I always felt the troika concept was worth a try. Gentele had many appealing qualities, and the division of labor seemed advisable given the scope of the operation. Even in his absence, the model of musical, dramatic, and administrative directors working as a team seemed promising. But any team model, especially without a clear chain of command, is entirely dependent on the personalities involved, and on some reasonable compatibility of vision. The immediate post-Bing years were miserable ones for the company, and after the departure of the unloved Dexter, Levine, an energizing and stabilizing force of undoubted dedication to the task, moved into the position he continued to occupy until his browsing in other pastures, his clear displeasure with the current General Manager’s priorities in repertoire and production, and the onset of his medical difficulties (all nearly concurrent), began to weaken his hold.  ^(I)

Wolfe’s article betrays some unease at the prospect of another music director assuming the kind of control, and inducing the intensity of unquestioning worship, that Levine enjoyed for many years. But New York’s mainstream press, and particularly Wolfe’s own publication, comes very late to this hunt. For many years, it maintained an unvarying pitch of cheerleading praise, sometimes embarrassing in its reluctance to examine or discriminate, for Levine’s conducting and personal influence, and showed no stomach for the pursuit of truth with respect to his alleged offenses. It fulfilled neither a considered critical role nor the Fourth Estate’s honorable investigative function. Now, with regard to artistic qualities, it seems eager to start the same process all over again with Nézet-Séguin. He, like Levine, takes the musical reins at a time of crisis. But he takes his place in a locked-in hierarchy, overseen by a General Manager who makes both the administrative and theatrical decisions. Short of a change in that, I don’t think we need worry about excessive power accruing to the musical director, who now deserves good will tempered by critical judgment.

This could have been the time for a sober, tough-love self-examination at the Met. The organization still behaves as if the model of the large-scale, long-season repertory company is not in peril. But it is, if only because the available singing talent, when spread over many productions in the course of an extended season, is simply not sufficient to vivify more than fitfully the masterworks of the artform’s maturity. Yet it is the fulfillment of these masterworks that is the only raison d’être for the maintenance of such an enterprise. That, in my view, is the contradiction the Met is going to have to face. Leadership structure is surely one of the  things in question. I like the idea of co-equal musical and dramatic directors, both answerable to an overall artistic director, who is himself co-equal with an administrative and development manager. But more important than any structure is a shared artistic philosophy and a held-in-common belief in how to work—things that were missing from any of the troika combinations, and which when present in the past have usually emanated from a single artistic mind. Felsenstein said—I’m paraphrasing—that an opera company should be run by either a very talented director with unusual musical knowledge (like him), or a very talented conductor with unusual theatrical knowledge (Mahler might be the exemplar). The Met’s too big in all senses, the extra-artistic demands too extreme, for that, even if such a genius should emerge. But that notion of cross-disciplinary understanding and unity of artistic purpose is what has to be found to create a company, as distinct from a producing organization. And a company is what will be needed, its talent and repertoire more concentrated, its season undoubtedly shorter, its vision more sharply focused.

To all appearances, the opportunity for fundamental choices has passed for the moment. But one feels it coming, unless events overtake us first.

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NEXT TIME: Roméo et Juliette is coming back! I’m not going! But I have some thoughts . . .