[Met Tour] CID:156730



La Traviata
Cleveland Public Auditorium, Cleveland, Ohio, Tue, April 17, 1951




La Traviata (345)
Giuseppe Verdi | Francesco Maria Piave
Violetta
Dorothy Kirsten

Alfredo
Eugene Conley

Germont
Leonard Warren

Flora
Thelma Votipka

Gastone
Alessio De Paolis

Baron Douphol
George Cehanovsky

Marquis D'Obigny
Lawrence Davidson

Dr. Grenvil
Clifford Harvuot

Annina
Margaret Roggero

Dance
Suzanne Ames

Dance
Tilda Morse


Conductor
Fausto Cleva







Review 1:

Review of Elmore Bacon in the Cleveland News
Parisian Mood

Kirsten, Warren Thrill in ?Traviata?

Lovely Dorothy Kirsten and roly-poly Leonard Warren won cheers at Public Hall Tuesday night. This was a performance of ?La Traviata? that sparkled and thrilled from the beautifully played open*ing orchestral prelude to the last-dying gasp of the unfortunate Violetta.

Here was Mr. Verdi in a Parisian mood and much more enjoyable than in the Spanish gloom and terror of the open*ing night. Fausto Cleva making his bow here as director kept this familiar Italian musical stepping along at a pace which helped to give it freshness and vim.

Refurbished scenery, beautiful new costumes and a most entertaining ballet interlude all added to making the presentation a most decided success.

While the Kirsten and Warren artistry as Violetta and Germont respectively, was outstanding, Eugene Conley gave an excellent performance of the role of Alfredo. And the former Clevelander, Thelma Votipka, always dependable and lovely-voiced, repeated her past successes as Flora.

Kirsten Superb

Miss Kirsten, in fine voice, gave to the part of Violetta a perfection of detail, and a soaring soprano of luscious quality that summed up to a superb performance. The golden gleam of her voice in the famous ?Ah, fors e lui? turned to sparkling diamonds in the coloratura passages. And the scene with the elder Germont when she was induced to leave his son, she sang with a dramatic feeling that was touching. Her notable histrionic gifts also were beautifully revealed in the final death scene.

We have heard the Warren voice when it was given more power. But his revelation of the elder Germont was a performance that following the famous aria ?Di Provenza il mar? won a demonstration of applause and cheering.

This aria, sometimes blasted out by great-chested baritones, was sung most convincingly as a part of the opera rather than just a show-off spot. And in his duet with Violetta his expert adjustments of the emotional tensions, and the restraint he placed upon his booming voice added to the drama.

Alfredo Well Sung

While we had expected more force and power in the Conley tenor, we admired his clear-cut presentation of the role of Alfredo. His early scene with Violetta in which he revealed his love for her was done quite dramatically. And his scene with his father was convincing and well-sung.

Margaret Roggero, with a somewhat piping voice, as Annina, Alessio de Paolis as Gastone, George Cehanovsky as the Baron, Lawrence Davidson as the Marquis and Clifford Harvout as the Grenvil were all excellent in their parts.

The second of the three operas to be given at Public Hall as a salute to the memory of Verdi showed the signs of the Rudolf Bing housecleaning at the Met Opera. The lighting, especially seems to have been rearranged to much better advantage than heretofore.

The ballet was a beautifully presented feature in the third act. Tilda Morse was the principal to the Fortune Teller episode and Suzanne Ames in the Bullfighter dance.


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