Maretzek Italian Opera: Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek
Henry C. Jarrett

Conductor(s):
G. Carlberg

Price: $2

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
12 October 2024

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

11 Dec 1872, 8:00 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
aka Merry Wives of Windsor; Merry Wives of Windsor, The; Falstaff
Composer(s): Nicolai
Text Author: Mosenthal
Participants:  Maretzek Italian Opera Company;  Joseph Weinlich (role: Dr.Caius);  Joseph Hermanns (role: Falstaff);  J. [tenor] Reichardt (role: Slender);  Antonia Henne [contralto] (role: Mrs. Page);  Wilhelm Formes (role: Page);  Edward [baritone] Vierling (role: Ford);  Clara [soprano] Doria (role: Anne Page);  Jacob [tenor] Graf (role: Fenton);  Pauline Lucca (role: Mrs. Ford)

Citations

1)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 12 December 1872, 5.

“The performance of Nicolai’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor), last night, at the Academy of Music, enabled Madame Lucca to sing for once in her native language. A large and very enthusiastic German audience rewarded her with abundant applause and laughter. The undertaking may be considered, we suppose, as an amiable freak; and it was apparently in the spirit of a freak that the prima donna went through it. We have never seen her in a more rollicking humor; indeed we have never seen her in a part which gave more abundant opportunity for the exercise of her comic powers than that or Mrs. Ford (or, as the German libretto has it, Frau Fluth), in this perennial comedy. It was not merely in particular conspicuous scenes that she made herself amusing; but she reveled in the fun of the thing from the first raising of the curtain till the end. Her music was not worth much care, and she certainly did not give it much. Nicolai’s opera is by no means a strong work. It is sprightly enough, but its liveliness is rather labored, and it is deficient in the spontaneous melodies which captivate the fancy and enchain the memory. And if Madame Lucca had little assistance from the composer she had less from her supporting artists. The character which rivals that of Mrs. Ford in importance is that of Sir John Falstaff. The fat knight was personated last night by Mr. Josef Hermanns—one of those heavy but well-meaning gentlemen whom nature has denied the sense of humor, and what he made of it we leave our readers to imagine. Mr. Hermanns is neither an actor nor a singer; he is merely a very tall man with a big voice. He burst upon an astonished public, last night, with a protuberate belly, a concave back, thin flanks, attenuated limbs, a countenance painted to the semblance of a perpetual smirk, and a gait singularly suggestive of a balloon. And yet he tried so hard to do justice to his position, and got upon the whole so far away from the natural Hermanns (without of course coming near Sir John Falstaff), that it seems unkind not to praise him. The other characters in the opera were [see above]. Mr. Graff is a new tenor, who has been heard once or twice in the concert room, and promises to make his mark some day. He has a strong and sympathetic voice, of a pleasant, ready, perfectly German quality, and though his training is not yet perfect, his teaching has evidently been good. Of the other personages there is not much to be said, though candor compels us to mention one circumstance which probably occasioned more surprise than anything else which has happened this season. If we had been requested to point out the one member of the company who could not, under any circumstances, be made amusing, we should have unhesitatingly indicated Mr. Reichardt. Yet in the role of Slender last night he was befittingly idiotic, and once or twice downright funny. This statement may perhaps be received with indredulity, but it is the literal truth.”

2)
Review: New-York Times, 12 December 1872, 4.

“’Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor,’ a musical setting of a German version of ‘The Merry Wives,’ which has long been popular in Germany, and is well known in England and Italy, was sung at the Academy, last evening, with Mme. Lucca in the principal part. The libretto, it is only necessary to say, adheres pretty closely to the play. Nicolai’s music is fluent and graceful, rich in color rather than sparkling, and quite admirable in point of orchestration. We cannot say that complete justice was done either the story or the score by last night’s work; but there was nevertheless, much to commend in the representation. Mme. Lucca’s personation of Mrs. Ford would in itself have made ample amends for a far less satisfactory recital than was offered. The artist, as the reader who has watched the record of the season’s incidents need scarcely be told, has been thoroughly at ease, both as a songstress and as an actress, in each of the very distinct characters she has essayed before local audiences; but no one will be surprised to learn that German text, a German score, and German stage traditions are, of all texts, scores and traditions those least likely to dismay her. Mme. Lucca approved herself, as was anticipated, an equally good comédienne and vocalist, from the opening duet, in which the mischief-making dames exchange notes concerning Sir John’s conceit, to the harmonious trio at the close of the third act. In respect of acting, Mrs. Ford’s comic grief, and her subsequent anger at her husband’s jealousy, shown in the finale of act the first, supplied to Mme. Lucca the most appreciable opportunities for an assertion of her histrionic talent; the florid passages in the same very elaborate part of the opera; the exquisitely-written recitative and aria, with its brilliant cabaletta, in which, in the earlier portion of the first act, Mrs. Ford details her plan of action against the fat knight, and the terzetto above named, made clear the skill of the singer and the beauty of her voice. Mme. Lucca was recalled after the first act, and thrice summoned before the foot-lights when the curtain had fallen after the third. The lady was assisted by Herr Herrmanns, who pictured Falstaff; by Herr Vierling, who represented Ford; by Miss Henne, who assumed the rôle of Mrs. Page; by Miss Doria, who was Anne Page, and by Herren Graf, Weinlich, and Reichard. Herr Graf sang the romance in the second act—a delicately-treated theme, with a violin obligato, neatly executed by Mr. Matzka—with considerable taste. The performances of the other artists do not call for extended criticism; those of Herr Vierling and of Miss Doria were meritorious, but the general rehearsal bore evidence of the difficulty experienced in gathering, at a few days’ notice, a German troupe worthy of appearing with a prima donna like Mme. Lucca.”

