[Met Performance] CID:101580



Aida
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, February 22, 1929 Matinee





Aida (339)
Giuseppe Verdi | Antonio Ghislanzoni
Aida
Leonora Corona

Radam?s
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Amneris
Karin Branzell

Amonasro
Titta Ruffo [Last performance]

Ramfis
Pavel Ludikar

King
William Gustafson

Messenger
Alfio Tedesco

Priestess
Aida Doninelli

Dance
Rita De Leporte


Conductor
Tullio Serafin







Review 1:

Review of Noel Straus in the New York World

Only miscegenation, somewhere in the dim past of Amonasro's family, could solve the mystery of the decided discrepancy between the epidermal pigmentation of that son of the desert and his offspring at yesterday's "Aida" matinee, at the Metropolitan. Although Mr. Ruffo, who impersonated the captive King, was daubed to the midriff in make-up of anthracite, Miss Corona surprised the sold-out house by bursting into view with as lily-like a complexion as a Marguerite.

It cannot be said that the opera suffered much by the innovation of a Caucasian heroine. Probably no one would have been concerned about the color of Miss Corona's skin had her voice been of similar purity, at this debut of hers in the role. Most of time it was murky and cloudy, and it wavered unsteadily as to pitch. The soprano gave of her best in the heavy ensembles, especially the concerted finale of the second act. It is true that at one point of the number she swerved so radically from true intonation that she almost unhinged the chorus, but she took the high C splendidly enough and had no difficulty in dominating the dense mass of tone. As always, she was fair to look upon - this time literally - and her acting was fiery rather than sympathetic.

Mr. Ruffo's powerfully savage impersonation easily outranked that of the other participants, and he shared the vocal honors with Mr. Lauri-Volpi, the Radames, whose work at the end of the third act and in the final duet fully compensated for a botched and broken-phrased "Celeste Aida." Mme. Branzell won plaudits for her singing of the last scene, but elsewhere this Amneris did little of consequence. Mr. Serafin often played too vociferously. There was a big demonstration for Miss Corona, Mr. Lauri-Volpi, and Mr. Ruffo at the third curtain.



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