Meaningless titles: Muti joins the club
NewsThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association has named Riccardo Muti Music Director Emeritus for Life ‘beginning in the 2023/24 Season’.
Muti was recognized with the new artistic title during an onstage ceremony on June 23 at Orchestra Hall following the first of three performances of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, which mark his final subscription concerts as Zell Music Director.
You really couldn’t make it up.
This site revealed this absurd title a long time ago, on October 11, 2022. There must have been a leak at the time (I still wonder where all these CSO leaks come from).
In his vanity, Muti has always seen himself as one of the greatest of all time. (I know, it’s ridiculous, but believe me, it’s true). In particular, he fancied being appointed CSO Music Director for life in order to be seen as equal to Karajan, who was appointed for life at the BPO. He fought very, very hard to get there. Having failed to achieve this desperately sought goal (for many reasons, not last by getting on Sam Zelle’s bad side), and being the puerile pathological narcissist that he is, the Italian still wanted the words “for life” in this honorary title.
And that’s that. But despite the honorary title – which, among other pitfalls, displays an embarrassing lack of knowledge of the Latin language, which Muti loves to sprinkle his public persona with – the end of this sad era is a bitter, complete defeat of both Muti and the minority wings of the CSO orchestra and Board who wanted to keep him as music director beyond 2023. And a resounding, hopeful victory for the future of the institution. Muti is sidelined and reduced to making empty threats via the New York Times, still kicking and puffing to be seen as able to assert power over the choice of his successor (“If you choose somebody that really I don’t like, then I don’t know if I come back”). To the average observer, Muti is becoming less and less subtle, more clumsily disingenuous, and more and more deserving of at least some compassion, of the kind you offer to derelict dictators at the end of their journeys.
For all his limits, Alexander, supported by Gorno, has outplayed Muti and made him look like an unlearned schoolboy. As of August 31st, Muti will have lost all his music director power, with the exception of retaining the authority to make final tenure decisions for the musicians that he hired while he was still music director. Alexander, in his magnanimity, packaged two consolation prizes for him: first, Muti will be conducting 5 meager weeks of subscription concerts in Chicago in the next two seasons (vs the usual 20, excluding tours). Second, the special consolation and day filler for Muti tough weeks (while he will be nothing more than a symbolic if bothersome presence in Chicago) will be retained both locally, and will still brought on tour at the CSO’s expense (Gorno should do a reality check and list how many corporations who are her clients would tolerate a similar scenario).
Alexander (yes, the man belittled and humiliated by Muti so often in public) has shrewdly put the organization in the position to use the Neapolitan conductor for international tours, given that the CSO is having a very, very hard time finding a Maestro of caliber willing to step into the hot mess that the institution has become today. But the CSO president, definitely smarter than Muti, completely lacks leadership, vision, and courage. He will still pay Muti in the zone of $50K per concert, resulting in an astronomical annual payout of something in the zone of $1M annually for the next two years, for only 6 weeks of concerts per season.
The morale of the story? We are not sure yet.
But, for now, Ciao Muti, and good riddance.
Is your other cognomen Chicagorat?
Yes, and his mother lives upstairs on the main floor of the house.
By many accounts, Muti truly comes across as a nasty, distasteful character.
Recently, Woolfe wrote on the NYT:
{“The concert had ended, and Riccardo Muti, the music director of the Chicago Symphony, was walking out of Orchestra Hall when he saw a banner in the lobby and stopped in his tracks.
“Muti Conducts the Grand Finale of the 2022-23 Season,” it read. This was in May, with just a month of programs to go — culminating in performances of Beethoven’s mighty “Missa Solemnis,” June 23-25, which will mark the end of Muti’s 13-year directorship.
So when Muti, 81, began railing about the banner to his tiny entourage, it seemed like he must be joking: There could hardly be a grander finale to his acclaimed tenure. But it quickly became obvious that his anger was real.
“I told them not to write ‘grand finale,’” he said, grimacing. “It’s a finale? And then I’m back in September?”
The next morning, the offending banner was gone. His frustration was mostly silly, of course. The orchestra was just being factual in ginning up a little excitement at a climactic moment”}
This definitely fits a pattern. Another independent reporter wrote about Muti:
“Unfortunately, so are his high-handed ego displays and lording his status over staff and administration—from his public ridicule of CSO president Jeff Alexander to the fast-spinning revolving door of exiting senior staff, many of whom had been at the orchestra for decades. There’s little doubt that there will be a huge collective sigh of relief from CSO offices when Muti finally walks out the door at the end of this month.”
https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2023/06/the-riccardo-muti-era-at-cso-first-class-hires-memorable-opera-nights-and-bland-repetitive-programs/
5 weeks!!! That’s more than some MDs give to their orchestras!!!
