[Met Tour] CID:141520



Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Boston Opera House, Boston, Massachusetts, Sat, April 13, 1946




Il Barbiere di Siviglia (204)
Gioachino Rossini | Cesare Sterbini
Figaro
John Brownlee

Rosina
Bid? Say?o

Count Almaviva
Bruno Landi

Dr. Bartolo
Salvatore Baccaloni

Don Basilio
Ezio Pinza

Berta
Thelma Altman

Fiorello
Lodovico Oliviero

Sergeant
Anthony Marlowe


Conductor
Pietro Cimara







Review 1:

Review of Doris Sperber in the Boston Herald

"Barber of Seville"

After a week and a half devoted mainly to tragedy, the Metropolitan Opera wound up its stay in Boston with a lively performance of "The Barber of Seville." Musically, of course, the "The Barber" doesn't come up to its sequel, "Figaro," but then Rossini was no Mozart. However, there are many good passages in the opera, and while most of the interest centers on the horse-play on stage, the music last night was well handled.

From the start of the overture - which, was lifted bodily from an earlier opera of Rossini's "Elizabetta," - Pietro Cimini had the orchestra in hand, and brought out the charm of the score. Some of the singing was uneven, but with such superior artists as Sayao, Baccaloni and Pinza on stage, the performance was, for the most part, first rate.

Of course the real interest of the opera begins in the second act, when the comedy gets under way. Mr. Baccaloni is a master of opera buffo and his Dr. Bartolo was a delight, both visually and vocally. Ezio Pinza's caricature of Don Basilio was greeted with shouts of joy, while his singing of the "Calumnia" aria was a masterpiece. It isn't very often that opera presents as convincing a stage picture as that of Miss Sayao's Rosina. She is entirely convincing as the pert, mischievous young girl, and contributed some exquisite singing in "Una voce poco fa" and in Mozart's "Deh vieni," which she sang in the lesson scene.

In the title role, John Brownlee was his usual likeable self. He was a bit uneven in "Largo as Factotum," and is not quite convincing as a Spaniard, but he entered into the spirit of things, and was at his best in the ensemble passages. Thelma Votipka had the role of Berta, the housekeeper, and a priceless bit of excellent comedy was presented?



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