{"id":9108,"date":"2026-08-21T19:40:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/?p=9108"},"modified":"2026-08-21T19:41:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T17:41:48","slug":"la-rondine-o-del-ricordo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/en\/la-rondine-o-del-ricordo\/","title":{"rendered":"La Rondine, or of Remembrance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Beatrice Venezi\u2019s BLOG \u2013 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Opening<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paris. The Second Empire. The Bar Bullier: smoke, glasses, students, grisettes, a small orchestra playing a waltz. Everyone is dancing. Everyone is laughing. It is the&nbsp;<em>joie de vivre<\/em>, the joy of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Listen carefully, though. Listen to that waltz. Something isn\u2019t quite right. Lurking beneath the party is a lingering melancholy, as if someone were watching the party from outside, through a window, as if the party were already over, and what we\u2019re hearing were merely a memory of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There you go, you\u2019re already in&nbsp;<em>La Rondine<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, I had the privilege of conducting this opera on the exact centenary of its creation: 1917\u20132017. I spent months poring over a score that very few people are familiar with. Rarely performed, little-loved, and certainly underrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is Puccini at the pinnacle of absolute orchestral refinement. A brilliant, ironic score, as light as only music that conceals something profound can be. And it has been a controversial opera from the very outset: it was commissioned by the impresarios of Vienna\u2019s Karltheater, then war broke out. Italy on one side, Austria on the other, and Puccini, who had signed a contract with Vienna, found himself accused of pro-Austrian sympathies. The most Italian of composers, suspected of being not Italian enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you can see, I didn\u2019t make up the controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If I were to give this work a subtitle, it would be this:&nbsp;<em>La Rondine, or of Remembrance<\/em>. A memory that stirs nostalgia. Let\u2019s take a look at the three acts together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act One.<\/strong>&nbsp;Magda, who is supported by the wealthy banker Rambaldo, tells her friends and the poet Prunier \u2014 a caricature of D\u2019Annunzio, and that alone is worth the price of admission \u2014 about an episode from her adolescence: one evening she had run away from her elderly aunt, dashed off to Bar Bullier, and there she had met a young man with whom she had fallen in love. A fling lasting just a few hours, but one she has never forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Magda remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act Two.<\/strong>&nbsp;Magda runs away again. This time, not from her aunt: from Rambaldo. And where does she go? To the Bar Bullier. Just as she did so many years earlier. There she meets Ruggero, a boy from the provinces on his first evening in Paris. She falls for him. And she asks him \u2014 listen carefully \u2014 to re-enact the very same things from that long-ago episode. The same table, the same gestures. She isn\u2019t experiencing a new moment: she is reconstructing a moment from the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Magda remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act Three.<\/strong>&nbsp;The two lovers, far from Paris, on the C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur. And what are they singing about? The memory of their first meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Magda remembers. Always. Only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is Magda\u2019s curse: she has a dream \u2014 the same dream as Doretta\u2019s, the one from the famous aria \u2014 but she cannot project it into the future. She cannot even live in the present. She knows only how to dwell in her memories, and the more she dwells in them, the more they fade away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And who knows, perhaps there is an autobiographical element here. For in 1917, Puccini, too, was bidding farewell to something: his old style. With&nbsp;<em>A Girl from the West<\/em>&nbsp;He has already started to move away from it; he is looking for a new path.&nbsp;<em>La Rondine, or On Detachment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Operetta or not an operetta?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The question everyone asks. Let\u2019s answer it as musicians, not as fans. Strictly speaking, no: it isn\u2019t an operetta. There are no set numbers, and there is no spoken dialogue. It is a lyrical comedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But\u2026 There\u2019s a \u2018but\u2019 as big as the Carltheater in Vienna. This opera is full of stylistic elements borrowed from operetta: waltzes, polkas, and even the foxtrot, the dance in vogue at the time. In 1917, Puccini included the foxtrot in his score. It would be as if, today, an opera composer were to write to a reggaeton rhythm \u2014 and I can assure you it would cause exactly the same scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this is Puccini: being rooted in the contemporary, drawing on other genres, giving a nod to forms and languages outside the Italian tradition \u2013 whilst, however, keeping its structure intact. An international style with thoroughly Italian roots. This is not a betrayal of Puccini\u2019s style; it is, in fact, the very essence of Puccini\u2019s style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now we come to the&nbsp;<strong>waltz<\/strong>, which in this work is not a dance. It is a poetic expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is one composer who used the waltz in exactly the same way: Tchaikovsky. And the similarities between the two are far greater than one might think, including the obsessive precision of the orchestral writing, which leaves no doubt as to the composer\u2019s intentions, as if both were telling us: \u201cDo exactly as it is written, and it will be right.