Strakosch Italian Opera: Don Giovanni

Complete cast.

“Last evening was the sixth subscription night of the season. The Academy was crowded, as usual, and Mozart’s chef d’oeuvre was on the bill. The cast was as follows [see above]. As a matter of curiosity it may be interesting to mention certain casts of this opera as it has been given in London during seasons past. At Her Majesty’s, years ago, they had Donna Anna, Pasta; Zerlina, Persiani; Don Ottavio, Rubini; Don Giovanni, Tambresini; Leporello, Lablache. At Covent Garden later they had Donna Anna, Grisi; Donna Elvira, Corballi; Zerlina, alternately Alboni, Viardot and Bosio; Don Ottavio, Mario; Don Giovanni, Tamburini; Leporello, Carl Formes (the best Leporello that ever existed). Taglioni danced in the minuet at Her Majesty’s, and Carlotta Grisi at Covent Garden. Still later Donna Anna was represented by Tietjens and Barbot, Donna Anna by Di Murska, Zerlina by Valpini and Levitszky, Don Ottavio by Ginglini and Gardoni, Don Giovanni by Gassier, Santley and Faure. The performance last night rested for its success on four artists—Nilsson, Brignoli, Jamet and Ronconi. Mlle. Nilsson displayed quite a different talent from that which she has so far shown in this city. She seemed to be a perfect mistress of coquetting and flirtation, and in the duet ‘La ci Darem’ and the plaintive ‘Vedrai Carino’ she drew well deserved applause. Nilsson’s success was of the most unequivocal kind, and proved that she is equal to a coquettish rôle as well as that which appertains to tragic opera. Regarding the others we have terms of high commendation for Jamet, whose Leporello was characterized by a dash and abandon that never exceeded the true principles of art. Brignoli narrowly escaped an encore, or rather an encore was loudly insisted upon, for his artistic rendering of ‘il mio Tesoro intanto.’ He is the only tenor in the troupe that has stood so far the artistic test of the season, and has proved himself a conscientious artist in the only two rôles he has so far appeared in—the Master of Ravenswood and Don Ottavio. Ronconi was an inimitable Masetto, and never did his great comic talent appear to greater advantage than in the rôle of the jealous fiancée. Mlle. Duval made a much better impression than she did at her unfortunate début in ‘Il Barbiere,’ but during the opera she betrayed, to use a mild expression, an unacquaintance with the music of her rôle. Hermanns, except that his pronunciation of the Italian was very bad, played the part of the Commendatore admirably. Now to come to the two most important rôles in the opera, Donna Anna and Don Giovanni.We heard that Mlle. Corani was in very bad health, but nothing can excuse the fiasco she made last evening. It was the worst Donna Anna we have ever witnessed, and a disgrace to the name and genius of Mozart. The Don Giovanni—and, after all, what is the opera without a worthy representative of the title role—was as complete a fiasco as the Donna Anna. Mozart’s music is peculiar. It is so utterly simple, with all its apparent contrapuntal difficulties, that there is no dodging it in regard to correctness. Mlle. Corani sang from beginning to end out of tune, despite this horrible thing called the diapason normal, and M. Barré was the dreariest Don Juan it has ever been our province to witness. To tell the truth, the performance, leaving Nilsson aside, was a failure. The conductor either accommodated himself to the weaknesses of some of the artists or was unacquainted with the music of Mozart. The tempi were occasionally terribly at fault. We trust, for the sake of the success of Italian opera in this city, that the present management will never repeat ‘Don Giovanni’ again in this city. It is hard for Mlle. Nilsson to play four times a week in a rôle which calls forth her great talent and which rests entirely upon her; but it is the case, and there is no use in disguising what is a plain fact.”

“The production last night of Mozart’s famous work offered a curious unevenness, and widely contrasted extremes in execution. Pleasant as it always is to praise without stint, and warmly as we are inclined to recognize the merits of the management in their efforts for public entertainment, the noticeable defects of last evening’s performance call for a little plain comment. Of some slight shortcomings in that excellence which we have come to expect from Mlle. Duval, the Elvira of the evening, there is the less to be said, since the lady was distinctly suffering from cold. Mlle. Duval is a conscientious and graceful singer, rather out of place in the heroic proportions of the Academy, but when in good voice and amid her appropriate surroundings, very charming and satisfactory.

It would be pleasant to lay the same unction to our souls in the case of Mlle. Corani, as Donna Anna, who, it is suggested, was likewise suffering from our rude western air. As heard last night, however, her qualities of voice, execution, and dramatic or musical method, do not encourage the hope that she can with any propriety be viewed as even a temporary substitute for Miss Nilsson in first roles.

