Metropolitan Opera Archives

"La Traviata" ushered in the second week of the season at the Metropolitan Opera House last evening. The reentry of the popular opera served to reintroduce to this public Claudia Muzio, a soprano who was a favorite of earlier winters. She had been heard at the Metropolitan for the last time on 4/21/22 at the final matinee of the season....Mme. Muzio was received clamorously last evening. She was recalled after each act, and even in the middle of acts. There was some substantial reason for rejoicing. Her voice retains so much of its fresh and juvenile character, and her singing so much of the spirit which animated it a decade ago that it was a pleasure to listen to her delivery of the familiar melodies, despite some lapses from the pitch and a colorature not flawless in articulation nor fluency. Mme. Muzio interpreted the pathetic scenes with great earnestness and with liberal employment of tearful utterance. Her audience rewarded her with unmistakable approval and manifestly forgave some peculiarities of style and singularities of tone. Her return must be pronounced successful, and she will probably be heard in other roles with pleasure quite as great as that of last evening.

Tito Schipa was the Alfredo. His highly cultivated art always delights lovers of good singing, who can appreciate the excellence of his phrasing, the nicety of his diction, and the correctness of his style. He was awarded his full share of the honors of the evening by that part of the audience which announces its verdicts in stentorian tones. Richard Bonelli was dignified and sympathetic as Germont the elder. He sang "Di Provenza" to the satisfaction of his hearers. The other personages in "La Traviata" are of minor importance. However, it is always good to see Alfredo Gandolfi as the Baron. Mr. Serafin conducted with as much devotion as if the burdens of a Wagnerian music drama were resting on his conscience.

Review 2:

Review of Hubbard Hutchinson in The New York Times

Mme. Muzio was a charming Violetta. Her convincing projection of the role was due in part to her delightfully supple and easy playing and her beauty, but even more to the musicianship with which she endowed her portrayal. The vocal line was always clear, plastic, excellently phrased. It embodied, moreover, the grace and fluency inherent in the music and the situation of the drama.

The pianissimo and piano singing were particularly admirable, for Mme. Muzio knows how to project a slender thread of tone through the heavier timbres of the orchestra; a tone, moreover, warmly silvery in color and delicate without fragility. Unfortunately, her forte singing had not always this quality. She sang louder than was necessary in climatic moments (for the voice carries splendidly), and as a result the tone grew coarse and forced. Such moments, however, were in the minority. Her performance as a whole roused and held the imagination.

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