An operatic journey to Italy presented at Casa Belvedere

June 3, 2015 By Nino Pantano Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Kathleen and Louis Barrella. Photo by Judy Pantano

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On the evening of Tuesday, May 26, Louis and Kathleen Barrella hosted a special evening at Casa Belvedere, an Italianate mansion on Staten Island. Lectures, films, culinary classes and catering for private affairs are part of this intimate cultural oasis.

High on Grymes Hill overlooking the Narrows, with the majestic Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in view, we were treated to Lou and Kathleen’s special operatic trip to Italy in 2009. The breeze from the open window and the sight of an Aleppo Italian pine on the grounds made the venue of the Casa Belvedere the ideal place to witness opera from Italy. The views of the city and Brooklyn from this locale on Grymes Hill were amazing.

Brooklyn-born and raised Lou Barrella, a former NYC music teacher, has been giving award-winning opera lectures for 40 years, and this program has been one of the most popular at the Casa Belvedere. To sit under beautiful chandeliers on a warm spring evening in an intimate and cozy setting and hear and see such beauty is to live life to the fullest.

Barrella painstakingly put together breathtaking and historic scenery, merged it with great opera by the greatest of singers past and present, and visited the shrines of his musical heroes Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.

The presentation ran for one hour. It was an hour of laughter, tears, smiles and surprises. The locations were dazzling and breathtaking. Venice opened to the “Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann” as we saw the gondolas moving through the canals with the intrigue and romantic quietude that is Venice while listening to Barrella’s fascinating comments. Maria Callas’ private gondola entrance to Teatro La Fenice was explored with her recorded singing of “Amami Alfredo” from Verdi’s “La Traviata.” Verona was represented by Juliet’s Balcony and a trip to the Verona Amphitheater; and Mantua included Pavarotti’s voice singing “Questa o Quella” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” A wonderful statue of Rigoletto dominates the scene.

Le Roncole, Bussetto and Sant’ Agata covered all things, Verdi with Lou climbing over the ropes at the tomb of Verdi at the Casa Riposo, which Verdi built for poor and aging opera singers and musicians. The music for the Verdi segment also included the prelude and dance music from “La Traviata,” “La Vergine degli Angeli” from” La Forza del Destino” sung by the angelic and beloved soprano Renata Tebaldi and “Di Provenza il Mar” from “La Traviata” as sung by the great Verdi baritone from the Bronx, the late Leonard Warren.

The Milan segment, with its visit to the Galleria and the Cathedral of St. Ambrose, included the music of the famed “Va Pensiero” (“Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves”) from Verdi’s first successful opera “Nabucco “and the “Ave Maria” from “Otello” as sung by Mirella Freni.

The Puccini section included visits to Lucca, Viareggio and Torre del Lago. No matter where his career took him, Puccini was always a humble son of his home town. A thrilling performance of “Turandot” concluded the visit.

Florence and Rome were especially beguiling, with a visit to the locales of “Tosca,” including St. Peters, Sant’ Andrea della Valle, Castel Sant’Angelo and the Palazzo Farnese. Barrella filmed Rome early in the morning, no crowds, just quiet and tranquility. A visit to the Baths of Caracalla for “Tosca” was an additional thrill.

To see a McDonald’s brazenly out of step in a main piazza was upsetting – but the Milanese and Romans don’t seem to care. Firenza sogno was heard with the impassioned Sicilian tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. The great Brooklyn tenor Richard Tucker made a beautiful recording of “Firenze Como un Albero Fiorito” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” which I much prefer to the one offered with Placido Domingo.

The Rome segment had such background sweetmeats as “Chitarra Romana” sung by Pavarotti; “Recondita Armonia” from “Tosca” sung by the Swedish tenor Jussi Bjoerling and “Vissi d’arte” by Renata Tebaldi. A magical “E Lucevan le Stelle” by the phenomenal and charismatic tenor Franco Corelli and Tosca’s finale with the incomparable Croatian soprano Zinka Milanov rounded out that part of the program.

Naples and Sorrento were aided by tenor Giuseppe di Stefano singing a heartfelt “O Paese di Sole,” “Torna Sorriento” sung thrillingly by Luciano Pavarotti, and last, the golden voice of the incomparable tenor Enrico Caruso singing “O Sole Mio.”

Lou and Kathy visited the Enrico Caruso Restaurant in Sorrento where among the caricatures, photos and memorabilia of the immortal tenor is a photo of former visitors Cav. Uff. Aldo and Lisa Mancusi of the Enrico Caruso Museum in Brooklyn.

Lou and Kathleen then gave us the grand finale; the highlights in flashback sped up to the hectic rhythms of “Dance of the Hours” from Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda.”

The audience gave Lou and Kathy Barrella a prolonged ovation for taking us on such a splendid voyage to operatic Italy and making us want to follow their example.