3)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 12 December 1872, 7.
4)
Review: New York Post, 12 December 1872, 2.

“That charming little artist, Madame Lucca, won new laurels as a comedienne last evening, at the Academy, rendering the part of Mrs. Ford, in Nicolai’s pleasing little opera of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,’ in a manner so original and so irresistibly comic, that we do not hesitate to place it among her best efforts in light popular parts of the lyrical drama. Never has she appeared in better voice and spirits, and assisted by Miss Henne, as Mrs. Page, and Herr Herrmanns as Falstaff, she drew forth the heartiest commendation of the large and delighted audience.

“The exquisite trio in the third act was rendered with such spirit and with such delicacy and taste as well, that its repetition was clamorously demanded. All who were present congratulated themselves, and for the sake of those who were not, we trust the opera may be repeated at an early date.”

5)
Review: New York Herald, 12 December 1872, 7.

“The first, and, we imagine, the last experiment of the manager of Madame Lucca in German opera took place last night at the Academy of Music. The opera was ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,’ a peculiar kind of burlesque which Mr. Otto Nicolai once inflicted upon the bard of Avon, and which is periodically visited upon the American public in those unknown regions geographically located in the Stadt Theatre. ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ in its original form is not exactly what a manager nowadays would care to place on the stage (poor Hackett being dead), but in its German shape it is exceedingly funny, although not in the sense a Shakesperean scholar would desire. The music is fruitless and insipid, except in the duet, ‘Wie freu’ ich mich,’ and the concluding trio. Madame Lucca, however, in the rôle of Mrs. Ford, made such a success as few would expect from an opera of this kind. She displayed remarkable talents as a comedienne, somewhat like those which have made her impersonation of Auber’s Zerlina so popular. Mrs. Ford, in her hands, was a very charming rôle, but it was not the Mrs. Ford of Shakespeare. It was a peculiarly German impersonation, full of the hearty, broad, honest Teutonic humor that may be found in German comedy, but no one could recognize in it the real Mrs. Ford. The horrible mutilation of Shakespeare’s comedy, which is the distinguishing feature of the libretto, debars any criticism of the Mrs. Ford of Shakespeare as a singer. Therefore Madame Lucca may be credited with having made the most of a very ungrateful rôle and having sung the music quite charmingly. Mrs. Page was represented by Miss Antonia Henne, who sang very well, but acted like a debutante. Her costume was simply ridiculous for such a rôle. Mr. Herrmanns was the Falstaff on the occasion, and although he was in good voice, he gave unmistakable evidence of not possessing the first idea of how the fat knight should look or act. ‘Sweet Anne Page’ found a tolerable representative in Miss Clara Doria, and Mr. Vierling was sufficiently demonstrative and out of tune to give an idea of the jealous Ford. Mr. Graf was terribly amateurish as Fenton, and the unappreciated Reichardt struggled bravely with the rôle of Slender. But the crowning glory of the opera was Weinlich, who essayed Doctor Caius. To see him, even without hearing him, was a revelation. Imagine the Simon Pure Punch in propria persona, with the chapeau et panache of General Boum, the cloak of Mephistopheles and the mincing gait of the King’s jester. And then the voice! Ventriloquial in its profundity and rugged in its phrasing, it was a source of infinite amusement. To complete the picture we have only to mention the frantic endeavors of the conductor, Mr. Carlberg, which were sufficient to damp any attempt at humor in which the people on the stage might indulge. He labored assiduously and earnestly to crush any unauthorized attempt on the part of the principal singers to make themselves heard. With the terrible avalanche of sound that he ruthlessly hurled against them it was hard for any one to be heard, except in those delightful interludes in which the mellifluous Teutonic dialogue broke upon the ear, after Mr. Carlberg laid down his baton.”