Tito, Hoffmann…
I continue studying Tito, I had some muscial rehearsals. I continue working on my technique with some excercises I got from Jeanette Favaro Reuter, with whom I had already a couple of lessons and I am so grateful for her kindness and positive energy she puts into teaching me.
It has been a nice thing to study Tito. Tito was emperor during the roman empire, he was in charge between 79 and 81 AD. His life and what he did before and during being emperor is really interesting and during his reign he was known for his piety among other things. Looking at the time line it seems he (Tito) and the great philosopher Epectitus who was a slave during Nero's reign were both alive during that time. My guess is that they met but I have not found anything yet that they crossed paths, but it seems to me very likely they met. I am very curious to know if Tito had a lot of influence from the stoic philosophy and philosophers from his time. When I read Seneca, I learnt that he (Seneca) was the teacher and kind of resposible for Nero's education, ironical is that one of the great philophers would be the teacher of such tyrannical man. Seneca knew of the dangers of Nero's personality and character, but Nero when became emperor was when really let himself go and commited horrible crimes against his people and himself. Seneca really try to soften Nero's urges and he did indeed several times helped, but Seneca knew he had to be extremely careful how to deal with such a volatile man. Later Seneca was clean off the path by Nero as well, despite all the years of service and loyalty. I think it is also very likely that Tito had influence or knew of Senenca, but I would like to know for sure. During the nexts days I will dig in, if they ever met, and what was the relationship between Tito, Epictitus and Seneca and hopefully next week I can write here about it.
Today I had another performance of Hoffmann, singing Spalanzani and Nathanael is fun and both roles are short. What I like is that during the show I can practise on the things I am working. I also have time to read a bit and just talk to my colleagues. But I am looking forward to finally, after few months, to really dig deeply into a role like Tito for our next production.
Take care and until next week.
