Metropolitan Opera Archives

Il Trovatore received three performances this season.
Theodore Reichmann repeated "Il balen" and Julius Perotti repeated "Di quella pira."

Review 1:

Review in The New York Times

METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE.

Verdi's "Il Trovatore" or as it becomes in the mellifluous tongue of the Fatherland, "Der Troubadour," was given for the first time this season at the Metropolitan Opera House last evening. The house was crowded, and the people in the boxes, especially on the left side near the stage, demonstrated very forcibly that it is not Wagner who makes them talk.

The performance was in general a good one, though it had serious defects. It may as well be conceded at once that Frau Sontag-Uhl is not a valuable addition to the forces of the house. Her Azucena was lamentably weak, and the more she is kept in the background the better the regular operagoers will be pleased. Her voice is very small and her singing painfully uncertain in method, and without dramatic force.

Fräulein Betty Frank was not as unsatisfactory a Leonora as one would have expected after hearing her Zerlina on Wednesday evening. She apparently has more voice than she then displayed, though it must be confessed that she resorts a good deal to forcing. Her vocalization is not especially facile, but she is wise enough not to attempt much in that line.

The men were all worthy of praise last night. Herr Perotti, though he is absolutely without mezzo voice, is one of the most satisfactory Manricos this public has heard in some time. His powerful upper register comes out with good effect in the duets and concerted numbers, and his high C can always be depended on. It was in good order last night, and his "Di quella pira" had to be repeated. He gave the audience two Cs the second time and Italian words.

Herr Reichmann was the Count de Luna, and was an exceedingly good one. This singer suffers somewhat from an oversupply of hands, with which be hardly knows what to do. But he knows now to display his rich, resonant voice to good advantage, and his "Il Balen" won a deserved encore.

The chorus discharged its duties in a commendable manner, and the orchestra, under the direction of Walter Damrosch, managed to struggle successfully through the complicated score.

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