Cecilia Bartoli and Donna Leon: A case for two
Cecilia Bartoli and Donna Leon: Two women who understand each other
Buongiorno! "-" How are you, bellissima? "They fall into the arms of the lobby of the dignified hotel" Eden au Lac "on the shores of Lake Zurich, the writer Donna Leon, an American who lives in Venice and none of her Translating books into Italian, and Cecilia Bartoli, opera diva from Italy, who lives near Zurich, they speak Italian, comment on their trouser suits, shoes and hairstyles, two women who like each other, have fun - and The one is 70, a professor of literature and looks like this: gray hair, glasses, strictly dressed, bestselling author, inventor of Commissario Brunetti and famous for her love for Handel, the other is in her mid 40s, married and Cecilia Bartoli puts ecstasies all over the world in ecstasy, and when she does not, she dives into mus ikarchive and brings forgotten notes to life.We are sitting in a seperée overlooking the lake. Donna Leon provides everyone in her caring way with fruit and water, and Cecilia Bartoli says she wants to eat cake. Since there is none, our conversation can begin:
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: May I read you something first
BOTH:: Yes, please, gladly.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: "Anyone who moves in the opera world often hears that the talent in the throat ends and it just does not make it to the brain, also on Cecilia Bartoli this rumor has been spread., One should just not hope to be able to talk to her about anything other than men, cars and food. " Does this sound familiar to you?
DONNA LEON:: Yes, I wrote that in the early 90s. I interviewed Cecilia for a magazine and was completely surprised. I thought I was meeting an opera diva, and there was a girl in jeans and sneakers, and I asked, "Good day, is Ms. Bartoli speaking?" By the way, you should have read aloud. Because as soon as we talked about music, the young woman turned into a musician who knew everything about her profession!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: How did you find this first encounter with Donna Leon, Signora Bartoli?
CECILIA BARTOLI:: Very funny. Donna wrote, I remember that I am "una ragazza simpatica", a sympathetic girl from Rome. That's nice! We quarreled over Handel right away. About being allowed to improvise in his arias.
"Our friendship is not based on the fact that we have to find each other great"
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: And after this interview you became friends?
BARTOLI: Yes, we'll see each other six or seven times a year. Which is not very small with our diaries. I like Donna because she's funny, she loves music, she understands how we tick musicians.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: That's almost a declaration of love, and what do you think of Cecilia Bartoli, Ms. Leon?
LEON:: Cecilia is one of the charismatic people on stage I know. When she smiles, she shows about 212 teeth, and everyone in the theater is instantly in love with her. Whenever I can, I go to their concerts. You sing to hear makes me happy. We have mutual friends, meet for dinner. We talk a lot about music, about certain performances, that's our passion.
BARTOLI:: And I have often cooked for Donna. Incidentally, I would really like cake, apricot cake, did I say that? (She laughs)
LEON:: That's right, Cecilia cooks fantastically. I'm just saying pumpkin ravioli, for which I could die. I admit, I have not cooked for her yet. I prefer to be a guest, bring wine, Grappa or Parmigiano.
BARTOLI:: Do it anyway, I'm waiting!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: So Donna Leon is sitting in concerts by Cecilia Bartoli, and when did you first read a book of hers, Ms. Bartoli?
It creates a small break. Cecilia Bartoli looks a bit caught, Donna Leon looks like a friendly teacher who is looking forward to the question of her favorite student.
BARTOLI:: That's a tough question, you know, Donna lives in Venice, but none of her books are in Italian. That's a tragedy. In 34 languages, but not in mine. All Italian friends keep asking: When will your books be translated, Donna? And she answers: Never!
LEON:: I just do not want it. I want to have my peace. Basta.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: What do you think, what would happen? A small crowd on St. Mark's Square?
LEON:: Maybe (she grins).In any case, I would always have to explain a lot when I meet someone at the cappuccino. I would certainly have a guilty conscience, someone would ask me if that's true, what I'm writing. So it remains my fantasy Venice.
BARTOLI:: I would like to read more from you. But I admit, in English or French it is exhausting for me. I know a few brunettis that I read in French. But that is not the same.
LEON:: I really appreciate that, that's nice of you, but not necessary.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Is not that a bit weird for you? You go to the opera, hear her arias - and she does not read you?
LEON:: Honestly, it does not bother me at all. Cecilia likes me because I'm her friend because we can talk about music. And that, even though we are from such different worlds. Our friendship is not based on her having to find me great.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Who of you had the idea that a crime novel and baroque arias could complement each other well?
BARTOLI:: I love to disappear in music archives. Sheet music tell me stories. That's my way of reading, if you like. I discovered the unknown composer Agostino Steffani in this way. The man is the link between Renaissance and Baroque music. A fascinating guy. Iridescent and evil. He was a composer, churchman, diplomat and spy. And: He influenced Handel! Sure, who came to my mind! When I think about Handel, I think of Donna. Then I had this idea, Donna could, if she imagines my voice, tell a story. So I called her. And she even answered the phone. What she does not do often!
