Maretzek Italian Opera: La Favorita

For Feb. 24; season of twelve nights.

For Feb. 24.

Opening night for Feb. 28

“For a Lenten season the Academy offered a brave show last night. Whatever the gabble about ‘cabals,’ and intrigues, the hold of Mme. Lucca on the New-York public was fairly proved by a gathering as numerous as it was enthusiastic. The large opera-house was handsomely filled, and the zest with which opera-goers came to the lyric feast, so long debarred, was palpable from the outset. Mr. Maretzek was greeted with warmth, on entering the orchestra, and Mme. Lucca was received with acclamations. The prima donna was in fine health and spirits—so far as the latter may be augured through the dolorous numbers of Leonora—and this unconscionable Winter of ours seems rather to have improved than to have impaired her voice. We have held this heroine of Donizetti’s to be one of Mme. Lucca’s happiest efforts, and the test of last night left that opinion unchanged. That the lady’s execution or method is always faultless, cannot truly be affirmed. But more important, after all said and done, than these, her feeling, her passion, her dramatic instinct, the inspiration with which she rises to the height of a great situation, stamp Mme. Lucca as a noble artist, and give her a rank not to be disputed. Recent impressions of Mme. Lucca’s Leonora that have appeared in our columns call for no present qualification, other than has been suggested. The performance is as full of warmth, depth of emotion, and, in parts, of lyric intensity as ever, and swayed the public as it has done on former occasions; and her ‘O Mio Fernando’ elicited very hearty applause. Signor Vizzani took the place of Signor Abrugnedo, as Fernando. It is needless to offer to compare singers whose styles are so different. In some respects the change is for the better, and in others it is not. Signor Vizzani seems to have improved in stage ease, and he managed to bring out his voice with more evenness, and altogether with better effect at times, than he has usually done here before. He sang the ‘Spirito Gentil’ with much sweetness, and here, as well as at other points, won proofs of public satisfaction. With the Alphonso of Signor Sparapani the audience were already familiar. That embodiment is one of the best and most promising ever seen in the Academy; and it was thoroughly enjoyed last night by the most experienced and discerning of the audience. Signor Sparapani’s ‘Pour tant Amour’ was especially well rendered, and had the honor of a vigorous encore. The gentleman’s performance was marked by a degree of earnestness, delicacy, and pathos very agreeable to see and to commend, and we think it is destined to be heard of with even stronger praise hereafter. Signor Jamet, conscientious and symmetrical artist that he is, made an excellent Balthazar, and did equal justice to the opportunities afforded by the musical score and the dramatic situations. The chorus and orchestra presented much their usual features, Mr. Maretzek striving with unflagging industry and zeal to keep instruments and voices in fair accord, and properly to regulate the tempi, despite the occasional obstreperousness or salient disposition of both. On the whole, the Spring season may be said to have opened with considerable prosperity. The principals have rehearsed together in the provinces until they have got to manage their work, especially in the concerted pieces, much better than in previous attempts here; and as no great things were expected in other respects, there was little disappointment.”

“As ‘La Favorita’ is not a special pet of New York audiences, the full house and cordial reception given it last night at the Academy of Music may be put down as, to a large extent at least, a personal compliment to Madame Lucca. When Madame Lucca renders Leonora, supported as she is in the present cast, ‘La Favorita’ is little else than Leonora and Balthazar. For although Signor Vizzani—who takes the place of Signor Abrugnedo in the present cast—sang the Spirio gentil and Favorita del Re, and one or two other points, with good effect; and although Signor Sparapani did not absolutely fail in every point, least of all in his A tanto amor, still the pervading feeling of the evening manifestly was that Leonora was giving musical utterance to her romance of shame, love, triumph, hope and despair, while the sterner tones of the Superior of the Convent of St. James were failing from time to time in the pauses of the romance. Mme. Lucca was looking her best; and, after the heaviness of the first half of the evening had passed, sang her best. That best began just before the close of the third act, when the curtain fell amid a shower of bouquets. Throughout the fourth act Madame Lucca and Signor Jamet sang brilliantly; and the closing scenes showed us Madame Lucca exhibiting powers, both of acting and singing, of the very first class. The storm of feelings—pathos, passionate devotion, maddening hopes, utter despair—swept on to the end of the play with effects which an audience such as that will not soon forget.”

“A full house greeted Madame Pauline Lucca last night on her return from her successful tour in the provinces. Her reception was cordial, like that extended to an old favorite, and certainly she left nothing to be desired in her matchless rendering of what may be considered her best rôle, Leonora, in ‘La Favorita.’ We have analyzed her impersonation of this tragic rôle on previous representations, and need only say here that she was as grand as ever last night in the finale of the last act, a scene which gives her ample field for the display of her vocal and dramatic power. ‘O, Mio, Fernando,’ first woke up the house, an unusually cold one, and after it the applause was frequent and unstinted. Signor Vizzani appeared for the first time as Fernando in place of Abrugnedo, and the change was, indeed, for the better. Vizzani’s voice has gained in firmness and strength since the Fall season, and with a little more fire and less apathy, he may become an efficient coadjutor to the fair prima donna. Jamet sang and acted the rôle of Balthazar like a true artist, being an excellent substitute for M. Conlon. But, next to Lucca, the principal share of the honors belongs to Signor Sparapani, whose rendering of the music of King Alfonso was highly satisfactory. ‘La Favorita,’ however, without Lucca would be a very dull, tame and uninteresting work, for in one or two of the acts a considerable share of solo singing falls to the share of small people, fresh from the ranks of the chorus, and the effect is anything but pleasant. The chorus was rather shaky in one or two instances last night, but the orchestra, under the direction of Impresario Maretzek, was admirable.”

“The Italian Opera Company, conducted by Mr. Max Maretzek, opened a Spring season on Friday with Donizetti’s ‘Favorita.’ It is not too much to say that the performance was one of unexpected excellence. The people who have contracted the habit—not without provocation—of going away from the Academy after an opera in a state of discontent, were on this occasion really pleased. Of course, the Leonora of Mme. Lucca is recognized as one of the finest lyric creations of the time, and, barring any accidental physical disability, the merit of the chief feature of Donizetti’s work was thus assured. But Signori Vizzani, Sparapani, and Jamet were all above the average in excellence, and that in a measure looked for by few, and there was thus a completeness in the opera, at least so far as the principals went, as unusual as it was delightful.”