[Met Performance] CID:204220



Il Trovatore
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, October 20, 1965




Il Trovatore (346)
Giuseppe Verdi | Salvatore Cammarano
Manrico
Flaviano Labò

Leonora
Gabriella Tucci

Count Di Luna
Robert Merrill

Azucena
Irene Dalis

Ferrando
John Macurdy

Ines
Shirley Love

Ruiz
Charles Anthony

Messenger
Hal Roberts

Gypsy
Luis Forero


Conductor
Georges Prêtre


Director
Herbert Graf

Designer
Motley

Stage Director
Bodo Igesz





Il Trovatore received sixteen performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Irving Kolodin in the November 6, 1965 issue of the Saturday

Georges Prêtre's area of advantage to the Metropolitan broadened a bit with his first venture as the conductor of a Verdi opera in New York. To be sure, there was some resistance in the work itself, for "Il Trovatore" can hardly be included in the category of a "conductor's opera." But there were indications even so that such acts of conscience as precise rhythms, a pattern of dynamics reasonably close to those prescribed by the composer, and a relationship among the orchestral sections that did not settle for the commonest kind of "big guitar" effect could yield benefits in a score as much played, if not necessarily well played, as this one.

At this first performance, Prêtre had his greatest success in animating those parts of the score that took in the ensemble rather than the principals. The first scene was particularly well done, thanks to an excellent effort by John Macurdy as Ferrando, the attention the chorus paid to its director, and a general sense of purpose that prevailed. This was present, too, in the Anvil Chorus. However, when Prêtre had Robert Merrill to deal with as di Luna, or Flaviano Labò alone or in duet with his "mother" Irene Dalis (as Azucena) the amount of influence he could exert tended to diminish. The Leonora was Gabriella Tucci, whose manner is more than a mite placid for this kind of role.



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