[Met Performance] CID:127300



Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, December 21, 1939




Il Barbiere di Siviglia (165)
Gioachino Rossini | Cesare Sterbini
Figaro
Richard Bonelli

Rosina
Lily Pons

Count Almaviva
Nino Martini

Dr. Bartolo
Louis D'Angelo

Don Basilio
Norman Cordon

Berta
Irra Petina

Fiorello
Wilfred Engelman

Sergeant
Giordano Paltrinieri


Conductor
Gennaro Papi


Director
D?sir? Defr?re

Set Designer
Joseph Urban





In the Lesson Scene Pons sang Villanelle (Dell'Acqua).
Il Barbiere di Siviglia received five performances this season.

Review 1:

Review signed "S" in Musical America

Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' Makes Season's Entry?

A production of Rossini's "Barber of Seville" filled with rollicking slapstick more suggestive of "Hellzapoppin" than of the sparkling comedy of Beaumarchais, at the first appearance of the work at the Metropolitan this season, found the audience in holiday good humor on the evening of Dec. 21.

Mr. Bonelli, who made his first appearance at the Metropolitan in the r?le of the Barber at this performance, was in excellent voice, and if his acting had possessed the distinction of his singing, his could have been called an unusually excellent interpretation. As it was, he did not participate very whole-heartedly in the low comedy indulged in by the majority of his fellow artists, with the result that the opera was thrown out of focus. Miss Pons had sung more evenly earlier in the week, but her high F in the "Una voce poco fa" was true, and she made a colorful and active stage figure. Mr. Martini's Almaviva was notable for its restraint, and for its vocal merits. If not a grand seigneur, this was a count who could sing an air with suavity and agreeable phrasing. Mr. Cordon's Don Basilio was no more than a caricature, and despite some very fine singing and skillfully done horse-play, one missed the subtler shades of the character. There is a scheming, Jesuitical side to Don Basilio, which is definitely reflected in the music. Miss Petina's Berta, also done with broad strokes, shared the approval of the audience. The puttering Dr. Bartolo of Mr. D'Angelo was amusing, and the rest of the cast competent. Mr. Papi conducted with little regard for nuance, occasionally drowning out the singers entirely.



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