[Met Concert or Gala] CID:274270



Centennial Gala II
Metropolitan Opera House, Sat, October 22, 1983 Telecast





Centennial Gala II



Metropolitan Opera House
October 22, 1983 Broadcast / Telecast

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera


CENTENNIAL GALA II

Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3

Conductor...............Leonard Bernstein [Last appearance]


Scenery for Act II of La Boh?me
designed by Franco Zeffirelli


Andrea Ch?nier: Final Duet
Montserrat Caball?
Jos? Carreras

Eugene Onegin: Prince Gremin's Aria
Paul Plishka

La Fanciulla del West: Ch'ella mi creda
Giuseppe Giacomini

Conductor...............James Levine


Don Giovanni: L? ci darem la mano
Myra Merritt
John Cheek

La Boh?me: O Mim? tu pi? non torni
G?sta Winbergh [First appearance]
Vernon Hartman

L'Enfant Prodigue: Air de Lia
Ileana Cotrubas

Lakm?: Viens Mallika
Mariella Devia
Jean Kraft

Don Pasquale: Signorina in tanta fretta
Barbara Daniels
Italo Tajo

Conductor...............John Pritchard


Der Fliegende Holl?nder: Wie aus der Ferne
Carol Neblett
Simon Estes

Andrea Ch?nier: Ebbene Donnina innamorata; Nemico della patria
Andrea Velis
Cornell MacNeil

Aida: Fu la sorte
Martina Arroyo
Mignon Dunn

Samson et Dalila: Bacchanale
Linda Gelinas
Ricardo Costa
Metropolitan Opera Ballet
Choreography by Zachary Solov
Scenery by Robert O'Hearn

Conductor...............James Levine


Don Carlo: Act I Duet
Ermanno Mauro
Pablo Elvira

Maytime: Sweethearts
Anna Moffo [Last appearance]
Robert Merrill [Last appearance]

Vanessa: Quintet
Johanna Meier
Rosalind Elias
Regina Resnik [Last appearance]
John Alexander
John Macurdy

La Boh?me: Vecchia zimarra
Jerome Hines

La Gioconda: L'amo come il fulgor del creato!
Lucine Amara
Bianca Berini [Last Appearance]

Nabucco: Donna chi sei
Grace Bumbry
Renato Bruson

Conductor: Thomas Fulton


Scenery for the final scene of Die Zauberfl?te
designed by Marc Chagall


Presentation of Honored Guests
Osie Hawkins, Master of Ceremonies

HONORED GUESTS

Rose Bampton
Erna Berger
Kitty Carlisle
Helen Jepson
Dorothy Kirsten
Brenda Lewis
Martha Lipton
Zinka Milanov
Patrice Munsel
Jarmila Novotna
Nell Rankin
Delia Rigal
Margaret Roggero
Stella Roman
Bid? Sayao
Eleanor Steber
Ris? Stevens

Lorenzo Alvary
Gabor Carelli
Walter Cassel
Ferruccio Tagliavini
George Shirley
Theodor Uppman
Cesare Valletti
Ramon Vinay


Faust: Final Trio
Katia Ricciarelli
William Lewis
Nicolai Ghiaurov

Madama Butterfly: Love Duet
Leona Mitchell
Giuliano Ciannella

Rienzi: Allm?cht'ger Vater
Timothy Jenkins

L'Italiana in Algeri: Act I Finale
Diane Kesling
Edda Moser
Gail Dubinbaum
David Rendall
John Darrenkamp
Sesto Bruscantini [Last appearance]
Ara Berberian

Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Va pour Kleinzach
Neil Shicoff
Michael Best
Metropolitan Opera Chorus

Samson et Dalila: Mon coeur s'ouvre ? ta voix
Marilyn Horne

Tristan und Isolde: Narrative and Curse
Lillijebjorn: I remember when I was seventeen [Encore]
Birgit Nilsson [Last appearance]

Un Ballo in Maschera: Teco io sto
Leontyne Price
Luciano Pavarotti

Conductor...............James Levine


Happy Birthday
Entire Company of Centennial Galas I and II


TV Director.............Kirk Browning

Gala coordinated by Charles Riecker









Review 1:

Review of Irving Kolodin in Newsday :

Turn the clock ahead to the grand finale: a duet from another Verdi opera. Leontyne Price and Luciano Pavarotti walked on to sing, enchantingly, a duet from "La Forza del destino" in a way to show why they had to be last. They had never performed together at the Met, and who knows when it may happen again?

But there were penultimates that could have been any other evening's ultimate. There was the splendid version of "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice," from Saint-Saens' "Samson and Delilah," by Marilyn Horne. She turned around impulsively at the end to embrace Rise Stevens, a historically outstanding Delilah who was sitting among those gathered on the stage.

