Maretzek Italian Opera: Crispino e la Comare

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek
Henry C. Jarrett

Price: $2; $2 extra reserved seat, parquet, balcony, box; $16-25 private box; $1 family circle; $.50 extra, secured seat

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
8 November 2024

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

06 Nov 1872, 8:00 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
aka Schuhflicker
Composer(s): Ricci, Ricci
Text Author: Piave
Participants:  Maretzek Italian Opera Company;  [tenor] Locatelli (role: Don Asdrubal);  Clara Louise Kellogg (role: Annetta);  Giorgio Ronconi (role: Crispino);  Giovanni [baritone] Reyna (role: Fabrizio);  Miss [mezzo-soprano] Schofield (role: Fairy);  Jacob [tenor] Graf (role: Count del Fiore);  Signor Sparapani (role: Miralbolano)

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 03 November 1872, 7.
2)
Review: New-York Times, 07 November 1872, 5.

“’Crispino e la Comare’ is the prettiest of late Italian comic operas, and Miss Kellogg has in Annetta a part in which her voice and her execution find ample scope for display. The smallness of the audience at the Academy of Music, yesterday, can, therefore, only be attributed to the inclement weather, and not to a disregard wither of the charm of the opera or the merits of the songstress. Happily the recital of ‘Crispino’ was in no way affected by the numbers of the attendance, and so much prominence was given to the best-liked point of the score that the assemblage was able, by honest expressions of delight, to cheer the performers as effectually as a crowded auditorium could have done. Miss Kellogg is one of the foremost of chanteuses legères, and she interprets rôles similar to that of Annetta with unexceptionable facility and brilliancy. Her efforts were heartily applauded, last night, and the duet between Crispino and herself—‘Ah! si, si marito mio’—was repeated. Crispino, it need hardly be said, was Signor Ronconi, who approved himself one more as animated and humorous a representative of the cobbler as could be wished. The two physicians who join in the celebrated trio—which, by the way, had to be sung twice—were personated respectively by Signori Reina and Sparapani, and the tenor rôle was assumed by Signor Graf, who made clear on the stage, as he has already done in the concert-room, the possession of a light and pleasant tenor voice, which he manages quite cleverly. Miss Kellogg and Signor Ronconi were summoned before the curtain at the close of the representation.”

3)
Review: New York Sun, 07 November 1872, 3.

“The storm of last evening gave Maretzek but a thin house to listen to ‘Crispino,’ which was then brought out for the first time this season. Miss Kellogg seemed influenced by the bad weather and scarcely sang with her accustomed spirit. But Ronconi, we verily believe, if there were but one man in the house, and he an usher, would make as many droll grimaces and sing at the unit with as much spirit as though he were a thousand.”

4)
Review: New York Post, 07 November 1872, 2.

“The sparkling ‘Crispino e la Comare’ was heard to advantage by the small audience at the Academy last evening. The general distribution was the best that has been seen during the season, and Miss Kellogg’s Annetta and Ronconi’s Crispino received the approbation they deserved. Our native prima donna is thoroughly at home in such light parts as this, and she seemed to be in particularly good voice last night. Her duet with the basso, ‘Ah, si, si, marito mio,’ received an encore. Ronconi’s realization of the fortunate mender of shoes was as humorous as ever.”

5)
Review: New York Herald, 07 November 1872, 7.

