Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires

For Wilhelm Furtwängler, the matter was clear.

He thought of the Teatro Colón, which opened in 1908, to be probably the most lovely and greatest opera home on the planet. The traveler will see issues very equally: as you stroll down Avenida 9 de Julio from the lodge, this mighty theater stands out amongst all the fashionable workplace buildings and towers like a relic from a previous, which will need to have been a glamorous one, judging by the great thing about the constructing. The most important entrance is hidden on the Plaza Lavalle aspect and is commonly confused with the opulent artist’s entrance on the primary avenue aspect. The cause is straightforward: the boulevard didn’t exist till 30 years after the theater opened.

Inside, the artist’s aspect is like every previous theater: not nice. The corridors are lengthy, the dressing rooms slender and windowless, the steps slippery and steep, the elevators small and sluggish. There is a canteen, and that’s the very best you may say about it.

Once you step onto the stage, nonetheless, all that’s forgotten. I might love to explain this second now so to be there, really feel it and never simply examine it. This distinctive feeling of standing on a stage that has hosted so many legendary colleagues. To stand in entrance of the attractive tiers that disappear into the semi-darkness of the working lights, the place music lovers have been experiencing the best musicians for many years.

Maria Callas stood right here, as did Luciano Pavarotti, Enrico Caruso, Igor Stravinsky and Herbert von Karajan, to call however a couple of. All of this resonates – it’s exhausting to pin down, however in a corridor like this, the sense of event someway stays, it’s clearly not simply any previous room. This feeling concurrently humbles and elevates you to the very best heights. And it carries you thru the upcoming live performance in a really particular method.

The sheer dimension of the constructing additionally makes you’re feeling small: there are 2,500 seats and 1,000 standing locations right here, and the complete home makes for a very spectacular soundscape throughout the – hopefully frenetic – applause.

However, this applause should first be earned, and that is the place the Teatro Colón proves to be a musician’s greatest pal. While most opera homes are slightly dry acoustically so it may well really feel just like the notes drop to the ground to the singers’ ft, the Teatro willingly carries each word to the final row. Empty, it resembles the acoustics of a church, very similar to the Semperoper, however occupied to capability it’s a dream. I do know of completely no opera home that places singers standing on the entrance third of the stage so persistently entrance and heart above all the pieces else. Singers don’t must torment their voices right here, however are allowed to concentrate to subtleties, economize on energy and go to extremes. Colleagues positioned additional again nonetheless come throughout nicely, however the publicity on the entrance is exclusive. At the identical time, voices are supported with ample richness, nothing ever sounds skinny or educational. I’ll actually come again once more simply to listen to bel canto on this room. No query about it, our Handel has me hooked.

Music ideas – recordings that seize the sound of the venue

There are some more moderen recordings on Naxos, for instance a Ring I Daniel Barenboim – Live from the Teatro Colón 2000, EMI 7243 5 57416 2 2 can be value your consideration | The previous recordings with Maria Callas, Arturo Toscanini and Erich Kleiber will at all times stay particular

www.teatrocolon.org.ar

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April 16, 2025 at 10:38AM