[Met Performance] CID:88800

New Production

Falstaff
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, January 2, 1925




Falstaff (33)
Giuseppe Verdi | Arrigo Boito
Sir John Falstaff
Antonio Scotti

Alice Ford
Lucrezia Bori

Ford
Lawrence Tibbett

Dame Quickly
Marion Telva

Nannetta
Frances Alda

Fenton
Beniamino Gigli

Meg Page
Kathleen Howard

Dr. Cajus
Angelo Badà

Bardolfo
Giordano Paltrinieri

Pistola
Adamo Didur


Conductor
Tullio Serafin


Director
Wilhelm Von Wymetal

Set Designer
Joseph Urban

Costume Designer
Gretel Urban

Costume Designer
Adolfo Hohenstein

Choreographer
August Berger





Falstaff received eleven performances this season.

Review 1:

Review from The New York Times, 1/3/1925:

AMERICAN BARITONE STIRS OPERA HOUSE

Unprecedented Scene When Lawrence Tibbett Fails to Realize He's Made a Hit.

Gets Roars of Applause

"Falstaff" Audience Demands His Appearance After His Bow With Scotti, Singing Title Role.

By Olin Downes.

?The revival of Verdi's "Falstaff," last night in the Metropolitan Opera House, occasioned considerable excitement and was quite without precedent in the annals of the organization. The evening also produced the most brilliant performance that has been given in the opera house this season.

?The Falstaff was Antonio Scotti, whose art requires no description or laurels today. The Ford was the young American Lawrence Tibbett, who last season became a member of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and who has since advanced very rapidly as a singer and dramatic interpreter. At the end of the second act comes the scene between Ford and Falstaff, in which Ford becomes convinced that his spouse is actually plotting infidelity, and alone on stage, intones his monologue of suspicion and jealousy, "E sogno."

?This scene Mr. Tibbett delivered with a quality of vocalism and interpretation which constituted one of the highest points, and one of the strongest individual performances of the evening. As the curtain fell the house burst into prolonged applause. In response to the applause, which kept up and increased in volume for many minutes, various of the principals appeared. Then Mr. Tibbett and Mr. Scotti appeared together and received ovations.

?Audience Demands Tibbett Alone.

?At last it was evident that the audience wished Mr. Tibbett and none other for its attentions. But this singer did not come before the curtain alone.

?The commotion in the theatre increased. Some began to stamp, whistle and catcall. Cries of "Tibbett" came from various parts of the house. There was no response. For awhile no one appeared before the curtain; the lights were lowered and Mr. Serafin, the conductor, raised his baton for the next scene to begin.

?He found it impossible to proceed. Pandemonium grew. Even the elect in the boxes began to take more than a polite interest in the proceedings. The audience, justly or unjustly, had gained the impression that Mr. Tibbett was not allowed to come before them and receive their appreciation and had determined that the performance should go further until he had done so.

?It was Mr. Serafin who ended the business. He sent one of the orchestra players back stage to request that Mr. Tibbett be allowed to appear. The curtains parted, the young singer stepped to the front of the stage, bowed low and repeatedly to the excited assembly, and the performance proceeded. An American audience had decided that one of its own nationality should be properly recognized for his talent, and that ended the incident.

?Enthusiasm for Opera Comedy.

?It is a pleasure to relate that this episode was far from the only sign given by the audience of interest in the proceedings. There was surprising and contagions enthusiasm for the information masterpiece of operatic comedy....

?Was it the performance, which as a whole was of exceptional vivacity and artistic merit, which caught the audience last night, or has public taste developed in late years, and has the future for which Verdi composed his masterpiece come into view? It really seemed last night as if "Falstaff" had come into its own, as if on many occasions to come one could hope for opportunity revel in its spirit, its beauty and its consummate workmanship. Verdi laughs a masterpiece....

?The Falstaff of Mr. Scotti, who moved and thought fatly, who delighted the audience by his sententiousness, his unctuous pronouncements, his sly, leering sensuality, and whose "Quando ero paggio" was only one of a series of thrice admirable strokes of characterization, was by the same man who has impersonated Scarpia, the grim and towering villain of melodrama. Mr. Scotti not only acted: he made the most of the recitative and the melodic elements of his lines and observed a justness of proportion and significance of detail which added one more triumph to the many he has enjoyed.

?The two wives, Miss Bori and Miss Howard, were charming figures on the stage, and particularly in the case of Miss Bori, the most animated and feminine of actresses. Miss Telva's Dame Quickly, admirably sung, acted with the utmost humor, gave further and important evidence of her unusual talent. He voice and histionic ability were conspicuous. Mme. Alda was not fortunately cast, and was not impressive in interpretation.

?Mr. Tibbett gave a performance that was exemplary in its sincerity, its dramatic feeling, its justness of accent and its excellent vocal quality. He had shown in earlier performances - notably in the "Tales of Hoffmann" earlier in the season - his intelligence and his merit. He had last night the most considerable part we have heard him undertake and in that part demonstrated his entire fitness for it. He is evidently one of the important acquisitions of the Metropolitan company.

?The part of Fenton was sung by Mr. Gigli, with accustomed beauty of tone, yet not with the effectiveness which is his in roles more conventional and of more sustained lyricism. Mr. Bada's Caius and Falstaff's two rascals, impersonated by Messrs. Didur and Paltrinieri, added much to the liveliness of the occasion. These characterizations, as we have said, would have been remarkable, in many cases, by themselves. The crowning glory of the performance was its vitality and ensemble.

?The final feature was the conducting of Mr. Serafin, who exerted an authority, a flexibility and incisiveness of style in his reading which seemed to leave nothing in the score unrevealed. Not should there be forgotten the beautiful stage pictures of Josef Urban, especially those of the interior of the Garter Inn and the gardens of Windsor. This was a notable production of a great opera, and the greatest of the opera, for an exception in the annals of the art, was given its due by the audience.

Photograph of Lawrence Tibbett as Ford by Herman Mishkin.



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