Signor Brignoli, from whatever cause, had struck out the artistically novel path of walking through the part of Don Ottavio, humming as he went, and sacrificing his professional reputation to his personal caprice, in a manner the more reckless that his once melodious organ, in its present state, hardly warrants his wonted breadth of assumption and sang froidof demeanor toward the public. It is not often that it becomes the unpleasant duty of the critic to notice an overt and public breach of courtesy in an artist, but if an indignant singer had, at any time, the right to air his ennui or indulge his personal pique before an audience, as Signor Brignoli had at least the appearance of doing last night, the opera would become an amusement as fortuitous as watching for avalanches or storms.

The artist who indulges in such blended bad taste and impertinence is as untrue to art as he is offensive to his wrongly so-called hearers. With a self-respecting public and a properly independent management, he would wait long for another opportunity.

This disagreeable matter out of the way, we can take breath and praise at leisure. Of Miss Nilsson’s personation of the half-rustic, half-sophisticated but altogether fascinating peasant-girl, it would be impossible to speak too highly. Her picture had the minuteness of Meissonier, with the finish of Merle and the earnest simplicity of Breton. It would be pleasant to follow out the comparison in detail, but we can only allude to the wonderful completeness of the ‘Batti Batti’ and ‘Vedrai carino’ scenas with Ronconi, sung by Miss Nilsson and acted by both artists with a perfection of mingled grace and humor which has probably never been surpassed on any stage. Signor Barré has not, either in voice or style, the breadth and color desirable for a part so large and rich of proportions as the erratic Don. He is, however, in his own field, a very careful and finished artist. The ‘Deh vieni alla Finestra’ was well sung, and would have been effective in a smaller auditorium, and the ‘La ci darem,’ which may be made utterly offensive by coarse treatment, was sung by Miss Nilsson and M. Barré with really delightful taste and simplicity. M. Jamet, also, was excellent as as Leporello. We have seen broader and droller buffo acting in the part, but rarely more quiet taste and correctness in both vocal and dramatic method.

One remark—purely geographical—in closing. Is it not about time that the Academy were furnished with a few new back scenes, and is it exactly probable—frankly, now—that that wonderful geologic impossibility, the Sugar-loaf, Chimborazo or Park of Teneriffe, which has become chronic in that capacity, should by any known convulsion of nature pop up in Perthshire, Richmond and Seville on three evenings of the same week?”

“’Don Giovanni’ was sung at the Academy of Music, last evening, in presence of a very fashionable audience. The recital was smooth, and worthy of a season of Italian opera likely to be remembered for performances of general excellence as well as for representations relying upon one or two artists for effectiveness. Yesterday’s rehearsal is to be mentioned among the entertainments first referred to. There is not a weak bar of music in ‘Don Giovanni,’ nor a part unsuited to a great singer and actor. Hence the difficulty of producing special impressions at particular stages of the story. Many Italian operas are given life by two or three numbers, themselves of doubtful merit, but striking when contrasted with the remainder of the score. Who will undertake, however, to dismiss from consideration with a reference to three or four airs, Mozart’s immortal work? Passages of the interpretation enjoyed last night were of course superior to others, but it is no slight compliment to say that the whole composition was rendered with most satisfactory results. Mlle. Nilsson’s contribution to the recital does not call for the extended notice that lady’s artistic efforts usually demand and receive. Versatility is more often spoken of in connection with performers than it is really exhibited. We are not surprised, therefore, that Mlle. Nilsson, whose Ophelia, Desdemona and Marguerite are pictures which will never be forgotten for power and finish, finds the transition from tragedy to comedy rather trying. Her Zerlina fascinates not merely Masetto, but the entire audience; it is not, it must be said, the Zerlina whom the composer and librettist had in view. That Mlle. Nilsson’s singing could hardly be improved upon is a more pleasant fact. She delivered ‘Batti, batti,’ with a great deal of expressiveness, though its effect would have been heightened by a little more animation in the allegro; and ‘Vedrai, carino,’ with infinite tenderness and grace; the last-named was the only piece encored during the evening. Mlle. Corani’s Donna Anna must be cited as the one mediocre performance. Mlle. Corani has culture and experience, but her voice is worn, and her tones have a continual tendency to flatten. We are sorry that Mlle. Corani’s debut should have to be written of coldly, but we are bound to say that the defects of her vocalization utterly spoiled the sestett. Her own aria, “Crudele,’ could not be awaited with much interest thereafter. Mlle. Duval, as Donna Elvira, augmented largely the good opinion of her resources and art, uttered after her first hearing in ‘Il Barbiere.’ Mlle. Duval is young and comely; her organ is fresh, her intonation true, her execution facile and correct. It may be claimed that she is not fitted to cope with the conventional Donna Elvira, but her share in last evening’s labors strengthened materially her position. The artists, besides those already alluded to, were Signori Brignoli and Ronconi, MM. Jamet and Barré, and Herr Herrmanns. M. Jamet’s Leporello was the best defined, most consistent, and most elaborate characterization of the night. Perhaps M. Jamet’s acting would have gained by absolute freedom from a certain dignity noticeable in all his rôles, but we could not look for a more intelligent, spirited and artistic sketch, vocally as well as histrionically. M. Barré’s gifts are so small that we much fear he will never become a favorite with a general audience. Yet M. Barré as Don Giovanni proved himself a skilled singer, and his serenade may be pointed out, amid much that was very praiseworthy, as an evidence of study and taste. Signor Brignoli sang deliciously ‘’Il mio tesoro’ and acquitted himself of what remained of his task with an indifference to circumstances more startling even, in the first duet with Donna Anna, than his admirers have become accustomed to. Signor Ronconi’s Masetto can only be alluded to as full of humor, not always—as those who watched his by-play and by-words can testify—of the most delicate kind. Herr Herrmanns was an impressive Comendatore.”

