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The three heroines of Puccini's "Il Trittico" are not usually sung by the same soprano, but they were all taken by Renata Scotto on Thursday night in the Metropolitan seventh presentation of the trilogy this season. Since she is one of the finest Puccini interpreters around, the evening was something of a triumph for her as well as giving the production, largely new, a special glow. The problem in this kind of multiple casting is characterization. The vocal demends, technically speaking, are pretty much the same

from opera to opera, but the singing itself and the acting require quite different attacks. Giorgetta, the restless bargemaster's wife in "Il Tabarro"; the tortured, suicidal Sister Angelica, and the young, in-love Lauretta in "Gianni Schicchi" have nothing in common except the intensity of their emotional expression.

Miss Scotto's singing was full of the detail that gradually built her characterization: passionate as Giorgetta, despairing as Angelica and utterly charming as Lauretta. Her ability to take Lauretta's famous, almost hackneyed, aria, "0 mio babbino caro" and turn it into a fresh experience was magical, and it largely stemmed from her thorough use of the music as a dramatic device - a seductive, playful plea to her father.

As an actress, she was not wholly succesful in suggesting Giorgetta's youthful discontent, and she did not look right - she is very short - in a veristic opera where that matters. But as a poignant Angelica and a girlish Lauretta, she was perfect.

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Search by title: Il Trittico, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi,

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