[Met Performance] CID:134880
Boris Godunov {99} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 02/13/1943., Broadcast
(Broadcast
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 13, 1943 Matinee Broadcast
In Italian
BORIS GODUNOV {99}
Boris Godunov...........Alexander Kipnis
Prince Shuisky..........Alessio De Paolis
Pimen...................Nicola Moscona
Grigory.................René Maison
Marina..................Kerstin Thorborg
Rangoni.................Leonard Warren
Varlaam.................Norman Cordon
Simpleton...............John Garris
Nikitich................John Gurney
Shchelkalov.............George Cehanovsky
Innkeeper...............Doris Doe
Missail.................John Dudley
Officer.................Osie Hawkins
Xenia...................Marita Farell
Feodor..................Irra Petina
Nurse...................Anna Kaskas
Lavitsky................Lansing Hatfield
Chernikovsky............Lorenzo Alvary
Peasant.................Maxine Stellman
Peasant.................Helen Olheim
Peasant.................Lodovico Oliviero
Peasant.................Wilfred Engelman
Boyar in Attendance.....Emery Darcy
Conductor...............George Szell
[Kipnis always sang Boris in Russian.]
Review of Harold Taubman in the New York Times
Alexander Kipnis, Russian-born basso of the Metropolitan who became an American citizen a good many years ago, brought his authority and knowledge of the tradition to his first appearance here in the title role of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunoff" at the Opera House yesterday afternoon. Mr. Kipnis was a regal Boris in song and action when he faced the world and he illuminated the psychology of the troubled Czar in the later, revealing pages of the score.
Like his great Russian predecessor, Feodor Chaliapin, Mr. Kipnis sang Boris in the original language, while the rest of the Metropolitan ensemble sang Italian. To those who understood neither language it was not a ludicrous proceeding, though it was certainly a convincing argument for opera in English, if translations must be employed. However, Mr. Kipnis was wise to sing in Russian. That is the language to which Mussorgsky wrote his music and the part achieves its full stature, power and impact in Russian. Mr. Kipnis's portrayal was one of the best in his gallery of fine characterizations.