Venue(s):
Academy of Music
Manager / Director:
Maurice Strakosch
Max Strakosch
Conductor(s):
Max Maretzek
Event Type:
Opera
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
3 March 2024
“The performance of ‘La Traviata’ at the Academy of Music, last evening, was attended by as large and as brilliant an audience as each of Mr. Strakosch’s representations this season has been privileged to attract. Violetta is one of the most elaborate of Miss Nilsson’s characters. The nascent passion for Alfredo in the first act, the anguish of the interview with Germont in the second, the sorrow, the terror, and the renewed ecstasy of love in the fourth, are all depicted with a sensibility and a varied resource which make the personage of the librettist no unworthy representative of the Marguerite Duplessis of the novel and play. And the pure and finished singing of Ms. Nilsson endows the vocal numbers of the work with an effectiveness which delicate and varied acting in opera does not produce. Thus, last evening, the drinking-song ‘Libiamo,’ the exquisite ‘Ah! fors’è lui,’ the air ‘Addio, bel passato,’ and the ‘Gran Dio,’ elicited, in turn, enthusiastic applause at the best-known stages of the entertainment, while the appreciative spectator derived from the complete personation not merely the transient delight these special efforts afforded, but the satisfaction resulting from a dramatic and lyric conception of the highest order. The united efforts of Miss Nilsson and of the gentleman who personated Alfredo wrought an equally distinct and gratifying impression. M. Capoul is not only a singer of exceeding culture, but an actor whose merits will not be esteemed at their right value until the roles he has filled this season fall to the lot of Italian successors. His picture of Alfredo is a fit companion-piece to Miss Nilsson’s Violetta, and we do not think we could say more in expression of the admiration with which it inspires us. The delicious duet in the first act, the scene with Germont, the duo in the third with Violetta, and the telling passages following, as well as the beautiful ‘Parigi, o cara,’ were yesterday delivered by M. Capoul and Miss Nilsson with infinite sentiment and skill. These two artists, of course, bore off the laurels of the night. Germont was embodied, as usual, by M. Barre, whose execution is correct and tasteful. The choruses were given with unusual precision, and the finale of the third act was as full of power as could be wished. We have only to supplement this report of the recital by a mention of the fact—no longer a novel one, it is pleasant to say—that the artists were called before the curtain after it had fallen upon each of the tableaux.”
“No novelty, not even the often-promised ‘Hamlet’ itself, could have attracted a greater audience to the Academy of Music than did the well-worn ‘Traviata’ last night. The Violetta of Nilsson was, of course, the attraction; and the charming, finished and elegant personation was never more complete and fascinating. The Camille of Dumas, refined and adorned with much grace, was before us. In every phase of the character as the librettist has given it the Violetta of Miss Nilsson was perfect. Her acting was the finest when, in the ball room, Violetta was spurned by Alfredo, and the most tender and pathetic in the sickroom scene of the last act. Very many prima donnas have sung this part in New York. Gazzaniga gave to it a fervor and intensity which made it a personation to be long remembered. Her Gran Dio was one of the operatic sensations of the period. Colson, a prima donna of surpassing merit, also gave a splendid interpretation of the music of Violetta, but with Nilsson we have no cause to regret either of these two magnificent artists.
M. Capoul last night sang with excellent taste and with greater power than he usually does. Indeed, the whole opera passed off admirably.”
“Although it is a subject of discussion as to which of Nilsson’s numerous rôles is her best, the majority of her admirers unite in giving Violetta, ‘La Dame aux Camelias,’ that proud position. Mlle. Nilsson was the first artist on the operatic boards that rescued Camille from the depths of degradation into which the author and his interpreters had placed her. ‘La Traviata,’ in the crucible of Nilsson’s genius, becomes a new creation, a transfigured being, whose sufferings touch the heart and whose pure nature shines out the more resplendent on account of her unfortunate surroundings. Her entire originality in the part and her exquisite singing of the various well known morceaux will be remembered in this city while an opera-goer survives. The Traviata and Lucia of Nilsson we will venture to assert, will never be replaced by any of her successors on the boards of the Academy. Certainly her predecessors, many and eminent as they have been, have never presented such exquisite pictures of both of these characters. The crowded house Wednesday night, the deep, earnest attention of a brilliant audience, the frequent applause and the emotion which the superb acting in the last scene created, all testified to the genius of the artist. She leaves America in a month hence, and will carry with her the kind remembrances of the thousands who have listened to her with delight. In her case it will be the old adage, slightly changed—‘La Reine est morte! Vive la Reine!’ Lucca comes after her—a great artist, indeed, and one who will likely stir up operatic circles to a pitch of excitement such as has rarely been known. But it will be long before the memory of Nilsson will fade from the minds of the New York public.”