Orfeo e Euridice, Festival della Valle d’Itria 1975
The original project of the first edition of the Festival della Valle d’Itria, which took place from August 27th to September 5th, 1975, involved the staging of a couple of operas during the summer period, including Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, which Director Alberto Zedda gave a dramatic twist by eliminating the final triumph of Love.
The opera of the melodramatic reform of the 18th century is the great challenge of the newborn Festival della Valle d’Itria. The names beginning to circulate are significant.
In February 1975, Caroli boldly announced the arrival of a group of legends: Maria Callas, Mario Del Monaco, Alfredo Kraus, and for dance, Carla Fracci. A month later, there were talks of simple contacts, still with Del Monaco, Renato Cappuccilli, and Kraus himself. None of them would make it. But other great interpreters would arrive.
1975, Paolo Grassi e Alessandro Caroli
In a few weeks, the Festival takes shape, thanks to Stefanelli’s expertise and Caroli’s passion, who deals with organizational and financial aspects. Paolo Grassi, who has meanwhile received honorary citizenship of Martina, is crucial. Without his mediations, many “dreams” would risk remaining unrealized. And indeed, it is always Grassi who, for the first edition, manages to ensure, as an encore to the Festival, an “extraordinary” concert by the star soprano Renata Tebaldi.
For Orpheus and Eurydice, Franca Fabbri is called in place of Raina Kabaivanska, whom Caroli initially claimed to have envisioned for the role of Eurydice. Alongside her is Viorica Cortez, a prima donna of opera who has already sung in all the most important theaters in the world.
Orfeo e Euridice – Suzanne Marie Lotito – Viorica Cortez – Franca Fabbri, Festival della Valle d’Itria 1975
The second title is a comedic diptych composed of Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Cimarosa’s Il maestro di cappella, with a giant of the genre, Sesto Bruscantini.
The program is then enriched with a diverse concert section. Sergio Perticaroli gives a recital on Chopin and participates in a meeting, during which he accompanies Magda Olivero, the godmother of this first edition. “Martina is a city out of this world,” comments the famous soprano, fascinated by the enchantment of the places. Then, with Viorica Cortez, Perticaroli improvises an additional recital to replace the concert of the flutist Severino Gazzelloni. There are also Franca Valeri‘s refined cabaret and a film retrospective on Fellini.
Finally, the dance, which is not just an appendix for this first edition of the Festival but will remain an exception for future editions. The celebrated duo Cosi-Stefanescu closes the Festival with a double ballet but, above all, opens it. The “show within the show” of the opera-ballet Orpheus and Eurydice, which in the French version includes the flute aria and danced parts, including a famous “pas de deux”, is performed by them, Liliana Cosi (who in thirty-six hours went back and forth from Milan to replace Carla Fracci in Swan Lake at La Scala) and her partner Marinel Stefanescu, who also directs the opera.
Balletto al Teatro Verdi, Festival della Valle d’Itria 1975
The Festival takes place on the evening of August 27th, 1975, there is an electrifying atmosphere in the atrium of the Ducal Palace of Martina Franca. The most important performances are scheduled outdoors, and the opening one risks being canceled due to a violent downpour that occurred a few hours earlier. And indeed, the intention to schedule between late August and early September is already abandoned after this first edition because it is agreed that the weather, towards the end of summer, is too variable.
In the end, enthusiasm is sky-high. It’s the beginning of a story, a great story.
