[Met Performance] CID:91250



Faust
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, November 21, 1925




Faust (349)
Charles Gounod | Jules Barbier/Michel Carr?
Faust
Giovanni Martinelli

Marguerite
Frances Alda

M?phistoph?l?s
Jos? Mardones

Valentin
Giuseppe Danise

Siebel
Ellen Dalossy

Marthe
Merle Alcock

Wagner
James Wolfe


Conductor
Louis Hasselmans


Director
Armando Agnini

Designer
Joseph Urban





Faust received six performances this season.

Review 1:

Review signed B. B. in Musical America

A Popular 'Faust'

Gounod's "Faust," with its household melodies, its chorusing warriors, and its pretty kirmesse, resumed on Saturday night its place in a repertoire from which it has never been long absent since it was utilized to open the then new Metropolitan Opera House in the Autumn of 1883. This was its first representation of the season and it was so generously patronized that a halt had to be called on the admittance of standees before all who had awaited their turn at the box office could obtain the cherished bits of pasteboard. Enthusiasm, as shown by the applause and the curtain calls, matched the size of the audience.

The cast was one which held high the vocal traditions of an opera that has been sung by the most illustrious artists of more than two generations. Giovanni Martinelli in the titular part used his voice with gratifying restraint and a nearer approach to the French style than is usually true of Italian tenors in the role. His top C in the "Salut demeure" was a tone of beautiful quality. Frances Alda, though slightly burdened with a cold, was an equally artistic Marguerite.

The finest singing of the evening, however - and that which served most to recall some of the great voices of "Faust's" mighty past - was that of Jose Mardones, the sheer splendor of whose tones more than compensated for the commonplace quality of his impersonation of Mephistopheles, which he costumed with almost no satanic implications. Giuseppe Danise, too, was particularly happy as Valentin, singing his first act air with both beauty of voice and dignity of style. As Si?bel, Ellen Dalossy was pertly pretty, with a tendency to sharp her upper tones. Merle Alcock sang Marth? tunefully and well, and James Wolfe was all that is required of Wagner. No fault could be found with Mr. Hasselmans' careful and sympathetic conducting. Chorus, orchestra and ballet were of Metropolitan merit.



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