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I've believed for some time now that there's a creative link | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
between the joys of the table and Italian opera, | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
certainly in the case of Rossini. | 0:00:37 | 0:00:40 | |
He was well known to be a gourmand, who loved rich food and wine | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
with the same passion that he adored music. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
And then there's Puccini, whose love of the good life, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
and especially the food from his native Tuscany, | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
is legendary and well-documented. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
Lastly, there's Verdi, who wrote to his agent in exasperation, saying, | 0:00:54 | 0:00:59 | |
"Send me a cook. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:00 | |
"Not someone who can cook three peasant dishes, but a real cook. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:04 | |
"I'll pay, no matter what it costs." | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
TANNOY: 'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
'we kindly ask you to switch off your mobile telephones. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
'Thank you.' | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
It is one of life's truisms that Italians love food. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:23 | |
More than that, everything revolves around it. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
They talk about food like we witter on about the weather. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
The subject of last night's dinner is only topped | 0:01:29 | 0:01:33 | |
by what to have for lunch. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:36 | |
And the very nature of Italian food changes region by region. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:39 | |
And their passion for the joys of the table is all-consuming, | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
so that it spills over into other areas of life and art. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
So, this is my exploration into two of Italy's great loves, | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
food and opera. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
The engine of the Italian passion for both food and opera is the city. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:01 | |
You don't find Italian food encapsulated | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
in a far-off farmhouse in the countryside, you go to the market. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
The market, where people are bargaining, coming and going, | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
dealing, performing, shouting. | 0:02:11 | 0:02:14 | |
HE SHOUTS IN ITALIAN | 0:02:14 | 0:02:15 | |
Screaming, the frenetic pace of urban life. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:19 | |
That's where you find, I think, the heart of Italian food. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
In the city, the urban market. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
I've always said the sights and sounds of Italian markets | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
are the very stuff of opera, | 0:02:36 | 0:02:37 | |
and it's certainly the case in La Boheme. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:39 | |
In early 19th century Italy, even the poorest towns, | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
before they built a school, they would build an opera house. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
Because an opera house was the place to go and put yourself on display. | 0:02:55 | 0:02:59 | |
You'd get the Count, the aristocrat, | 0:02:59 | 0:03:01 | |
in his box at the centre of the horseshoe-shaped auditorium. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:05 | |
And then sort of radiating out from him, the people, | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
going down the social scale, until you get the riff-raff at the bottom. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:14 | |
This was the place where the whole community came together to spy, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
to flirt, to engage in little acts of snobbery and jealousy. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:22 | |
So, it was a kind of market for people. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
It's the city turf that food and opera have in common. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
This is Pesaro on the Adriatic, the birthplace of Rossini, | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
and a popular holiday resort for Italians. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
'This is where my quest to discover the link | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
'between the enjoyment of food and opera begins. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
'But, of course, the director thought he'd voice what many of you, | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
'the viewers, must be thinking.' | 0:03:46 | 0:03:48 | |
What do you exactly mean by food and opera? | 0:03:48 | 0:03:52 | |
I don't exactly know what I mean. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
But I just think there is a connection between food and opera. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:59 | |
Not opera, Italian opera, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
and not just Italian opera, but Italian opera of the 19th century. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:06 | |
There's a sort of conviviality about it, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
which you don't get in other opera. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
Imagine a Wagner opera, the idea of people enjoying, | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
sitting down, and being happy about anything, really! | 0:04:15 | 0:04:19 | |
Or something like Benjamin Britten. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
It's just not there. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
But in Italian opera of the 19th century, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
people like Puccini, Verdi, Bellini, Rossini, | 0:04:27 | 0:04:31 | |
there is a celebration of food and drink. I know it. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:35 | |
This is going to be a joyous journey. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
Here, opera is considered to be almost a religion. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
But some people at home thought I was on a fool's errand. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
When I told my English friends that I'm making a TV programme | 0:04:51 | 0:04:56 | |
about the connection between food, Italian food, and opera, | 0:04:56 | 0:05:00 | |
they don't understand. But I imagine you do understand, do you? | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
-Of course. -Yes! | 0:05:03 | 0:05:05 | |
Italy, opera and food are connected, there's a very strong link. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:11 | |
The connection is between the fact that we love everything | 0:05:11 | 0:05:16 | |
that can give to our lives joy, and you can enjoy it. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:21 | |
The music and the food. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
-Hi. -Hello, Charles. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
When did I last see you? | 0:05:25 | 0:05:28 | |
I think we last saw each other at the end of the last century. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
'I paid a visit to Charles Hazlewood on his farm in Somerset. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
'He's a celebrated conductor, and naturally passionate about music. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:40 | |
'If I'm going to ask anyone about my theory of food and opera, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
'then it's going to be him.' | 0:05:43 | 0:05:44 | |
I just wanted to ask you about Italian opera, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
and the connection between food and opera. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
My God, it sounds like a big essay title! | 0:05:52 | 0:05:54 | |
There's got to be a strong synergy between the two, | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
these two twin sensual pleasures. | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
The three composers, the giants of 19th century Italian opera, | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
Rossini, Verdi and Puccini, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
we know that these guys were all extreme | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
in their love of gastronomic pleasure. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:09 | |
The stories are legion of Rossini, who absolutely loved his food. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:12 | |
Judging by the shape of the man, | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
he couldn't be deprived of it for long. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:16 | |
He'd have gone a bit weird, I think. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
He was very practical, so he'd be writing an opera very often, | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
in a very short space of time, like under a fortnight. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
The key piece of the opera he'd leave till last, the overture, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
which would include all the themes | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
which were contained in the opera as a whole. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:31 | |