“It was a matter of managerial courtesy to allow Mlle. Corani a night for her formal début in New York, and nominally the performance last evening is to be considered with special reference to this lady’s Donna Anna. But in reality the Zerlina of Miss Nilssen was the only attraction, and the Donna Anna and Donna Elvira were listened to with scant patience. Nobody who has seen Miss Nilssen on the stage will need to be told how she filled the charming role assigned to her. There is a depth in the music of which she seems scarcely conscious (?) for the strains which Mozart has given to Zerlina are not merely pretty and playful, but most beautifully tender, and it is only the superficial characteristics of the part which Miss Nilsson has caught. Still she has caught those characteristics perfectly, such as they are. She is the sweet, graceful, coquettish peasant girl, a little giddy, a little vain, but loving her block-head Masetto very truly, and easily moved by his sorrows and mishaps. Her by play with the rustic swain (Ronconi) in the ‘Batti, batti,’ was delightful, and the duet with the Don, ‘La ci darem,’ was equally good, the changes of expression in her face when the gay cavalier surprises her by a declaration of his love being a really remarkable study. Both these numbers were also very sweetly and gracefully sung; but the ‘Vedrai carino’ lacked simplicity and smoothness. Few, however, seemed disposed to be critical, and a better satisfied audience, whenever Miss Nilsson was on the stage, we have rarely seen. The coolness with which Donna Anna was received was chilling. Mlle. Corani in truth is not a singer to rouse much enthusiasm, for her voice is neither sweet nor fresh, nor true, and her art is of the crude, explosive variety which never seems so defective as when it is applied to the delicate works of Mozart. Mlle Duval’s Elvira was but moderately successful. The music is rather high for her, as the upper register of her voice is sharp and thin, and when over fatigued it is not always true. M. Barré was an active and pains-taking 
Don Giovanni, but the part is somewhat beyond his abilities. He is good in his way, but his way is a small one. Brignoli was the Don Ottavio, having little to do except to sing the ‘Il mio tesoro,’ which he did very sweetly. The best of all, after Zerlina, was undoubtedly Leporello. M. Jamet did justice to this role,--not making the farce quite as broad as some others to whom we are accustomed, but acting with unfailing vivacity and some humor, and singing the music admirably. Mr. Hermanns was a sufficiently dignified and sepulchral Commendatore. We cannot praise the orchestra very warmly, nor the dresses, nor the stage management. Mr. Strakosch, in his day of prosperity, ought to put away the shabby make-shifts of the past, and when there is to be a masquerade ball on the stage, as there should be in Don Giovanni’s palace, it would be well to let the guests dress themselves for the occasion. The company at the Don’s festival last night consisted entirely of peasants in their ordinary working clothes, and it is a curious illustration of the manners of good society at Seville in old times that they all wore straw hats in the ball room throughout the evening. Ottavio, Elvira and Donna Anna were the only maskers out of the whole seventy who had masks.” [Reprinted DJM 11/18/71, p. 135-36]