Metropolitan Opera Archives

The Met has restored the brief scene outside the Witches' Cave at the end of Act III between Macbeth and his Lady (not seen since '58-'59) and omitted the ballet music which was used to bridge Act III and the first scene of Act IV. This year, as in '61-'62, Mac?beth is allowed to do battle with Macduff and not left to die alone on the stage. It is too late in the game to carp further about the chalky, expressionistic sets and costumes of the late Caspar Neher, and some of the oratorio staging in the production. Both were as distract?ing and distressing as ever.

The focal point of the evening was Birgit Nilsson. The demanding role of Lady Macbeth brought the soprano her first fame back in '47 when she made her debut with the Royal Opera in Stockholm. After this she shelved the role, returning to it only early this year for appearances at La Scala. It would be foolish to say that the role is easy for Miss Nilsson, but it can be said that she made the role sound easy and here?in lay the rub. She sailed through the part without creating a sense of tension or thrust and without savoring the mar?velous Verdian lines (she was also downright stingy with her top notes in the first-act aria). It was vocalizing of Miss Nilsson's accustomed high order, but it was far from the malevolent, dark sounds Verdi wished. She tried to make a stronger point with the Sleepwalking Scene with assorted grimaces and gur?gles, but this attempt at vocal acting was more awkward than organic. Sur?prisingly there were numerous pitch problems in this important scene which one does not normally associate with Miss Nilsson. To merely sing Lady Mac?beth is not enough, and the inescapable impression Miss Nilsson created was one of boredom.

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