[Met Performance] CID:149840



Pell?as et M?lisande
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, February 16, 1949

Debut : Jacques Jansen




Pell?as et M?lisande (46)
Claude Debussy | Maurice Maeterlinck
Pell?as
Jacques Jansen [Debut]

M?lisande
Elen Dosia

Golaud
John Brownlee

Arkel
Nicola Moscona

Genevi?ve
Margaret Harshaw

Yniold
Mimi Benzell

Physician
Lorenzo Alvary


Conductor
Emil Cooper


Director
D?sir? Defr?re

Set Designer
Joseph Urban

Costume Designer
Gretel Urban





Pell?as et M?lisande received two performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Francis D. Perkins in the New York Herald Tribune

"P?lleas"

Maeterlinck Opera is Revived; Jansen in U. S. Debut

Debussy's "Pell?as et M?lisande" was presented at the Metropolitan Opera House for the first time in four years last night, with a Pell?as who was making his first appearance in this country, and a M?lisande who had not sung this role here before. Except for Mimi Benzell as Yniold, the other members of the cast had appeared in their various characterizations during the last sojourn of this unparalleled work in the Metropolitan's active list in the seasons of 1943-44 and 1944-45.

Both Miss Dosia and Mr. Jansen had sung the title roles at the Opera Comique in Paris. The French tenor's interpretation of Pell?as was artistic; his appearance and demeanor were prepossessing and in character, and his singing was flexibly phrased. His voice seemed not large while appealing in quality, if sometimes variable in regard to clarity; the music revealed its assets rather than its limitations. At times his singing gave a sense of slightly excessive reserve, but measures of emotional outspokenness were presented with ample volume and emotional concentration; and the personality and expressiveness of the interpretation grew as the work pursued its course.

Miss Dosia's M?lisande was appealing to the eye, and also appropriately youthful. As compared with Tosca, the role of her Metropolitan debut last season, the music was better suited to her voice, which was pleasing for much of the time, although the quality of tone had its less commendable moments. In expressive color, her singing included persuasive episodes, others when the character of the role was less indicated; her visual interpretation also usually conveyed the naivet? of the character, but yet the characterization seemed incomplete. lacking some indefinable yet essential element. Miss Benzell's Yniold did not carry dramatic or vocal conviction.

Mr. Brownlee's Golaud, rather dry in voice, was convincing from the dramatic aspect. Mr. Moscona's Arkel was dignified, if vocally rather opaque, and Miss Harshaw fared commendably as Genevieve. The orchestral playing under Mr. Cooper's direction was lucid and well proportioned, but yet here, and in the production as a whole, there was something missing; a range of musical expressiveness which fell short of the emotional span which is inherent in "Pell?as et M?lisande." There was much to respect, but one listener's imagination was left incompletely satisfied.



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