Sampans, le 6 juin 2004

BBC World lors d'une interview téléphonique d'un quart d'heure et le célébrissime journal londonien "The Guardian" ont salué la naissance et la première d'Orfeo Baggio, remarquant au passage que si Beckham avait les honneurs de la chronique rose et des magazines de mode, il n'était pas encore arrivé au stade où l'on inspire une pièce de théâtre. Too true, blue. (Article en langue originale suit).

Italian footballer feted in opera

John Hooper in Rome - Thursday June 3, 2004 - The Guardian

David Beckham may be feted in style mags and pursued by the tabloids. His name may have been used in a film title. But not even he has enjoyed the distinction that will tonight fall to the man sometimes cited as his Italian prototype.

Roberto Baggio, the pig-tailed Italian midfielder who won a following across the globe, is the central character in a new opera. Orfeo Baggio, which is to premiere in Besançon, France. An extract goes:

"Give me back my football.
"Without it, I do not exist.
"Without my football, I can say nothing"

The opera lasts for 90 minutes and the singer playing Baggio will wear a No 10 shirt from Brescia, the club he played for until the end of last season.

The libretto was written by Mario Morisi, an amateur footballer and fan of Baggio.

The work has echoes of Europe's first great opera, Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo, written in 1609. In an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Sera, Morisi said he saw several similarities between the imaginative playmaker and the master musician of mythology whose melodies could bewitch crowds.

"Both were enchanters of the masses," said Morisi. "Orpheus with the lyre, Baggio with the ball."

The plot of Baggio Orfeo involves a rape and murder of which the character is suspected. Parts of the libretto contain remarks made by Baggio during his career.


Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004