Maretzek Italian Opera: Faust

“We have expressed so fully our appreciation of Mme. Lucca’s remarkable personation of the heroine of Gounod’s ‘Faust,’ that there remains little for us to say of the performance last night. The same inimitable rusticity, the same simplicity and sweetness, the same terrible earnestness of love and intensity of suffering which we admired so highly last season, were displayed again with undiminished distinctness. Mme. Lucca is the least sentimental Margherita we have ever had, and yet the most truly poetical; the least tender, and yet the most sympathetic; the least pensive, and the most tragical. Enthusiastic partisans of Gounod will probably aver that there are little refinements of feeling and graces of expression in this most beautiful of modern French music which she does not fully catch; but the student of Goethe can not help admitting that she breathes the real spirit of the drama, and presents us the real Gretchen of the poem. She had a heavy burden to bear last night, for she must perforce surrender herself to a sluggish and tuneless Faust, and move amid a crowd of aggravating incompetents. M. Jamet, however, was as usual an excellent Mephisto, and co-operated heartily with Mme. Lucca in relieving the dullness of Sig. Vizzani and Sig. Sparapani—and, we might add, of Señora Sanz also. Tenor, baritone, and contralto were all weaker than usual, and chorus and orchestra alike betrayed that want of training with which we have so often been obliged to find fault.”

“A very fine recital of ‘Faust’ was enjoyed at the Academy of Music, last evening, by an audience that filled the house. No music appears to wear better than that with which Gounod has illustrated Goethe’s poem; and none of Mme. Lucca’s remarkable personations seem likely to become more familiar to the public than Marguerite, without the familiarity, be it said, breeding the disregard proverbially mentioned as its accompaniment. Although some changes in the jewel song indicated yesterday that the condition of Mme. Lucca’s voice was not so satisfactory as in earlier representations, we are inclined to consider her performance the most beautiful and impressive the lady has yet supplied. Admirable as Mme. Lucca’s acting must be held at all times, there were stages of the representation last night, at which the eloquence of tones and gesture wrought an effect never previously produced. What these stages were, the reader need scarcely be told, as often they have been pointed out. Mme. Lucca, as we have already noted, gives significance to the new phrases allotted to her in act the second, when Marguerite refuses the arm proffered by Faust, and an artist of her rank could not fail to invest with their fullest meaning the impassioned strains of the love duet in the garden scene; the touching accents wrung from the maiden by the untimely death of her brother; the painful utterances forced from her lips in the church, and the exaltation of the final air. We can be content, then, to repeat that the passages we are but able to refer to were, as in the course of preceding renderings, those at which the admiration bestowed upon an effort conspicuously excellent as a whole, as well as in its details, was expressed by applause, and was reaffirmed, in most instances, by calls before the curtain. As we have remarked already that the performance was a fine one, it will be inferred that Mme. Lucca was efficiently supported. We have heard, it is true, Signor Vizzani to greater advantage; but an agreeable voice, youth, and a handsome presence go far toward offsetting occasional carelessness of delivery and an exasperating indolence of manner. M. Jamet’s picture of Mephisto is one with which all frequenters of the opera are acquainted, and to which all are justly partial. Signor Sparapani’s Valentino bids fair to be as generally liked; in the second act, the rarely-sung aria, commencing ‘Dio possente,’ offers gratifying evidence of the singer’s resources, skill, and taste. Yesterday, as heretofore, Senorita Sanz was Siebel. The orchestra and chorus, it remains but to say, were exceptionally precise.”

“Gounod’s favorite opera, ‘Faust,’ and the deservedly high reputation acquired by Madame Lucca in the role of Margherita, attracted to the Academy last evening a large and brilliant audience. The rendering was smooth and thoroughly enjoyable throughout, the prima donna enhancing the golden opinions already won, by the exhibition in this rôle of her many brilliant qualities, both lyric and dramatic.

She sang the aria popularly known as the ‘jewel song,’ most charmingly, although an innovation at the close was noticeable which detracted somewhat from the final impression. In the third act, when she pours forth the depth of her love for Faust, in the phrase ‘Ti voglio amor,’ the rich and sympathetic qualities of her voice were most satisfactorily felt. Her acting in the cathedral scene was, as usual, dramatic and effective, while the manner in which she sang the final invocation was indeed fine.

The rôle of Mephisto, as sung and acted by Signor Jamet, is justly considered among the best assumed by that most excellent and conscientious artist. His aria, ‘Dio dell’ or del mondo, Signor,’ in the second act, was warmly encored; also, the serenade in the fourth act was carefully sung and warmly received. In short, Signor Jamet contributed not a little to the undoubted success of the representation. The other parts were filled in a manner which had at least the virtue of throwing into greater relief the efforts of the two principal artists.”

“The second night of the season was signalized by a representation of ‘Faust,’ an opera with which the name of Lucca will ever be favorably identified in this city. Her Marguerite is one of those wayward creations that can only emanate from a mind endowed by nature with the power necessary to delineate passion in its various phases. It may not be always consistent, but it is never lacking in interest, and where real greatness is shown imperfection in minor details is likely to be forgotten. Still the change at the end of the jewel song of a single note spoiled what otherwise, in that scene, would have been a triumph. The dominant B, if too high, might have been more artistically replaced than by the third below. Much of the success of an aria depends upon the finish or the last couple of measures. The gem of the garden scene, according to Lucca’s rendering, is her exquisite singing and acting in the phrases ‘Ti voglio amar’ and ‘Per te voglio morir.’ All the passionate love that a human breast is capable of seems to be poured forth in these words. The last scene is also full of emotional power. Unstinted praise is due to the rendering of the rôle of Mephisto by Jamet. It is even more finished and demoniac than that of last season. This excellent artist has evidently made the rôle a subject of close, unremitting study, and now it becomes a most interesting impersonation in his hands. Vizzani did much towards obliterating the good impression he made on Friday night. He was in unusually bad voice, and ‘Salve dimora,’ ‘Dammi ancor’ and ‘Notte d’amor,’ three gems calculated to adorn any good tenor, became pinchbeck with him. Mlle. Sanz undertook the rôle of Siebel, and we have nothing to add to our former remarks regarding her. The rôle of Valentine does not fit Sparapani well, and is rendered tame and uninteresting. Chorus and orchestra were sans reproche, and Manager Maretzek conducted with his usual skill.”