Mino Maccari at La Scala
by Vittoria Crespi Morbio, The Circle of Desire
Appendices: biography; catalogue of works; chronology of performances
Amici della Scala – Grafiche Step Editrice, Parma 2021
Italian – English edition, pp. 238
The human comedy of Mino Maccari (1898-1989), his scathing imagination, his characters at times concretely aggrandized and at others poetically surreal, his flair as an unbridled and highly personal painter all reached their theatrical peak in Florence in 1964 with the triumphant return to the repertoire of Shostakovich’s The Nose, banned in the Soviet Union. Wild, mocking and amusing, the score – based on the Gogol story by the same name – marked a bitter chapter in the relations between the composer and the Soviet regime.
Alongside Eduardo De Filippo, in charge of its direction, Maccari was the set and costume designer behind its rebirth. With Bruno Bartoletti as conductor, the staging was also a success at La Scala in 1972.
In Milan, Maccari would return in 1974 for the Stone Guest by Gazzaniga, essentially a miniature Don Giovanni, made irresistible by the painter’s humorous style.