[Met Performance] CID:181530



Rigoletto
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, March 21, 1959

Debut : Cornell MacNeil




Rigoletto (390)
Giuseppe Verdi | Francesco Maria Piave
Rigoletto
Cornell MacNeil [Debut]

Gilda
Laurel Hurley

Duke of Mantua
Barry Morell

Maddalena
Rosalind Elias

Sparafucile
William Wilderman

Monterone
Norman Scott

Borsa
Gabor Carelli

Marullo
Calvin Marsh

Count Ceprano
George Cehanovsky

Countess Ceprano
Madelaine Chambers

Giovanna
Mignon Dunn

Page
Mildred Allen

Guard
Louis Sgarro


Conductor
Fausto Cleva







Review 1:

Review of Eric Saltzman in The N. Y. Times

Sometimes an artist can plug along year in and year out without any breaks. Then, with a whoosh, he'll go right to the top. Cornell MacNeil, Minneapolis-born baritone, has just taken that dizzying ride. On March 5 the thirty-four-year-old singer made his successful European debut at La Scala in Milan, and Saturday night he made an unexpected but equally well received Metropolitan debut in the title role of Verdi's "Rigoletto."

Mr. MacNeil came through superbly. When he cut loose, the rafters trembled. But he did not forget to sing softly and lyrically. Only in the big scene in Act III, beginning "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata," were there any signs of strain or pushing.



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