Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

P rince of A sturias A wards 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.