[Met Performance] CID:8130



La Juive
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, December 20, 1889


In German



La Juive (16)
J. F. F. Halévy | Eugène Scribe
Rachel
Lilli Lehmann

Eléazar
Paul Kalisch

Princess Eudoxie
Betty Frank

Prince Léopold
Albert Mittelhauser

Cardinal de Brogni
Emil Fischer

Ruggiero
Joseph Arden

Albert
Jean Doré

Dance
Margaretha Urbanska

Dance
Miss Louie

Dance
Josefine Ambroggio


Conductor
Walter Damrosch


Director
Theodore Habelmann





Translation by unknown
La Juive received three performances this season.

Review 1:

Review in The New York Times

METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE.

Halevy's "La Juive" was reproduced at the Metropolitan Opera House. The audience was large and enthusiastic and the revival may be pronounced successful. There is an abundance of good material in this opera. In dramatic directness and force it is very much the superior of such flimsy works as those of the Bellini and Donizetti types. The duet between Rachel and Leopold in the second scene and the trio which closes the scene are good specimens of dramatic writing of the French school.

The performance served to bring Lilli Lehmann forward once more in one of those parts which she adorns. Her Rachel is a noble piece of work. The more one hears her the more one is convinced that she is one of the greatest living singers. And her gifts are only equaled by her conscientious employment of them. She never slights a single phrase, but does her work all the time with unfailing art, rolling out the sonorous tones of her splendid voice with perfect judgment, with unerring dramatic skill, and without stint.

In last night's performance she had two solo coadjutors. They were her husband, Paul Kalisch, who appeared as Eleazar, and Emil Fischer, who was the Cardinal. Like Mme. Lehmann, those two men are first, last, and all the time singers. Kalisch is proving himself a very valuable acquisition to the company. It is a genuine comfort to sit and listen to him pour out his music. He sings always in tune, always with the most admirable phrasing and always with artistic style. He has not quite the power for a part like Eleazar, but his dramatic feeling is very strong, and last evening he did not spare himself. He fully earned the hearty applause which was bestowed on him.

As for Herr Fischer it is only necessary to repeat what has been said in these columns before - that he is certainly one of the greatest living basses. No one could doubt that for a moment after hearing his imposing delivery of the Cardinal's [first] solo last evening, The Leopold was Herr Mittelhauser, who was sadly overburdened, but who at least had the merit of singing the notes set down for him, a feature which was conspicuous by its absence from last year's performances of "La Juive." Fräuleln Frank sang Eudoxia acceptably.

The spectacular opportunities of the opera were not neglected, and the Emperor and Empress made their entrée on horseback amid a goodly crowd of loyal subjects. The ballet contributed its share to the optical pleasures of the evening.



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