[Met Performance] CID:136890



Pelléas et Mélisande
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, February 18, 1944




Pelléas et Mélisande (38)
Claude Debussy | Maurice Maeterlinck
Pelléas
Martial Singher

Mélisande
Bidú Sayão

Golaud
Lawrence Tibbett

Arkel
Alexander Kipnis

Geneviève
Margaret Harshaw

Yniold
Lillian Raymondi

Physician
Louis D'Angelo


Conductor
Emil Cooper







Review 1:

Review of Miles Kastendieck in the Brooklyn Eagle

"Pélleas and Mélisande" Chalks Up A Sell-Out in Second Performance

"Pélleas et Mélisande" was a sell-out at the Metropolitan Opera House last night. In all probability this is the first time for that to happen in the almost 20 years since the Debussy opera was first mounted at the Met. Such news is exciting, for it means that a masterpiece which has been tolerated only for the artistic value it might bring to the Metropolitan repertory has finally caught the imagination and fancy of the public. It should never have been a liability, but the public has been long in recognizing its dramatic value and its unique beauty aside from the fact that it has always been one of the handsomest productions ever given at the Opera House.

A vivid orchestral interpretation directed by Emil Cooper and an excellently balanced cast with Martial Singher and Bidu Sayao as the ill-fated lovers may be attributed as the chief cause for this new interest. On second hearing, there is little doubt that the ensemble performance is superior to any other in its Metropolitan history. The new opera audience is ready for this kind of a show and, fortunately, "Pélleas et Mélisande" is in the hit class.

Better integrated than the first one, this performance acquired some of the illusiveness and poetry not too readily noticeable before and retained all its dramatic impact. The story may be that of the eternal triangle, but it is set in an altogether new atmosphere. Last night the music was sensitively played, enveloping the whole performance in a suffusion of beauty.

Mr. Singher's Pélleas is an outstanding portrayal of the role. He has the voice, the style and, above all, the feeling. All that happened on the stage last night was believable because of the intensity with which he and Mme. Sayao played their parts. The rest of the cast, including Margaret Harshaw, Lillian Raymondi, Lawrence Tibbett and Alexander Kipnis, gave admirable support.



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