Grau Italian Opera: La traviata
Event Information
Venue(s):
Academy of Music
Manager / Director:
Jacob Grau
Event Type:
Opera
Record Information
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
7 August 2013
Performance Date(s) and Time(s)
07 Jan 1863, 8:00 PMProgram Details
Les Vêpres Siciliennes was originally scheduled but was postponed because Brignoli was ill.
Performers and/or Works Performed
Citations
Les Vêpres Siciliennes “was unavoidably postponed, owing to the severe illness of Signor Brignoli. . . . Grau perforce substituted the ‘Traviata.’ . . . Cordier could not make us forget Guerrabella in this, her best role. . . . Cordier’s performance was commendable; but we think the role not suited to her style, which is more that of comic opera.”
“Academy of Music.--Although ‘La Traviata’ was played here last evening as a hasty substitute for the ‘Sicilian Vespers’ – the change of programme being necessitated by the continued indisposition of Signor Brignoli – it was, we think, one of the best performances ever given under Mr. Grau’s direction. We were not prepared to expect from Mlle. Cordier’s previous efforts in ‘Dinorah’ and ‘I Puritani,’ a degree of dramatic and musical intensity so perfectly obtained in the role of Violetta. Thrust into the part at the last moment, it would have been proper, had she failed, to have extended to her all the friendly consideration that the critic could call to his aid, and even in view of her success, it is right to remember that she labored under the most adverse circumstances, but the lady’s success was so perfect and deserved that we have nothing but the heartiest recognition to record of it. From the Brindisi of the first act to the Gran Dio of the last, she was all that could be desired, equaling, if not excelling, in execution, all her predecessors and giving to the dramatic bearings of the part a sufficient earnestness of emotion to carry the sympathies of the audience with her to the end. It is undoubtedly the best part in which Mlle. Cordier has been heard.
The opera, in all respects, was so admirably rendered that we cannot help expressing our regret that Mr. Grau deems it necessary to suspend the season until Signor Brignoli recovers his health. The loss of New-York’s favorite tenor is almost irreparable, but when Signor Maccaferri sings as well as he did last night, there is hardly a regret to be heard that he is alone in his glory.”
“The first week of Manager’s Grau’s second seasons has been shorn of its promised splendor by the illness of two favorite artists – Brignoli and Mme. Lorini. Through their indisposition it was impossible to give the operas ‘I Vepri Siciliani’ and the ‘Trovatore.’ . . .
We wish to commend heartily the performances of Signor Maccaferri during the past week. He came to the rescue as a forlorn hope, appeared in operas without rehearsals – in fact, sang at a moment’s notice, and sang well, but we deem this artist in a fair way to lose his voice if he keeps on straining after effect by such tremendous display of vocal power. He will break his voice in some of those loud attempts, which are less pleasing than his lower notes, if only from the effort which is so visible.”
[After Monday’s bad performance of Poliuto,] [t]he management didn’t want to risk a similar adventure Wednesday and expose to view the Vêpres Siciliennes transformed into a musical massacre; they substituted la Traviata for it. The inspiration couldn’t have been any happier. If the audience was disappointed in the piece they had come to see, in exchange they found a charming surprise in the interpretation of the role of Violetta by Mlle Cordier. Our young compatriot had only been brought forth until then as the still poorly understood personage of Dinorah and in a single performance of the Puritains. She came up, for the first time, with a creation familiar to the mass of the public, and in which she could withstand the test of comparison, the sole positive thing in the eyes of most people. This would be a stumbling-block perhaps for a talent of less good quality; Mlle Cordier found a triumph there, the most complete and most decisive of the season, without contradiction. Her success couldn’t increase among those who judge and appreciate; but it received the anointing of popularity that evening. She showed herself completely to those who, only knowing her halfway up to then, believed they knew her last word. She demonstrated what a real artist can do—give a new face even to a role surcharged with memories and traditions. That’s in effect the tour de force that she knew how to accomplish, thanks to her deep artistic instinct. At the same time that she sang with exquisite feeling and irreproachable style, she infused such nuances of brio, of distinction and of touching charm into her acting that interest and sympathetic allurement found themselves doubled.
Amodio had his legitimate part in this success, which confirmed itself in being renewed Friday, and will be repeated more than once during the rest of the season.
Gives note on cancellation posted by Grau that day. “There seems to be a great difference of opinion in regard to the performance of the evening, some calling it the greatest performance at the Academy, and others regarding it as but a partial success, and much inferior to Mme. Guerrabella’s interpretation of last season. Mlle. Cordier sings with care and pains, but her style is better adapted to roles like Dinorah and Oscar in ‘Un Ballo en Maschera.’”