[Met Performance] CID:42790



Le Nozze di Figaro
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, January 16, 1909 Matinee





Le Nozze di Figaro (41)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Lorenzo Da Ponte
Figaro
Adamo Didur

Susanna
Marcella Sembrich

Count Almaviva
Antonio Scotti

Countess Almaviva
Emma Eames

Cherubino
Geraldine Farrar

Dr. Bartolo
Concetto Paterna

Marcellina
Marie Mattfeld

Don Basilio
Albert Reiss

Antonio
Paolo Ananian

Barbarina
Isabelle L'Huillier

Don Curzio
Giuseppe Tecchi

Peasant
Lenora Sparkes

Peasant
Lillia Snelling

Dance
Gina Torriani


Conductor
Gustav Mahler







Review 1:

Unsigned review in The New York Times
“LE NOZZE DI FIGARO” AT METROPOLITAN
Mozart’s Work Revived for the First Times in Four Years
A FINE PERFORMANCE
Mr. Mahler Conducts – Mmes. Sembrich, Eames and Farrar, and the Messrs Scotti and Didur Take Part

Mozart’s comedy, “Le Nozze di Figaro” was given at the Metropolitan Opera House last night for the first time in four years. It had been newly studied under the direction of Gustav Mahler; there were several new singers in the cast, there was a new and very becoming stage setting and new costumes. The performance was one of the most delightful and brilliant that can be easily recalled; not so much in the excellence of the individual singers, though here, too, there was much to enjoy; but most of all in the finished ensemble, the vivacity and gayety that were infused into every scene, the dramatic verisimilitude with which the intentions of the composer were realized.


It was a performance such as there have been few at the Metropolitan Opera House in the way of precision and the elaboration of the finer details of the action upon the stage, the exquisite and delicate beauty of the orchestral part, and the skillful co-ordination of these factors in one impression upon eye and ear. Such a performance shows the dominating influence of a master mind filled with the spirit of Mozart’s music, as Mr. Mahler’s is, with an opportunity to achieve the results that he wishes. This “Figaro” had evidently been prepared with much care, and it was one that reflected the greatest credit on all who were concerned in it. The potent authority of Mr. Mahler was evident in it from the beginning to the end.


There have been performances in which individual achievements have been of a higher order that some of those that were heard last evening; Mme. Sembrich stood at the head of the cast in all that pertained to perfect art and command of the characteristics of Mozart’s vocal style, as well as in the sparkle and comic sprit of her acting. In such a part as Susanna she is still supreme and though her representation of it is one of the most familiar ones, it is always a subject for admiration anew.


She sang last evening with the utmost charm and pure beauty of style; and her impersonation was full of richness and mischievous humor. Mme. Eames and Mr. Scotti are also familiar members of the cast, as the Countess and Count Almaviva. Mme. Eames at first did not seem in good voice, but her singing gained in ease and in vocal quality before the opera had proceeded far. Both she and Mr. Scotti were admirably distinguished in ease and in vocal quality before the opera had proceeded far. For the first time here Miss Farrar appeared as Cherubino, and she was in many ways delightful in the part. She was a most neat and ingratiating figure for the eye, and with an abundance of spirit. Her singing was likewise excellent, though she has not in the highest measure the perfection of vocal art and the complete understanding of Mozart’s demands upon the voice in his music.


Mr. Didur’s Figaro cannot be measured with the best representation of the character that have been heard here. Though it was not inadequate. His vocal style is not entire equal to the music; his intonation was not always steadily upon the pitch, and his humor lacked the unction and the volubility that belong with the character. The lesser parts were all done in a manner that fulfilled reasonable expectation, and were all kept steadily in the picture. Of the delicacy and finesse, the tonal beauty and balance of the orchestral part under Mr. Mahler’s hands too much could hardly be said.


There was a new interest and a new beauty in the costuming of the opera which differed from what had been known here in previous years in being brought down to a later period – that of Louis XV. It was consistently carried out with results of striking beauty, as in the case of Mme. Eames in a blonde wig and a gown that made her look like an exquisite portrait of the period. The stage setting was likewise new and most attractive.


The public interest in this revival of Mozart’s opera was remarkably great; there was one of the large audiences of the season that enjoyed the performance and gave unmistakable manifestations of it.



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