on the next day. An intriguing entry in Britten's pocket diary suggests they saw a rehearsal or performance of Let's Make an Opera in Ankara immediately after the visit to the museum; a full day concluded with Verdi's Un ballo in Maschera at the local opera house in Ankara, Pears singling out a 'good Turkish soprano' for comment in his travel notes. They finally returned to Istanbul on 8 December.
In a letter to Lord Harewood dated 9 December, Britten wrote:
We heard Ballo at the opera there [Ankara), a sad experience again - some good voices, & chorus - but oh, the conductor & the production. Everywhere seems the same. Good material, & bad use of it. Most depressing. There's one soprano there they all think the world of, & whom you probably know about - Leyla Gencer. She's a nice woman (we had lunch with her), intelligent, immensely ambitious - sings a lot in Italy & Trieste - but she wasn't really on form enough to judge, that night. But you might keep an eye on her - big personality, good big voice (in a small theatre), ham acting & performance really (but I suspect could be shaken out of that), & I think good technique. Ulrica (a role in the opera] was good, but the men simply unbelievably awful -- even Peter hadn't a good word to say about the tenor!
Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer (b. 1928) went on to sing regularly at many of the leading European and American opera houses, including La Scala, Milan (in 1957 she sang Madame Lidoine in the premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites), the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the San Francisco Opera. A celebrated figure in Turkey, in 2007 Gencer was appointed by Riccardo Muti to oversee the direction of La Scala's training programme for young singers. In the 1979-80 season she sang the only Britten role of her long career: Lady Billows in a production of Albert Herring at Piccola Scala, Milan.
OPERA MAGAZINE
1956 March
STATE OPERA MAGAZINE
1960 January
