[Met Performance] CID:29020



Le Cid
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, February 19, 1902




Le Cid (8)
Jules Massenet | Adolphe Énnery/Louis Gallet/Édoard Blau
Don Rodrigue
Albert Alvarez

Chimène
Lucienne Bréval

Infanta
Suzanne Adams

Don Diègue
Edouard de Reszke

Count Gormas
Marcel Journet

King
Charles Gilibert

St.Jacques
Jacques Bars

Moorish Envoy
Eugène Dufriche

Don Arias
Roberto Vanni

Don Alonzo
Lodovico Viviani


Conductor
Philippe Flon





Le Cid received four performances this season.

Review 1:

Review in the New York Tribune

The return of Mme. Bréval to the Metropolitan Opera House forces brought with it last night a revival of Massenet's "Cid." All that was revivified apparently was the opera; public interest remained moribund. Not much else was to have been expected by those who have followed the vicissitudes of Massenet's work in New York. It came to us in February, 1897 under peculiar circumstances.

Jean de Reszke was a member of Mr. Gray's company, and so was Mme. Litvinne, who was M. de Reszke's sister-in-law's sister. M. de Reszke was the representative of the hero at the original production of the opera in Paris in 1885. In the company were also M. Edouard de Reszke, the original Don Diègue, and Mr. Plançon, the original Gorman. There had been trouble with the dramatic prima donna of the preceding season, and Mme. Lttvinne had come to the rescue. Nobody knew then how excellent she would prove to be, but she was familiar with the part of Chiméne, and M. Jean de Reszke was willing to live his first success as a tenor over again, and so "Le Cid" was incorporated in the Metropolitan repertory. M. Lassalle's patriotism leading him to assume the role of the King. But despite this notable effort the opera was performed but twice in the season.

It slept till last year, when it was revived for Mlle. Bréval and Mr. Jean de Reszke. The performances, three in number, were admirable, as was that of last night but the public could not discover the beauties which one naturally associates with the heroic old ballads that tell of the deeds of the Campeador and the name of Massenet. The opera failed to win its way to the popular heart. Outside of the ballet music, the charm of which has long been acknowledged in the concert room, the understanders of good music found in its chief moments only a pale reflex of Meyerbeerian measures and in the rest pretentious and frequently blatant commonplace. A sixth hearing does not suggest the need of amendment of this opinion, that a sixth representation increased admiration for the fine dramatic features of Mlle. Bréval's singing and acting, while leaving a feeling of regret touching the too obvious defects of her vocalization. Mr. Aivarez finds a part much to his liking, and fashioned to his heroic style in the rôle of Rodriguez, and its ruder elements are forcefully presented by him: but he is not loftily chivalresque, and in the first act he persistently offended the ear with false intonation. Mme. Adams (Infante) sang the "Allelula" most graciously and musically. The part of the king was lifted to the plane on which it moved five years ago by Mr. Gilibert, and Mr. de Reszke was, as always, a noble, dignified Diègue, orotund and impressive of voice, aristocratic in bearing.



Search by season: 1901-02

Search by title: Le Cid,



Met careers