my story continues - MY NIGHTS AT THE OPERA - Installment 13: Tuesday Evening April 25, 1967; The Price is Right for Ballo One aspect about the Met Tour was that a name soprano, mezzo, tenor, and/or baritone would be featured by singing two performances during the week. There is nothing more special than seeing your favorite opera singer perform live. One performance would certainly be enough, but this week I would get to see Leontyne Price sing two operas and I was ecstatic. This Tuesday evening was Verdi’s powerful “Un Ballo in Maschera”. This was the first time I was seeing this great middle period Verdi opera. I love this opera as being one of Verdi’s most tuneful shows with great arias and wonderful ensembles. The cast included Leontyne Price as Amelia, Bruno Prevedi as Gustaf, Sherrill Milnes as Anckarstrom, Ruza Pospinov as Ulrica, Joy Clements as Oscar and conducted by Thomas Schippers. It was a wonderful performance. One Cleveland critic called the second act Gallows Scene memorable. And that is was. But what I remember best was the thrilling singing in the first scene of the third act. I am not well versed in all the proper lingo used to describe singing, so please forgive me if I do not always use the proper terminology. The act began with Leontyne Price singing the moving aria “Morro, ma prima in grazia”. I vividly remember her sitting on the edge of a chair in her husbands study, looking just stunning and spinning out the most beautiful tones. Although not a great actress, Price had the ability to act with her voice. You could just hear the anguish, the pleading and the dramatic intensity in her voice as she asked her husband for one last favor; to see their son once more, so that in her last hour of life she could embrace him. Her legato singing was astonishing and her ability to sustain a musical phrase with the utmost musicality was stunning. The last high note of the aria was just floated out effortlessly with such golden tone and power and the extension of her last note was ended with a swell of sound that penetrated the soul. This was real singing to the likes I had never heard and the audience showed it’s approval with a long ovation. This was followed by a very young Sherrill Milnes magnificently singing the famous aria “Eri tu”. This was the first of many wonderful performances I would see with Milnes. What a beautiful and powerful baritone voice he possessed. Following came the very dramatic quartet; Amelia in despair and the rejoicing conspirators voices soaring together. Finally the great quintet that concludes the act with Price’s voice soaring above all. A night to remember indeed. The next night was a night to remember also, but for the wrong reasons. This was my first Lohengrin with a well sung performance by Sandor Konya, Elisabeth Gruemmer, Irene Dalis, and Walter Cassel. The downside was the stylized new production by Wagner’s grandson, Wieland Wagner. Here was a unit set with a semicircle backdrop that resembled a stained glass window. When Lohengrin arrived a large image of a rather unrealistic swan was projected on the backdrop. Nothing to exciting really, except for Wagner’s exquisite music. What was most unusual was that the chorus stood on risers, in single file lines never moving through out the opera. It was a very hot spring night in Cleveland and as the long second act progressed the members of the chorus started dropping like flies. Two or three had to be helped from the stage after fainting. Obviously it was rather disruptive. Years later I would learn from several members of the chorus how much they hated this production. Sandor Konya was one of the era’s more versatile tenors singing Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti and Wagner. He had an easy top perfect for some of the heldentenor rolls and still had the flexibility to sing the Italian Repertory. He was a frequent performer on the tour and sang 289 performances with the Met. Irene Dalis was one of the great mezzo’s of this generation. She sang 274 performances at the Met, singing most of the major mezzo Verdi, Strauss and Wagner roles in the repertory. Thursday evening of the week was Die Fledermaus which I mentioned in my first Installment. One interesting aspect of this performance was the casting of Kitty Carlisle as Prince Orlofsky. Carlisle was a singer who never really made the cut, a stage and movie actress, an arts activist and most notably a panelist on TV’s “To Tell the Truth”. She had always aspired to be a singer but her career went in a different direction. Her opportunity here to sing with the Met was a dream come true and she mad the most of it. My next post: My Dream Comes True!
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 02:13:46 +0000
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