\u201d Take it from a conductor: it\u2019s true. For Tchaikovsky, the waltz is a party viewed through a window, from outside, in the distance, or it is the memory of a happy time (once again, a memory): the joy of the dance is conveyed through the sadness in the heart of someone who cannot take part in the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In&nbsp;<em>La Rondine<\/em>&nbsp;the same thing happens. The&nbsp;<em>joie de vivre&nbsp;<\/em>It is fictional; you realise this from the very first bars. The entire soundscape is imbued with a poetic sensibility that heightens the drama of the little things. And there\u2019s more. Listen to the grand choral fresco of the second act: that triple metre that goes round and round and round. In those same years, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, other composers used triple metre in this way: Mahler in the&nbsp;<em>Whistle Sermon<\/em>, Ravel in&nbsp;<em>La Valse<\/em>. The number three is no longer dance: it is the noise of the world, the bustle of the world, the chaotic whirlwind of existence in which we are all immersed and within which we cannot truly choose our own direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Magda is caught up in that whirlwind. She is gripped by a longing for love and freedom that she cannot control, by the desire to break free from her gilded cage \u2014 rather like Manon \u2014 and to take flight, to migrate&nbsp;<em>\u00abAcross the sea, towards a bright, dreamlike land\u2026 towards the sun, towards Love\u00bb<\/em>. This is the disorientation of modern man, and Puccini portrays it in a down-to-earth opera, steeped in cynicism and pragmatism, where every aspiration towards lofty ideals ultimately clashes with the harshness of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Magda, 1917<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s pause for a moment to consider this woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Magda is an extremely modern woman, considering she was born in 1917. She is a free woman who takes control of her own destiny and accepts the responsibilities that come with it. She doesn\u2019t ask for permission. She doesn\u2019t ask for forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She shares, at least in part, the fate of Puccini\u2019s other heroines: being condemned from the outset by her very nature. Puccini\u2019s naturalism leaves no one any escape, not even a swallow, however hard it may strive to fly far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with that we come to the enigmatic ending. The prevailing interpretation of the ending by a large number of directors goes like this: Magda, defeated, returns to Paris to the wealthy banker. The journey ends; la rondine returns to its cage. But I am not at all convinced by this because, in the 1917 score, Magda does indeed leave Ruggero, but we never see where she goes. Her return to Rambaldo is not written into the score: it is our own inference, not Puccini\u2019s. That ending never ceased to torment even its author. Puccini revised the opera and the ending a further two times (in total we have three versions: 1917, 1920, 1921), even going so far as to reverse the ending: in the second version, it is Ruggero who abandons Magda, following an anonymous letter that reveals her past to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Puccini died without having made a choice. The finale of&nbsp;<em>La Rondine<\/em>&nbsp;It remained open because the very person who didn\u2019t know how to close it was the author himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So I like to think something else. That Magda \u2014 a pragmatic woman, yes, but not a cynical one; a modern-day Carmen who boldly proclaims her freedom \u2014 does not turn back at all; that she simply sets off again, to follow her own path, to seek out her own nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s what swallows do. They fly away. And just because we can\u2019t see them any more doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ve gone back into their old cage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It simply means that the sky is vast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Beatrice Venezi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Il BLOG di Beatrice Venezi &#8211; Apertura Parigi. Secondo Impero. Il Bar Bullier: fumo, bicchieri, studenti, grisettes, un&#8217;orchestrina che suona un valzer. Tutti ballano. Tutti ridono. \u00c8 la&nbsp;joie de vivre, la gioia di vivere. Ascoltate bene, per\u00f2. Ascoltate quel valzer. C&#8217;\u00e8 qualcosa che non torna. Sotto la festa c&#8217;\u00e8 una [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[110],"tags":[111,66,129],"class_list":["post-9108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-beatrice-venezi-blog","tag-blogbeatricevenezi","tag-giacomopuccini","tag-larondine"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-300x178.jpg",300,178,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-768x455.jpg",768,455,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",18,12,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-600x480.jpg",600,480,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-600x480.jpg",600,480,true],"loop":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-810x320.jpg",810,320,true],"featured":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-431x255.jpg",431,255,true],"featured@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"featured-fixed":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-431x265.jpg",431,265,true],"featured-fixed@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"featured-wide":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"featured-cat":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-256x167.jpg",256,167,true],"featured-cat@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-512x334.jpg",512,334,true],"single-featured":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"single-featured@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"carousel":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover-276x180.jpg",276,180,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",600,356,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",600,356,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",810,480,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",565,335,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bv_BLOG_2026.08.21_La-Rondine_cover.jpg",600,356,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/www.beatricevenezi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\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