Then came the long-awaited return of Birgit Nilsson to perform in her very special way the narrative from the first act of Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." She risked the only encore of the day by announcing it as a tribute to the centennial spirit. It was a favorite short song of Christine Nilsson, also from Sweden, who had sung Marguerite at the first of all "Fausts," on Oct. 22, 1883.

Earlier on, of course, there were innumerable comings and goings that gave rise to the question: What to pass by? One of the dubious distinctions came late in the evening when a veteran basso, Italo Tajo, appeared in a duet from Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" with soprano Barbara Daniels, who made her debut earlier this season. Why? Is it because he is a professor at the University of Cincinnati and she is from outside Cincinnati, where James Levine was born? Others before and after suggested the Sunday night concerts of the old Met, now fortunately a part of the past.

Not to be forgotten, however, was a telecast sequence in which the great tenor Nicolai Gedda walked on, smartly attired in black tie and well-tailored jacket, to deliver 'Una furtive lagrima," from Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore," This completed a sequence of vocal art that had included a superbly stylish duet from Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" in which the fine art of Spanish tenor Alfredo Kraus was partnered with that of the upcoming soprano Catherine Malfitano, whose father once had been a member of the Met orchestra.

What more can be added? Only that the greatest orchestral performance of the day came when Leonard Bernstein walked on to begin the evening sequence. Settled down, he encouraged the Met orchestra to give him and the world a version of Beethoven's Leonora No. 3 overture suitable to Vienna, where the composer grew up and the conductor now spends much of his time.

Account of Patrick J. Smith in Opera (UK)

The actual day of the 100th anniversary of the first Met performance (of "Faust"), October 22, fell fortuitously this year on a Saturday. The Met seized on this to produce what has to be termed the ultimate in galas, two separate performances (one of three-and-a-half hours, and one of five) of over 70 singers, all of which was televised live throughout the United States and Canada. It was a fitting tribute to the fact that the Met has always been considered, and still considers itself, primarily a singers' house.

The roster of singers included many of the world's greatest (Sutherland, Leontyne Price, Nilsson, Te Kanawa, Freni, Home, Domingo, Pavarotti, Gedda, Kraus, Bruson, Raimondi, Ghiaurov etc.), who have sung often at the. Met; many singers who over the years have had a close association with the house (notably Roberta Peters and Jerome Hines); a goodly share of comprimario singers and younger singers on the roster-quite rightly-and at least one (G?sta Winbergh) who had yet to make his debut! Jess Thomas came out of retirement to sing with Jessye Norman; James McCracken returned to the house after his celebrated walk-out of a few seasons ago.

The orchestra, stalwart throughout the long day (and buoyed by a new orchestra contract, signed nine months early, which carries through to 1987), played the overture to "The Bartered Bride" (under Levine, who did most of the conducting) and "Leonore" No. 3 (under Leonard Bernstein); stretches were undertaken by Richard Bonynge, Jeffrey Tate, John Pritchard, and Thomas Fulton. The ballet corps and the chorus were both showcased, the latter singing (splendidly) the Hymn to the Sun from Mascagni's "Iris"-a welcome novelty that made a hit (and doubtless gratified the chorus master, David Stivender, who conducted it, since Mascagni is one of his favourite composers).

A few popular items were included (it is debatable whether Sir Rudolf Bing would have permitted James Morris to sing a medley from "Man of La Mancha!"); the newest operatic music sung was the quintet from Samuel Barber's "Vanessa."

On any such occasion, between Eva Marton's [first selection of the night] 'In questa reggia' and Price/Pavarotti' s closing love duet from "Ballo," there were ups and downs and curious choices, but the celebratory nature of the whole over-rode the specifics, and I much appreciated the efficiently businesslike pace of the proceedings, which allowed only one curtain bow and kept the show moving. There was sadness that Jon Vickers, in New York for "Peter Grimes," had chosen not to appear, and of the singers invited but unable to be there (Scotto, Rysanek, Ludwig, Corelli, Bergonzi), I particularly missed Cesare Siepi, who gave the house some of its finest evenings in the 1950s and 1960s. There was warm affection for the group of retired singers who appeared on stage for the closing portion. A touching moment came almost at the end, when Nilsson sang a favourite Swedish folk song of her predecessor Christine Nilsson's (the earlier Nilsson was the Marguerite in the [inaugural] night "Faust"). At the end, the massed stage full of artists, which would have made any opera company instantly world-class, sang 'Happy Birthday', and at one in the morning the glorious day was at an end.



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