So, he'd come closer and closer to opening night, | 0:06:31 | 0:06:34 | |
and apparently even on the day in some cases | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
he still hadn't written the blasted overture, | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
couldn't quite be bothered to do it. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
Very often they'd have to lock him in a room in a tower, | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
with one miserable plate of cold pasta. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
That's all he was allowed until he'd written it. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
Well, that says it all. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
The thought, "I just have to finish this, | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
"and then I can have some fabulous food, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
"some fabulous pasta with sauce." | 0:06:54 | 0:06:56 | |
It would be everything to him. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
You're absolutely right. There's a great rule of threes with Rossini. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:03 | |
You also find it in Verdi in particular, | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
where you get a little theme, like the one in the Barber Of Seville... | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
There it is once. He gives it to you again. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:11 | |
It's like he's tasting it, he's exploring its possibility. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
And on the third time, we get emancipation. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:17 | |
The tune takes off. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:20 | |
-That to me is absolutely like mastication, isn't it? -It is! | 0:07:20 | 0:07:25 | |
'Rossini famously said, and it's really endeared him to me, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:32 | |
'that he cried three times in his life. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:34 | |
'Once when his mother died, | 0:07:34 | 0:07:36 | |
'once when he heard Paganini playing the violin, | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
'and once picnicking on a lake, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
'when a warm truffled turkey slipped from his grasp into the water.' | 0:07:41 | 0:07:47 | |
So, this is Rossini's birthplace, here in Pesaro. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
Apparently, when he died, he left lots of money to Pesaro. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
But, during his lifetime, they weren't over-keen on him. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
Typical, isn't it? | 0:07:57 | 0:07:58 | |
Of course, after he died, everything here is "Rossini". | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
'Born in 1792, he was famous for the galloping pace of his music, | 0:08:04 | 0:08:09 | |
'from the Barber Of Seville to William Tell. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
'It was the music that made the hairs on the back of the neck rise. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
'They call it, "the Rossini rocket." | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
'Now, in Pesaro, the most popular dish to bear his name is a pizza, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:31 | |
'the pizza a la Rossini. | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
'God knows what he'd have thought of it. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
'like any respectable pizza, it starts out all right, | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
'with tomato paste and loads of mozzarella on a thin base. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:42 | |
'And then something happens. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
'Some say it's a travesty, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
'others might think it a stroke of genius. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
'Well, we know Rossini was fond of eggs. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
'But hard-boiled eggs on a pizza? | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
And, if that's not enough, it's artistically finished with, | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
'yes, you've guessed it, mayonnaise, | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
'in what is known in the pizza business | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
'as a mayonnaise treble clef. What else?' | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
That is fantastic! Many musicians have had dishes named after them, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:11 | |
but nobody has had as many dishes, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
and as many elevated dishes, famous dishes, as Rossini. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
I'm thinking in particular of Tournedos Rossini. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
I think of that, personally, | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
because when I was an 18-year-old chef at a hotel, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
the Great Western hotel in Paddington, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
it was my job to prepare the Tournedos Rossini. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
So, I know what goes into it. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:33 | |
You've got fried bread, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:34 | |
then you've got a really thick fillet steak on top of that. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:38 | |
Then you've got foie gras on top of that, | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
then a Marsala sauce all around, laced with sliced truffles. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
I mean, that's the sort of food Rossini's food is. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
We're going to put black truffle in. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:51 | |
'Alberto Melligrano adds lots of truffles to this, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:55 | |
'for this is a dish not for those of a light appetite, | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
'or a light wallet. | 0:09:58 | 0:09:59 | |
'This was inspired by the famous chef Careme, a friend of Rossini's. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
'It's supposed to be cooked in front of the customer, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
'but the waiter was too shy, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:11 | |
'so Rossini told the poor chap to turn his back, | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
'hence the name, "tourner le dos", "turn your back." | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
'In Castellina in Chianti, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:21 | |
'I've come to see an expert on the life of Rossini, | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
'Professor Felasi from the University of Siena.' | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
Professor, as a Professor of social anthropology, | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
I'm intrigued about the importance that you put on food | 0:10:31 | 0:10:36 | |
and Italian opera. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
Is it that important, an academic study, almost? | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
Of course. Food is so important in any civilisation. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:49 | |
Its social significance, its symbolic meaning is very important. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
And then, in Italy, it's especially important. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
And great musicians were usually great gastronomers. | 0:10:56 | 0:11:01 | |
Particularly Rossini? | 0:11:01 | 0:11:02 | |
Of course. He's the most important case. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:06 | |
Each musician or performer, or composer, | 0:11:06 | 0:11:12 | |
has had one dish dedicated to him. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
But it's only Rossini that has a whole menu. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
Going from antipasti, hors d'oeuvre, to pizza Rossini, | 0:11:19 | 0:11:26 | |
which would amuse him to no end, | 0:11:26 | 0:11:28 | |
which is being served in Pesaro and in California, for instance, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
and somewhere else. It's a horrid dish. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
I know, I've tried it! | 0:11:36 | 0:11:37 | |
But it's a sign of the times. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
So, we have to be indulgent. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
But there is a sense that food is joyous, it's humorous. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:47 | |
One always feels almost comic when one's eating. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:52 | |
Of course. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:53 | |
He said that loving, cooking, eating, singing, | 0:11:53 | 0:12:00 | |
digesting the arias of that great comic opera | 0:12:00 | 0:12:07 | |
which is life. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
This is one of Rossini's early operas, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
a comic farce called The Silken Ladder. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
He wrote it when he was in his teens. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:19 | |
It's about fidelity, jealousy and love. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
This production features a kitchen, | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
something the maestro I'm sure would approve of. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
