ejemplo - Teatro Real

AbstractDespite his early death at 62, the Mexican Daniel Catán was a significantfactor in the project to boost a Spanish-language opera on an Americanplatform: a work that uses distinguished figures from Hispano-Americanliterature, such as Gabriel García Márquez (Florencia en el Amazonas isbased on El amor en los tiempos del cólera), Eliseo Alberto (Salsipuedes)or Il postino, which comes from Ardiente paciencia, the short novel byAntonio Skármeta published in 1983. The apparent inconsistency ofusing an Italian title for an opera in Spanish comes from the fact thatCatán did not base his work directly on the novel, but on the Italianproducedfilm of the same name directed by Michael Radford in 1994,which was based upon the book: the film (the soundtrack of whichwon an Oscar), starred Massimo Troisi and Maria Grazia Cucinotta andwas responsible for awakening the composer’s interest. He also wrotethe libretto, and the use of the title arises from an agreement with theproducers.11ResumenThe narrative structure, which is based on changing scenarios anddifferent times, has a clear cinematographic feel which evinces its sourceof inspiration. The argument is a fantastic elaboration that stems froman historical figure, the enlightening Communist poet Pablo Neruda –portrayed in the film by the distinguished French actor Philippe Noiret– whose operatic counterpart emanated from another irreplaceable star,Madrid’s Plácido Domingo, who premiered the work in Los Angeles in2010 and subsequently recorded it on DVD. For its part, the music usestraditional language which, rather than take Puccini as its referencepoint, follows the lines of some of his disciples such as Alfano orMenotti.