Metropolitan Opera Archives

Since last season, the role of Lady Macbeth has belonged to Renata Scotto. But a new Lady has emerged in the Peter Hall production to rival the performance of Ms. Scotto.

On Feb. 9, the third soprano to sing the role of Lady Macbeth at the Met in the Hall production, Adelaide Negri, made her first appearance in this role. While she may not have established herself as a threat to Miss Scotto's reign as "Prima Donna of the Met" in this "Macbeth," she certainly demonstrated her importance as a viable house soprano, capable of singing this repertory crediblyv

Miss Negri has a strange vocal production that has three different sounds: a lower register, middle and top, all distinct and unconnected. The sing of a virtuoso voice is its ability to sing evenly throughout the entire range of that voice. Although this is not the case with Miss Negri, she has enough voice in size and enough stage savvy as well to make her an invaluable asset in the Met's sagging roster of spinto dramatic sopranos.

Ironically, Miss Negri has her Met career somewhat tied to Miss Scotto in that she made her unscheduled Met debut during a Saturday broadcast of Bellini's "Norma," in place of Renata Scotto, who was experiencing her greatest vocal problems in this role.

In "Macbeth" Louis Quilico sang the title role with some vocal and musical problems in Act I. Quilico did little with the role dramatically and vocally only had occasional success with the Verdian splendor of this part.

Paul Plishka sang a resonant Banquo and vocally stole the show from his colleagues.

Macduff was sung adequately by Neil Shicoff, who was a bit of a disappointment in this abbreviated role. As a matter of fact, in the lesser tenor role of Malcolm tenor John Gilmore out sang Shicoff in the last act. Gilmore is a lighter variety of tenor next to Shicoff, but his voice rang out with a brilliance that was unexpected.

Thomas Fulton conducted a routine performance with little insight.

Review 2:

Bernard Holland in The New York Times
Opera: Cast Changes in “Macbeth” at the Met

Most of the principal roles in Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Metropolitan Opera changed hands on Thursday night. Louis Quilico took over the title role; Adelaide Negri was Lady Macbeth, and Neil Shicoff became Macduff.

Actually, the most impressive qualities of Thursday's performance came not from the stage, but from the pit. Thomas Fulton was the conductor, and under him, the Met's orchestra and chorus played and sang with an admirably well-directed energy and force.

It was a shame that Mr. Fulton did not have a more distinguished cast to work with. Mr. Quilico's baritone served the music well when not severely pressed, but there was a wavering, forced quality to Verdi's more emphatic writing and some episodes of questionable intonation as well.

Miss Negri's soprano acted like a powerful but erratically guided missile. There were a few nice floating tones in the sleepwalking scene, but most of her singing was simply loud and coarse.

Mr. Shicoff's pure and cultured tenor seemed a little out of place in this collection of voices. It was not the biggest of sounds, but the focus and precise placement gave it a striking presence. If there was one really positive response from Thursday's audience, it was to Mr. Shicoff singing of Verdi's wonderful "Ah, la pate mano."

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