Metropolitan Opera Archives

Irene Jordan, who has not been heard at the Metropolitan Opera in nine years, returned to the company Saturday night with a new voice and in a new role. During her initial season in 1946, Miss Jordan functioned as a mezzo-soprano whose efforts were mostly confined to small roles, among them the First Genie in Mozart's "The Magic Flute." On this occasion she appeared again in "The Magic Flute," but this time as a coloratura and in the principal part of The Queen of the Night. The remainder of the cast, by now familiar to devotees of the production, included Lucine Amara as Pamina, Brian Sullivan as Tamino, Theodor Uppman as Papageno, Jerome Hines as Sarastro, Clifford Harvuot as The High Priest and Paul Franke as Monostatos. Tibor Kozma was again the conductor.

It is, one hopes, not misplaced charity to attribute the results of Miss Jordan's performance to a severe case of debut nerves, since the singer was quite clearly off her stride. Her coloratura was consistently out of tune, for which reason the Queen's supposedly blinding technical displays made absolutely no effect, and the perceptible break between her registers often snapped the thematic line at crucial moments. In all, it was an unhappy showing which very likely may be traced to the pressures naturally attendant on a first appearance at the Met in a major assignment.

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