[Met Tour] CID:150290



Il Trovatore
Boston Opera House, Boston, Massachusetts, Tue, March 29, 1949




Il Trovatore (247)
Giuseppe Verdi | Salvatore Cammarano
Manrico
Jussi Björling

Leonora
Stella Roman

Count Di Luna
Frank Valentino

Azucena
Margaret Harshaw

Ferrando
Jerome Hines

Ines
Maxine Stellman

Ruiz
Anthony Marlowe

Gypsy
Lawrence Davidson


Conductor
Emil Cooper







Review 1:

Cyrus Durgin in the Boston Globe

Bjoerling Makes Boston Debut in “Trovatore”; Harshaw replaces Elmo

 

“Of all the operas that Verdi wrote, the best, to my mind is the ‘Trovatore’.”  So sang the poet many years ago, and while it isn’t necessary to agree with him completely, it is easy to share his enthusiasm for this wonderful old spring of melody. Last night the Metropolitan did “Il Trovatore” for the first time since 1945, and with no less than Jussi Bjoerling in the title role.

 

This was the first Boston appearance of the Swedish tenor, who several times previously had been scheduled for a local debut but had been otherwise detained. Another scheduled first appearance here in a major role, that of Cloe Elmo, had to be postponed; Miss Elmo was ill and Margaret Harshaw replaced her.

 

It was Miss Harshaw as Azucena, indeed, who displayed the most consistently fine and even singing in a performance that had its ups and downs. With her big, soundly produced and artistically employed voice, her ability to put drama into tone and acting, Miss Harshaw took the honors in every scene in which the old gypsy appeared.

 

Mr. Bjoerling is one of a rare breed of singers today, a dramatic tenor. The first scene or two, I thought, he was going along moderately, but as the evening went on his voice gained in power and ringing intensity, and by the time of the castle scene and its demanding, spectacular “Di quella pira,” Mr. Bjoerling was at his peak and brought down the house.

 

Miss Roman is inclined to a good deal of what is academically called “open tone,” which means lush, vibrant and dynamic singing, but restrictive in variations of vocal color and expression. Nevertheless, she sang effectively, and in the third and fourth acts, beautifully. Francesco Valentino as that nasty man, Count di Luna, likewise improved as the performance lengthened. All the same, his “Il balen” was decidedly enjoyable. Mr. Hines’ Ferrando, with its “Abbietta zingera” was praiseworthy.

 

In the pit conductor Emil Cooper worked industriously and with the authority of his long experience, even though there were places where orchestra and stage were not exactly together. As for the production, Harry Horner’s semi-unit setting is properly massive but a little too heavy except when the light is mostly from above.

 

But with “Il Trovatore” the tunes are what count, and those once again delighted an audience that filled very seat in the Boston Opera House.



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