LEON:: I love emails, I do not like to talk on the phone. Not very Italian. Anyway, Cecilia told me about this Steffani. I liked the music well. His life less. It made no sense at all. Everything is pretty confusing. That's always a good challenge for a writer.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: "Heavenly jewels", that's the name of the crime novel you wrote about it. He plays in Venice, but it is not Brunetti. Pretty brave ...
LEON:: Do you think so? Uh-oh. I've been working on it for a year, and I admit I'm a little nervous about how people might find it: a book by Donna Leon without Commissario Brunetti? But I calm down again, I am now 70. Since I am 60, I do not wear black anymore, that's fine with me. I'm just taking the risk now.
"Books make you think, music conveys feelings"
Temperament meets humor: Cecilia Bartoli and Donna Leon in Zurich
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: How can one imagine your collaboration? You sang in Zurich and you read something on the other end of the line in Venice?
LEON:: No, everyone worked for themselves, only at the end the cooperation was very concrete. I asked Cecilia for advice when working on a particular passage. So I wanted to describe the emotional situation with an aria.
BARTOLI:: That's right. The heroine of the play is a musicologist. If I may say so, Donna describes her character very well, a passionate woman who is not so easy to dissuade from her path. Maybe I inspired you there?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: What do you mean? Will the book and the CD sell better together? Are you helping each other?
BARTOLI:: It's like asking: what's more important, the libretto or the music?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: And what is more important now?
LEON:: If people like my book, they might want to get into the music, which they would not necessarily have done otherwise.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Your readers tend not to go to the opera?
LEON:: Opera, arias, for many people this is rich old people. Or snobs. They do not feel like it and some are even afraid of it. I like to take them.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: By the way, can you read while listening to music at the same time?
BARTOLI: At the same time? Locked out! Never. LEON: I read and eat at the same time, others probably find that strange. I read a lot, but never when I listen to music. That does not work together.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: What do you think, what can a book do, what music can not do? Or the other way around.
LEON:: Books make you think, music conveys feelings.
BARTOLI:: Right. Music is a language that everyone understands. You do not even have to know the alphabet and you can be completely touched.
LEON:: A lot has been read in our family. Everybody was sitting in a corner with a book in the evening. When I was bored as a child, my mother went with me to the lending library. I do not watch TV, do not go to the cinema. I read. Sometimes I think I know Madame Bovary better than my neighbor.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: When do you have time to read, Signora Bartoli?
BARTOLI:: Rare. In other words, even though I read, everything is about music. I read sheet music, biographies of musicians, librettos.Sometimes I even fall asleep and wake up - surrounded by books and sheet music.
LEON:: In bed I only read magazines. Funny, I have to read novels while sitting, otherwise I can not concentrate. By the way, the American Richard Powers has written one of the most beautiful novels about singing, the book is called "The Sound of Time". When I read that, I wrote him a fan letter. Since then we are friends. "Il tempo di una canzone" is his novel in Italian. Some translate their books ...
Donna Leon,
born 1942 in New Jersey, studied English literature in the USA, worked u. a. in China, Saudi Arabia and Iran as a teacher. Since the beginning of the 80s she lives in Venice. At 50 she started to write. Twenty years ago, she invented her hero Commissario Brunetti and writes a thriller every year. Her books are translated into 34 languages - except in Italian. Leon's love is music, especially Handel's. From her fees she supports young musicians.
Cecilia Bartoli, Born in 1966 in Rome, is considered the most successful mezzo-soprano in the world. Her parents were opera singers. She was taught by her mother. As a 13-year-old she broke out, wanted to become a flamenco dancer. At 17 she went to the conservatory. They discovered and promoted Karajan, Barenboim, Harnoncourt. Bartoli's repertoire includes v. a. Works of the Baroque and Belcanto. She lives near Zurich and in Rome and is Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.
Information about the book, audiobook and CD
Donna Leon: "Heavenly Jewels" (D: Werner Schmitz, 304 p., 22.90 euros, Diogenes); Audiobook, read by Annett Rennberg (6 CDs, 29.90 euros, Diogenes). Cecilia Bartoli: "Mission", CD, Arias by Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), 80 min., 21 world premieres, Decca. CD and book appear together in a slipcase at Decca for 39.99 euros. Concert dates of Cecilia Bartoli: October: 19th Munich, 22nd Nuremberg, 25th Leipzig, 29th Berlin; November: 1st Vienna, 13th Paris, 15th London, 18th Brussels, 20th Luxembourg, 22nd Cologne, 25th Amsterdam, 27th Dortmund, 30th Baden-Baden Joint performances by Donna Leon and Cecilia Bartoli: Bookstore Hugendubel, Steinweg 12, Frankfurt / M., 11 October, 13-14 o'clock; lit.Cologne Spezial, Walraffplatz, WDR, 12 October, 6 pm
