Metropolitan Opera Archives

Cavalleria Rusticana received twelve performances this season.
Pagliacci received eight performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Cavalleria Rusticana by Raymond Ericson in The New York Times:

Three leading singers finally had a chance Tuesday night to appear in roles at the Metropolitan Opera for which they had been scheduled eleven months earlier. Fiorenza Cossotto, Placido Domingo and Anselmo Colzani were to have sung Santuzza, Turiddu, and Alfio, respectively, in the company's new production of "Cavalleria Rusticana" last October. When labor disputes caused the cancellation the first part of the season, the Mascagni opera did not turn up until January. By that time, the three artists were no longer around. Now they were on hand for the season's first performance of "Cavalleria" and it was a case distinctly of better late than never.

Miss Cossotto's Santuzza is striking and powerful. Although she is short, she moves with authority, and her round face is expressive. The voice, a mezzo-soprano, is not so sensuous as it is strong, solid and, at the top, brilliant. Miss Cossotto combines these resources into an intense portrait of a desperate woman, trapped into excommunication by the church. One pities her less than one is moved by her stubbornness, her fear and her final tragedy.

Mr. Domingo's Turiddu was sung with equal brilliance, with a few phrases driven along in roughshod fashion. The Sicilian soldier is scarcely an elegant character, and with his strapping figure and dramatic flair the tenor was a worthy match for Miss Cossotto. Mr. Colzani, a burly man and an able baritone, made a serviceably truculent Alfio.

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