Surrealism and Opera in Milan

The Day of High Culture that I Always Dream of Having

Close up picture of the famous painting by Rene Magritte at the MUDEC (photo GPG)

On our 3rd day in Italy, we hopped on a tram to see more of Milan, intending to stroll through the cultural district. We did a little of that but then entered the first museum we saw (The MUDEC) and spent the entire morning wandering through a beautifully curated exhibit on the art movement known as Surrealism.

I know that Surrealism was started in the 1920s, and I think it ended before I was born (not saying when) but I don’t feel like looking up exact dates (because I’m on vacation and now looking out over a 16th-century plaza in the heart of Turin, which I will write about later if I manage to pull myself out of a gelato fog).

Most of us are familiar with famous adherents of the Surrealism movement, like Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Rene Magritte, and their art was well-represented, but the exhibit also highlighted lesser-known artists that I hadn’t heard of (the paintings, sculptures, and film clips weren’t always pleasant or enjoyable, but most were interesting).

I noticed that much of the art was on loan from the Museum of Rotterdam, although the MUDEC (Milan Museum of Culture) owned some of it. I didn’t recall the ‘anti-colonial’ aspect of surrealism that was on display and was glad to briskly walk past much of it.

Just about everything was weird in one way or another because Surrealism emphasized disturbing scenes that forced us to confront our subconsciousness (they loved Sigmund Freud).

There was a little sculpture of these feet available in the gift shop, if you’re looking for something for the person who has everything. (photo GPG) Magritte Feet

Along the way, we also marveled at the polycarbonate (or whatever they were) panels and walls fitted into the old factory. Finally, we sat in the Museum café and sipped superb coffee while people-watching and gaining strength for the walk back.

We staggered back to our room, fell into a sound sleep, and finally woke in time to get dressed for dinner and the opera. We stopped first for an ‘aperitif,’ and a shared plate of pasta with mushrooms, and then ambled to another restaurant for a vegetable pizza and a glass of wine. Then we walked over to the great “La Scala di Milano.”

La Scala is stunning at night, and the people-watching is fantastic — from evening gowns to jeans (we were in between). And you know how we think that English is spoken everywhere? It wasn’t in our box, and neither of us could remember enough French from high school, although I did manage to comment on how merveilleuse the soprano was! (photo GPG)

Our entire visit to Italy revolved around the tickets to La Scala that I purchased in January, and last night was the performance of one of the great Donizetti operas, Lucia Di Lammermoor (the one set in Scotland, where they’re singing in Italian, and Lucia goes mad in the end).

As someone who loves the opera, and who has attended the entire Lyric Opera of Chicago season each year since moving home in the 1990s, I was trembling with excitement. Our good friend Roger, who was previously the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s dramaturge and who often outshines everyone on the Met Opera Quiz, informed me that Lisette Oropesa, who sang the title role, is considered to be the finest Lucia in the world!

I leaned over the edge of our box during intermission and took this picture of the other boxes on this level, to our right. The two people in the front of each box pay more, but get to sit in chairs! (photo GPG)

The opera was riveting — the leads, the chorus, the conducting, the orchestra…stunning. It would have been even better had we not been sitting in one of the small boxes on the first balcony. It’s hard to describe, but each of these box-sized rooms allows for six chairs, and only the front two are chairs. The rest are stools. We sat on those stools for over three hours, and it involved a certain amount of stretching one’s neck to see the full stage. Only the orchestra section has rows of seats like most theaters.

La Scala (I think it means staircase, which makes sense, since unless you’re in the orchestra section, you’re climbing up a lot of stairs), is known for fabulous acoustics (YES!) and because so many great operas debuted there. The opera Norma (by Vincenzo Bellini) for example, and I think Paganini (the violinist) made his debut on that stage, but don’t quote me on that because I refuse to do any research since I’m still sore from sitting on that stool for over 3 hours last night.

This is what the stage looked like from my stool in the back of the box, before the rest of the audience arrived. The ushers, by the way, wore black tails or dresses and a famous, copyrighted medallion chain around their necks that I was NOT allowed to photograph. (photo GPG)

But I will share my favorite aria from Norma (Casta Diva), sung by my favorite new soprano (Lisette Oropesa)! Wish I could remember what other operas were performed at La Scala for the first time (feel free to leave a note in the comments if you know, but it’s been a long time since I studied music history). Wait a minute, maybe Turendot? Madame Butterfly?

We walked the three blocks back to our hotel and went immediately to bed, but I was still excited about the opera and didn’t fall asleep for a long time. That’s sometimes happens when I’m overwhelmed by great art, music, and living a lifelong dream!