Strakosch Italian Opera: La Traviata

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Max Strakosch

Conductor(s):
Emanuele Muzio

Price: $2; $1-2 extra, reserved seat; $16 & $20 private boxes

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:

This event is still undergoing additional verification.

Last Updated:
19 April 2025

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

20 Mar 1874, 8:00 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Traviata, La
aka Fallen Woman
Composer(s): Verdi
Text Author: Piave
Participants:  Strakosch Italian Opera Company;  Christine Nilsson (role: Violetta);  Victor Capoul (role: Alfredo);  Giuseppe Del Puente (role: Germont)

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 15 March 1874, 7.
2)
Review: New-York Times, 21 March 1874, 7.

“’La Traviata’ was sung at the Academy of Music last evening, with Mme. Nilsson as Violetta, M. Capoul as Alfredo, and Signor Del Puente as Germont. Mme. Nilsson’s personation of Violetta is conspicuous among her most symmetrical performances even, for the skill with which acting of the most refined sort is blended with vocalization as pure as it is expressive, and the impression she has produced upon audiences here will not be effaced, in our judgment, by any prima donnas who may succeed her in the portrayal of this character. M. Capoul presents a lover both impassioned and elegant, and Signor Del Puente’s fine voice causes Germont’s share of the action to be as agreeable as could be wished. The recital of ‘La Traviata’ by these artists, last night, passed off with the wonted smoothness; the spectators were numerous and demonstrative, and at the close of the opera they summoned Mme. Nilsson and M. Capoul before the footlights again and again, and fairly pelted them with bouquets.”

3)
Review: New York Post, 21 March 1874, 2.
“Madame Nilsson has of late been sparing of her vocal displays; but never did she sing a part in so fragmentary a manner as last night. The opera was ‘Traviata.’ As Violetta the prima donna omitted all the repetitions of arias as set down in the score, deflected palpably from the pitch in the Ah! fors è lui, while the duet with the baritone in the second act was so mangled by the excision here and there of groups of ten or twelve bars at a time that it was reduced about one-third in length; and the result was an incomplete and unsatisfactory rendering of what is usually a favorite scene in the opera. We do not know whether this mutilation was committed at the suggestion of the prima donna, the baritone or the conductor; but it seemed disrespectful both to the composer and to the audience.
But if Madame Nilsson omitted much of the music, she certainly rendered exquisitely what she did sing, and in the finale to the second act, and in the whole of the last act, she was most effective, while her acting throughout the opera was simply magnificent. Applause, flowers and calls before the curtain testified to the delight of the audience. Capoul fully shared in all these marks of approbation. He sang last night with his utmost intensity and fervor. Del Puente was also applauded for careful and finished rendering of the music allotted to Germont.”
4)
Review: New York Herald, 21 March 1874, 3.

“Nothing can be conceived in the lyric world as a more delightful and artistic performance than the ‘Dame aux Camélias’ (to use the original term) of Mme. Nilsson. Verdi has written some of his most attractive music in the opera for the rôle of Violetta (the lost one), and the rôle has had representative in Europe and America suggestive of the best lyric artists that have ever charmed the public ear. Last night the Academy of Music was crowded, and the well known numbers of Violetta were delivered by Mme. Nilsson with her wonted finish and execution. It would be impossible to point to another lyric impersonation corresponding with the magnificent performance of Mme. Nilsson. It is unnecessary to enter into details, at this late time, of the Alfredo of Capoul and the Germont of Del Puente. Suffice it to say that they were faultless last evening.”

5)
Review: New York Herald, 21 March 1874, 3.

“Nothing can be conceived in the lyric world as a more delightful and artistic performance than the ‘Dame aux Camélias’ (to use the original term) of Mme. Nilsson. Verdi has written some of his most attractive music in the opera for the rôle of Violetta (the lost one), and the rôle has had representative in Europe and America suggestive of the best lyric artists that have ever charmed the public ear. Last night the Academy of Music was crowded, and the well known numbers of Violetta were delivered by Mme. Nilsson with her wonted finish and execution. It would be impossible to point to another lyric impersonation corresponding with the magnificent performance of Mme. Nilsson. It is unnecessary to enter into details, at this late time, of the Alfredo of Capoul and the Germont of Del Puente. Suffice it to say that they were faultless last evening.”

6)
Review: New York Herald, 21 March 1874, 3.

“Nothing can be conceived in the lyric world as a more delightful and artistic performance than the ‘Dame aux Camélias’ (to use the original term) of Mme. Nilsson. Verdi has written some of his most attractive music in the opera for the rôle of Violetta (the lost one), and the rôle has had representative in Europe and America suggestive of the best lyric artists that have ever charmed the public ear. Last night the Academy of Music was crowded, and the well known numbers of Violetta were delivered by Mme. Nilsson with her wonted finish and execution. It would be impossible to point to another lyric impersonation corresponding with the magnificent performance of Mme. Nilsson. It is unnecessary to enter into details, at this late time, of the Alfredo of Capoul and the Germont of Del Puente. Suffice it to say that they were faultless last evening.”