An Encounter with the Queen

As mourners pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022, tributes and special remembrances from world and cultural leaders continue to come in from across the globe.

Riccardo Muti, the CSO’s Zell Music Director, was formerly chief conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra from 1972-82 and for his exemplary service was made an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II during a Royal visit to Milan’s La Scala in 2000. The meeting was recently highlighted by several Italian newspapers, including Ravenna’s Il Resto del Carlino, after the late queen’s passing. 

Muti shares the following reflections on their memorable encounter in an adapted excerpt from his autobiography First the Music, Then the Words. An Autobiography.

"During my years with La Scala, I had a marvelous encounter with Elizabeth II, queen of England. We met in 2000, as I was conducting a concert with a mixed English and Italian program that purposely included Elgar’s In the South (Alassio). After the applause, the strict protocol of Buckingham Palace required that I pay a respectful visit to the queen, but it was instead she who came to my dressing room; the route to get there was unbelievably long, twisted, and even dangerous for anyone over twenty.

I urgently asked Lord Weinstock how I should comport myself. Instead of ’Your Majesty,’ he suggested I say ’Ma’am.’ To my ears that sounded something like ’Mèemma mia!’ — the way an Apulian would say ’Mamma mia!’ — and I figured I’d have quite a time getting that out! I was embarrassed to say so, and then I heard the rustling sound of her retinue coming down the hall. I stood in the doorway and, remembering that there was a dangerous step right in front of my door, I started off by gesturing to the queen. While I mumbled something highly respectful, it was neither ’Ma’am’ nor ’Majesty,’ but rather — in the fear that she might trip — more or less the standard ’Attenzione, look out!’ 

The queen must have understood I lacked the proper manners, and the photos taken of us just then caught us both in irrepressible laughter. The meeting was supposed to last seven minutes, at first with Milan’s Mayor Albertini, and then just the three of us: the queen, the prince consort, and me (in recognition of the period I’d spent in London, I believe). But Weinstock and his wife came in as well, and we stayed behind closed doors for 23 minutes. She struck me as an unaffected woman, regal yet friendly with her interlocutor."

Adapted from First the Music, then the Words. An Autobiography 
Published by RMMUSIC in 2011, extended edition published 2019
Courtesy of riccardomutimusic.com