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Lucia di Lammermoor
State Fair Auditorium, Dallas, Texas, Sat, May 8, 1954
Lucia di Lammermoor (269)
Gaetano Donizetti | Salvadore Cammarano
- Lucia
- Lily Pons
- Edgardo
- Jan Peerce
- Enrico
- Frank Valentino
- Raimondo
- Nicola Moscona
- Normanno
- Paul Franke
- Alisa
- Thelma Votipka
- Arturo
- Gabor Carelli
- Dance
- Gisella Weidner
- Dance
- Karl Klauser
- Conductor
- Fausto Cleva
Review 1:
John Rosenfield in the Dallas News
The Show With the Sextet
All the people the State Fair Auditorium could hold were present Saturday night for the Metropolitan Opera opener, Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” which had not been heard here since 1942.
The old-school music drama still packed its punch in the right places. The famous “Lucia sextet, sung in careful balance was wildly applauded. Lily Pons received eight curtain calls after the Mad Scene and Jan Peerce sex after his tomb scene and from an audience reluctant to go home – or to the awaiting opera ball at the Adolphus.
There was a feeling, generally expressed, that the festive crowd was attending a Lily Pons “farewell.” If so, the reasons were not apparent. The glamour-type 109-pound diva was no less than ever a beguiling sight and she was still a considerable coloratura soprano even if erratic. And when wasn’t she?
So, if Miss Pons’ kiss, as she made her last bow from the wings (the encore curtain had already been closed) was a good-by, it was strictly on her own initiative. For the public she was still the fashioner of visual and aural delights.
If Miss Pons never has sung the Donizetti heroine with all the lavish outlay of ornamentation designed by the composer, we doubt that any other florid singer of this generation can do more. The role is now artfully tailored for her. There are transpositions to a lower key, interpolated “approaches” to the devilishly high tessitura, and scope for the Pons staccato and trills.
For the annals of coloratura, Miss Pons never has written a vocal chapter. The stunts of Tetrazzini or even a Galli-Curci were never hers. Since her debut in 1931 she has been a delectable personality who, incidentally, warbled in a silvery, light voice. A sincere and effective theatricality and notably sound musicianship have fortified her great career.
Today she takes a little longer to “warm up.” Her intonation never impeccable, is a shade less reliable. She cannot help it when a high C or D occasionally emerges cloudy, reedy or just plain screechy. And, as always, it is a small voice and Saturday night was often engulfed by an orchestra not yet adjusted to the acoustics.
After a foggy start with the long Mad Scene, compensated by the pathetic picture she made on the high staircase, Miss Pons reached Part II, “Ardon gli inesnsi” in fighting trim, stood off the competitive flute obbligato, and tackled the upper reaches with tones both bright and warm.
Mr. Peerce maintained the pace he set here a month ago in a sensationally effective recital for the Civic Music Association. Edgardo is a lyric role and, for him, very grateful. As noticed in the recital he has perfect the sustained ringing line and gave the interminable music uncommonly effective utterance.
One can recall that Mr. Peerce supported Miss Pons in “Lucia” here all of twelve seasons ago and not as well. There is an excellent Peerce recording of the tomb scene, familiar to discophiles. Not ever this could match the beauty of voice and fervor of interpretation that brought our lasts t “Lucia” to its final curtain. Here was singing of the most hallowed Metropolitan tradition, sheer opulence and individuality of tone and the grandest operatic manner.
Frank Valentino, the baritone, was an able Enrico Ashton and Nicola Moscona a Raimondo of sonorous authority. The Hungarian tenor, Gabor Carelli, made Lucia’s unhappy husband more of a vocal factor than usual. Paul Franke as Normanno, delivered more stalwart tenorism for a small role. As always, Thelma Votipka’s voice and presence counted.
Staged by Desire Defrere, “Lucia” is content to be its age and does not try to be something it isn’t. There were no distortions and, a t the same time, no risible absurdities to the action. The setting of 1942 was conventionally attractive and the populated picture at the start of Act III won a hand.
There was a brief Highland fling ballet by the way of reminding us of the plot’s Scottish origins. Somehow one thought that all the music should have been danced to. For the incongruity of “Lucia” is the inappropriateness of Donizetti’s spontaneous lilt. Pretty are the duets and there are melodies worth stealing for the choruses. The words, by Salvatore Cammarano who was, incidentally, one of Giuseppe Verdi’s poorest librettists, bespeak a gloomy plot while the music is so happy it almost cheers.
The Mad Scene, doubles conceived as a show act for the prima donna, does contain some surrealist poignancy and is madder than Donizetti knew. He wrought better than he realized with a conventional ensemble that turned out to be one of the thrilling concerted pieces of all opera, the great Sextet from “Lucia.”
There’s life in “Lucia,” yet and the Metropolitan forces found it. Even conductor Fausto Cleva, who sometimes broadens thing to a state of suspended animation, found the cadence and kept it pulsing.
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