Johanna Fiedler (1945–2011)

What a delicious read this was! This behind-the-scenes history of the Metropolitan Opera was written by the late Johanna Fiedler, a former Metropolitan Opera press liaison and a member of American music “royalty” - she was the daughter of Boston Pops conductor, Arthur Fielder – and it is both interesting and fun.

We learn about the beginnings of the Metropolitan Opera. The Met was created by robber barons and their wives in an attempt to outdo the old-money blue-blood New Yorkers who denied them entrée into the world of culture, arts and high society at New York’s Academy of Music. As Fiedler herself writes, these new money folks basically constructed “tiers of boxes with an opera house built to surround them”. It soon became the place to see and be seen. Lavish dinners were held in the boxes, which were actually inherited seats, and status was determined through social activity at the Opera. Ironically, Fielder’s descriptions of this early social activity at the Metropolitan mirror her descriptions of social activity (and climbing?) in the 1980’s with the rise of dot.com wealth and flamboyance.

The early years are fascinating indeed, but Fiedler saves the best dish for the “modern era” of the Met – The Rudolf Bing years and beyond. Here are the stories of over-the-top egos and personalities. A backstage shoving match between a slightly injured Luciano Pavarotti and an under-the-weather guest conductor to vie for the attention of a doctor is hysterically funny. There are marvelous quotes. A musician’s union attorney in an attempt to defuse tensions during negotiations says apologetically to Rudolf Bing “I guess I’m sometimes my own worst enemy”. Fiedler quotes Bing as tersely replying “Not while I’m still alive!”

Fiedler goes into detail describing the sometimes appalling behavior of divas, -not just the singers, but several of the other artists as well- and the Met’s attempts to deal with them. The political machinations of the opera house are also described. And of course, the Met’s constant friction with its unions is a running theme. Some folks come off well in this book, others, not so well. It does appear that Fiedler did not want to ruffle too many feathers of current personalities. Though one could wish for even more digging into the workings and personalities of the Met, to quote Spencer Tracy in Pat and Mike: “Not much meat on her, but what there is, is cherce [choice]”

The description of Peter Gelb, the Met’s current General Manager is quite interesting (even the General Manager title has undergone changes to reflect responsibilities and Fiedler chronicles those changes). Gelb was not yet the General Manager when she wrote the book. She notes that Gelb, the son of the NYT Managing Editor, Arthur Gelb, proved his chops under the notorious Ronald Wilford as an artists’ manager and then, in Columbia Artist Management Video division. He comes off as a somewhat mercenary character. Fiedler quotes Joseph Volpe the previous Met GM as saying that he would like to “throw Gelb across Lincoln Center”. The background information certainly, though unwittingly, provides context for the policy and artistic changes at the Met under Gelb.

The book was written in 2001 and contains a 2004 afterword but sadly we now have even more context for events. Ms. Fiedler died a year ago after a long illness. Much of the afterword unsuspectingly foreshadows events including the untimely deaths of Beverly Sills and Luciano Pavarotti, James Levine’s severe health problems as well as, policy changes at the Met under Gelb.… (més)