[Met Performance] CID:125150
Salome {17}
Pagliacci {347} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/16/1939.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 16, 1939
SALOME {17}
Salome..................Marjorie Lawrence
Herod...................René Maison
Herodias................Dorothee Manski
Jochanaan...............Julius Huehn
Narraboth...............Nicholas Massue
Page....................Lucielle Browning
Jew.....................Max Altglass
Jew.....................Arnold Gabor
Jew.....................Karl Laufkötter
Jew.....................Giordano Paltrinieri
Jew.....................Erich Witte
Nazarene................Norman Cordon
Nazarene................Nicholas Massue
Soldier.................Louis D'Angelo
Soldier.................Arnold Gabor
Cappadocian.............John Gurney
Slave...................Pearl Besuner
Conductor...............Ettore Panizza
PAGLIACCI {347}
Nedda...................Hilda Burke
Canio...................Giovanni Martinelli
Tonio...................John Charles Thomas
Silvio..................George Cehanovsky
Beppe...................Giordano Paltrinieri
Conductor...............Gennaro Papi
Unsigned review in Musical America
Last 'Salome' of Season Is Heard
Richard Strauss's 'Salome' had its last performance of the season on the evening of Feb. 16 before a large and enthusiastic audience. With it was coupled 'Pagliacci', a rather startling bedfellow, but one which also found favor. Marjorie Lawrence again took the role of the strange and fascinating princess; Julius Huehn was the Jokanaan; Rene Maison, the Herod; Dorothee Manski, Herodias, and Nicholas Massue, Narraboth. Miss Lawrence was at her best dramatically in those weird and overwhelming final moments of the drama, when Salome at once achieves her desire and sees it turn to dust. There was a terrifying intensity in her singing of the words: "Sie sagen, dass die Liebe bitter schmeckt", and her song of triumph when she received the head was magnificently vital in tone, In the dance, however, and in earlier scenes, she was less effective both visually and in characterization; not the sensuously perverse oriental conceived by Wilde and so marvelously transmuted into tone by Strauss, but a far more obvious stage figure. Rene Maison again portrayed the neurotic Herod with artistry. Ettore Panizza conducted a vigorous performance.
An exit of confirmed Straussians and of those who found the mixture of 'Salome' and `Pagliacci' a little too strong, left most of the audience ready for the last appearance of Leoncavallo's strolling players this season. John Charles Thomas was the Tonio; Giovanni Martinelli, Canio; Hilda Burke, Nedda; Giordano Paltrinieri, Beppe and George Cehanovsky, Silvio. Gennaro Papi conducted.