Five weeks in two years.
I get the vague feeling you don’t like him.
Just try to listen to his Beethoven 9th on YouTube….it’s so flat, heavy and boring, nothing happens . He can be a good conductor sometimes or at least could But he’s often too stiff and rigid, he doesn’t let the music flow, so he ‘s almost never a great one. I am only talking symphonic répertoire, he was probably much less questionable at opera… about concerto, Richter was fond of him, but i suspect it was for extra musical reasons…
So, so true – that 9th is so hard to see through.
You know very well that you are the leak. They found out who you are IRL, and were going to shut you down (using legal means if necessary.). I thought Muti himself was going to put the lid on it – you know he can go a little overboard sometimes when he is, or feels like he has been, disparaged or insulted. I am not sure why it it didn’t play out that way. I guess at this point in his life, he believes he does not need to demean himself by reacting to “anonymous” critics.
Only 6 weeks in Chicago? After 13 years with so much time away from his family (yes I know he did not let that time go to waste), incalculable hours in too many long flights, hours in airports waiting, driving from and back to Ravenna (sometimes just to be there for a family occasion), adapting to the frigid temperatures of the Midwest, learning to live with Chicago “cuisine” instead of the exquisite simplicity of the Italian meals he has always loved, missing simple things like the pine trees of Ravenna, the olive trees of Molfetta, or the restorative power of Napoli and and it’s incomparable mare, so much time away from the sun, the people, the historical and cultural beauty of the country of his soul.
He does not *need* the CSO’s money or it’s headaches. He gave you some of his last best years.
Do you think that maybe, just maybe, he stayed with the CSO so long and looks forward to returning, because he actually grew to appreciate the mutual respect with the musicians and came to love them as part of his family? Cantare e amare. Basta!
If he dies before the beginning of the season, does it mean the title does’t count?
Or if he dies five years from now, will the title count after his death?
I think he got overoptimistic and might have shot himself in the foot there. Be smart, get a normal title now, while you still can.
What is so odd about this? Hasn’t he devoted his life to music?
Yes and done charitable work too such as concerts for prisoners and young children.
People who say this title is ill advised are mistaken and should promptly reconsider.
The literal meaning of the title is “having served one’s time” i.e., “retired”. But the metaphorical meaning, well attested in classic literature, is much more fitting and precise. “Done with; spent”. “Done with” or “discharged from running in the Circus” were the “emeriti equi” of Ovidian memory (Fasti, IV). And Muti, though clueless about all of this, would most certainly bow to Ovidius: as the lucky ones (so to speak) well know, you are one of Muti’s “special friends” when he urges you to read the Ars Amatoria, a sort of fetish of his.
The Italian Stallion, “Discharged For Life”. Just like the Ovidian horses. You’ve got to be intellectually numb to not see the poetic irony of this situation.
But back to business. At 7PM Central Time on Saturday, June 24, dozens of seats were still unsold on the CSO website for Saturday and Sunday’s Missa Solemnis concerts. These evenings had been touted by the anguished CSO, throughout the year, as priority events reserved for elect audiences. At some point, believe it or not, there was a botched attempt to manufacture a hype: one had to call a special number to put oneself on a phantasmal priority list. But many empty seats were there on Friday night, beckoning in the cyber ether, even as the Chicago Classical Review was in this special farewell occasion inclined to generous sugarcoating, declaring that “Friday night’s performance was perhaps stronger on the dramatic qualities than the moments of interior spirituality.”
The Italian Stallion has no longer been able to fill Orchestra Hall, for years, not even on his last farewell evenings and with generous reviews to prop him up.
From phantasmal priority lists to real ghosts. On Friday and Saturday nights, as the CSO was playing the Missa Solemnis, thrice each night spectral, eerie screeches were heard on Lake Michigan’s shore, brought forth by brisk westbound winds from far away, from the East, from the other side of the Atlantic ocean, from Europe’s ancient core.
Some say these supernatural sounds were the bellows springing out of that noble grave in Vienna. It was Beethoven, screaming out of deep terror from inside his offended grave.
