[Met Performance] CID:197450
Don Carlo {64} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/7/1964., Broadcast
(Broadcast
Debut: Nicolae Herlea
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
March 7, 1964 Matinee Broadcast
In Italian
DON CARLO {64}
Giuseppe Verdi--François Joseph Méry/Camille du Locle
Don Carlo...............Franco Corelli
Elizabeth of Valois.....Leonie Rysanek
Rodrigo.................Nicolae Herlea [Debut]
Princess Eboli..........Irene Dalis
Philip II...............Giorgio Tozzi
Grand Inquisitor........Hermann Uhde
Celestial Voice.........Junetta Jones
Friar...................Justino Díaz
Tebaldo.................Marcia Baldwin
Count of Lerma..........Gabor Carelli
Countess of Aremberg....Sally Brayley
Herald..................Robert Nagy
Conductor...............Kurt Adler
Available for streaming at Met Opera on Demand
Rebroadcast on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio
Review of Peter Davis in Musical America:
On March 7, the Met's last performance of "Don Carlo" this season saw the debut of Rumanian baritone Nicolae Herlea as Rodrigo. Mr. Herlea is a valuable addition to the company, for he possesses a large but well-focused velvet-hued voice that responds beautifully to all his wishes. Starting out somewhat hesitantly with a pronounced tremolo, Mr. Herlea gathered strength as the opera progressed, and sang his two arias in Act III with a sumptuous Verdian line.
The rest of the cast included several seasonal firsts, although all were familiar faces to Met audiences. With such fine singing actors as Giorgio Tozzi (Philip), Hermann Uhde (Grand Inquisitor), Leonie Rysanek (Elisabeth) and Irene Dalis (Eboli), the magnificent scene in the king's chamber fairly crackled with excitement, Mr. Tozzi's interpretation of Philip was particularly outstanding.
Franco Corelli's performance of the title role was poor. He strutted over the stage like a peacock, sang sloppily, making several late entrances, stretched out the line to absurd lengths in his aria, and interpolated a tasteless high C at the end of the "Friendship Duet," No announcement was made, but the tenor was rumored to be suffering from laryngitis, although no trace of this could be found in his voice. This may explain why he did not appear in the Auto-da-fé Scene until it was practically over, leaving six confused and leaderless Flemish deputies, several uncomfortable silences where Don Carlo should sing, an ensemble without a tenor to sing the tenor part, and a situation that understandably unnerved the rest of the cast. Amid the shambles, however, Mr. Corelli demonstrated that he still has one of the finest tenor voices before the public today.
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