I spoke to the baritone Carlo Lepore, | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
about the influence that food has on opera. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
Is there a connection between the two, or am I being fanciful? | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
Do you think we're right? Have we got some right in this connection? | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
Yes, you're right. You're right. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
This is really true, because Rossini was a lover of good food. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:57 | |
And food for him was like good singing, | 0:12:57 | 0:13:01 | |
good woman, good life. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:06 | |
And good wine! | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
A good symphony, | 0:13:08 | 0:13:09 | |
it's not something that you can't feel in your heart, really. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:13 | |
He was like a chef when he did the compositions. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
You have to keep inside the right ingredients, good ingredients. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:27 | |
You can't make a good dish without this. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
But when Rossini composed his operas, | 0:13:30 | 0:13:36 | |
he always felt the flavour of the notes. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
I love the sauce, but... | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
If you think of the aria of Don Magnifico, | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
the dream of Don Magnifico is to be... | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
HE LISTS FOODS IN ITALIAN | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:14:06 | 0:14:10 | |
You might be wondering why you're watching pictures of Napoleon. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
Well, it's because of the wine he introduced here, | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
when he proclaimed himself King of Italy. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
His beloved Pinot Noir, which he took on his campaigns, | 0:14:32 | 0:14:35 | |
and most of it came from Burgundy. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:38 | |
He loved it so much he planted vineyards near Pesaro, | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
and it's a wine I'm certain that Rossini, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
being the man he was, would have sampled. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:48 | |
Now, most of the Pinot Noir has gone, | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
but this one vineyard remains, and belongs to the Mancini family. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
Luigi, this is wonderful. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
I've never heard of Pinot Noir from Italy, anyway, | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
but tell me, surely your family must have some connection with opera, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:08 | |
as you're so inevitably linked in these parts to Rossini? | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
What I can tell you is that my great-grandfather | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
was President of the Conservatorio Rossini. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:19 | |
He had a passion for music, and a lot of passion for French culture. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
So, why would the local farmers be getting rid of the Pinot Noir, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
then, because it was French, or what? | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
Nobody wants such a small bunch in the vineyards. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
They wanted big, generous Italian bunches? | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
They wanted a lot of wine, obviously! | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
What we think about wine today, | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
is very different to what they actually needed at that time. | 0:15:42 | 0:15:47 | |
Nowadays, wine is, you could say, | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
a luxurious product, that, actually, nobody needs. At that time, | 0:15:50 | 0:15:55 | |
wine was the cheapest source of calories, with pasta and bread. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
Wine was something that people needed to survive, | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
especially people working hard in agriculture. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
I really didn't know that. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:09 | |
So, it's a bit like in England, everybody drank beer. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
It's almost the same thing. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:14 | |
Do you think Rossini would have tasted this Pinot Noir? | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
It could be. I don't know if there is anything written about that. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
But he was living in the period | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
when Pinot Noir was still cultivated in this area. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
John Dickie wrote a brilliant book called Delizia, | 0:16:27 | 0:16:31 | |
about the history of Italian food. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:33 | |
He teaches at the University of London. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
The mass of the people in Rossini's day | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
would have eaten extraordinarily badly. | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
Warfare, famine, disease, everything made their lives, | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
their food lives, if you like, very, very fragile. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:48 | |
Very, very vulnerable. They were subject to big changes, | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
big historical changes going on. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
The traditional soups and cheap bread and gruel | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
that the peasants would eat | 0:16:56 | 0:16:57 | |
were being replaced by new world foods like polenta, | 0:16:57 | 0:17:00 | |
made of maize of course. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:02 | |
Polenta, for the peasants of Rossini's day, | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
peasants in Italy, northern Italy in particular, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
was what potatoes were for the Irish peasant. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
They were a cheap way of filling stomachs, | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
but they weren't very nourishing. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
We have this nostalgic vision of Italian food | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
as being a food of the peasantry, the Club 18-130, | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
these old peasants playing football in the vineyard with bloodshot eyes, | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
living to 150 years old. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
I'm afraid it's rubbish. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
It's a nostalgic vision invented in our time, | 0:17:38 | 0:17:42 | |
after the Second World War, when we'd left the peasant life behind. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:47 | |
The peasants of Rossini's day | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
would have thought it was a joke in very poor taste | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
to think they were the epitome of good eating in Italy. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
'This is the town of Talamello, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:00 | |
'and when Rossini talked about the comic opera which is life, | 0:18:00 | 0:18:04 | |
'he could have been talking about this place, | 0:18:04 | 0:18:06 | |
'and the story of its famous cheese, formaggio di fossa. | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
'500 years ago, Spanish troops were billeted here, | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
'and they ate the locals out of house and home. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
'But the women of the town decided | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
'the soldiers weren't going to get | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
'their hands on their precious ewes' milk cheese, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
'and so they hid it in pits. When the troops left, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
'they found it tasted even better than when they put it in. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
'Bruno Velone, like everyone here, is passionate about the cheese.' | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
Bruno, this reminds me of a sort of Rossini opera, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
the idea of the soldiers coming, eating too much, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
hiding the cheeses, and then discovering this secret. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
-Si. Rossini was famous for eating a lot. -Yeah. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:51 | |
And he was a gourmet. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
And he's famous not just for music, but for food. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:01 | |
-There is a lot of things... -Oh, we know. Tournedos Rossini... | 0:19:01 | 0:19:05 | |
