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The Guardian, 18 June 2008
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A night at the opera |
"The Guardian"- Experiment ('This artist is deeply
dangerous'). What would happen if the Guardian's sports and arts
writers swapped jobs? In yesterday's G2, arts critics tackled sport. Today,
the sports team take on sculpture, opera, dance and music |
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Thomas Castaignède, Guardian rugby union columnist who
won 54 caps for France between 1995 and 2007, on opera Tosca at Royal
Opera House, London, June 2
As part of a correspondent swap, the rugby columnist Thomas
Castaignède takes in Puccini's Tosca at the Royal Opera House
Video
Madame Butterfly was my first and last experience of opera, but I was
in my early teens and not in the best frame of mind to appreciate it.
Adolescence had kicked in, and I was more worried about the girl sitting
next to me than what was happening on stage.
So this performance of Tosca was a revelation. I've passed Covent Garden
so many times, but I had no idea it was so beautiful inside. As a social
phenomenon it surprised me as well - the champagne, the way the audience
had dressed up, the feeling that people were there to be seen, as well as
to see.
All those years ago I was too young to appreciate opera, so Tosca itself
was a new world: the range of human emotions - jealousy, avarice, love,
death, despair, hope - all reinforced by the power of the music. I
wondered about the creative process behind it: which comes first, the
libretto or the music, or are they born together?
Talking afterwards to the tenor Jonas Kaufmann, who played Cavaradossi, I
came to the conclusion that there is a parallel between what you feel
during a top-class rugby match and what an artist feels on stage - and
it's not just the roar of the crowd. The people who are watching influence
how you behave: they were viewing Kaufmann and driving him forward, just
as they used to inspire me. I could empathise with Kaufmann's total
concentration on the performance, and the way he had to become one with
the orchestra, who gave him the power to go beyond the norm. There is a
physical aspect to opera, certainly; but more than that, on stage you see
what in rugby we call "automatisms" - where you become conditioned to move
and act by pure instinct. I had a sense of two completely different worlds
coming together.
There is an element of theatre in sport - certainly in France, and in
French rugby. You are there to bring a smile to the crowds. You want them
to have a good afternoon. There is no acceptance of mediocrity. You are
putting yourself up to be judged every time you enter the arena.
Opera singers learn new roles with a new company. As a rugby player, I
used to have to get to grips with new trainers, tactics and team-mates
when moving from one club to another, or whenever I switched mid-season to
playing for the French national team or an ad-hoc squad like the
Barbarians.
But most of all, what I saw in Tosca was exactly what drew me to sport:
the feeling of total passion in the performers. I just love to watch
people giving it everything - in any walk of life - which is why, since
coming to England, I have even come to appreciate cricket. |
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