MILAN, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin" kicks
off La Scala's season on Friday with the renowned Milanese
theatre under fire for choosing the German maestro over local
hero Giuseppe Verdi on the biggest night of the year for the
world of opera.
With opera lovers around the globe preparing to celebrate
the 200th birthday of both composers, born a few months apart in
1813, La Scala has been accused of being unpatriotic at a time
when Italy battles a recession some blame on austerity policies
driven by Germany.
"La Scala puts Verdi in a corner, preferring the German,"
wrote il Giornale newspaper owned by former prime minister
Silvio Berlusconi's family and known for its vitriolic attacks
on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Corriere della Sera said there was unease in the orchestra
pit over the choice of Wagner in Verdi's musical home and talked
of "a blow to national pride in a moment of crisis."
La Scala general manager Stephane Lissner, a Frenchman, has
dismissed the controversy as ridiculous.
"There are more serious problems than this Wagner-Verdi
derby," he told reporters this week, pointing out that the
theatre will stage six works by Wagner against eight by Verdi in
the 2012/13 season.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was careful to clarify
that he could not attend the gala opening because of pressing
state business in Rome rather than deliver a deliberate snub. In
a letter to the theatre, he called the row over Wagner "futile"
and "pathetic".
Prime Minister Mario Monti, who replaced Berlusconi just
over a year ago as Italy flirted with a Greek-style debt crisis,
will be in attendance at one of the global social calendar's
most glittering events along with five of his ministers.
For some, the debate reflects the storied rivalry between
the two great composers and their supporters. When Verdi
attended the Italian premiere of Lohengrin in 1871, he scribbled
on a copy of the score: "Mediocre impression."
The romantic opera in three acts, generally considered one
of Wagner's most accessible, centres on the doomed love between
Lohengrin, a noble knight who cannot reveal his identity, and
the daughter of the late ruler in the land of Brabant, Elsa.
Wagner specialist Daniel Barenboim conducts the opening
night, with German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and German soprano Anja
Harteros in the two lead roles.
The 234-year old theatre, which is navigating in troubled
financial waters, is hoping its glamorous gala will help lure
wider audiences and more sponsors. The performance will be
broadcast live on television and in cinemas across Europe,
Russia and Japan.
Public funds now only cover 40 percent of the La Scala
budget and Lissner warned this week that without funds from the
private sector the theatre would not be able survive.
(Reporting By Silvia Aloisi)