-Exactly. -Would he have had this cheese? | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
Sure. Because this cheese is typical from this area. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:14 | |
And Pesaro is real near. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
For us Italians, food is a cultural way of life. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:22 | |
So, we can work ten hours for preparing a dish, | 0:19:22 | 0:19:29 | |
and, in ten minutes, eat that. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
But it doesn't matter. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
For food, time is... | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
We spend a lot of time. And that comes from our culture. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:44 | |
'After the burial service, I joined them to sample the cheese, | 0:19:44 | 0:19:48 | |
'which had a certain, how shall I say it, | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
'caveyness about it.' | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
Cheese, a good bread, and wine... | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
And if you have a nice girl that served that, it can be enough! | 0:19:56 | 0:20:03 | |
Well, I'd like to propose a toast to everyone, if you don't mind. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:10 | |
To the formaggio di fossa of Talamello. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
ALL: Salute! | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
This landscape of northern Italy looks bountiful, | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
like a label for a fancy bottle of olive oil. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
The cities here jealously guard their link | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
with the famous foods that bear their name. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
When he was young, Rossini came here to Bologna, | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
the oldest university town in Europe. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
He lived with his mother above a pork butcher's shop, | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
so he would have, no doubt, sampled Bologna's most famous product. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
No, it's not Bolognese sauce, ragu Bolognese, | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
but the famous Mortadella sausage, | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
known throughout the world, like Rossini's operas. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
As a cook, I couldn't resist | 0:20:50 | 0:20:52 | |
going to a thoroughly modern Mortadella factory, | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
to see how it was made. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:56 | |
There's a fabulous aroma here. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:09 | |
You've got garlic, you've got nutmeg and mace, | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
you've got cloves, you've got cinnamon. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
You've got pepper, you've got coriander. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
It's just so exotic. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:19 | |
But it's all just a little touch, | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
it's not like the Orient, this is Italy. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
It's very, very subtle. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:26 | |
'And then the fat goes in. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
'It wouldn't be Mortadella without those sweet chunks of fat. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
'Then out it comes, in all its silky glory. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
'This is opera to me. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:37 | |
'Then the huge sausages are cooked in vast ovens, | 0:21:37 | 0:21:40 | |
'and instantly cooled down in a shower of cold water. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:44 | |
'That's it, ecco lo'e', as they say over here.' | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
Look at these! These are magnificent. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:52 | |
We have 100 kilos Mortadella. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
You could almost do a sort of Victorian photo. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:59 | |
And it's made by hand. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
Maybe with a gun, as if I'd just shot it! | 0:22:02 | 0:22:04 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
'So, here's to Mortadella, and here's to Rossini, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
'the greatest musical gourmet of his time. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
'And here's to the comedy which is life.' | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
Giacomo Puccini was born in a place I always associate | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
with good olive oil, Lucca in Tuscany. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
And he was part of a musical dynasty. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
He was inspired by Verdi's Aida. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
After seeing it, he said, "A musical window has opened for me." | 0:23:03 | 0:23:08 | |
He lived for much of his life here in Torre del Lago, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
it means, "the tower by the lake". | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
This rare film of him was discovered recently by a film director, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
Paolo Benvenuti, who, after seeing it, | 0:23:17 | 0:23:21 | |
was inspired to make a feature film about Puccini's life | 0:23:21 | 0:23:24 | |
on the edge of the lake. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:25 | |
When he wasn't sitting at the piano composing, | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
'he loved nothing better than to go with his mate, | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
'a local fisherman called Tonio, and shoot wildfowl for the table.' | 0:23:33 | 0:23:38 | |
One of the things I've discovered he really liked, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
was Folaghe a la Puccini, | 0:23:43 | 0:23:44 | |
which was stewed duck with vegetables and pasta. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:48 | |
I think you'll find that's coot. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:52 | |
It was duck, it was in the film, it was duck. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
No. He liked coots. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:57 | |
Coots? | 0:23:57 | 0:23:59 | |
You can't eat coots. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:01 | |
You can. It was coot. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
Folaghe. Folaghe means "coot". | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
No, I think it means a type of duck. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
It doesn't mean a coot. It's like eating London pigeons. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
Urgh! | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
Anyway, he ate coot. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:14 | |
Duck, David, duck. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
Coot, Ricky, coot. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
Have it your own way. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:20 | |
All right. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
Benvenuti's film tells the tragic story | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
of the suicide of Puccini's housemaid. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
It happened after his wife suspected she was having an affair with him, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
whereas the poor girl was simply the go-between | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
for him and her cousin Julia, who ran the local bar on the lakeside. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:48 | |
'I met up with Paolo, | 0:24:50 | 0:24:51 | |
'who reconstructed the little bar by the lake for his film. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:55 | |
'It's a bit empty and forgotten now, | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
'but nevertheless a fitting place to talk to him | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
'about Puccini's life here in Torre del Lago.' | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
Yeah, I remember, with the pump. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
SHE SINGS IN ITALIAN | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
Grazie. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
Paolo, in Britain I'm a chef. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:26 | |
And I'm particularly interested in Puccini's | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
love of food and of cooking. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
And I think that comes out in his operas, would you agree? | 0:25:33 | 0:25:37 | |
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
'He says, "Absolutely. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:45 | |
"Puccini loved good food so much, | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
"that whenever he was away in New York, | 0:25:47 | 0:25:49 | |
"or wherever, as soon as he came back, he'd say to Julia, | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
"Please, Julia, would you cook soup of cauliflower, | 0:25:53 | 0:25:56 | |
"or beans with taglialini?" He had to eat that. | 0:25:56 | 0:26:01 | |
"Not only that, but the whole village, and the farmers around, | 0:26:01 | 0:26:04 | |
"knew that he loved food. | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
