In an earlier episode of this series, you may recall Carlos and Allison Franzetti taking us through the Teatro Colón, but there was more to their story than we had time for. This may surprise even the best informed about the Teatro... I asked whether there were ghosts at the Teatro Colón.
Allison Franzetti: "You can't help but be surrounded by it. The other thing that's interesting about the Teatro Colón, though, is the underground system that exists there. You've got all these levels of rehearsal spaces and all sorts of other stuff that goes on underground that you don't see.
Carlos Franzetti: And the special booths for widows! They have this booth, and they still have them covered by some sort of...
Allison Franzetti: …curtain or something…
Carlos Franzetti: …curtain with little holes and things like... and they were in 1908, 1910, whatever, they were designed for the widows to go and attend performances that they didn't want to be seen in public. And obviously they didn't want to be seen with anybody else, in case there was somebody else. So so they amazing place!
In that same conversation, I asked Allison if Carlos' music is drawn from Argentinian elements. Carlos leaned close, interested in what Allison would say.
Allison Franzetti: Absolutely!
Carlos Franzetti: Well, some of it, not all of it.
Allison Franzetti: No, not all of it. And it's not meant to. But, for example, the piece that you recorded at NFA [ed. TPR recorded the premiere of Carlos Franzetti’s ‘Through Fields into the Ocean’], is very Argentine in terms of the rhythms, especially the last one, which is a chacarera, which you totally used, right? Elements like that, that Carlos uses that are very distinctly Argentine in terms of the influences that you use. Sometimes you do tango or milonga or some other dance forms...
Carlos Franzetti: You don't have to be from the area to do it. One of the answers to that will be an analogy, in a composer like Aaron Copland, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and would write about the prairies of the West and do it very well. But I think that in my case, the roots are deep, although I left Argentina 50-some years ago, and the accent is always there, my accent when I speak. But also I mean the kind of the gravity of where I was born and how I discovered music, like tango, for instance, I said that I discovered tango in the margins of the Hudson River. you know? Not in the slums of Buenos Aires, but in here in New York.
When the news came out on October 4, 2009 that Mercedes Sosa had passed away, I contacted Carlos Franzetti, because he had known her both personally and professionally. Carlos had written arrangements and produced three of Sosa's albums. In 1995 it was the album “Gestos De Amor,” a mixed program that showcased Sosa's stylistic range and her distinctive voice. Her passion was abundant when singing from the songbooks of Violetta Parra and Chabucha Granda.
“What can I say? She was a wonderful voice,” Carlos told me in 2009. “One of those voices that… you hear once and you'll never forget. And a very musical person. She was very, very much involved in all types of music, not only folk music from Argentina, sambas and chacareras and things like that. But she also did a lot of Brazilian music and a lot of rock en Español. You know, it was always a pleasure to work with her. There are several songs, but if I have to mention one, it will be ‘Gracias a la Vida.’ That would be basically [be like] Sinatra's ‘My Way.’ You know. one of those [anthems].”
Piazzolla: Adios Nonino
12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic
EMI 85130
Franzetti: Through Fields into the Ocean (III. Chacarera)
Laurel Zucker, Allison Franzetti
Live at NFA 2024
Chabuca Granda: El Puente de los Suspiros
Franzetti, Studio musicians
Polygram 526354
Violetta Parra: Gracias a la Vida (live in Argentina)
Mercedes Sosa
Universal Music Argentina
