Strakosch Italian Opera: Rigoletto

“The cast of ‘Rigoletto’ last night at the Academy of Music was certainly not a strong one, and yet the performance was even more than fair and the audience pretty numerous. Mlle. Torriani gives no very distinct character to the part of Gilda, but she sings the ‘Caro nome’ sweetly and fluently, throws all the necessary dramatic force into the famous duet with Rigoletto, and renders her share in the effective music of the last Act to the satisfaction of the critical listener. This is high praise, and it may be said that her personation on the whole was agreeable, though it left no deep impression on the memory. The Rigoletto of Sig. Del Puente was an intelligent conception, somewhat marred by grotesqueries and exaggerations, but always distinct and consistent. His action was spirited and his vocalization much better than usual; but his delivery was too uniformly emphatic, and he often sacrificed the music in his effort to do justice to the drama, which a thoroughly accomplished artist would not have done. Sig. Del Puente is a young man with fine natural gifts, and his faults are only those which experience will readily remove. The defects of M. Capoul, however, are radical. He was not a pleasant Duke. His demeanor was lively, if it was not exactly ducal, and we need hardly say that he made love successively to Gilda, to Maddalean, and to the imaginary fickle dame of his favorite solo, with incomparable test and entire self-possession. But too much energy, while it may be pardonable in the actor, is a bad fault in singing, and it was the one fault which interfered most seriously with M. Capoul’s success last night. Verdi has written some charming measures for this role whose character the tenor seemed altogether to miss. The quartette however, with the trusty Miss Cary in the part of Maddalena, was admirably rendered, and the audience caused it to be repeated.”

“Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’ has always been a favorite in this city since it was first produced at the Academy of Music under Ole Bull’s management many years ago. It has been sung here with excellent casts, some of which were better than that of last evening, when this opera was revived by the Strakosch troupe. Mlle. Torriani was the Gilda, and sang carefully, but her really beautiful voice was not to be heard to the best advantage in the music of this masterly opera. Capoul was the Duke, and in the last act won deserved applause, his passionate singing of the Bella figlia securing an encore for the superb quartet. Del Puente—who, at a late moment, took the place of Maurel, previously announced for the part—undertook to personate the jester, and, for a young artist, sang and acted creditably. Miss Cary’s Maddelena is always good and was so last night; but though the opera passed off smoothly and the chorus sang well, there was a general feeling that the performance was scarcely up to the high standard which Mr. Strakosch has presented to us during the current operatic season.”

“‘Rigoletto’ was sung at the Academy of Music last evening for the first time this season. The performance was not quite on a plane with the many admirable representations which Mr. Strakosch’s company has of late supplied. The recent recitals of ‘Gli Ugonotti,’ and the continuous rehearsals of ‘Aida’ have kept most of the artists steadily at work, and hence it was found impossible to bestow upon ‘Rigoletto’ the distribution which might else have been secured; besides, after it was understood that M. Maurel, at all events, would personate Rigoletto, it became necessary to put in his place Signor Del Puente. There were, however, some good points in the entertainment. Signor Del Puente was vocally overtasked, but we hardly expected equally earnest acting from a baritone who had only, until yesterday, been intrusted [sic] with light rôles. Signor Del Puente delivered with great eloquence the fine recitative (‘Pari siamo,’) at the outset of the second act, and he performed throughout the evening with decided spirit and force. ‘Questa o quella,’ the pretty ballad in the first act, was rendered with plenty of brio, the chorus, ‘Zitti, ziti,’ was effectively done, and the quartet was redemanded. The general impression was not so favorable as usual. M. Capoul, whose passion seems to have the ague, and who, in his tender utterances, actually bleats, lacks the compass and force of voice requisite during the larger part of the opera, and both ‘La donna è mobile’ and the quartet had to be lowered on his account. Mlle. Torriani, who habitually interprets Verdi’s music very fairly, was rather wanting in delicacy in ‘Caro nome,’ and in the duet, and Signor Scolara’s intonation as particularly defective. Miss Cary alone kept up to the mark, and as Maddalena brightened the quartet with her merry laugh, and sang and acted capitally while the grim work of the last act progressed.”

“The masterpiece of Verdi—for, no matter what may be the conflicting opinions concerning ‘Un Ballo en [sic] Maschera,’ ‘Trovatore,’ ‘Traviata,’ ‘Ernani,’ &c.—‘Rigoletto’ occupies the very first position among the maestro’s works, was produced, for the first time this season, last night at the Academy of Music. Until we have had an opportunity of passing judgment on ‘Aida,’ and comparing the effect of the change of the great composer’s style which has taken place within a decade or two with his efforts when in the full flush of mental power and originality, we must accord the first place to the magnificent opera which he constructed out of the ‘Le Roi S’Amuse’ of Victor Hugo, which forty-two years ago first startled Paris. In this opera Verdi for the first time united his wonderful fecundity of melody with grand dramatic design, and endeavored successfully to individualize each character in strong and distinct colors. It is, as it were, the bridge between the early and later styles of the composer, and shows a well defined dramatic purpose as well as richness of musical thought. The intensity of paternal love, the egotism and heartlessness of the libertine, the purity, naiveté and afterwards shame, despair and self-sacrificing affection of the maiden, and the coquetry and espièglerie of the stereotyped femme d’argent, are photographed in music with a power akin to genius. But notwithstanding the fact that ‘Rigoletto’ is acknowledged by all musicians as the chef d'œuvre of Verdi, and that it demands greater vocal and dramatic power than any of his other works, it is too often regarded by our operatic managers as worthy only of the efforts of the lesser members of a troupe. This was the cast last night. [Lists cast.] The performance cannot be considered a success. Mlle. Torriani was ill at ease in the trying music of her rôle of Gilda, and her voice became so fatigued in the end that in the glorious quartet of the last act she failed to give the quivering accents and hopeless plaint of the outraged daughter that emotional power that the music demanded. The grand aria, ‘Caro Nome,’ the most delightful apostrophe to love to be found in any opera, was delivered with a certain degree of expression and delicacy of sentiment by the prima donna, but the lack of power to develop its rich treasures of feeling was plainly perceptible. Miss Cary was a charming Maddalena, and only failed to give the ringing laugh of the coquettish sister of the bravo, that staccato effect in the quartet, that it required. M. Capoul’s fame as a model stage love maker is well known, and in the rôles of Faust, Lionel and Alfred Germont, he is unrivaled. But Verdi wrote the music of the Duke of Mantua for a very different voice from that of M. Capoul and consequently he was overweighted in the rôle. The music lies in most part beyond the reach of his natural voice, and he could only reach it at times with painful effort. Signor Del Puente sang the rôle of the jester with commendable spirit and intelligence, but he evidently mistook the character in a dramatic sense, and dressed and acted it à la cirque. Although the performance was not in general a successful one, yet it possessed some traits of merit—the duo in the second act between Gilda and the Duke, ‘Addio!’ and the ‘La Donna e Mobile’ of Capoul, as instances. The chorus and orchestra were not up to the high standard we have hitherto accorded to the exertions of Signor Muzio. Probably the incessant rehearsals of ‘Aida,’ which will be produced on Wednesday next, interfered with the proper representation of Verdi’s chef d’œuvre. Yet there have been few companies in this city for years past that could give even as good a performance of such a heavy work without the aid of the principal artists.”