"And he went to visit them sometimes at lunchtime. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
"He'd go to their kitchen, open a pan, | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
"and if he fancied what he smelt, he'd say, "Oh, this is lovely!" | 0:26:11 | 0:26:15 | |
"And of course, they would say, "OK, sit down." | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
"The children used to hate him, because if he was at lunch, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
"and he ate the food, they knew there'd be less for them." | 0:26:21 | 0:26:24 | |
HE SPEAKS ITALIAN | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
'There's a Puccini festival every year | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
'on the banks of Lake Massaciuccoli, | 0:26:32 | 0:26:34 | |
'in a huge, blue, open-air auditorium. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
'If Hello magazine was published in the early 1900s, | 0:26:36 | 0:26:40 | |
'at the height of his fame, no question, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
'he'd be on the front cover.' | 0:26:43 | 0:26:44 | |
I must say, meeting Paolo Benvenuti, and talking through the film, | 0:26:44 | 0:26:49 | |
and the background to Puccini's life, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
I'm sort of filled with a sense of privilege, really, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:55 | |
in seeing this beautiful lake, which he loved so much, | 0:26:55 | 0:27:00 | |
and feeling the enjoyment that he had | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
for everything about the lake, the enjoyment of his friends. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
It's great to understand that, | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
although he dressed incredibly immaculately, | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
and he'd have driven a Ferrari these days, probably. | 0:27:12 | 0:27:16 | |
And the way he smoked his cigarettes, | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
he was enormously attractive to women, | 0:27:19 | 0:27:22 | |
because he was so suave and debonair. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
But he liked nothing more than going down to that bar | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
in that chalet, and drinking with his mates. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
THEY COUNT IN ITALIAN | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
I mean, at one stage in the film, he's playing what I'd say was Spoof. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
You know, he's spoofing for a round, | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
because at the end he goes like that, "Two more." | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
And it's that side of him, also, I have to say, | 0:27:45 | 0:27:49 | |
the side of him where he's got a girl on the side, you know? | 0:27:49 | 0:27:55 | |
And all that comes out in his operas, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
this sort of sense of ordinariness. | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
But, of course, elevated by his immense talent, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
and the wonderful melodies that he created. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
'For 30 years, he lived by the lake, and wrote his most famous works, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
'La Boheme, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
'He'd make many journeys to the grand home of the Marquesa Ginori, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:35 | |
'his friend, and a powerful landowner. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
'It now belongs to Ginori's distant relative, | 0:28:38 | 0:28:40 | |
'the Contessa Maria Gaddi-Pepoli. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
'But, because Puccini was such a frequent guest, | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
'I'm here to try one of his favourite dishes, | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
'Folaghe a la Puccini.' | 0:28:49 | 0:28:50 | |
So, Donatella is going to cook a coot for us. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:55 | |
I can't believe it, but apparently it is so. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
I just think it might taste rather fishy, what do you think? | 0:28:57 | 0:29:01 | |
Yes, yes, it tastes fishy. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 | |
In fact, it's the only meat that you can eat also on Friday. | 0:29:03 | 0:29:07 | |
Because, as you know, for Catholic people, it's forbidden. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
Folaghe, it's OK, you can do that. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:14 | |
'Essentially, it's just a stew of coot, with stock, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
'wine, and a mirepoix of vegetables.' | 0:29:20 | 0:29:23 | |
-So, that's it, for 40 minutes? -Yes. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:27 | |
So, how important do you think food was to Puccini? | 0:29:27 | 0:29:29 | |
For him, everything was important. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
Food, good wine, beautiful woman, the music, and friends. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:38 | |
Everything. He enjoyed very much life. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
'We ate on the Contessa's rather grand terrace with her friends, | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
'and the coot was served on a piece of toast to soak up the sauce, | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
'the exact way Puccini liked it.' | 0:29:49 | 0:29:52 | |
I've never tasted coot before. | 0:29:52 | 0:29:56 | |
Very good. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
It tastes a bit gamey. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
It's rather nice, it's just... It's slightly bitter. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:04 | |
It's so good. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
Very good, really, in fact. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:09 | |
I mean, it's quite special, | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
it's a very sophisticated taste, I would say. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
Oh, yes. Not so strong, not fish tasting. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
Just a tiny bit of fish, a tiny bit of bitterness, | 0:30:16 | 0:30:18 | |
-a tiny little gaminess. -Good. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:20 | |
It just... It increases my admiration for Puccini, | 0:30:20 | 0:30:24 | |
that he would have enjoyed something like this so much. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:28 | |
You know, I'm sort of reading him through the food he loved. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
He loved this very much. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:32 | |
I bet, I bet. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:35 | |
But what did the lago, the lake, mean to him, then? | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
When he decided to come here and to live in Torre del Lago, | 0:30:38 | 0:30:44 | |
he was coming out from very big depression, he was very unhappy. | 0:30:44 | 0:30:50 | |
And this lake was representing for him, a sort of medicine. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:57 | |
He love it very much, and try to... | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
coming back again to the music, to composing music, | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
and especially the one, the coro muto of the Madame Butterfly... | 0:31:06 | 0:31:11 | |
What, you mean that...? | 0:31:11 | 0:31:13 | |
-You remember, hmm-hmm.... -Yes. | 0:31:13 | 0:31:18 | |
-Yeah. The sound of the wind in the reeds. -Yes. | 0:31:18 | 0:31:22 | |
It's that humming, it's, like, ethereal, isn't it, that music? | 0:31:22 | 0:31:27 | |
Yes, it's like that. It's really a magic sensation. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:32 | |
I'm happy to stay in this part of the world. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
MUSIC: "Madame Butterfly" By Puccini | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
Although he looked the part, he wasn't aristocracy, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
but he certainly lived a very elevated lifestyle. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:57 | |
On the other hand, he mixed with artists and fishermen, | 0:31:58 | 0:32:02 | |
which I suspect was a rich well of inspiration for him. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
They told me at the hotel where I was staying, that this, | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
the poignant humming chorus from Madame Butterfly, | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
was inspired by the sounds of the evening breeze in the reeds, | 0:32:15 | 0:32:19 | |
and you can feel that when you're here. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
'The regional food of Italy, | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
'and by that I mean the everyday food that subtly changes | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
'from village to village and from town to town, | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
'is one of the constant threads that make up the tapestry | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
'of Italian life. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
'This is a speciality from Puccini's home town of Lucca, | 0:32:44 | 0:32:47 | |
'and it would have been the sort of dish that he and his artist friends | 0:32:47 | 0:32:51 | |
'would be eating on a daily basis. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
'I shared it in a lakeside restaurant | 0:32:53 | 0:32:55 | |
'with a celebrated Italian conductor, Alberto Veronesi.' | 0:32:55 | 0:33:01 | |
