[Met Performance] CID:201590



Samson et Dalila
Metropolitan Opera House, Wed, March 17, 1965

Debut : Elena Cernei




Samson et Dalila (116)
Camille Saint-Sa?ns | Ferdinand Lemaire
Samson
Jon Vickers

Dalila
Elena Cernei [Debut]

High Priest
William Walker

Abim?lech
Justino D?az

Old Hebrew
Bonaldo Giaiotti

Philistine
Gabor Carelli

Philistine
Robert Goodloe

Messenger
Robert Nagy

Dance
Edith Jerell


Conductor
Fausto Cleva







Review 1:

Review of Irving Kolodin in the April 3, 1965 issue of the Saturday

The revolving personnel of the Met revolving repertory brought with it, during the week, a new Dalila and Amneris from Rumania named Elena Cernei. Her prominent assets are a sound of an appealing, dusky quality through its midrange and a bright, expanding top, plus sufficient youthfulness to make a plausible figure of her Dalila, even an attractive one of her Amneris. She does not have the solidity at the bottom to make it audible in such a big theater as the Metropolitan, nor is she as yet as assured, dramatically, as one would like to see on this stage. But her merits are sufficient to warrant further attention.

In this hearing of Saint-S?ens's score, Jon Vickers made a striking figure of Samson and performed better, vocally, than he has in a non-German work previously. Both the style and the vocal layout of the part suit him, and he made an especial effect with the pealing pronouncement at the climax of Act II. William Walker was the High Priest. However, the French style in this production has virtually vanished with the replacement, as conductor, of Georges Pr?tre with Fausto Cleva.



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