The sounds were the NASCAR race that will be right next to orchestra hall.
That’s what’s drawing crowds to downtown these days. Nothing cultural.
Either crime mobs or Billy Bobs. And then it’s like the old days at the CSO when things were crowded there at 220 S Michigan Ave.
Muti was a disaster but the musicians like him.
“Dozens” of unsold seats? In a hall that holds 2,500? On a weekend in which road closures for the insane upcoming NASCAR race downtown have already made getting to the hall a nightmare? For “Missa Solemnis”, a towering but enigmatic work that has never exactly been a box office blockbuster? Pretty impressive, if you ask me. I was onstage. I saw very few empty seats, and heard absolutely no eerie screeches.
Sure Max. Blame the uneducated NASCAR fans. Blame the traffic, crime, the rain, the mobs, Al Capone, woke society, the invasion of Mormon crickets from Utah. Blame everybody but yourselves.
The real question is: with Muti gone, which music director will stand on the picket lines with you when your contract is up for negotiation? I think that was a once in a lifetime event, and I fear salary cuts are coming … Time top stop the entitled patronizing and think about a negotiating strategy.
In the future, you might take the trouble to read what I wrote before responding. I did not “blame the uneducated NASCAR fans”. In fact, I made no reference to NASCAR fans, and certainly did not denigrate their educational attainments. In fact, I didn’t blame anybody. I merely pointed out that our rodent friend could only find “dozens” of empty seats in a hall that seats 2500. Which sounds like a very healthy attendance to me. And this in spite of the fact that it is truly an ordeal to get downtown while so many streets are being closed for the NASCAR event. Whatever the education level of its patrons. Sorry I was going too fast for you there.
Needless to say, my colleagues and I discuss our options to replace Muti a fair amount. I have never heard anyone suggest that his successor’s attendance on a future picket line should be a consideration.
Good point. That last negotiation was a disaster with the old guard throwing the new musicians under the bud. Oooooof
Since you hate Maestro Muti so much why don’t you get yourself a more postive interest?
Saturday’s performance was well attended… 80%+ full. The chorus and vocal performers were exceptional. That said, the CSO was drowned out at times by the vocal power.
As a local, don’t forget, the City has wrecked access to the Loop (street closures) with NASCAR Street racing next weekend and work on the Kennedy. Driving in is a hot mess.
I’m not convinced that Muti was to blame for unsold out shows this weekend. For what it’s worth, I’m a long time subscriber happy to see Muti to go. We’ll eventually see an exceptional new Music Director no doubt. I do believe he just left the orchestra musically in a better place than when he started. The man is not bad, not at all.
Oh please, I tend to agree with most of your BS but this week’s concerts were very much full, scattered seats here and there and the Missa was actually well done. If you want to talk about someone screeching, it would have to be Schubert for the miserable interpretation of his ninth last week
I send you a big hug of brotherhood / sisterhood in our common fight
I was at that concert and I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was in the upper balcony and it was packed. There was no room in the orchestra and the boxes sold out So, take your doom and gloom somewhere else
I don’t know of any Emeritus title that is not for life, by definition.
So it’s pretty silly and screams of insecurity and need for recognition – which is surprising in conductor who, for better or worse, is well known.
It is not “useless” as he is committed to 6 weeks of concerts for the first two years ,followed by 4 weeks for the two subsequent years.
“The real challenge is to play Beethoven without the Teutonic emphasis.” (Riccardo Muti)
In this beautiful article, the great Maestro explains how Italian conductors, starting from Toscanini, understood Beethoven better than the Germans.
https://www.repubblica.it/venerdi/2019/12/27/news/ludwig_van_beethoven_250_anniversario_riccardo_muti-300801632/
The article is pay-walled, but Muti is quite right: Beethoven’s working life was spent in Austria, and Italian influences in Austria were much stronger than Prussian ones. The ponderous, grandiose, Beethoven we all know and love is the result of German nationalism.
B……t
Gotta call it when you see it
At the end of Daniel Barenboim’s tenure in Chicago, the musicians adopted a statement declaring Barenboim their “Honorary Conductor for Life”—I recall that Barenboim bragged about it from the stage at his final concert as Music Director. Now Barenboim and Muti can argue about which of them has received the least insignificant honor.
https://playbill.com/article/chicago-symphony-players-name-barenboim-honorary-conductor-for-life
So has DB ever returned?
