[Met Performance] CID:149570
La Traviata {311} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/22/1949., Broadcast
(Broadcast
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 22, 1949 Matinee Broadcast
LA TRAVIATA {311}
Giuseppe Verdi--Francesco Maria Piave
Violetta................Eleanor Steber
Alfredo.................Giuseppe Di Stefano
Germont.................Robert Merrill
Flora...................Thelma Votipka
Gastone.................Alessio De Paolis
Baron Douphol...........George Cehanovsky
Marquis D'Obigny........Lawrence Davidson
Dr. Grenvil.............Osie Hawkins
Annina..................Thelma Altman
Dance...................Peggy Smithers
Dance...................Marina Svetlova
Conductor...............Giuseppe Antonicelli
[Please note that the announced and actual casts are different.]
Review of James Hinton Jr. in The Musical America issue of February 1949:
Giuseppe Di Stefano made his first Metropolitan appearance as Alfredo under rather difficult circumstances. Bidu Sayao, with whom he presumably had rehearsed, was indisposed; and Eleanor Steber, who has had only one performance as Violetta each of the past four seasons to keep the part alive in her repertoire, and who had been busy preparing the part of Mimi in "La Bohème," replaced her. Robert Merrill, making his first appearance of the season in a complete opera, was the Germont. The result was a performance that, while it had some really beautiful moments, also had long stretches of tentative ensemble and occasional disagreements on such relatively simple matters as what the notes were supposed to be.
When he was sure of his ground, as he was in most of the big set pieces, Mr. Di Stefano sang with the lovely, velvety tone of which he is capable, and with great conviction. The [first] phrases of "Un di felice" could hardly have sounded better, and to Alfredo's denunciation of Violetta he brought an edge of passionate reality that the passage often lacks; "De miei bollenti spiriti" was only slightly less well sung. Miss Steber triumphed over the nervousness she must have felt at appearing on short notice, and did her best work in the third and fourth acts, when she lightened her voice and achieved a beautiful, floating quality. Mr. Merrill sang full throatedly at all times and, when that approach was called for, made his points extremely well.
Thelma Votipka appeared as Flora for the first time this season, and gave her familiar competent performance. The rest of the cast was as before - Alessio de Paolis, George Cehanovsky, Lawrence Davidson, Osie Hawkins and Thelma Altman. Giuseppe Antonicelli conducted and did a good job of minimizing the uncertainties of the situation on stage.
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