[Met Performance] CID:152490
Der Rosenkavalier {132} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/10/1950.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 10, 1950
DER ROSENKAVALIER {132}
Octavian.....................Jarmila Novotna
Princess von Werdenberg......Eleanor Steber
Baron Ochs...................Emanuel List
Sophie.......................Nadine Conner
Faninal......................Hugh Thompson
Annina.......................Hertha Glaz
Valzacchi....................Alessio De Paolis
Italian Singer...............Kurt Baum
Marianne.....................Thelma Votipka
Mahomet......................Peggy Smithers
Princess' Major-domo.........Emery Darcy
Orphan.......................Paula Lenchner
Orphan.......................Maxine Stellman
Orphan.......................Thelma Altman
Milliner.....................Lois Hunt
Animal Vendor................Leslie Chabay
Hairdresser..................Matthew Vittucci
Notary.......................Lawrence Davidson
Leopold......................Ludwig Burgstaller
Faninal's Major-domo.........Paul Franke
Innkeeper....................Leslie Chabay
Police Commissioner..........Lorenzo Alvary
Conductor....................Max Rudolf
Review of Cecil Smith in Musical America:
Max Rudolf conducted the opera for the first time at the Metropolitan, and demonstrated, as he has in all his previous assignments, a firm technical mastery of the problems of the score, an exceptionally effective sense of pacing, and a warm sympathy for lyric passages.
Jarmila Novotna joined the cast as Octavian, singing with unusually fresh and attractive tone, and impersonating the impetuous boy in most convincing fashion. Of the others new to this year's cast, Nadine Conner sang prettily as Sophie; Kurt Baum delivered the Italian Tenor's aria with glorious ease and resonance; and Alessio de Paolis made Valzacchi a wonderfully sharp-edged, nasty little intrigant. Except for Lawrence Davidson, who appeared in the tiny part of the Notary for the first time at the Metropolitan, the rest of the roles were in the care of artists who had sung them in earlier representations.