[Met Performance] CID:170550
La Forza del Destino {83} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/10/1956.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 10, 1956
Benefit for Free Milk Fund for Babies
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO {83}
Giuseppe Verdi--Francesco Maria Piave
Leonora.................Renata Tebaldi
Don Alvaro..............Richard Tucker
Don Carlo...............Josef Metternich
Padre Guardiano.........Jerome Hines
Preziosilla.............Margaret Roggero
Fra Melitone............Fernando Corena
Marquis de Calatrava....Louis Sgarro
Curra...................Thelma Votipka
Trabuco.................Alessio De Paolis
Surgeon.................George Cehanovsky
Conductor...............Pietro Cimara
Review of Miles Kastendieck in the Journal American
TEBALDI IN TRIUMPH IN MILK FUND OPERA
How Renata Tebaldi sang her first Leonora in Verdi's "La Forza del Destino" should long be remembered by the audience attending Mrs. William Randolph Hearst's Free Milk Fund benefit performance at the Metropolitan last night. As the curtain rose on the final scene, Tebaldi met one of the most challenging moments of her career. To sing "Pace Pace" at the Met became quite suddenly a highly significant point in the whole season. That she met the test superbly is now history. The show stopped momentarily while the audience cheered and cheered.
Not the sustaining of one high note but the thorough artistry that went into singing the whole aria (and the whole role) won Tebaldi this demonstration. Some of her gestures were still too studied, some tones early in the opera sounded hard, some moments of singing reflected very conscious art; but somehow these mattered little as she skillfully fashioned her performance. Her triumph lies in superb control of voice.
Added Flavor
This was a first time for Fernando Corena as Melitone. A fine artist himself, he made much of the role and added much flavor to the performance as a whole. Pietro Cimara made an important contribution, too, for the opera was much more judiciously paced than before. Though the orchestra could have responded better, the playing had more style because Cimara was conducting.
Making first appearances in their roles this season, Richard Tucker sang admirably as Don Alvaro and Jerome Hines as Padre Guardiano. The remainder of the cast, including Josef Metternich as Don Carlo, were familiar in their roles.
So well cast, well paced and well mounted, the opera itself gained in stature in this performance. Some day it may find an inspired conductor to exact from the score all the fire lurking therein, and have it played with abandon. But the beauty of the music shone through last night, as it does more and more on acquaintance.