P
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sturias
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1981-2014. S
peeches
5
Riccardo Muti
—
Prince of Asturias Award
for the Arts
2011
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for the Arts on
21/10/2011.
Naturally, everyone expects me to say that music is the most beautiful thing in the world, that
music brings people together, that harmony and beauty are essential in the world for it to keep
turning. That is what we always say; however, we live in [a state of] disharmony, strife, war, hate.
This means we must continue to keep striving for beauty to be attained and for good to triumph
over evil.
In fact, listening to the beautiful speech given by the great Leonard Cohen, I was reminded of
something important: the importance of encounters. Encounters: music is an encounter, the opera
is an encounter and these wonders that amaze us and awaken our passions later blossom from
these encounters. Naturally, my present task as a musician is not only to demonstrate whether I
am able —more or less— to conduct Verdi, Beethoven or Strauss, but whether through music I can
make these encounters lead to beauty and brotherhood.
That said —and I do not wish to insist on this because one can easily wax rhetorical [in this
respect]— I would rather take this opportunity to say, this evening, that everyone is thanking
Spain, but I also have to express my thanks because I am Neapolitan... (Good, you have laughed!).
When I was a child I lived in Naples and my mother told me, “Go for ham or cured sausage to
the Via Roma,” she did not say, “Via Roma”, she would say, “Go to Toledo.” Even today, in Naples,
the Via Roma is “Toledo” for Neapolitans. The most extraordinary neighbourhoods in Naples,
those representing authentic, passionate Naples, are called “Spanish quarters”. And the San Carlos
Theatre, the Teatro Real de San Carlos, which is —not because I say so, but because everyone says,
I am afraid— the most beautiful theatre in the world, was built on the instigation of Carlos III
de Borbón. What does this mean? That the relationship between Naples and Spain has been an
extremely important, strong and meaningful relationship.
