Metropolitan Opera Archives

Mme. Farrar's Anita proffered much to praise. It was a discreet, rather than a violent personation. Her singing was of like description. Seldom has her personal charm asserted itself more than in the plain black dress of the peasant girl. There was no place here for those eccentricities and excesses of costuming which have been the rule, rather than the exception, in Mme. Farrar's operatic appearances of many seasons. In simplicity, it was a portrait to recall that of the Goose Girl. Vocally, she again exhibited the new measure of restraint that has characterized her singing this season, even to the point of being at times almost inaudible. Her high tones were free, and she colored the voice very skillfully, though the quality lapsed at times into that of recent seasons. Her embodiment of the heroine was a touchingly sympathetic if not a very compelling one. She limned an appealing picture, but not one of gripping power. Perhaps a rougher type is to be desired, but Mme. Farrar's refined and finely poised study was well worthy of the plaudits it won for her. She was recalled before the curtain many times and showered with bouquets.

The imposing bearing and fine French diction of Leon Rothier gave distinction to the role of Garrido. Giulio Crimi was a lachrymose Araquil and not in particularly good voice. The vocalism of the evening, saving only Mme. Farrar's, suffered from too much energy of attack in the effort to gain the desired intensity of utterance. Albert Wolff conducted as if the score were much better than this re-hearing proved it to be, and the orchestra responded nobly. Those who recalled earlier representations of the work agreed that there was less shooting and more music in this latest revival.

Search by season: 1921-22

Search by title: La Navarraise, Cavalleria Rusticana,

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