[Met Performance] CID:2200



Hamlet
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, March 10, 1884


In Italian



Hamlet (3)
Ambroise Thomas | Michel Carré/Jules Barbier
Hamlet
Giuseppe Kaschmann

Ophélie
Marcella Sembrich

Claudius
Giovanni Mirabella

Gertrude
Sofia Scalchi

Laerte
Nicola Stagi

Polonius/Horatio/Marcellus/Dance
unknown

Ghost
Achille Augier


Conductor
Auguste Vianesi







Review 1:

Review in The New York Times :

The Spring season of Italian opera at the Metropolitan Opera House was entered upon last evening, when Ambroise Thomas's "Hamlet" was represented. This elaborate work from the pen of the composer of "Mignon" was sung in this city about 10 years ago, while the scene occupying the larger part of the fourth act has been frequently rendered in the concert-room. It is doubtful if more numerous performances of the opera would have given it a more permanent hold upon the favor of Anglo-Saxon audiences than it now possesses, either here or in England. The German mind views with horror Gounod's attempt to transfer Goethe's immortal poem to the lyric stage, and an English-speaking public ought to contemplate with still greater dismay the endeavor of a composer of French opera comique to set to music Shakespeare's immortal tragedy. Gounod's task, indeed, was a lighter one than Thomas's, and, in fastening upon the strictly human and picturesque personages and incidents of the German drama and weaving them into a love story that accords with the popular Ideal, he brought forth -thanks, too, to creative power of a very high order - a score that could not fail to delight, per se, a miscellaneous musical assemblage. But "Hamlet" offers no such material to the musician. It might suggest to him a "character picture" after the fashion of the episodes in Liszt's "Faust"" symphony, and Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt, or Rubinstein would scarcely have failed to embody in a musical study the intellectual and emotional traits of the Danish Prince and of the fair Ophelia, and produce upon an audience alive to the significance of musical symbols an impression akin to that wrought upon the spectator who has listened to the play. Liszt, in fact, has composed a symphonic poem upon "Hamlet," but it is not to be reckoned among his happiest achievements. As the case stands, however, "Hamlet" has had no adequate lyric illustration or commentary. The elusive beauty of the work as a whole, the depths of thought to which it descends, the solemn atmosphere in which its characters move, and the passing eloquence and charm of its language place it, seemingly, far beyond the heightening touches of the composer. Of all modern writers, M. Thomas is perhaps least fitted to undertake the labor of transferring "Hamlet" to the operatic stage. M. Thomas is a man of taste and wide learning, but endowed with slight originality and power. He ranks far below Verdi, Gounod, Boito, and Bizet in respect of inspiration, imagination, and vigor, and all the contrapuntal skill in the world will not atone, in an opera or a symphony, for lack of creativeness, fancy, and muscularity. Granting at the outset, that "Hamlet" will never be set to music, it must none the less be conceded that the effort to accomplish impossibility may be more or less unsuccessful. No musician of recognized merit would be likely to fail more completely than M. Thomas has failed in the endeavor to Gallicize Shakespeare and bind the poet's creatures and words to the exigencies of tune and rhythm. The opera, in brief, is pretentious and wearisome. A few of the numbers commend themselves to the ear by their graceful melodiousness, and the fourth act is to be cited as the one portion of the score in which the poet has inspired the composer with something akin to the pathos and loveliness of the scene in the tragedy. But the oases are few and far between. A rather pretty duet between Hamlet and Ophelia in the first act; a fine dramatic outburst allotted to Hamlet at the close of his first scene with the Ghost; a romance, based on Scandinavian themes, and sung by Ophelia, in the second act; a drinking song for Hamlet, characterized by considerable rhythm and brio, and the whole of the fourth act make up the sum of notable passages in "Hamlet." The fourth act is altogether exceptional in point of originality and beauty of motives and tone-color. It did more toward saving the work from failure in Paris, even, than the remarkable performances of M. Faure and Mme. Nilsson, who were respectively the original personators of Hamlet and Ophelia. Mme. Nilsson, who was heard in "Hamlet" in this city 10 years since, occupied a box during yesterday's representation. With all kindness toward her fellow-artists, it may be inferred that the interpretation of Thomas's score did not impress her profoundly. The performance, however, was smooth and occasionally very effective. The honors were borne off by Signor Kaschmann, who portrayed Hamlet. It would be flattery to say that his personation reminded one of M. Faure, who is wholly unrivalled in the art of "composing" a character, but he sang with feeling and elegance and acted with unexpected and well-directed energy. Signor Kaschmann's drinking song was loudly applauded, and the charm and pathos of his voice and phrasing in certain parts of the opera - among which is first to be mentioned his adjuration to Ophelia (" Deh ! vanne in un chiostro ") - had prompt recognition. Signor Mirabella's sonorous tones were suitably telling in the music assigned to the King, and his brief soliloquy in the Queen's chamber, when Hamlet's dagger is suspended over his head, was capitally delivered. Few parts in modern opera are more thankless than that of the Queen, but Mme. Scalchi's noble voice and broad and earnest style redeemed it from insignificance and endowed its few striking portions with unexpected eloquence. The representation of Ophelia by Mme. Sembrich was not exactly a disappointment, but it cannot he accounted a particularly satisfactory effort. To expatiate upon the requirements of Ophelia in the course of a notice addressed to English-speaking readers would be impertinence. In relation to M. Thomas's lyric reproduction of Shakespeare's heroine it must in fairness be said that, in the last act of "Hamlet," at least he has been really felicitous in conveying a musical impression of the chaste beauty and sorrowful sweetness of Shakespeare's heroine., The music of this division of the opera is, as already hinted, of uncommon loveliness and weirdness, and a voice of ethereal quality, and a command of tone-gradations of the most complete kind are indispensable to its perfect interpretation. The brilliant timbre and extraordinary flexibility of Mme. Sembrich's voice, would have worked wonders in parts of the scene, but a lack of half-tints, a continuous metallic tone where a crystalline tone was wanted, and an utter lack of sentiment, ruined the effect of the composition for all persons cognizant of its demands. Mme. Sembrich's performance, in its entirety, suffered from the same causes. It was quite devoid of softness and refinement. The minor roles in "Hamlet" were in efficient hands, and the chorus and orchestra were in good form. The scenery was new and appropriate, and, to sum it up, as to ensemble, the entertainment left little to be wished for. It is to be regretted that the audience that witnessed it should have been so small; most of the boxes were tenanted, but the parquet was but half-filled, and the balcony and gallery were deserted.



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