[Met Performance] CID:173710



Tosca
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, January 10, 1957




Tosca (352)
Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa
Tosca
Dorothy Kirsten

Cavaradossi
Giuseppe Campora

Scarpia
Walter Cassel

Sacristan
Gerhard Pechner

Spoletta
Alessio De Paolis

Angelotti
Lorenzo Alvary

Sciarrone
George Cehanovsky

Shepherd
George Keith

Jailer
Louis Sgarro


Conductor
Dimitri Mitropoulos







Review 1:

Review of Robert Sabin in Musical America

At the season's fifth performance of Puccini's "Tosca" Dorothy Kirsten made her first appearance of the season in the title role, and Walter Cassel and Gerhard Pechner were heard for the first time this season as Scarpia and the Sacristan.

Miss Kirsten, who is a very skillful actress as well as singer, looked stunning without ever relying on this to make the dramatic points of the role. Since Giuseppe Campora is also handsome and dramatically talented, for once, the Tosca and Mario actually looked like young lovers and were thoroughly convincing. True, the roles ideally should be sung by somewhat heavier voices than these artists possess, but this was a small matter in a performance of such color and vitality. Miss Kirsten soared through the high phrases with exciting élan and was more watchful of Dimitri Mitropoulos in the pit than was Mr. Campora, who was occasionally inclined to tempos of his own.

Mr. Cassel's Scarpia was a telling, if heavily-drawn portrait, that was dramatically consistent throughout. It was so striking, in fact, that he should work on his Italian pronunciation and diction, which are greatly in need of improvement. His singing, on the other hand, was vigorous and firmly controlled.

Mr. Pechner, always at home on the stage, was a winning old bumble-puppy as the Sacristan. The others, in familiar roles, were Lorenzo Alvary, as Angelotti; Alessio De Paolis, as Spoletta; Louis Sgarro, as the Jailer; and George Keith, as the lusty-voiced Shepherd.

Mr. Mitropoulos seemed a bit weary at the beginning, which was no great matter, since he still is more dynamic in that state than most conductors.



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