Maretzek Italian Opera: Mignon

“A simple record of the presence of one of the largest and most brilliant audiences of the season at the Academy of Music, last evening, and a mention of the complete success of the first performance of ‘Mignon’ must, by reason of the pressure upon our news-columns, be accepted instead of the detailed notice the representation demands. On the morrow the second recital of M. Ambroise Thomas’ charming opera, announced for Wednesday evening, we shall seek to deal with its rehearsal in accordance with its deserts. For the present, we must content ourselves with chronicling the deep impression wrought by Mme. Lucca’s very pathetic picture of Mignon; the exceeding effectiveness of the polonaise, as sung with great surety and power by Miss Clara Louise Kellogg, who approved herself an excellent Filina; and the thoroughly satisfactory results of the exertions of Signor Vizzani, M. Jamet, Mr. Lyall, and Señorita Sanz, to whom were assigned the other personages of the familiar story. We recall no performance of the series about to close as having awakened as frequent enthusiasm.”

“If Maretzek had a tenor in his company he might last evening have given a very excellent representation of ‘Mignon.’ As it was, he gave as good as one as could have been anticipated in the absence of that very important element in an opera troupe.

“It may be interesting to note the difference in the cast of the principal characters of the opera between last winter and this. The following will give the two distributions [see above for 1872]. 1871: Mignon, Miss Nilsson; Filena, Mlle. Duval; Lotario, Sig. Jamet; Laerto, Sig. Lyall.

“Both Madame Lucca and Miss Kellogg were excellently fitted with their parts, the music being such as peculiarly to exhibit their respective strong points. That which Mignon sings is for mezzo soprano and does not call out Madame Lucca’s sharp and harsh high notes. That of Filena is full of passages for vocalization, and neither requires that dramatic power which Miss Kellogg could not supply, nor that intensity of expression the absence of which is so conspicuous an element in her singing. During the first two acts Miss Kellogg was listless and sang with that insouciance on which she seems to have taken her artistic stand. In the famous polonaise Io son Titania, she consented, however, to throw aside a little of her well-bred quiet, and the result was an almost faultless piece of vocalization, attended with the most liberal applause of the evening, for an audience is always more quick to appreciate well sung rapid passages and trills and roulades than the finest efforts of cantabile singing.

“Madame Lucca, we believe, surprised even her admirers by the manner in which she rendered the rôle of Mignon. All her faults were noticeable in the performance, and so were all her points of excellence. She cannot sing a scale with finish; her trill is as bad as a schoolgirl’s, and her phrasing seldom of the best. Her voice also has been so constantly forced to great efforts and to the cultivation of broad effects that she has lost in a great measure the power of singing with the half voice which was so delightful a trait in Miss Nilsson. But then on the other hand one cannot help feeling, when she is on the stage, the presence of a great artist, possessed of the highest dramatic instincts, having a strong, earnest conception of the character she undertakes, and representing it in glowing colors. There are artists who paint with fine, delicate touches, and others who draw with a broad, strong hand, and put the colors on in masses, and both may be equally great, but Madame Lucca is like the latter.

“Signor Jamet was, as he was last winter, the fine embodiment of the character of Lotario, and Signor Vizzani greatly increased our respect for the departed Capoul.”

“The management of the opera evidently designed the last week of the season to be the best, for the large audience that braved the slush and cold last evening were rewarded by a remarkably brilliant, well-balanced and eminently satisfactory performance of Ambroise Thomas’ well-known opera . The name of Nilsson has become so identified with the beautiful, childlike creation of Goethe that it required no inconsiderable share of courage in a prima donna to essay the rôle in this city after the Swedish nightingale. But an artist like Mme. Lucca need have little fear of the consequences of undertaking any operatic rôle adapted to her voice and style of singing, no matter how great her immediate predecessors in the same may have been. As we have said more than once before, a distinguishing characteristic of her artistic qualities consists of originalty and fidelity to nature in her impersonation of a rôle. She follows no arbitrary rule nor allows herself to be held in the groove of precedent. Her willful, wayward nature is shown in various ways in her impersonation of a character like Mignon. Nilsson made it spirituelle, tender, childlike and graceful; Lucca comes forward as a dark, passionate, jealous, easily provoked gypsy waif, who does not stand very much in awe of Giamo, loves Guglielmo with all the warmth of an Italian heart, hates her rival, Filicia, with a corresponding amount of passion, and in becoming united to her father and lover pours forth all the wealth of her glorious voice in an ecstasy of joy. The remarks we made in comparing the Gretchen of Nilsson with that of Lucca will apply to their impersonations of Mignon. The one is the more poetical; the other the more natural. This refers to the general outlines of the rôle as sketched by either artist. But when we speak of voice the difference is still more striking. The music of Thomas, given by a voice of such wonderful breadth and richness of tone and strongly defined dramatic quality as that of Madame Lucca, differs most essentially from the interpretation of it in the strikingly pure, sympathetic tones of the fair Swede. Both interpretations are masterpieces in their line, however they may differ from each other. Where Nilsson made some of her best point Lucca seemed to pass over without any special reference to effect, and she brought down the house in scenes where her predecessor was not particularly successful. She sang ‘Non Concosci il Bel Suoi?’ divinely, but failed to create an impression in the duet, ’Leggiadre Rondinella.’ In the toilet scene Madame Lucca was less demonstrative than Nilsson, which was a decided improvement. But in the scene where, in an agony of jealousy and despair, Mignon attempts to throw herself in the lake, the great dramatic power of Lucca for the first time in the opera found ample scope. The last duet and trio were delivered with an effect such as they have rarely received before, as on this occasion Mme. Lucca’s assistants, M. Jamet and Signor Vizzani, were in unusually good voice and spirits. Mme. Lucca may not count Mignon as her greatest rôle, but she can never fail to attract attention and admiration in her impersonation of it.

