[Met Tour] CID:91280



Tosca
American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tue, November 24, 1925




Tosca (190)
Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa
Tosca
Maria Jeritza

Cavaradossi
Giovanni Martinelli

Scarpia
Antonio Scotti

Sacristan
Pompilio Malatesta

Spoletta
Giordano Paltrinieri

Angelotti
Paolo Ananian

Sciarrone
Vincenzo Reschiglian

Shepherd
Merle Alcock

Jailer
Millo Picco


Conductor
Tullio Serafin







Review 1:

Review signed S. L. L. in unidentified Philadelphia newspaper

JERITZA IN 'TOSCA' WINS NEW LAURELS

Metropolitan Opera Company's Offering Wins More Curtain Calls Than in Years

GOOD DRAMATICS AID VOICES

The Metropolitan Opera Company of New York last evening at the Academy of Music gave what was perhaps the most intense performance of Puccini's 'Tosca" that has ever been witnessed in this city. The chief contributors to this end were those great interpreters of emotional roles, Mme. Maria Jeritza and Antonio Scotti.

The great scene lasting most of the second act was a triumph of dramatics as applied to the operatic stage, and at the close Mme. Jeritza and Mr. Scotti were called before the curtain more times than has occurred at a Metropolitan performance in Philadelphia for a considerable length of time. And, moreover, the tribute of the huge audience was thoroughly deserved.

There are few roles which suit Mme. Jeritza better than that of the unfortunate heroine of Sardou's drama, upon which the opera is based. It gives full scope for the essentials of her great dramatic art, and the music, too, is splendidly adapted to her voice. She was in excellent voice last evening and the beautiful "Non la sospire" of the first act, pathetic but intense, "Vissi d'arte" of the second and the exquisite duet with Cavaradossi, "O dolci mani," near the close of the opera, were sung beautifully and always with that dramatic power which brings conviction to an audience. She seldom has appeared in Philadelphia in a role which shows her histrionic and vocal abilities to equal advantage.

Of Mr. Scotti's Scarpia, it need only be said that his interpretation of the part is the accepted one and the model which all singers of the role copy. Selected by Puccini to create it [sic] almost twenty-six years ago, he still remains the master interpreter. Last evening his wonderful acting was one of the finest features of an exceptional performance. The vocal part of the role is almost entirely recitative except for the soliloquy at the close of the first act, which was superbly rendered.

Mr. Martinelli, in the role of Cavaradossi, has more melodic opportunities than either of the principal characters. After the beautiful, "Recondita armonia" of the first act, he seemed to be saving his voice for the tremendous vocal work of the third act, but his voice rarely has been better displayed than in this trying scene. The farewell to Tosca, sung to an accompaniment of a quartet of violincellos, magnificently played under Mr. Serafin's skillful direction, the mournful "E lucevan le stelle" and the duet with Tosca were superb exhibitions of dramatic song, given with perfect vocalization and great feeling. The dramatic demands of the role are not so great as those of Tosca and Scarpia, but were admirably performed.

The lesser roles were well taken by Paolo Ananian (Angelotti), Pompilio Malatesta (the Sacristan), Giordano Paltrinieri (Spoletta), Millo Picco (a jailer), and Mary Bonnetti (the shepherd). Mr. Serafin, whose appearance at the conductor's desk is sufficient warrant of a fine performance, conducted admirably and with a sense of the relativity of voice and orchestra always apparent in this opera, with its heavy orchestration and somber effects.



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