[Met Performance] CID:146610



Tosca
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, January 5, 1948




Tosca (280)
Giacomo Puccini | Luigi Illica/Giuseppe Giacosa
Tosca
Pia Tassinari

Cavaradossi
Ferruccio Tagliavini

Scarpia
Alexander Sved

Sacristan
Melchiorre Luise

Spoletta
Alessio De Paolis

Angelotti
Lorenzo Alvary

Sciarrone
George Cehanovsky

Shepherd
Irene Jordan

Jailer
Lawrence Davidson


Conductor
Giuseppe Antonicelli







Review 1:

Review of Irving Kolodin in the New York Sun

Tagliavinis Sing Again in "Tosca"

A "Tosca" as it should be - tense, dramatic, alert and well-sung - was offered to the opera audience last night with the first appearance in the subscription season by the Ferruccio Tagliavini. The admired tenor sang another eloquent, high-spirited Cavaradossi, with Pia Tassinari, his wife, an appreciably surer Tosca than she was in the special performance of week before last. To the benefit of all, including Puccini, the other principals remained the same, with Alexander Sved as Scarpia and Giuseppe Antonicelli conducting.

The blessing of hearing three people who had at least one performance in common was enhanced by the improvement in Mme. Tassinari's singing of the much-beset heroine. It was again artistic, fine-grained, dramatically intelligent; but it was also much easier in vocalization. Oddly, however, "Vissi d'arte" remains a formidable hurdle for her - due, perhaps, to the psychological factor of being the center of the stage here, and striving to maintain a vocal level easily attained by her virtuoso husband. Noting the gain from her previous Tosca, one would say that another performance or two would put her completely at ease.

Supplementing the spirited, lively Cavaradossi of Tagliavini was Sved's sizable Scarpia, also better sung than before. Worth mention also was the drive and flexibility of Giuseppe Antonicelli's conducting, suggesting that he, too, profited from the public "rehearsal" ten days ago. Alessio de Paolis resumed his apt Spoletta (He was snow-bound last time) with Melchiorre Luise as a quirky, vocally voluble Sacristan. There were customers for all the available space, and bravos both justified and unjustified.



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