Metropolitan Opera Archives

The librettos and programs proved "windfalls" as substitute fans in the hands of the sweltering spectators, but even though the temperature in Municipal Auditorium was almost unbearably warm and humid, the near 4,000 members of the audience Monday evening put the Metropolitan Opera Company's "Marriage of Figaro" in the category labeled "superb."

Ezio Pinza, the Met's unsurpassed bass-baritone, proved the truth of Time Magazine's accolade, "the greatest bass-baritone of his generation," in supplying the dominant role of the opera as the quick-witted, lighthearted Figaro. His exquisite resonant voice, so richly endowed with volume and so deftly assured in its technique, provided the pivot for the entire production.

Not less brilliant, if somewhat less glittering, were the performances of Met pets Bidu Sayao, Eleanor Steber and John Brownlee in their principal roles in this gay comic opera of Mozart. Each supplied the fine musical threads required to produce the rich vocal tapestry which gave San Antonio its local introduction to the Metropolitan Opera on Tour.

Miss Sayao's portrayal as Susanna, maid to the regal countess, won repeated praise from the audience which far exceeded that bestowed on the Brazilian soprano in her concert appearance here earlier in the season. Miss Steber, as the Countess, fulfills the claims to superiority which critics throughout the country have bestowed upon her ever since her 1940 debut at the Met, and Brownlee, swaggering through his role as the velvet-clad Count Almaviva, lends his share of artistry to the performance.

Of equal stature, to that great majority of San Antonio's opera-goers who form such a staunch number of Rise Stevens fans, was the performance of this top-ranking mezzo-soprano in the appealing role of young Cherubino, a page in the Count's household. In former opera appearances here, Miss Stevens had already won a great local following, but her excellent performance, and her second act aria of Monday evening proved beyond doubt that such a voice can win acclaim even without the colorful costumes and sprightly arias of Bizet's "Carmen," in which she first made such a smash hit here.

But it was Pinza's show, all the way, from his initial appearance in Act I, with the angry, "se vuol ballare," and the light "non piu andrai," to the antic-filled musically gay final act.

One cannot evade something of a comparison between this first, and eminently successful, appearance of the time-honored Metropolitan Opera, sponsored here by Friends of Music, and the locally produced Grand Opera Festival of last February. Any comparison finds local opera lovers greatly enthusiastic over both, with an unspoken hope that such fine efforts will continue. The Met orchestra provides a fine accompaniment to the stellar cast of the touring company, and the costumes are exquisite. The scenery for Monday night's performance is somewhat less lavish and imaginative than those of our Grand Opera Festival, but they are more than adequate as backdrops for the unexcelled voices which provided such a splendid evening of opera on such a toast-warm San Antonio evening.

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