[Met Tour] CID:101530



Il Trovatore
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, Brooklyn, Tue, February 19, 1929




Il Trovatore (166)
Giuseppe Verdi | Salvatore Cammarano
Manrico
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Leonora
Leonora Corona

Count Di Luna
Giuseppe Danise

Azucena
Marion Telva

Ferrando
Ezio Pinza

Ines
Minnie Egener

Ruiz
Giordano Paltrinieri

Gypsy
Arnold Gabor


Conductor
Vincenzo Bellezza







Review 1:

Review of Felix Deyo in the Brooklyn Standard Union

AN ENJOYABLE 'IL TROVATORE'

Verdi's "Il Trovatore" was sung in the traditional style last night by Maestro Gatti-Casazza's Metropolitan Opera Company before a distinguished audience at the Academy of Music. This hardy perennial always has fresh beauty. The familiar score, the lyrical arias, the melodic duets and trios, the flamboyant gestures, the tragic motif, all offer bases for comparison to the initiated. Yet, the triumphant sweep of the music, and the virtuoso efforts demanded of the singers, make for a notable evening when the opera is done according to the traditions.

It is well to recorded that Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, the young Italian tenor, matured in experience but with a future still beckoning, sang with graceful ease in the softer passages, and, in a measure, a restrained quietness even in the more florid movements. Disregarding for the moment the enthusiastic bravos of his countrymen, Volpi gave the impression that he was holding himself back. Not an entirely heroic figure, not even a pathetic one, to suit the action of the play, he sang as if to have you understand that the time was not yet to lend wings to the flight of his really melodic voice.

In the well-balanced production so much a part of the Metropolitan's maturity, Volpi was in good company,. Leonora Corona, talented American, with ability and feeling, was the Leonora of the opera, lovely and in good voice. In the time she has sung her several roles since her advent into grand opera ranks, musicians have noted the peculiar cast in the middle register. So, last night, it was again noticeable but in no way to the detriment of her splendid florid dramatic performance.

Due to the indisposition of Mme. Julia Claussen, Miss Marion Telva sang the role of Azucena, and in a manner entirely creditable. In the half light of the grey background she is required to obtain finesse through her singing rather than through any emotional qualities expressed through her acting. This it appeared she did to complete satisfaction.

As a veteran, skilled in the part, Giuseppe Danise carried on. His baritone possessed a tenor-like quality in the rendition of the "Il balen del suo sorriso" (The Tempest of the Heart), a genuine and heartfelt melody, regarded as one of the finest in the operatic baritone anthology.

It would be trite to say the remainder of the cast was adequate. The chorus, with three quarters of a century to look back upon, could not but choose to sing in unison.

Once the scenery, supposed to represent massive walls, trembled like a leaf, but to mention this is to be carpingly critical of an even, sustained and carefully directed performance. Vincenzo Bellezza, confrere of Toscanini and Serafin at La Scala, conducted in the approved Latin method.



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