[Met Performance] CID:146230



La Bohème
Metropolitan Opera House, Tue, December 2, 1947




La Bohème (406)
Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa
Mimì
Claudia Pinza

Rodolfo
Jan Peerce

Musetta
Frances Greer

Marcello
Frank Valentino

Schaunard
Hugh Thompson

Colline
Nicola Moscona

Alcindoro/Benoit
Melchiorre Luise

Parpignol
Lodovico Oliviero

Sergeant
Lawrence Davidson


Conductor
Pietro Cimara







Review 1:

Review of Francis D. Perkins in the Herald Tribune

"La Bohème" Sung

Claudia Pinza Takes Role as Mimi at Metropolitan

Claudia Pinza, who made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House two weeks ago as Micaela in "Carmen," sang her first Mimi in this theater in last night's performance of Puccini's "La Bohème." Her interpretation of the role was competent from a vocal and histrionic point of view; she sang with satisfactory volume, and the quality of tone was usually pleasing, especially in a warm-hued lower register. In the top notes, there was some slight spreading of the tone in the first act; this was seldom noticeable in the third, in which the young soprano's singing was generally commendable, apart from a mild hardness of the tonal timbre in a few of the most outspoken notes.

The performance, a benefit for the scholarship fund of the Smith College Club of New York, was the second which "La Bohème" has had at the Metropolitan this season. Jan Peerce, not in his best voice in the first act, fared otherwise very creditably as Rodolfo; Francis Greer's Musetta was vivacious and, at times, somewhat shrill in the uppermost tones in the Cafe Momus scene; Francesco Valentino, as Marcello, Hugh Thompson as Schaunard and Nicola Moscona as Colline were Rodolfo's companions in his Parisian garret.Melchiorre Luise doubled as Benoit and Alcindoro for the first time here; his performance in the latter character was effective, but with a possible excess of gesture. Pietro Cimara conducted



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