Sunday October 15, 2023 at 6:15 p.m. – Updated at 6:15 p.m. Music
The history of places, like that of people, sometimes presents curious recurrences. From its inauguration at the end of the 19th century until its closure for work on Saturday October 14 evening, the municipal theater saw all the major episodes of its life take place in the fall.
It was on November 15, 1876 that the building opened its doors*. The project, entrusted to the Italian architect Andrea Scala, is not completely completed – it will be two years later. For reasons of local politics – the municipality has just changed – the inauguration takes place without speeches or champagne. But with its white and gold decoration as well as its unique dimensions, the new performance hall delights the Bastiais.
On the bill for the evening: The Queen’s Musketeers, an opera by Fromental Halévy that the management of the establishment programmed in place of a Faust by Gounod, canceled at the last minute. A constrained choice which nevertheless fits with the political function assigned to the new theater: to root in French culture a city still entirely committed to Italian opera.
Golden age and tightrope
The beginnings of theater were no less difficult. The cultural “graft” desired by the authorities is not taking effect. For three seasons, from 1886 to 1888, the room was even closed. The theater really took off in 1909, when its operation was entrusted to Julio Cheleschi. Under his leadership, the Bastia scene will experience its golden age. Until the war of 1914, the opera seasons continued successfully. Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Mascagni… will be regularly on display for a public always fond of Italian opera. The room is always full. Especially since, when the lyric takes a break, comedy takes over.
The war interrupts theater activity. This resumed at the beginning of 1919. The new era which was dawning was that of local talent. On July 24, César Vezzani, a young tenor from Bastia who attended the Paris Conservatory, performed for the first time in his hometown. From this day on, the life of the theater will be intimately linked to the career of this immense artist soon known throughout Europe as “the white blackbird”. It was at the same time that the management of the establishment was entrusted to Vincent Fragassi. For twenty years, this strong personality will strive to keep the structure alive and expand its audience. And if this interwar period left the memory of another golden age, the daily life of the theater was in reality very difficult. “I was living in agony, Fragassi confided in the columns of Corse-Matin in 1981. I couldn’t count on any subsidies. I was walking a tightrope and never knew if I would make ends meet.”
The big sleep
In 1939, a few weeks before the outbreak of the Second World War, the building was closed by municipal decree, with a view to carrying out emergency security work. It will never reopen. In the fall of 1943, the second act of the theater’s life took place. A tragic act. Twice, on September 22 and October 4, the building was hit by Allied bombings. The roof and painted ceiling of the large room were completely destroyed. This is the beginning of a long period of dormancy. Despite several renovation projects, the building remained in a state of ruin for almost forty years. In its still healthy parts, it will even serve as a barracks for the firefighters. Things changed at the end of the 1970s. In 1978, Jean-Philippe Lecat, the Minister of Culture, visited the place. He discovers an open-air scene on which it is raining. The reconstruction project did not take long to start, closely followed by René Subissi, the deputy mayor in charge of culture. It will come to fruition three years later.
On December 16, 1981, another autumn evening, the new building was inaugurated. This time, the event is celebrated with great pomp. A sign that cultural issues have changed is with a classic of the Italian repertoire, a Traviata directed by the young Robert Girolami and staged by Giampaolo Zennaro, that the opera is making its grand return to Bastia.
“Opera of the cities and opera of the fields”
A memorable performance which will not go without a few hiccups. “The teams were not necessarily well established and the change of scenery, at the end of the first act, lasted twenty-five minutes, which is enormous, remembers Émile Tomasi who at the time was in charge of the technique. A senior official from the Ministry of Culture, who was present, then quipped: “It’s more of a country opera than a city opera.”“
Despite these few teething problems, the new institution is on track. For forty years, it will welcome on its stage all the big names of French theater and music (see below). For around fifteen years, it will also offer a lyrical season. “These were real creations, mounted on site, with the participation of local artists, explains Robert Girolami. We played a lot of Italian operas that the Bastiais know and to which they remain very attached. This lasted until 1995, when economic reasons and new cultural choices forced us to stop.” The Nice singing, for the eradication of which the theater had been created, will only make sporadic appearances on the municipal stage. Who knows if, in four years, when the new building reopens, it will not regain the place it had in the rich days of the dawning 20th century…
* Many of the elements reported in this article are taken from “The life of the lyric theater of Bastia 1879-1981”, a university work produced in 1986 by André Santelli.
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