However fantastic Franco Zeffirelli's productions may have been, he should also be remembered for shortening the life of Samuel Barber after his treatment of "Antony and Cleopatra".
From the New York Times description of the première:
"Barber never quite got over it, and for the rest of his life he virtually lost his will to compose.
"The major villain of the piece has always been Franco Zeffirelli, who not only designed and directed the production but also prepared the libretto, adapting it from Shakespeare’s play. Barber may not have written a perfect opera, but there did at times seem to be another opera hidden beneath all the blinding glitter of a heaving extravaganza obviously meant to be the last word in operatic spectacle."
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