[Met Tour] CID:48420



Aida
Théatre du Chatelet, Paris, France, Sat, May 21, 1910




Aida (156)
Giuseppe Verdi | Antonio Ghislanzoni
Aida
Emmy Destinn

Radamès
Enrico Caruso

Amneris
Louise Homer

Amonasro
Pasquale Amato

Ramfis
Andrés De Segurola

King
Giulio Rossi

Messenger
Pietro Audisio

Priestess
Cecile Roma

Dance
Gina Torriani


Conductor
Arturo Toscanini







Review 1:

Review :

There was a riot during the performance. According to Musical America for May 28, 1910: "The outbreak started in the first entr'acte, the disturbance being evidently the work of an unruly claque. During the entr'acte there were savage yells and catcalls, and when Toscanini took his seat and tapped his baton there arose a storm of shouting and hissing. Toscanini ignored the demonstration and started conducting. The rioters continued their uproar with cries of `A bas, Toscanini!' and `A bas, Gatti-Casazza!' and when the curtain arose not a note from the singers could be heard. The occupants of the stalls and boxes showed their disapproval of the disturbance by applauding, but this merely added to the bedlam.

"It was in this emergency, which it seemed would end in stopping the performance altogether, that the American contralto, Louise Homer, the Amneris of the evening, arose to the occasion and stilled the tumult. She began her solo with the utmost pluck and coolly continued it until in a pause in the uproar her tones rang out clearly. Never has she sung better, with more wonderful art, than she did tonight, and the effect, when she became audible, was instantaneous. The noise subsided and the audience fell completely under the singer's spell, and when she had finished gave her such an ovation as seldom comes to a singer."

Although both the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Ballet went to Paris, the Orchestra did not. Instead, an orchestra was recruited in Paris from members of the Colonne and Lamoureux Orchestras and rehearsed by Toscanini for a week. There was a Public Dress Rehearsal two nights earlier on May 19, 1910 before an invited audience.



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