Maretzek Italian Opera: Last Gala and Combination Matinee

Event Information

Venue(s):
Academy of Music

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek

Conductor(s):
Jaime Nuno

Price: $1

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
10 September 2018

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

23 Apr 1864, Matinee

Program Details

In honor of the three-hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of William Shakespeare, and in aid of the fund for the erecting of a monument in the Central Park.

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
aka Sleepwalker; Nachtwandlerin
Composer(s): Bellini
Text Author: Romani
Participants:  Fanny Stockton (role: Lisa);  Pasquale Brignoli (role: Elvino);  Clara Louise Kellogg (role: Amina);  Fernando [bass-baritone] Bellini (role: Rodolfo)
3)
aka Midsummer night's dream, A; wedding march
Composer(s): Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
4)
Composer(s): Rossini
Participants:  Fernando [bass-baritone] Bellini (role: Iago);  Francesco Mazzoleni (role: Othello)
5)
Composer(s): Donizetti
Participants:  Guglielmo Lotti;  Lisa Harris

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Post, 18 April 1864.

2)
Announcement: New York Herald, 21 April 1864.
“In the evening [of the Shakespeare Tercentary Celebration] the proceeds of the performances at the Academy of Music, Niblo’s and Winter Garden will be devoted to the fund for raising the monument.”
3)
Announcement: New York Herald, 22 April 1864.

4)
Announcement: New York Post, 22 April 1864.
Sonnambula will be sung, followed by selections from Othello and the Merry Wives.
5)
Announcement: Courrier des États-Unis, 22 April 1864.
Most of the civilized world will be celebrating [the anniversary].  Especially in England and Germany.
6)
Advertisement: Courrier des États-Unis, 22 April 1864.

7)
Announcement: New York Herald, 23 April 1864.
Benefit of the Shakespeare Monument in Central Park.
8)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 23 April 1864.

9)
Announcement: New-York Times, 23 April 1864, 1.
“The grand gala matinee to-day concludes Mr. Maretzek’s present season. . . . It opens with ‘La Sonnambula,’ which will be played entire; after the opera comes the ‘Wedding March,’ by Mendelssohn, played by the fine orchestra of the establishment; then the grand duet from the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ (with Hermanns and Weinlich,) and then the celebrated duet from ‘Othello,’ (by Signor [sic] Mazzoleni and Bellini.) . . . [A]ll over the expenses will be handed over to the fund to erect the monument in Central Park to the memory of the bard.”
10)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 23 April 1864, 7.

11)
Announcement: Courrier des États-Unis, 23 April 1864.

12)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 23 April 1864.

13)
Review: New York Herald, 24 April 1864, 5.
“The Shakespeare matinee, which fairly closed the season at the Academy yesterday, drew a large, fashionable, though not overcrowded house.  Brignoli reveled in the sunshine of Bellini’s tender music in the Sonnambula. . . . Kellogg sang the last act very faithfully. . . . Bellini looked and sang the part of the Count very well.
In the grand duo from Rossini’s Othello Mazzoleni was positively superb, giving an additional proof of his claim to his reputation as a fine dramatic artist.  The indisposition of Mr. Hermanns compelled the substitution of the duo from Linda by Lotti and Miss Harris, in place of the promised aria chorus and duo from the Merry Wives of Windsor.”
14)
Review: Courrier des États-Unis, 25 April 1864, 2.

" Elegant society filled the Academy of Music to attend a matinee of consequence. Brignoli surpassed himself in the execution of various selections which were enveloped by applause, Miss Kellogg, Bellini, Mazzoleni and other artists beloved by the audience brought their enthusiasm and habitual talent to the event."

15)
Review: Dwight's Journal of Music, 30 April 1864, 232.
“On Saturday, Shakespeare’s’ birthday was made the occasion for a ‘grand gala matinée,’ when selections from Rossini’s Otello were given, besides the entire opera La Sonnambula; the latter suddenly substituted for Nicolai’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ on account of the illness of Herr Hermanus.  Where was Signor Verdi’s Macbetto!”