[Met Performance] CID:125030
Rigoletto {228} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/8/1939.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 8, 1939
RIGOLETTO {228}
Giuseppe Verdi--Francesco Maria Piave
Rigoletto...............Carlo Tagliabue
Gilda...................Lina Aimaro
Duke of Mantua..........Beniamino Gigli [Last performance]
Maddalena...............Anna Kaskas
Sparafucile.............Nicola Moscona
Monterone...............Norman Cordon
Borsa...................Giordano Paltrinieri
Marullo.................George Cehanovsky
Count Ceprano...........Wilfred Engelman
Countess Ceprano........Pearl Besuner
Giovanna................Thelma Votipka
Page....................Lucielle Browning
Conductor...............Gennaro Papi
Review of Oscar Thompson in Musical America
Beniamino Gigli need have no cause for apprehension in regard to the continuation of his popularity with the New York opera-goer after the tumultuous applause which ran through practically the entire performance of `Rigoletto' on the evening of Feb. 8. From 'Questa o Quella' to `La Donne e Mobile', he was rewarded with storms of clapping, shouts and cheers. As a matter of fact, Mr. Gigli sang as well as he ever has sung and besides did fewer of the unhappy vocal tricks for which he has been criticized heretofore. It was beautiful singing throughout, and all of it so good that it would be impossible to say that any particular aria was better than the others. The voice was, perhaps, a little more wooing in quality in `E Sol dell' Anima', and 'La Donna e Mobile' had a tremendous ring and sweep to it.
Mme. Aimaro, singing her first Gilda here, made a pleasant picture to the eye and negotiated all her altissimo tones with ease, impressing the audience so definitely that she had to come before the curtain alone, several times, in response to popular demands. Mr. Tagliabue was a vocally sonorous rather than a dramatically subtle Rigoletto, but he too won much applause. Anna Kaskas sang a good Maddalena. The smaller roles were capably handled by Nicola Moscona, Thelma Votipka, Norman Cordon, George Cehanovsky, Giordano Paltrinieri, Wilfred Engelman and Pearl Besuner. Gennaro Papi conducted.