[Met Concert or Gala] CID:71570



Enrico Caruso 25th Anniversary
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, March 22, 1919




Enrico Caruso 25th Anniversary


In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Enrico Caruso's debut in opera.

GALA PERFORMANCE


L'Elisir d'Amore: Act II

Adina...................Maria Barrientos
Nemorino................Enrico Caruso
Belcore.................Antonio Scotti
Dulcamara...............Adamo Didur
Giannetta...............Lenora Sparkes

Conductor...............Gennaro Papi

Set designer............James Fox


Pagliacci: Act I

Nedda...................Claudia Muzio
Canio...................Enrico Caruso
Tonio...................Giuseppe De Luca
Silvio..................Reinald Werrenrath
Beppe...................Angelo Badà

Conductor...............Roberto Moranzoni


Le Prophète: Act IV

John of Leyden..........Enrico Caruso
Fidès...................Margarete Matzenauer
Zacharie................José Mardones
Jonas...................Rafaelo Díaz
Mathisen................Carl Schlegel
Choirboy................Minnie Egener
Choirboy................Cecil Arden
Choirboy................Marie Tiffany
Choirboy................Veni Warwick

Conductor...............Artur Bodanzky

Designer................Joseph Urban

Director................Richard Ordynski


Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March

Conductor...............Richard Hageman


PRESENTATION CEREMONIES

The Star Spangled Banner

Introduction by Mr. Otto H. Kahn, Chairman
of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Opera Company

Address by Mr. James M. Beck [Scheduled but not given. See Below.]

Presentation of the Flag of the City of New York under the direction of the Hon. John F. Hylan, Mayor, and the Hon. Phillip Berolzheimer, City Chamberlain.

Presentation Speech by the Hon. Richard E. Enright, Police Commissioner.

Response by Mr. Enrico Caruso.

Marcia Reale

[The presentation ceremonies were to include an address by James M. Beck, a prominent attorney and personal friend of both Otto Kahn and Enrico Caruso, but not of either John Hylan, Mayor of New York, or of William Randolph Hearst. According to press accounts, Hylan sent word just as the ceremony was to begin that he would withdraw from the program and forbid that his police commissioner give Caruso its flag if Beck appeared. Beck decided to withdraw and his address was not given.]







Review 1:

Review and Account of Sylvester Rawling in the Evening World
Caruso’s Jubilee Celebration at the Metropolitan

Enrico Caruso had his hour of triumph at the Metropolitan Opera House on Saturday night when Mr. Gatti-Casazza gave a gala performance in celebration of the unrivalled Italian tenor’s Silver Jubilee. It doesn’t much matter that Mr. Caruso made his operatic debut twenty-seven instead of twenty-five years ago. What does matter is that the presents given to him, that the honor conferred upon him by the City of New York in the gift of a Municipal flag and the thanks of the Police Commissioner for his aid in all war charitable purposes, and that the acclamation of the great audience which filled the auditorium to the last inch of capacity with hundreds turned away, was a tribute justly earned by Mr. Caruso for his generous use of the voice of a century, for his ever-growing artistic capacity, and for his personal graciousness and generosity.

Acts from “L’Elisir d’Amore,” “Pagliacci” and “Le Prophete” were presented with Mr. Caruso, of course, in the leading part of each. At the beginning he was not in good voice. Once even it broke on a note, an unprecedented thing for him, due, no doubt, to the excitement of the occasion, but he quickly recovered and he sang the “Una furtive lagrime” and the “Ridi Pagliacco” as none but he can sing them. Antonio Scotti, just back from his annual outing in Florida, was warmly welcomed in “L’Elisir d’amore.” Other principal singers were Marie Barrientos, Claudia Muzio, Marguerite Matzenauer, Leonora Sparkes, Didur, De Luca, Reinald Werrenrath and Bada. The conductors were Mr. Papi, Mr. Moranzoni and Mr. Bodanzky.

It was unfortunate that a discordant note upset the programme of the presentation ceremonies. Mayor Hylan, it seems sent word that if James M. Beck were permitted to speak the Municipal flag would not be presented. Mr. Beck graciously obliterated himself, and after a long delay, which caused the audience, ignorant of the cause, to manifest impatience, the curtain was raised upon a stage full of the company from prima donna to call boys. Otto H. Kahn said a gracious word in praise of Mr. Caruso’s voice and artistry, Police Commissioner Enright lauded Mr. Caruso’s generosity (incidentally paying a tribute to New York so fulsome that the audience went into fits of laughter) and presented to Mr. Caruso the Municipal flag, and Mr. Caruso made an acknowledgment of the honors conferred upon him that was eloquent because of its simplicity, the sincerity of his utterance and the emotional stress under which he labored.

The curtain was falling when the unexpected happened. Geraldine Farrar whispered to Mr. Kahn, made a sign to the stage hands to hold the curtain, rushed upon Caruso, threw her arms around his neck, kissed him fervently, and shouted hoarsely “Three Cheers for the Tiger of the Opera!” Of course the cheers were given; but was Miss Farrar paying a tribute to Tammany as well as to Caruso? And then Mrs. Caruso, only recently a bride, was looking on. Well, Miss Farrar is a remarkable woman. I had the honor of knowing Phineas T. Barnum, the famous circus man, and being a guest at his house in Bridgeport, Conn., where milk was the strongest beverage served. If he were living now his supremacy as showman surely would be challenged by Miss Farrar.


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