[Met Performance] CID:99020



L'Amore dei Tre Re
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, March 26, 1928




L'Amore dei Tre Re (48)
Italo Montemezzi | Sem Benelli
Fiora
Lucrezia Bori

Avito
Edward Johnson

Manfredo
Lawrence Tibbett

Archibaldo
Ezio Pinza

Flaminio
Angelo Badà

Maid
Mary Bonetti

Young Woman
Mildred Parisette

Old Woman
Dorothea Flexer

Youth
Giordano Paltrinieri


Conductor
Tullio Serafin







Review 1:

Review of Pitts Sanborn in the New York Telegram

'L'Amore di Tre Re' Ends Its Strictly Limited Run

Bori, Johnson, Tibbett and Pinza Appear in Montemezzi Opera

Only two performances for "L'Amore dei Tre Re" in an opera season of twenty-four weeks seems a surprisingly feeble showing for the Metropolitan. Montemezzi's score possesses a definiteness of character and a musical fastidiousness that very few operas of the twentieth century can boast.

Even if the actual material of the music is largely derivative, the individuality and the treatment and the harmonic and instrumental distinction which are peculiar to Montemezzi give this lyric tragedy a niche by itself. And in spite of the obvious influence of Wagner and of certain French composers the score is intensely Italian (as it ought to be, in view of the text) - specifically Italian of the Renaissance, even as Italian, if you like, as the city of Florence itself!

Moreover, if audiences are so mistaken as to be insensitive to the power, pathos and fascination of the music, they must recognize in Sem Benelli's drama, which it sets with such an intimate appropriateness, an opera libretto that is ideal in its language and in its swift, engrossing, pictorial action. Furthermore, "L'Amore dei Tre Re," and "Fidelio," on the other hand, are short enough to be enjoyed to the top of one's bent in a single evening. The wonder is, then, that the public does not cry for them continually!

The opera of Italy forty years after a "barbaric" invasion (to quote the eminent lexicographer of the Metropolitan's official program) enjoyed last evening one of the best performances that has ever been its lot on our lyric island. To begin with, Mr. Serafin conducted it with all his mind and all his strength and all his soul, and the orchestra played for him with a neighborly love. Then Miss Bori as Fiora, Mr. Johnson as Avito, Mr. Tibbett as Manfredo and Mr. Pinza as Archibaldo were in the best of form, as well as cast for congenial roles.

One suspects on the part of Miss Bori a close study of the flaming Fiora of Miss Mary Garden. At any rate, the Spanish soprano now has added to the flowerlike loveliness which has marked her Fiora from the first a fire and a passion of utterance and action which make of the distracted princess one of her most engrossing portrayals.

Mr. Johnson is undoubtedly the most romantic Avito seen here since the incomparable Ferrari-Fontana, and Mr. Tibbett histrionically - particularly in his expression of youthful consternation and pain - far surpasses any other Manfredo that I have seen. His voice in the upper portion of his scale last evening was superbly resonant. Lower down his production of tone was somewhat more problematic.

As for Mr. Pinza, his embodiment of the blind king, with his obscure and malign passion is both the most majestic and the most terrible that New York has witnessed - quite apart from the magnificence of his singing. A generous and enthusiastic audience was profuse with its applause, giving Miss Bori a deserved ovation at the conclusion of the second act.



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