[Met Performance] CID:122700
Gianni Schicchi {34}
Elektra {9} American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 01/25/1938.
(Review)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 25, 1938
In English
GIANNI SCHICCHI {34}
Gianni Schicchi.........Julius Huehn
Lauretta................Hilda Burke
Rinuccio................Charles Kullman
Nella...................Charlotte Symons
Ciesca..................Thelma Votipka
Zita....................Doris Doe
Gherardo................George Rasely
Betto...................George Cehanovsky
Marco...................Louis D'Angelo
Simone..................Chase Baromeo
Gherardino..............James Demers
Spinelloccio............Pompilio Malatesta
Amantio.................Wilfred Engelman
Pinellino...............James Wolfe
Guccio..................Arnold Gabor
Conductor...............Gennaro Papi
ELEKTRA {9}
Elektra.................Rose Pauly
Chrysothemis............Irene Jessner
Klytämnestra............Kerstin Thorborg
Orest...................Friedrich Schorr
Aegisth.................Paul Althouse
Overseer................Dorothee Manski
Serving Woman...........Doris Doe
Serving Woman...........Helen Olheim
Serving Woman...........Lucielle Browning
Serving Woman...........Thelma Votipka
Serving Woman...........Susanne Fisher
Confidant...............Anna Kaskas
Trainbearer.............Irra Petina
Young Servant...........Karl Laufkötter
Old Servant.............Arnold Gabor
Guardian................Norman Cordon
Conductor...............Artur Bodanzky
Review of Linton Martin in the Philadelphia Inquirer
ROSE PAULY SEARS NERVES IN "ELEKTRA"
Performance of Met's New Soprano Is Revelation
Grisly horror stalked the stage of the Academy last night. And demonic music, a terrible and at times tortured torrent of tone swept and swirled up from the orchestra pit. For illicit lust, frenzied blood-madness, implications of incest, and triple murder, including matricide with a blood ax, were the operatic order of the hour--an hour and 45 minutes, to be exact - when "Elektra" was presented by the Metropolitan Opera Association.
Rose Pauly, the Metropolitan's new Hungarian soprano, made her first Philadelphia appearance in this revival of the searingly sensational operatic shocker by Richard Strauss.
FURY INCARNATE
And what a debut it was, as the incarnate fury dedicated to revenge and retribution for a father's murder - a disheveled, demented figure, keyed throughout to the highest pitch of dramatic, driving intensity, and equipped with a voice of vitality and vigor to cut clearly through the weltering, surging sea of orchestral sound.
In all opera or music drama, there is no role like Elektra in the merciless concentration required, in the almost unbearable force of neurotic, nervous, emotional energy and projection of feeling by vocal coloring. In these respects Miss Pauly's performance was a revelation.
HONORS SHARED
But the evening was by no means wholly Miss Pauly's. Two other factors of the most vital importance in the powerful impression produced were Kerstin Thorborg's Klytemnestra, which encompassed the decadence and something of the departed dignity of the evil yet morally and physically anguished Queen, and the truly magnificent conducting of Artur Bodanzky, unsparing in evoking the stark brutality of the tremendous score, yet acutely conscious of its more melodic moments.
But arresting as were other aspects of the occasion, the truly towering triumph was Miss Pauly's.
NOT "PRETTY" VOICE
To call her voice pretty or pleasing would but be to insult it. Actually, it isn't ingratiating, and it wasn't meant to be last night. It played on nerves, not ears, from the moment when the rising curtain disclosed Elektra pacing the courtyard of Agamemnon's palace, until she deliriously danced herself to death.
There were honors for others, as well, especially for the quite charming and sympathetic Chrysothemis of Irene Jessner, Paul Althouse wrestled courageously with the ungrateful part of Aegisthus and Friedrich Schorr, our most impressive Wotan these days, seemed rather miscast as Orestes.
Puccini's capital little comedy, "Gianni Schichi," sung in English, served its purpose as a curtain raiser, and proved acute contrast. The sprightly farce enlisted the abilities of Julius Huehn in the title role with Hilda Burke as Lauretta, Charles Kullman as Rinuccio, George Rasely as Gherardo, and Chase Baromeo as Simone.