When Pope Benedict retired, he became Pope Emeritus.
Did he feel the need to add “For Life” to it? Nope.
Did anyone doubt that the title was honorary, and for life? Nope.
So this is why Muti’s title is moronic.
I’ve attended many CSO throughout my life, many of course conducted by Muti. He should have left the orchestra a year ago but made an an exception and miraculously decide to continue one more season. Muti is a good conductor, a legend I would grant it, don’t get get me wrong, but so are the countless conductors who appear in front of the orchestra every weekend. I honestly don’t see any exceptional contribution to the orchestra by Muti to deserve such a pointless and insignificant prizes. he comes to Chicago maybe once a month but i don’t see a solid bond between the city and the orchestra I see him more like McDonald’s employee -I hope my example doesn’t offend anyone – but you ask for your food you pay for it, it might be good sometimes others not as good, you thank them and you leave – but a commendation to someone who simply does their job is unnecessary. Muti has always been in Chicago for the money the power and the prestige it gives. He was hired to do a job, which he did, period. Is the orchestra also going to build a statue or rename the hall after him?
Once CSO names a new MD, Muti will figure out so way to perceive that they have offended him and cut off all contact. That’s what he did in Philadelphia, which absolutely groveled before him at the end, and he was still miffed. As emeritus director he never conducted a single week, only returning for a single benefit concert.
The punch line is that the Philadelphia admin spent so much time kissing Muti’s ass in public that the average member of the audience had not idea what a coup the hiring of Sawallisch was.
I still have bad memories of Muti’s tenure with my beloved Philadelphia Orchestra. He consistently demeaned his audience. I see he has not changed. He is definitely not the greatest of all time, not even close.
See the Muti haters out again. I don’t care what anyone says, I’ve always loved Riccardo & can’t wait to see him in Europe later this year.
Who had the better title? Solti: Music Director Laureate; Barenboim: Honorary Music Director for Life; Boulez: Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus. Muti: Music Director Emeritus for Life? Muti almost got all of them.
There is something clearly broken about the way CSO has been intensely, almost grotesquely focusing on Muti in their advertising, as if there’s some sort of universal lovefest. I can’t help but suspect that a lot of the comments on social media lapping it up are shill accounts. From reading some of CSOA-insider’s comments, to the extent I can believe them, it seems like a fair assumption would be that the brass has ordered the marketing arm to do so so in order to try to get their (beyond substantial) money’s worth…. I’m grateful for these comments, at least, so I don’t feel quite so alone in my indifference towards him. I wish him a happy and healthy retirement, but I’ll be fine if he never conducts here again.
I rarely totally agree with Norm, but here we are.
Multi, while a fine conductor, left the CSO further in the rear view mirror than when he started. His tenure was unremarkable and uneventful. When people speak about the most interesting or innovative orchestras you’ll never hear someone say the CSO.
All the Alexander hate is tiresome and it misses the boat on who caught this boring fish. Who was the CEO who setup this house of cards?
MD Emeritus for Life is so absurd, it’s almost like they forgot about Solti.
He did a great Alassio
https://youtu.be/t-ZKmVHfgac
To all you Muti haters, I know for a fact the CSO players all worship maestro Muti, one even planned her maternity leave around the ‘Grand Finale’ concert! Classical music fans are surely a petty, opinionated lot.
1) To my knowledge nobody in the orchestra is currently expecting. 2) Majority of the orchestra wanted him gone for quite some time, it goes all the way back to 2019 when he got his first extension. There is a great sense of relief that it’s over. Next time check your facts with more reliable sources.
I stand by my facts and have video proof. Are we to believe you are really a “CSO violinist” by your internet handle? I highly doubt that!
Yes I am a CSO violinist, and whatever is in the video you have is hardly any proof of our adoration for the old man. Secondly, since you stand by your facts, please do share which member supposedly planned her maternity leave since not a single member in the orchestra is currently expecting? And since you question my identity and know everything better than an actual member of the orchestra you must surely know the orchestra had quite the baby boom happen recently. When exactly did this happen, how many babies were born, to whom and what are their names? Go!
Apparently you have reading comprehension issue.
I did not say anyone is ‘currently expecting.’
This female CSO player returned from her maternity leave in time for the Grand Finale concert. And what proof do we have that you are a real ‘CSO violinist’ other than your spurious claim on the world wide web?
Care to revise this statement, zandonai? LOL