[Met Performance] CID:164700



Don Giovanni
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, January 25, 1954




Don Giovanni (173)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Lorenzo Da Ponte
Don Giovanni
Cesare Siepi

Donna Anna
Margaret Harshaw

Don Ottavio
Cesare Valletti

Donna Elvira
Eleanor Steber

Leporello
Erich Kunz [Last performance]

Zerlina
Roberta Peters

Masetto
Lorenzo Alvary

Commendatore
Luben Vichey


Conductor
Max Rudolf







Review 1:

Review signed C. B. in Musical America

Cesare Siepi sang his first Don of the season in this performance. His portrayal was entirely sympathetic; it was not the shallowly extraverted characterization often seen on the Metropolitan stage, but subdued, intelligently oriented towards the work's tragic overtones, and for that reason moving in its eventual capitulation. The supporting cast was vocally distinguished only in the Donna Anna of Margaret Harshaw and the Don Ottavio of Cesare Valletti and, aside from their big arias, the tedium at the evening remained virtually unbroken. One rarely felt the unity of ensemble playing that this opera requires in its secondary roles. Max Rudolf's conducting was uninspired, and only routine performances were offered by Eleanor Steber, the Donna Elvira; Roberta Peters, the Zerlina; and Erich Kunz, the Leporello.



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