So, maestro, just explain this dish to me. | 0:33:01 | 0:33:04 | |
This is tagliarini alla Puccini. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:09 | |
It is done with Tuscan beans, the red beans from Diecimo, | 0:33:09 | 0:33:15 | |
a little town near Lucca, which Puccini loved very much. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:21 | |
Well, maestro, I wonder if with you, whether cooking and a love of food, | 0:33:21 | 0:33:26 | |
does it help you in your performances as a major conductor? | 0:33:26 | 0:33:31 | |
I think there are two kind of people who make music, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:37 | |
people which don't like to eat, and I don't like these people, | 0:33:37 | 0:33:42 | |
and people who absolutely need to eat before doing any kind of work. | 0:33:42 | 0:33:50 | |
Before conducting, before evening performance, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
I have to be really satisfied with my stomach! | 0:33:54 | 0:33:58 | |
And he loved very much...people and his friends, especially his friends, | 0:34:27 | 0:34:35 | |
to be completely free, to eat, to laugh, | 0:34:35 | 0:34:39 | |
to play cards, to drink, and to say very bad words. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:44 | |
And that, you can see also in his operas, | 0:34:45 | 0:34:50 | |
describe what he was when he was young. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
And, of course, when you are satisfied, when you eat well, | 0:35:07 | 0:35:14 | |
you can give more, and to be more serene, | 0:35:14 | 0:35:18 | |
to be more...more calm, | 0:35:18 | 0:35:22 | |
to have your music, and to find, really, | 0:35:22 | 0:35:27 | |
the right way to interpret the music. | 0:35:27 | 0:35:30 | |
I agree! I think it inclines you to a generosity of spirit. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:35 | |
-Generosity of spirit, yes. Please! -Cheers. Salute. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:41 | |
When I go to Venice, there's one particular dish that I really love, | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
which I think is like a scampi risotto, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:47 | |
and they tell me the reason why it's so intense | 0:35:47 | 0:35:49 | |
is that the stock is made from, I think, | 0:35:49 | 0:35:51 | |
-from...well, shellfish, very concentrated. -Of course it is. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:54 | |
But of course to most people who perhaps don't understand | 0:35:54 | 0:35:57 | |
how Italian cooking goes, they think, | 0:35:57 | 0:35:59 | |
"Yes, olive oil, yes, garlic, yes, tomato, | 0:35:59 | 0:36:02 | |
"those are natural bedfellows." | 0:36:02 | 0:36:04 | |
Bt the idea of all these kind of nasty unwanted bits, | 0:36:04 | 0:36:06 | |
like the head, the eyes, all that kind of stuff, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
they're the foreign bodies. And in a way that makes me think of Puccini, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:13 | |
because he was absolutely brilliant of creating tunes out of nowhere, | 0:36:13 | 0:36:16 | |
which somehow summon up the essence of the character. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
So, when Mimi first appears in Boheme, | 0:36:19 | 0:36:22 | |
what is it that he wants to understand about who Mimi is? | 0:36:22 | 0:36:25 | |
She's shy, she's probably quite diminutive, | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
she's out of her comfort zone, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:29 | |
-she's nervous, but there's something... -Boisterous boys. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
Exactly, in a garret in Paris. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:34 | |
And he assembles this tune which becomes like a motto for her, | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
every time you then hear it in the piece, | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
it's another part of the Mimi puzzle filling in in your mind. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:44 | |
And it's a funny connection of notes. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:46 | |
And here's the really rogue note coming up here. | 0:36:48 | 0:36:51 | |
It's, like, well out of place. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
And then he turns it round. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
If you put those notes together and said, "What do you think?" | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
you'd say, "No, that's a foreign body, | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
"it simply doesn't fit into the context of that phrase." | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
But that's like cooking. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:05 | |
The great Italian operas are all very much about humanitarian issues, | 0:37:18 | 0:37:22 | |
human stories, you know, the human condition. | 0:37:22 | 0:37:26 | |
Where the Germans, particularly people like Wagner, | 0:37:26 | 0:37:29 | |
and before him, Weber, were much more about mysticism, about magic, | 0:37:29 | 0:37:33 | |
about magic casements, other-worldly concepts, | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
Italian opera was always about me and you, and him and her. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
Perfect, I mean, isn't that what it's all about, really? | 0:37:40 | 0:37:43 | |
That's why the food is so important, | 0:37:43 | 0:37:46 | |
because it's back to what really matters in life. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:49 | |
And in a way, if you can come up with the perfect melody, that's the key, | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
just in the way, the reason why Italian cuisine is so extraordinary, | 0:37:53 | 0:37:56 | |
is because it's about doing very simple things | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
-with very, very fresh ingredients, right? -Yeah, it is. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:02 | |
So, same thing with Puccini. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:03 | |
If you can come up with the eureka moment... | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
HE PLAYS PIANO | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
..you're away, aren't you? | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
There in that one theme is all the DNA, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
all the information you need to understand who Mimi is, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
where she's from, and, ultimately, probably where she's headed. | 0:38:14 | 0:38:17 | |
There was a great deal of sadness in Puccini's life, | 0:38:55 | 0:38:58 | |
but again, the joys of the table were never far away. | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
And it was the lake, its light, | 0:39:04 | 0:39:06 | |
and the natural sounds that inspired him, | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
and all mankind benefited from that. | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
'This is Parma, where Verdi is king. | 0:39:58 | 0:40:02 | |
'His music is revered, and this monument to him, one of many, | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
'is a testament to the whole range of human emotions | 0:40:05 | 0:40:09 | |
'his operas captured and celebrated. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:12 | |
'Everything from love, hatred, joy, and deep, undying grief, | 0:40:12 | 0:40:17 | |
'are here for all the world to see. | 0:40:17 | 0:40:19 | |
'In the village of Roncole where Verdi was born, | 0:40:22 | 0:40:25 | |
'there are banners grandly bearing his wish to be known as a peasant, | 0:40:25 | 0:40:29 | |
'rather than someone even more famous | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
'than the great father of modern Italy, Garibaldi.' | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
I was sort of imagining before I got here | 0:40:36 | 0:40:38 | |
a bit of a peasant's hovel, but not at all. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
In fact, he was an innkeeper's son. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
This is where the guests at the inn would eat, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
and I'm told that this was where the polenta, of course, was heating up, | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
and was stirred, | 0:40:49 | 0:40:51 | |
and they'd sit down, bowls of polenta, some wine, | 0:40:51 | 0:40:55 | |
Parmesan, of course. | 0:40:55 | 0:40:56 | |
No, not a peasant's background at all, | 0:40:56 | 0:41:00 | |
but, I suppose, in later life, | 0:41:00 | 0:41:02 | |
when you've got the king of Italy sort of bowing, | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
sitting down at your feet, | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
he probably used it as a way of grounding himself, | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
because he became so nationally and internationally famous. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:17 | |
He probably felt, "Yes, at heart, I AM a peasant." | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
And one has to think that having this background of an innkeeper, | 0:41:20 | 0:41:25 | |
that his whole childhood would have been so involved with food, | 0:41:25 | 0:41:29 | |
that it was obviously a very important part of his life. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:34 | |
'But wandering around Parma today,' | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
'and seeing the enormous importance of Verdi here, | 0:41:39 | 0:41:42 | |
'I mean, just look at all those posters over there, | 0:41:42 | 0:41:45 | |
'you begin to pick up the importance of opera to the Italians. | 0:41:45 | 0:41:50 | |
'When I set out on this journey, | 0:41:50 | 0:41:51 | |
'I just thought there was a good connection | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
'between food and Italian opera, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
