[Met Performance] CID:143640
World Premiere (The Warrior)
The Warrior {1}
Hänsel und Gretel {143} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/11/1947., Broadcast
(World Premiere)
(Broadcast
Debut: Samuel Leve
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 11, 1947 Matinee Broadcast
World Premiere
THE WARRIOR {1}
B. Rogers-Corwin
Samson..................Mack Harrell
Delilah.................Regina Resnik
Officer.................Kenneth Schon
Boy.....................Irene Jordan
Philistine Lord.........Anthony Marlowe
Philistine Lord.........Felix Knight
Philistine Lord.........John Baker
Philistine Lord.........Osie Hawkins
Captain.................John Garris
Captain.................Thomas Hayward
Captain.................William Hargrave
Conductor...............Max Rudolf
Director................Herbert Graf
Set designer............Samuel Leve [Debut]
Costume designer........Mary Percy Schenck
[THE WARRIOR received two performances in one season.]
In English
HÄNSEL UND GRETEL {143}
Hänsel..................Risë Stevens
Gretel..................Nadine Conner
Gertrud.................Claramae Turner
Peter...................John Brownlee
Witch...................Thelma Votipka
Sandman.................Lucielle Browning
Dew Fairy...............Lillian Raymondi
Conductor...............Fritz Stiedry
Review of Irving Kolodin in the New York Sun of January 13, 1947
'WARRIOR HAS OPERA PREMIERE
As conventional opera, "The Warrior," a one-act work by Norman Corwin and Bernard Rogers, which had its premiere in the Metropolitan Opera House on Saturday afternoon, is not much more successful than the generality of American scores which have preceded it in the institution's history. As a specie of musical theater, there is a good deal more to be said for it. All that can be said for it, however, does not add to the requirements of a repertory opera house.
"The Warrior" treats the well-worn story of Samson and Delilah at lesser length than Saint-Saens, but with not nearly the pithiness of the Gershwins' unforgettable "Sam and Delilah." It makes its points through a text which is chanted, spoken, shouted and declaimed, but rarely ever sung. A modification of what the Germans call "Sprechstimme" is used, with pitches indicated for the words, but no likeness of melodic line. Fifteen minutes of this is absorbing; an hour of it, monotony.
The orchestra begins with a rather atmospheric prelude, but proceeded thereafter to mutterings and exclamations, mostly disjointed. Rogers occasionally generates dramatic tension, but there is little climax at any point, even when the blinded Samson falls to his knees in prayer, and arises to find his strength restored. This, certainly, is a place which cries for the solution proposed by Verdi when an aspiring composer sought advice on a libretto-problem: 'Here" answered Verdi, "I would write a little music." Rogers has done a professional job in the genre he has chosen, but it is no part of opera for these ears.
Corwin's Text.
Oddly enough, Corwin's text - written originally for radio - is at once the strength and weakness of "The Warrior." It has vitality and imaginative force, but also a tortured, "literary" word usage which makes singable setting all but impossible. The fancy embodied in such phrases as "blowsy loiterer," "undredged demons of our dreams," "the hangdog droop of hopelessness" may pass for poetry on the tolerant air, but they are merely tongue-twisters in a musical partnership.
Bending itself grimly to a rather alien task, the staff of the Metropolitan - with some outside aid - did a job of striking stagecraft. Largely by use of light and shadow, Samuel Love's scenery presented a reasonable illusion, when all the devices worked properly. Some didn't, as some always don't at a premiere. There were suggestions in it, however, of a means by which the. Metropolitan could restage some of its standard: works without excessive cost. Herbert Graf made a good deal of the staging opportunities presented, and Mary Schenck's costuming (aside from a gown for Delilah which looked like a piano throw) was attractive.
Miss Resnik is a Delilah by strength of will rather than by grace of God, but she used her resources intelligently in a thankless part. Harrell went beyond this to a character of dignity and no little illusion of the strength traditionally Samson's. Smaller roles were done notably well by John Baker, Felix Knight and John Garris. Max Rudolf gave a maximum of effect to Rogers's sparse but noisy scoring from the conductor's stand, though he doubtless would have yielded a page of the considerable percussion part for a good, well-formed vocal phrase. There were bows for all the participants at the end, and evidences of cordial friendship from the full house, but no real enthusiasm. Afterward, the Metropolitan resumed business as usual with "Hansel and Gretel."