Erna Metdepenninghen, a name that resonated in the wide world of opera, both in her own country and certainly abroad, like that of a diva, even though she didn't sing. It is difficult, if not impossible, to name a critic who could position herself so centrally in the international opera world as Erna. You understand, therefore, dear readers, that it was a great honour for Klassiek Centraal when she herself proposed in 2011 to write reviews of opera outside our country for us, on a purely voluntary basis. "And also about OdeGand (Festival van Vlaanderen Gent) if I may?". Of course you may!
Erna Metdepenninghen unexpectedly left this world on 6 March 2025. And how we will miss her! Without Erna, no reviews would have appeared in Klassiek Centraal about the annual Wagnerfestival in Bayreuth, nothing from the Scala in Milan, nothing from Salzburg and other major opera houses. Her passing means a direct loss for our magazine, but there is more. With her, not only a remarkably colourful personality is lost—someone you literally and figuratively could not overlook—with her, the world loses a walking opera encyclopaedia. Her knowledge was admirable, not only in terms of facts and opera history, but also about every possible opera voice imaginable. She had only to hear half a sigh from someone to launch into an extensive account of who it was, where and how that sigh had been sung, and whether the performance was successful or not.
Remember, for example, her delightful contributions, full of passion and vivid storytelling on BRT3/Radio3/Klara. She inspired me to review opera from time to time. Her way of working was inspiring. Independent, free-thinking, yet with full respect for the work, the composer, the libretto, the period of creation, for the performers. Less so sometimes for certain forms of contemporary bizarre stage direction and the way opera house directors and intendants operate, but I could not fault her for that. Quite the opposite…
Erna absorbed opera as it were from the cradle. Her father, author Arthur Metdepenninghen, was an opera and theatre enthusiast who was very active in that world and went to great lengths for it. Together with Gerard Mortier and his daughters Erna and Vera, he was behind the founding of Jeugdopera. The household of Arthur must itself have been an opera, especially when Arthur remarried with the well-known opera singer Lola di Vito.
Erna Metdepenninghen did more, much more than review opera at home and abroad for radio, newspapers, magazines in multiple languages. She wrote texts for books, contributed to academic studies, gave lectures, shared in the concerns of both well-known and lesser-known figures, and took numerous initiatives not only to engage a familiar audience, but especially to introduce young people to classical music in general and opera in particular.
Once I said to her, in a spontaneous moment – it was at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie when it was still under the direction of Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, may he rest in peace – "Erna, you are a true opera diva, you cannot deny that!". "Oh no, haha, I don't sing!". Really? Didn't she sing? Didn't her spoken and written contributions sound like music, like arias to the ear? Yes, didn't they? Farewell Erna, yes, you were a Diva, with a capital D!
Ludwig Van Mechelen
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Foto Opening bibliotheek International Opera Academy 16 juni 2022[/caption]
Roger Creyf on Erna Metdepenninghen
She always enjoyed telling how she founded "Youth and Opera" with Gerard Mortier, a youth initiative to involve young people more in opera activities. Many music lovers know her from articles in the newspaper and commentaries on Klara. And yes, she never minced her words. She wrote her opinion freely and frankly, and that didn't always go down well with opera intendants.
When her newspaper, De Standaard, underwent a rejuvenation in 2004, she was practically forced to step aside. And that hit her hard, and she didn't hide it. But of course she continued writing for media at home and abroad. Because Erna travelled to opera houses throughout Europe. With her imposing stature, she was not only a striking figure but also a welcomed and appreciated one.
I personally got to know her when I became a member and later secretary of the Association of Belgian Music Press/Union de la presse musicale belge. This Association, founded in 1953, awards its Caecilia prizes each year for the best CD productions of the past year and each year also the Prize for Young Musician of the Year. Erna became its chairman in 1990, and under her leadership, the association experienced its flourishing period.
The awarding of those prizes was always a festive occasion, and she even managed to book Cecilia Bartoli as a guest at one of those events, held in the prestigious buildings of the Royale Belge, Gemeentekrediet, BOZAR, Flagey and De Munt. She remained chairman until 2006 and afterwards of course honorary chairman. But she still came punctually to the General Assemblies of the Association. Just recently in January, she drove her car from Gent to that "busy Brussels" and that "difficult parking" at Flagey to attend our general meeting in the evening. There, as always, she freely commented on the state of affairs in the opera world.
She was not fond of critics who, in her view, paid too much attention to direction and staging and too little to the quality of the voices and the music. And Erna would certainly have placed a critical note regarding De Munt's latest initiative to make opera more accessible to young people by dividing a De Munt production (Tosca) into 403 short bite-sized pieces for the digital youth platform TikTok. But admit it, everything changes, including a life without Erna Metdepenninghen.