Metropolitan Opera Archives

"La Cene delle Beffe," the new opera of Umberto Giordano had its second performance at the Metropolitan Opera House last evening, when it seemed greatly to please the distinguished Monday night audience. There were numerous evidences of public interest, especially in the close attention with which the proceedings were followed, and the dramatic climaxes aroused plentiful and continued applause. The cast was that which adequately presented the work before and, with Tullio Serafin at the conductor's desk, the music was kept to a smooth and firmly knit whole.

The general consensus of opinion after the first performance was that Sem Benelli's drama was not seriously hampered by Giordano's music. The reason for this could easily be found in the composer's possession of that opera technic which seems to be almost a birthright and which is certainly in the very air of his country. Giordano knows how to go about writing an opera and, if he has nothing important to say, he at least knows when to write plain recitative, when to use lyric dialogue and when to halt action for an air.

Even in his technic he sometimes errs, for there are bits of concerted music, especially that in the prison scene, which quite fails to meet the moods of the scene. It is equally true that he frequently writes lyric passages which have no relation to the character of the text. They are melodious, pretty and singable, but they are not dramatic. But Giordano's music, even when devoid of dramatic point, is music of the theater. It is something that opera singers can use advantageously and with which they can win applause.

About the performance of last evening little can be said that has not been said before. Mr. Gigli had been to a hairdresser and looked less unkempt, more like a Florentine gentleman invited to an extraordinarily short banquet. His voice was not in its best state, being rough in the lower tones and sometimes tremulous in the upper, but still he was Gigli and an artist of large caliber.

Mr. Ruffo was in his element as Neri, the swashbuckler, brave and reckless, and he poured out his enormous voice like a genuine Bully Bottom, eager to roar like a lion and make the ladies cry, "Let him roar again." He is excellently suited to the part as it is made in opera and deserves all the applause he gets. Mme. Alda is equal to all the demands of Ginevra, and Ellen Dalossy has the deferred time of her life with the role of Lisabetta. Minor roles are admirably touched with deft characterizations by Messrs. Bada, D'Angelo, Pinto, Paltrinieri and Didur.

Search by season: 1925-26

Search by title: La Cena delle Beffe,

Met careers