'but you need to be here to live it, to understand how enormous it is. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:02 | |
'I suppose, coming from cold northern Europe, | 0:42:02 | 0:42:06 | |
'Protestant influenced,' | 0:42:06 | 0:42:08 | |
this whole sort of Catholic enjoyment of the physicality of life | 0:42:08 | 0:42:13 | |
is hard to get on board, | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
but terribly attractive to us, of course. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
And that's the world that Verdi, Rossini, and Puccini came from. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:23 | |
Just this enormous, sensuous enjoyment. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:25 | |
And once you've got it, you realise just what big stars they were. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:31 | |
There's nothing like it today. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
You can't really combine the classic and the popular, | 0:42:33 | 0:42:38 | |
if you like, but in somebody like Verdi, you could. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:42 | |
I mean, he appealed to the highest echelons of society and the lowest. | 0:42:42 | 0:42:48 | |
Everybody loved him. And, of course, it made him enormously wealthy. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
And what did he spend his money on? | 0:42:52 | 0:42:54 | |
The joys of the table, on food, on enjoying life. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:59 | |
I think that's really the crux of it. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
I think that's what I mean about food and the Italian opera, | 0:43:00 | 0:43:05 | |
it's that fantastic sort of sensuous enjoyment. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:09 | |
I just noticed, this was an account of some food he ordered | 0:43:09 | 0:43:14 | |
when he was staying at the Grand Hotel in Milan, next to La Scala, | 0:43:14 | 0:43:18 | |
aged 87, a year before he died. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
He ordered rice and liver, | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
trout hollandaise, veal jardiniere, oxtail, Brussels sprouts, | 0:43:24 | 0:43:31 | |
roast chicken salad, and an assortment of patisserie. | 0:43:31 | 0:43:34 | |
I mean, 87? | 0:43:34 | 0:43:37 | |
Isn't that somebody who loved his food as much as he loved opera | 0:43:37 | 0:43:41 | |
and loved life? | 0:43:41 | 0:43:43 | |
CLOCK CHIMES | 0:43:44 | 0:43:46 | |
'When he was at the tender age of nine, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:01 | |
'he played this organ in the church at Roncole. | 0:44:01 | 0:44:05 | |
'The organ is situated halfway up the wall, above the altar, | 0:44:05 | 0:44:09 | |
'so he'd have had a grand view of his audience, and they of him. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:12 | |
'Imagine what went through the mind of that boy, | 0:44:12 | 0:44:15 | |
'playing that powerful organ. | 0:44:15 | 0:44:17 | |
'Not only that, but he was surrounded by the imagery | 0:44:20 | 0:44:23 | |
'depicting good over evil, pain and suffering. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
'The very stuff of opera. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:29 | |
'I wouldn't mind betting these icons had a profound effect | 0:44:29 | 0:44:32 | |
'on such a young boy, | 0:44:32 | 0:44:33 | |
'who was the centre of attention in that small church. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:37 | |
'In fact, one of Verdi's most famous operas, Nabucco, | 0:44:37 | 0:44:41 | |
'is based on the biblical story of King Nebuchadnezzar. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:44 | |
'Verdi said of it when it was first performed in 1842, | 0:44:44 | 0:44:48 | |
"This is the opera with which my artistic career really begins." | 0:44:48 | 0:44:53 | |
But of course the reason that Nabucco became | 0:45:28 | 0:45:30 | |
such an instant success, was because, at the time, | 0:45:30 | 0:45:34 | |
this part of northern Italy was yearning for independence. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:38 | |
It was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian empire, | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
and so such stirring choruses like the Va, pensiero, | 0:45:42 | 0:45:46 | |
the Hebrews' lament for their homeland, | 0:45:46 | 0:45:49 | |
had a tremendous ring, | 0:45:49 | 0:45:51 | |
struck a nerve to the people of this part of Italy. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:55 | |
'The interval proved to be a revelation to me. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
'Food and opera in this country | 0:46:43 | 0:46:45 | |
'are never very far away from each other.' | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
Well, this is very enjoyable, I must say, | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
because back in England, you'd just have a glass. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:55 | |
But to have all this wonderful culatello as well is sensational, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:59 | |
and such a pleasant thing to do. | 0:46:59 | 0:47:01 | |
I think it's typical of the Italian enthusiasm for food and opera, | 0:47:01 | 0:47:06 | |
that you have to have some nice food in the interval. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:09 | |
I very much approve. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:11 | |
Anyway, salute. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:13 | |
Charles, just in an attempt to prove the link | 0:47:18 | 0:47:21 | |
between food and Italian opera, | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
I've looked at various occasions in opera | 0:47:23 | 0:47:25 | |
where food or drink is mentioned. | 0:47:25 | 0:47:27 | |
Obviously, the fighting with the baguettes in Boheme, | 0:47:27 | 0:47:30 | |
and in Rigoletto, there's a drinking song. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
But particularly in Traviata, of course, | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
with the most famous one, tell me about it. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
Well, it does absolutely illustrate Verdi's, and through him, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:41 | |
the whole of Italy's lust for life, doesn't it? | 0:47:41 | 0:47:44 | |
I mean, the very word, "libiamo," it's such a sensual language. | 0:47:44 | 0:47:47 | |
Even just saying, "libiamo," there's an intrinsic melody to it. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:51 | |
It naturally climbs. Lib-yah, you know? | 0:47:51 | 0:47:53 | |
So, of course he sets it to what's known as a rising sixth, | 0:47:53 | 0:47:56 | |
which is particularly a combination of two notes | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
which suggests yearning, suggests really wanting, sort of desire. | 0:47:58 | 0:48:02 | |
That interval. And again. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
"Libiamo" means "let's drink," | 0:48:13 | 0:48:16 | |
'and this song is something that Verdi put into La Traviata | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
'to attract the opera stars of the day, and give them a walk-on part. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:23 | |
'It's performed here by the Parma Choral Society, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
'who rehearse conveniently over a restaurant | 0:48:26 | 0:48:29 | |
'that specialises in cooking the dishes the maestro loved.' | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
It's just like it encapsulates that absolute sort of joy | 0:48:42 | 0:48:46 | |
and euphoria of meeting a load of people that you know well, | 0:48:46 | 0:48:49 | |
and you're going to drink, you're going to eat, | 0:48:49 | 0:48:52 | |
-you're going to enjoy yourself. -Absolutely, kind of lust for life. | 0:48:52 | 0:48:56 | |
Just think, if it had been... | 0:48:56 | 0:48:57 | |
HE PLAYS PIANO | 0:48:57 | 0:49:00 | |
You know, it hasn't got nearly the elan of... | 0:49:00 | 0:49:04 | |
and he's tasting those notes. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
He's tasting the interval between them like a fine wine in his mouth. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
The other thing which works about this, | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
the thing that drags you out of your seat with a kind of centrifugal force | 0:49:16 | 0:49:20 | |
is the sense of lilt. Libiamo, libiamo! | 0:49:20 | 0:49:22 | |
"Of course we're going to drink. We couldn't do anything else." | 0:49:22 | 0:49:25 | |
Surely, this, more than anything else, | 0:49:25 | 0:49:28 | |
proves that Verdi was an absolute lover of the good things in life, | 0:49:28 | 0:49:31 | |
ie, food and wine. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:32 | |
'One floor below, | 0:49:41 | 0:49:43 | |
'one of the chefs is making the celebrated Rosa di Parma.' | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
Well, there couldn't be a more classic Parma dish than this. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:51 | |
I mean, it's fillet steak stuffed with culatello, | 0:49:51 | 0:49:54 | |
which is the rump of pork, as opposed to the leg, | 0:49:54 | 0:49:58 | |
even more revered in Parma than Parma ham itself. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:02 | |
And Parmesan. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:04 | |
So, you've got fillet steak, Parma ham and Parmesan, all in one dish. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:08 | |
It's a really good way with fillet steak, because, fillet steak, | 0:50:08 | 0:50:11 | |
I find quite boring. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
So it's perfect to put lots of lovely flavours, | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
like culatello and Parmesan. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:18 | |
'So, it's rolled, sliced, flamed in brandy and Marsala wine. | 0:50:32 | 0:50:37 | |
