Word: proserpina
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...last-ditch Verdi-lovers turned out to express their disapproval, greeted the opening curtain with whistles, catcalls and shouts of "Vergogna, vergogna!" (Shame, shame!). But the ruckus was feeble compared with the uproar they raised over Gian-Carlo Menotti's Consul and Juan Jose Castro's Proserpina (TIME, Feb. 5, 1951; March...
Argentina's foremost composer, Juan José Castro,* 57, had reason to believe he would fare pretty well. A panel of distinguished judges, including Stravinsky, Honegger and La Scala's principal conductor, Victor de Sabata, had picked his Proserpina and the Stranger over 137 other entries (16 from the U.S.) in La Scala's international contest for the best three-act opera. A philosophical soul, Castro was surprised but not overwhelmed at winning the contest. Said he: "I am always prepared for things not to go well. For me, submitting the opera was like playing the lottery...
...curious scene. The stage was split by two large pillars; on either side stood a robed and hooded chorus of commentators, eerie in green and violet light. The action took place on a center stage created between the pillars, and much of it was violent-a skirmish between Proserpina's lover and the police, an old-fashioned hair-pulling and biting scene between Proserpina and her jealous rival, and near the end, a rooftop death battle between a stranger and Proserpina's evil friends. Musically, Composer Castro offered only a dissonant mosaic. There were vigorous Latin rhythms...
...Proserpina got six curtain calls. Said well-satisfied Composer Castro, calmly eating an orange after the final curtain: "Everything was very well organized, even the opposition...