Metropolitan Opera Archives

Cavalleria Rusticana received ten performances this season.
Pagliacci received ten performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Jay Harrison in the Herald Tribune:

Frankly, I never imagined the day would come when another performance of "Cavalleria Rusticana" would leave me limp with admiration and excitement. I was wrong. Mascagni's opera, presented yesterday at the Metropolitan with Giulietta Simionato singing the role of Santuzza for the first time with the company, was an experience that will last and stick to the ribs. For it was a perfect example of the way in which an inspired cast can take a really wretched chestnut and make it seem new all over again.

Quite apart from Miss Simionato, "Cav" was also graced by the presence of a new conductor, Nino Verchi, a Triestino of sound dramatic instincts and a compelling way with an orchestra, and further, the roles of Turiddu and Alfio were being sung by Jan Peerce and Walter Cassel, neither of whom, surprisingly, had ever before done their parts at the house. And Rosalind Elias was Lola. Together, they unfolded a performance that crackled with an electricity that left the hair standing on end. I can't even comb mine now.

But essentially it was Miss Simionato's show for she took command the instant she appeared on stage and held everyone's attention-including her colleagues-until the moment she left. Moreover, the glory of her singing, its wild flights of color and stain-glass luminosity, had the effect of galvanzing all of the opera's principals, so that one tried to outdo the other in producing flash-floods of tone and resonance. And in terms of sheer, unadulterated, hit-'em-where-it-counts theater, there has been nothing like it for longer than I care to recall.

"Cavalleria," of course, is about as subtle as a meat-ax, but it does pack a wallop. The drama of it is of the most primitive kind, and Miss Simionato seized on precisely this quality to make her points of emphasis. When she snarls, it is no operatic kitten-snarl; there is a tiger bite behind it. When she unleashes imprecations, there is a velocity to them sufficient to blow down stone walls. And when she falls on her knees in a mixed gesture of defeat and defiance, there is a poignancy to the act that is downright irresistible.

Besides doing all these theatrical maneuvers, her voice lost none of its hot vigor, none of its inherent passion and power. Santuzza is a soprano role, and Miss Simionato is a mezzo; you would never know it. For she tackles the part as though it had been cut to her measure. Her rendition of it has to be heard to be believed.

Impressive too was Mr. Peerce, since his voice is in fine shape, and his acting was untroubled by those excesses tenors usually bring to Turiddu. His "Addio" was clean, clear and beautifully pitched, and indeed his singing throughout the afternoon was everywhere first-rate. Mr. Cassel, though a bit sapless of tone, made an effective Alfio.

The program's second work, Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci," saw Dimiter Uzunov and Cornell MacNeil perform the roles of Canio and Tonio for the first time at the Met, and while the former sometimes strained and bellowed more than comfort allowed, Mr. MacNeil provided a flow of sound that was as rich as cream and of an equivalent texture. The thunder of applause that followed his "Prologue" was in itself a tribute to a massive talent, and throughout the opera he continued to sing with a wondrous glow of sonority.

Miss Amara, on the other hand, seemed not to project with all the warmth that she is known to possess, and, as indicated, Mr. Uzunov strayed through his part with only a surface intensity to recommend it.

But all things went mighty well in the pit, for Mr. Verchi is an opera maestro able to keep matters firmly in hand without, at the same time, impressing his views on the singers to the degree that they lose their individuality. For the afternoon's triumph he was in large share responsible.

Still, recalling it, the event was mostly Miss Simionato's. As she sang, the ear rang.

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