'Talk about rich!' | 0:50:37 | 0:50:38 | |
I just love the look of this. | 0:50:41 | 0:50:43 | |
I mean, this is simple, luxurious, | 0:50:43 | 0:50:47 | |
the sort of thing that everybody would be longing to eat, I'm sure. | 0:50:47 | 0:50:52 | |
'The chef here makes it with reduced roasted meat stock and cream. | 0:50:52 | 0:50:58 | |
'Definitely a celebratory dish, | 0:50:58 | 0:51:01 | |
'which seems to say to me in true Mae West style, | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
"if you've got it, honey, why don't you flaunt it?" | 0:51:04 | 0:51:06 | |
'It's not a dish for the faint-hearted!' | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:51:14 | 0:51:17 | |
'As this programme's about food helping the creative process, | 0:51:20 | 0:51:24 | |
'the great food writer Brillat-Savarin said in 1825, | 0:51:24 | 0:51:28 | |
"After a good meal, | 0:51:28 | 0:51:30 | |
"both body and soul enjoy a remarkable sense of well-being. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:34 | |
"Your brain is refreshed, | 0:51:34 | 0:51:36 | |
"your wits are sharpened, and your imagination is fired". | 0:51:36 | 0:51:40 | |
'This is Verdi's house. Well, it's more than a house, | 0:51:43 | 0:51:46 | |
'it's a farm, where he threw himself into being the gentleman farmer, | 0:51:46 | 0:51:50 | |
'and where his workforce would cultivate and rear | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
'everything he needed to be self-sufficient. | 0:51:53 | 0:51:55 | |
'And of course, this place was the creative centre of his works.' | 0:51:55 | 0:51:59 | |
So, this is where Verdi composed. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:05 | |
Sat at the desk. Piano over there. | 0:52:05 | 0:52:07 | |
And he had a good library of books, because he read a great deal. | 0:52:07 | 0:52:12 | |
Very well read. In fact, he read Shakespeare, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:16 | |
Paradise Lost, Dante, of course. | 0:52:16 | 0:52:18 | |
Schiller and Byron as well. | 0:52:18 | 0:52:20 | |
It's really interesting. | 0:52:20 | 0:52:22 | |
I'm not a real opera buff, but this relationship between the librettist, | 0:52:22 | 0:52:29 | |
in his case Arrigo Boito, and himself, | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
because, obviously, he drove the whole thing. | 0:52:32 | 0:52:35 | |
Obviously, all the glory is to the music, | 0:52:35 | 0:52:40 | |
but the words are very important too. | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
'I often think a lot of really creative work is done by two people. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:51 | |
'The sum of the parts is better than the individuals.' | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
Wow, look at that. | 0:53:03 | 0:53:06 | |
That is splendid. | 0:53:06 | 0:53:09 | |
I mean, I knew he had a model farm, but look at that avenue of trees. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:13 | |
It's so aesthetically pleasing as well. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
Look at the quality of the soil there. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:19 | |
And, of course, he grew everything he wanted. | 0:53:19 | 0:53:21 | |
Corn, he had poultry, cattle, vineyards. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:25 | |
What a really special way to spend your money. | 0:53:25 | 0:53:28 | |
I'd love to do something like this. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:31 | |
'Giuseppe Verdi's farmers had to supply him | 0:53:33 | 0:53:36 | |
'with a specific list of produce - | 0:53:36 | 0:53:38 | |
'800 kilos of grapes, eight chickens in each month of July and August, | 0:53:38 | 0:53:44 | |
'and they had to weigh at least two kilos. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:46 | |
'20 dozen eggs at Easter and August, | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
'eight capons at Christmas, each weighing four kilos. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:53 | |
'The list, I'm sure, went on and on, | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
'from a man who really loved his food. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:58 | |
'In this region, Emilia-Romagna, you never can stray far from opera, | 0:53:59 | 0:54:05 | |
'whether it's a full-blown affair, or a recital of choice works. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
'This is the Little Theatre in Busseto, near Verdi's home. | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
'And this is the famous duo, | 0:54:21 | 0:54:23 | |
'Daniela Dessi, and her husband, Fabio Armiliato.' | 0:54:23 | 0:54:27 | |
As we're enjoying some Verdi tonight, | 0:54:27 | 0:54:30 | |
tell me about his love of food. What did he like? | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
He used to bring with him the food from his own area, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:38 | |
when he went on a trip. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
He brought pasta and salami, | 0:54:41 | 0:54:45 | |
something to have the joy of, and remind him of his own country. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:51 | |
That's a habit, | 0:54:51 | 0:54:53 | |
and he loved to have this, this food with him and to enjoy it. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:59 | |
And Rossini too? | 0:54:59 | 0:55:01 | |
SHE SPEAKS ITALIAN | 0:55:01 | 0:55:02 | |
'She says, "Rossini was a real big eater, and enjoyed his food, | 0:55:02 | 0:55:06 | |
"and ate a lot, and became very fat. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:08 | |
"Whereas Verdi enjoyed his food, but enjoyed it in moderation. | 0:55:08 | 0:55:12 | |
"And he chose the best foods, and he loved to be slender and noble. | 0:55:12 | 0:55:17 | |
"To him, food was a pleasure, but never excessive." | 0:55:17 | 0:55:20 | |
AUDIENCE CLAP ALONG | 0:55:28 | 0:55:30 | |
'I went to a little trattoria in the middle of Busseto. | 0:55:38 | 0:55:41 | |
'Verdi could well have eaten here. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:43 | |
'Certainly, they serve his favourite ham, Culatello di Zibello, | 0:55:43 | 0:55:47 | |
'with lumps of Parmesan cheese. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:50 | |
I'd never been here before, | 0:55:50 | 0:55:51 | |
'but there was a great warmth about the place, | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
'and a sense of conviviality. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:56 | |
'It's a place where I wanted lunch to go on all afternoon.' | 0:55:56 | 0:55:59 | |
I was walking past here this afternoon, | 0:55:59 | 0:56:02 | |
and I just noticed in the window and did a double-take, | 0:56:02 | 0:56:05 | |
this black and white photo of what looked like Verdi, | 0:56:05 | 0:56:07 | |
standing behind the counter there. I was thinking, | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
"Gosh, this place is really old". I looked again, | 0:56:10 | 0:56:13 | |
and it was Verdi standing with the current patron. | 0:56:13 | 0:56:17 | |
But then I thought, everywhere I've been, | 0:56:17 | 0:56:19 | |
whether it's Pesaro with Rossini, or Torre del Lago with Puccini, | 0:56:19 | 0:56:25 | |
or here around Busseto, | 0:56:25 | 0:56:27 | |
there's so many dishes in honour of all these composers. | 0:56:27 | 0:56:33 | |
Think of that rather garish pizza in Pesaro, | 0:56:33 | 0:56:37 | |
or the soup in Torre del Lago, or here, all those things. | 0:56:37 | 0:56:42 | |
You just think, did he really have them all? | 0:56:42 | 0:56:44 | |
Did he like all these dishes? I don't know. | 0:56:44 | 0:56:47 | |
All those 19th century composers are long gone, | 0:56:47 | 0:56:50 | |
but those wonderful tunes and those fabulous operas live on, | 0:56:50 | 0:56:54 | |
as does the food they loved. | 0:56:54 | 0:56:56 | |
What could be more Italian than that? | 0:56:56 | 0:56:58 | |
MUSIC: "Nessun Dorma" by Puccini, sung by Pavarotti | 0:56:58 | 0:57:02 | |
'This. | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
'The joys of opera and food in one person, the great Pavarotti. | 0:57:04 | 0:57:10 | |
'He lived right next door to a restaurant run by his friend, | 0:57:10 | 0:57:13 | |
'Cesare, and Pavarotti's favourite dish was a black rice risotto. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:19 | |
'According to Cesare, he ate it for every meal. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:23 | |
'It's made using the all-important beef stock - | 0:57:23 | 0:57:25 | |
'over here they call it brodo - | 0:57:25 | 0:57:28 | |
'Parmigiano Reggiano, and the local black rice. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:31 | |
'In fact, the fewer the ingredients, the better the risotto, I find. | 0:57:31 | 0:57:35 | |
'But it had a real touch of opera, | 0:57:35 | 0:57:38 | |
'for a man who was known throughout the world for his love of good food. | 0:57:38 | 0:57:43 | |
'It was finished with a melted gold leaf, 24 carat. | 0:57:43 | 0:57:47 | |
'That, to me, is opera on a plate. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:52 | |
'Well, it was Pavarotti.' | 0:57:52 | 0:57:54 | |
Here in Parma, it was a habit to go to the performance, | 0:57:59 | 0:58:04 | |
and in the back, where people sit, they were cooking. | 0:58:04 | 0:58:10 | |
Cooking, boiling the pasta. | 0:58:10 | 0:58:12 | |
-So, in the intermission, they have agnolotti. -Si. Yes. | 0:58:12 | 0:58:15 | |
This is a habit. | 0:58:15 | 0:58:16 | |
This is a great connection, because you enjoy the music, | 0:58:16 | 0:58:19 | |
and enjoy the food. | 0:58:19 | 0:58:20 | |
Imagine that at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden! | 0:58:20 | 0:58:24 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:58:24 | 0:58:25 | |
# Vincero | 0:58:25 | 0:58:30 | |
# Vincero, vincero! # | 0:58:31 | 0:58:45 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:58:45 | 0:58:47 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:50 | 0:58:53 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:58:53 | 0:58:56 |