Metropolitan Opera Archives

The first "L'Amore dei Tre Re" of the season is always an event for admirers of Montemezzi's little masterpiece, and this fact was emphatically demonstrated on Monday night of last week. The audience filled the seats and thronged the rails, eager for the performance that was to bring forward Lucrezia Bori as the hapless Fiora. To many, Bori is the ideal Fiora, the creature of circumstance drawn with such deft strokes by Sem Benelli. Her picture of the girl wife caught in the mesh of an overwhelming love, torn by an agony of feeling evoked by the husband from whom she has turned away, is something memorable; something of a tragic beauty rare to the opera stage. Simple in its essentials, her performance all the more surely touches the intensity of this primitive melodrama. She is a scarce understanding Fiora, plunged into the swirl of impassioned events, and she enlists the sympathy of her audience for the pity of it all.

One may form a different idea of Fiora from the libretto, but Bori's art is of the kind that makes her portrayal convincing. She has sung better than she sang on this latest occasion, but the blemishes were of a minor nature; a little hardness of tone here and there, a little uncertainty. Thrilling she was in the climax of her tragedy, and if the scene played less effectively than at other times it was not her fault. With the exception of certain portions this was not an entirely adequate presentation of the opera. José Mardones was splendid in everything he did. He made a striking figure, indeed, of the blind Archibaldo, and his voice was at its best. While Giuseppe Danise brought no romantic distinction to the part of Manfredo, he accomplished some really beautiful singing. His scene with Fiora in the second act was very finely done, his soft tones, keyed to the emotion of the moment, seeming to enfold the object of his adoration. Giovanni Martinelli, in the guise of Avito, infused the addresses of a lover with more vigor than tenderness. He was not happy in accomplishment and indeed seemed scarcely at ease. Avito is a role that does not lend itself to the robust attack of Mr. Martinelli.

Mr. Moranzoni manifestly regarded his work as conductor as a labor of love. The play of light and color that is the orchestral portion of "L'Amore dei Tre Re" was richly evident. The instrumentalists brought ardor to their work, and music came glowing from the pit, swelling with passion, tossing a proud medieval fanfare to the battlements, sobbing for the sad tale of Fiora. The chorus also did excellent work. Wanting in some respects, this first presentation of the Montemezzi work this season was more than satisfying in others.

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