“The Filicia of last evening was an immense improvement on the first representation of the rôle. The music is mainly of the bravura order, dashing and brilliant as becomes the character of the coquettish actress, and nothing could be more suitable for Miss Kellogg’s clear, flexible voice. The ‘Polonaise,’ which may be found in every lady’s portfolio of music, was rendered by Miss Kellogg with an ease, brilliancy and abandon that brought her an overwhelming encore. In the toilet scene she gave an admirable delineation of the coquette both in acting and singing. Vizzani surprised everyone in the last act by the warmth of expression and clearness of tone with which he sang the aria, ‘Ah! non credevi.’ He should, however, avoid the falsetto until he has learned how to make it effective. It is unaccountable why the best aria of the rôle of Guglielmo, ‘Addio Mignon,’ should be omitted, and also why such an excellent representative of the irascible Federico as Señorita Sanz should be deprived of her only song, the rondo gavotte, in the second act. The Lotario of M. Jamet is one of his most touching impersonations. There is a kindliness and tenderness about it from beginning to end that will always give a prominence to the character of the wandering harper, even beside such a Mignon as Nilsson or Lucca. The opera was handsomely placed on the stage, most of the effects of its first representation being retained, and the chorus was under better discipline than usual. The gipsey, Giorno, was represented by Herr Weinlich in a costume similar to that in which Nick of the Woods bounds on the Bowery boards. A Kickapoo would envy such a make-up. Mr.Lyall was satisfactory as the companion of Filicia. Altogether there were fewer blemishes and more strong points of excellence in the representation of ‘Mignon’ last evening than in any previous performance of the present season.”

“Madame Lucca’s Mignon is modeled, we imagine, rather upon her own conception of the character of Goethe’s charming creation than upon stage tradition. She makes the little wandering dancer impulsive, passionate, and wayward, just as she appears in the pages of ‘Wilhelm Meister,’ and has apparently little sympathy with the melancholy and sentimental heroine of Ambroise Thomas’ imagination. In the last act, indeed, and in detached fragments of scenes all through the opera, her interpretation of the music is beautifully tender; but passion rather than tenderness is her prevailing mood. There is no lack of picturesqueness in her action, and no lack of feeling in her best airs, such as the ‘Non conosei il suoi,’ the duet of the Swallows, and the ‘Sofferto hai tu’ duet with Lotario; while the fine dramatic music of the last scene of the opera is given with extreme delicacy and refinement. Altogether her Mignon is a beautiful and truthful representation. It was fairly rivaled Monday night by the Filina of Miss Kellogg, who achieved in this pleasant and attractive role one of her greatest successes of the season. The familiar Polonaise was the occasion of a hearty outburst of applause, which might almost be described by the much abused word ovation, and certainly a more brilliant exhibition of vocalism has not been given in our Academy of Music for a long time. Sig. Vizzani was warmly applauded for a most excellent delivery of Guglielmo’s ‘An! non credea l’afilitta;’ and M. Jamet reappeared as Lotario, the same character which he personated so well when the opera was first produced in New-York a year ago. It is pleasant to have to say, in the last week of the season, that at least one opera has been presented with some approach to an even distribution of parts. It is seldom that, under the present management, we have had so many things to praise in a single performance as we found Monday night. The many things which might be censored we prefer to pass over.”

“On Monday evening this charming composition of Ambroise Thomas was performed to a very large house, and received with much enthusiasm. To say that Madame Lucca was very pretty, very piquant and very pathetic as Mignon may possibly seem superfluous; to say that Miss Kellogg was superb as Filina, and that the polonaise as sung by her was a brilliant triumph, to be remembered as an incident in New York operatic history, would hardly be extravagant. The representation of this opera this evening is a benefaction to the musical people of this city, and will be so recognized, we doubt not, by an overflowing house.”