“Twenty-one years ago Luigi and Frederico Ricci, two talented Tuscan brothers, par nobile fratrum, brought out a comic opera at Florence, which won at once the volatile fancies of the audience. The transformed cobbler and the kind fairy have ever since been welcomed on every stage where Italian opera has been presented. The fairy, to be sure, plays a very small part, lyrically, in the comic scenes of this delightful work but her influence is, nevertheless, very potent in the unravelling of the thread of the story, Crispino is, of course, the most salient feature of the opera, although, at times, he has to yield the place of honor to his wife. The work has long ago become popular here through the exertions of the two artists, Miss Kellogg and Ronconi, who appeared last night in their well-known rôles. When the work was first placed on the stage in Italy Rovere was the Crispino and Ciampi, if we mistake not, the Fabrizio. The cast last evening consisted of the following [see above]. The introductory chorus is rather insipid, and only served to give Mr. Graf a little time to prepare himself for the first tenor aria, ‘Bella siccome un angelo.’ (Why not ‘Pura?’) This gentleman made his début on the occasion. He is a pupil of Signor Tamaro, of this city. His voice is possessed of considerable natural power and sweetness, and his school is good. There are still some rough points and a certain stiffness which can easily be removed by study and experience, and his lack of histrionic ability and apparent nervousness will yield to the same potent instructors. Then came in Miss Kellogg as the unsuccessful ballad vendor, and she sang the pretty little waltz song, ‘Ho qui di caldi palpiti legende,’ with a brilliancy that in our days would insure a speedy sale for Annetta’s ballads. Ronconi sang his cobbler’s song in his own inimitable comic style and with more regard to keeping in tune than he is wont to have. Then Reina, an old acquaintance, who seems to have gained additional metallic (old metal) qualities in his voice, which already gave the impression of a cracked trombone, came forward and sang with grim humor the fine aria, ‘Io sono un po’ filosoto.’ Fortunately Mr. Maretzek compelled him to be very brief in his remarks. The scene at the well between Crispino and the Fairy, in which the latter dissuades the despairing cobbler from committing felo de se, and which is graced with very beautiful instrumentation, brought on the first duet between Annetta and Crispino, a brilliant, sparkling number in the opera. Here the pure, flexible voice of Miss Kellogg found a congenial field of music, and, united with the acting of Ronconi, made the finale of the first act a genuine success.

The prima donna in the second act won her way to applause by the abandon and élan which she bestowed in the ‘Io non sono piu l’Annetta vendi storie.’ The sparkling chorus, ‘O che pazzo, che buffone,’ the laugh of derision with which Crispino’s neighbors salute his changed fortunes was very well delivered, as were nearly all the choral titbits of the merry opera. In the successful quackery administered to his first patient, Bortolo, Ronconi’s acting would be a feature even on the stage of Wallack’s. His comic powers had here a splendid opportunity of which he promptly availed himself. The gem of the entire opera, the celebrated sestetto, was given with rare effect. The stretto which follows is very brilliant, but entirely de trop. The curtain should fall on the sestetto. In the third act the scene between Crispino and his envious rivals is perhaps the most admirable specimen of comic writing on the part of a modern operatic composer that can be found. In Italy it is the scene of the opera. Ronconi, like Rovere, always makes the most of it, although at the present time it is rather too much of a strain on his powers. Sparapani here bestirred himself for the first time to advantage, but poor Reina was as grimly unconvivial as ever. Then occurred a skip of fifty pages in the scene (the brothers Ricci, clever as undoubtedly they are in this opera, are unfortunately too prolific of ideas, and they have spun out the work beyond desirable limits). In the ‘Canzonetta della Frittola’ Miss Kellogg gained the principal honors that fell to her share during the evening. It is a dashing subject, to be admired even by the most fastidious critic, and the prima donna did it full justice. Here the lyric interest of the opera ceased. Mr. Maretzek should take an early opportunity of repeating this opera, since it received such a smooth representation, and since its sparkling music and comic scenes must on all occasions prove a source of attraction. When it brought applause last night, when there was but the ghost of an audience present; when the drizzling rain outside made every opera-goer misanthropic and miserable, and when the public mind had not recovered from the reaction consequent on the close of a bitter Presidential campaign, what effect must it have under brighter circumstances? It was quite an act of heroism to stir out-doors last night, and consequently the charm of the representation was lost on the greater number of the subscribers.”

6)
Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 30 November 1872, 341.

“On Wednesday evening, Nov. 6, Miss Kellogg sang in ‘Crispino e la Comare.’ Sig. Ronconi played the cobbler to perfection. I cannot say that he sang it equally well, for his voice is long past recall. The opera, without any musical pretension, has the merit of novelty, and, if not heard too often, is an agreeable diversion. The plot, based upon a fairy tale, is, of course, full of inconsistencies, but the interest is sustained, and the bright sparkling music flows smoothly through it, rarely descending to the commonplace. True, it is not an inspiration, but I have seen an audience very enthusiastic over worse music. Miss Kellogg, as Annetta, was charming in voice and manner; and thanks to her singing and to the acting of Ronconi, who was irresistibly funny, the opera passed off very well; but the audience was the smallest I ever beheld in the Academy, and it was far easier to count the full boxes than to estimate the empty ones.

Last winter, under Strakosch’s management, seats which cost four dollars were frequently sold in front of the Academy for five and six dollars. Now they can be bought there at half price, and the owners of boxes frequently make the best of a bad bargain by sending their tickets to be sold on the streets for what they will bring. Look on this picture and then on that.”