[Met Performance] CID:171200



Soir?e
Don Pasquale
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, March 12, 1956




Soir?e (6)
Gioachino Rossini/Benjamin Britten
Girl
Mary Ellen Moylan

Boy
Oleg Briansky

Hostess
Margaret Black

Spaniard
Adriano Vitale


Conductor
Thomas Schippers


Don Pasquale (46)
Gaetano Donizetti | Giovanni Ruffini
Don Pasquale
Fernando Corena

Norina
Hilde G?den

Ernesto
Cesare Valletti

Dr. Malatesta
Frank Guarrera

Notary
Alessio De Paolis


Conductor
Thomas Schippers







Review 1:

Review of Louis Biancolli in the World Telegram & Sun

A Norina for the Binoculars

Adorned with a new Norina, "Don Pasquale" - Donizetti's gay little comedy of romance and intrigue - bubbled across the Metropolitan stage last night in the season's final performance.

The new object of all the amorous commotion last night was Hilde Gueden the blond Viennese beauty who is the nominee of many a binocular-bearing boxholder for the title of "Miss Metropolitan." The opera glasses were working overtime last night.

Besides being a very pretty Norina, Miss Gueden, who had never sung the role here before, was also a very nice one - dainty and pleasant to watch and listen to; not too vivacious, but neat.

The voice was pretty, as usual, and the phrasing smooth and even. What I found lacking was the melting line of bel canto and the sustained coloratura sparkle that is despair of most Norinas and the triumph of few.

It was again a pleasure to watch the masterly comedy routine of Fernando Corena as Don Pasquale, to listen to the small but superbly modulated vocalism of Cesare. Valletti as Ernesto, and to note the clear, crisp tone and gesture of Frank Guarrera as Dr. Malatesta.

It was also refreshing to see the bright and ingenious staging again - the slick and amusing revolving stage, the hat-box smartness of the decor, the colorful period wardrobe. "Don Pasquale" has been a good show, and still better music.

Still another attraction was the conducting of young Thomas Schippers, who with this one score has established himself as the Met's most promising podium personality.

I found myself liking Zachary Solov's prefatory ballet, "Soiree," a bit more last night. Measured by past Metropolitan standards, it marks a great advance toward the higher ideals and realities of classic ballet.

They have made a good bill for the money, "Don Pasquale" and "Soiree," and it would be nice to see more combinations of the kind in the years to come. With an enterprising fellow like Rudolf Bing around, that shouldn't be hard.



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