“On Monday evening, Mme. Pauline Lucca filled, for the first time in this country, the rôle of Mignon. Mme. Lucca then made good her claim to presenting a thoroughly realistic and very pathetic picture of Goethe’s wayward heroine; and her repetition of the performance, last night, caused her right to the credit of so doing to be even clearer than it appeared on the first recital of Thomas’ work. As on Monday, an immense audience was gathered at the Academy, and a great deal of applause cheered the progress of the representation. It is not necessary, after the lengthened notices which the earliest hearings of the opera, in the past year, suggested in this place, to deal minutely with the libretto or the score. MM. Barbier and Carré found a theme in an episode of ‘Wilhelm Meister,’ and M. Ambroise Thomas embroidered upon the writers’ scenario music resulting more from research than from inspiration, and treated with more dexterity and science than natural delicacy of expression. A few numbers, however, need no study to be liked by the least skilled of listeners, and these rendered ‘Mignon’ acceptable from the outset of the public’s acquaintance with its notes. Mme. Lucca, who is a consummate actress as well as a most gifted and earnest songstress, fails not to turn the result of the librettists’ labors to equal profit with that of M. Thomas’ exertions. Her personation of Mignon can stand beside her most powerful delineations in the German and Italian repertory. Viewed simply as a realization of the intent of the poet, to whom, after all, it is simple justice to look back, it is quite incomparable. Like all Mme. Lucca’s performances, it is entirely devoid of art, in the sense that the ars celarum artem is possessed by the lady in the highest degree. Hence, it is a picture satisfactory to the student, and to the appreciative most significant and impressive. Yesterday, as on Monday, the dramatic incidents of the opera were exceedingly effective. The air in which Mignon seeks to bring  Guglielmo the fairy-land in which her infancy has passed, has never been sung with a sentiment so profound as that with which Mme. Lucca informs it; the duet wherein the flight of the swallows is sketched has never been delivered with more potent charm of voice; and the couplets of the styrienne have never been accompanied by acting more apposite to the illustration of the coquettishness of the half-savage creature lost in wonderment amid the splendors of a boudoir, and have never had for a complement a more brilliantly-executed florid cadenza than Mme. Lucca, who does not strive to be held a bravura-songstress, adds to it. In the second tableau of act the second, the artist, it is needless to say, declaims with a passionate vehemence, not to be outdone, the scene of jealousy to which Filina’s success, attested by the sound of plaudits, gives birth. In act the third, the grand love-duet with Guglielmo, the portion of the act in which an examination of the contents of the casket awake her to a sense of the situation, the brief but exquisite prayer, and the joyful trio at the close are as many opportunities for the display of Mme. Lucca’s histrionic strength, aided in its effect, as may be imagined, by the might and sympathetic qualities of her tones. Last evening, ‘Non conosci quel suoi ’ was, of course, redemanded; the styrienne had to be partially repeated and, during the second and third acts, Mme. Lucca was recalled time and again. Miss Clara Louise Kellogg was complimented in a similar manner. Though less in voice than on Monday, the surety of her singing did not suffer, and, while her efforts throughout the entertainment were earnest and appreciated, her energetic and faultless interpretation of the dashing polacca elicited the liveliest demonstrations of pleasure. Signor Vizzani’s Guglielmo would lose nothing by an increase of warmth, but it is to be spoken of as an honest and unaffected performance. Signor Vizzani, however, is endowed with a delicious voice, and it is to be regretted that the impression he might produce by means of the familiar ‘Non credevi tu,’ is not wrought because of a lack of that creative power which can alone transform that unpretentious piece into a melodious and eloquent romance. The remaining characters in ‘Mignon’ are assigned to M. Jamet, an admirable Lotario; to Mr. Lyall, an efficient representative of Laerte, whose role is as thankless as can be imagined; and to Señorita Sanz to whom is also allotted the garb of an ungrateful personage, that of Federico. The orchestra, under Mr. Maretzek, and the chorus, were in capital condition, last night; the rehearsal, in fine, will be remembered as one of the most notable of the season.”

“’Mignon’ was given for the last time yesterday evening before an audience somewhat larger than that which witnessed its first representation on Monday. Madame Lucca in her rendering of the title rôle presented pretty much the same salient points that we have already referred to, the opening scene of the third act and the finale of the opera, being more dramatic and passionate in her second impersonation and the audience more appreciative and less frigid. The more one hears Lucca the greater the surprise felt at the extraordinary volume of tone displayed by her voice in all its registers. Ordinarily, there is a palpable diminution of tone in regard to quantity, not quality, in the voice of a singer, but Madame Lucca seems to possess an equal amount of power throughout the active range of her voice. Miss Kellogg’s Filina will take rank with her Linda and Annetta, and in the well known Polonaise her efforts were rewarded by an overwhelming encore. Vizzani, albeit lacking in the grace of manner and thoroughly artistic conception of the rôle that made Capoul’s Wilhelm Meister so popular, sang with more fire of expression than any one ever gave him credit for possessing, and Jamet as the old harper renewed his former success.”