[Met Performance] CID:149780
Le Nozze di Figaro {109} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/10/1949.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 10, 1949
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO {109}
Figaro..................Italo Tajo
Susanna.................Bidú Sayao
Count Almaviva..........John Brownlee
Countess Almaviva.......Eleanor Steber
Cherubino...............Jarmila Novotna
Dr. Bartolo.............Salvatore Baccaloni
Marcellina..............Claramae Turner
Don Basilio.............Alessio De Paolis
Antonio.................Lawrence Davidson
Barbarina...............Paula Lenchner
Don Curzio..............Leslie Chabay
Peasant.................Thelma Altman
Peasant.................Lillian Raymondi
Dance...................Julia Barashkova
Dance...................Corinne Tarr
Dance...................Alfred Corvino
Dance...................Richard Goltra
Conductor...............Karl Kritz [Last performance]
Review of Robert Sabin in Musical America
Karl Kritz, who has been assistant conductor at the Metropolitan for the past five years, directed this performance, the season's third, in the absence of Fritz Busch. He proved to be a spirited and efficient leader, keeping the score in motion, and preserving the characteristic touches that Mr. Busch had put into the production. This single performance of an opera prepared by others was no real test of Mr. Kritz's abilities, but he did prove that he is reliable and more concerned with giving a smooth and eloquent performance than with trying to display his own personality.
The cast was the same as at the first performance, with Italo Tajo as Figaro; Bidu Sayao as Susanna; Eleanor Steber as the Countess; John Brownlee as the Count; Jarmila Novotna as Cherubino; and in other roles, Claramae Turner, Alessio de Paolis, Leslie Chabay, Salvatore Baccaloni, Lawrence Davidson, Paula Lenchner, Thelma Altman, and Lillian Raymondi. Mr. Tajo, Miss Sayao, Miss Steber, Miss Novotna and the others captured a large measure of the incandescent wit and grace of the music. Thanks to Mr. Busch's preparation, Herbert Graf's stage direction, the singers, and the orchestra, this production renews one's faith in the Metropolitan as an artistic institution.