The Greatest Loss

No death seems crueler than an early death, cutting off talent at its peak. Such was the tragedy last week of the Metropolitan Opera's new general manager, Goeran Gentele, who was killed in an automobile accident while vacationing in Sardinia.* The car he was driving collided head-on with a truck, also killing two of Gentele's daughters and injuring his wife and a third daughter. "We're all in shock," said Met President George S. Moore. Abe Marcus, chairman of the Met's orchestra committee, spoke for the rank and file at the opera house when he said, "We had come to know him as a prince of a man."

Quite apart from the personal loss, Gentele's death was perhaps the greatest artistic loss the Met has suffered in a long history of singers' deaths in mid-performance, natural disasters (like the fire that forced the closure of the theater in 1892) and devastating musical and labor disputes. Although Gentele officially assumed his post only on July 1, he had been preparing himself by working on the premises for over a year, and already he conveyed the hope of a fresh, new era at the Met. He played both violin and piano, spoke five languages, was well versed in economics and politics (perhaps accounting for his flair at negotiating labor contracts), had considerable experience as an actor, and had directed movies, theater and opera. His style was cheerful and informal, which helped to ease some of the morale problems left behind by the autocratic Sir Rudolf Bing.

Where Bing had been conservative, Gentele was disposed to be open and experimental. He hoped to Americanize the Met by hiring U.S. singers whenever possible; he wanted to encourage casual dress and to draw a younger audience. "Young people should come to the opera as they go to hear a pop band," he said. "Opera is a folk art, like bullfighting and prizefighting." His future repertory, he hinted, would vary standard fare with such works as Berlioz's Les Troyens, Janacek's Katya Kabanova and Rossini's frothy L'ltaliana in Algeri. He also had hopes of sponsoring intimate productions on some separate, smaller stage.

Interim. With all these plans thrown into jeopardy, the Met's dismayed board of directors gathered to consider the problem of a new manager. From Italy, Bing cabled an offer to help, but the Met picked the man whom Gentele himself had chosen as his assistant: Schuyler G. Chapin, 49, a former vice president in charge of programming for Lincoln Center. Chapin has experience in concert management, training as a musician, and was formerly executive producer of Leonard Bernstein's television company, but he has no background in opera management. Said he: "I feel not unlike Harry Truman must have felt in 1945." President Moore described Chapin's contract as "an open-ended arrangement," implying that if Chapin did well he could continue as more than an interim choice.

Chapin pledged himself to preserve the "atmosphere of excitement and aliveness" that Gentele had generated. As for Gentele's repertory and cast arrangements, the Met has little choice but to execute them as best it can. In the opera world, production plans are made years in advance. Of most immediate concern is Gentele's project for the opening of the season on Sept. 19: a new production of Bizet's Carmen, staged by Gentele himself. Before rehearsals begin on Aug. 1, the Met needs to find a new stage director modest enough to carry out Gentele's ideas. Only a week before Gentele went to Sardinia, he wrote to Mezzo-Soprano Marilyn Home, his Carmen: "The production is rolling along smoothly. At this point, the only person who could ruin it would be the director."

*The incident was a macabre echo of 1935, when another Met manager, Basso Herbert Witherspoon, died of a heart attack six weeks after being engaged.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.