Maretzek Italian Opera: Il trovatore

Event Information

Venue(s):
Winter Garden

Manager / Director:
Max Maretzek

Conductor(s):
Carl Bergmann

Price: $1

Event Type:
Opera

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
23 June 2016

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

01 Dec 1866, 1:00 PM

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Trovatore, Il
aka Troubadour
Composer(s): Verdi
Text Author: Cammarano
Participants:  Maretzek Italian Opera Company;  Fernando [bass-baritone] Bellini;  Francesco Mazzoleni;  G. [basso] Fossati;  Carmelina Poch [mezzo];  Fanny Natali-Testa [contralto]

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 26 November 1866, 6.
2)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 29 November 1866, 7.
3)
Announcement: New-York Times, 30 November 1866, 4.
4)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 01 December 1866.
5)
Announcement: New-York Daily Tribune, 01 December 1866, 5.
6)
Announcement: New-York Times, 01 December 1866, 4.
7)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 03 December 1866, 8.

Brief. “The popular Opera of Il Trovatore, was performed by Max Maretzek’s Opera Company at a matinee on Saturday at 1 o’clock. The attendance was large and the performance was excellent, the little we had time to hear, having to visit several places of amusement.”

8)
Review: New-York Times, 03 December 1866, 4.

“The ever-popular Saturday matinee was renewed last week, and patronized by a multitude of ladies from this City and the vicinity. ‘Trovatore’ was given, Poch, Mazzoleni, and Bellini in the cast, and as usual was thoroughly excellent. The subscription list is quite as large as ever before, and the incidental drawbacks less numerous, so that, despite the seeming adversity of the Fates, the season may be one of the most prosperous.”

9)
Review: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 09 December 1866, 4.

Mazzoleni’s ‘Manrico’ pleased only in some fortissimo parts when one can still recognize the crispness in his voice, which is mostly gone by now. His ‘mezza voce’ lacks warmth, the high notes sharp and piercing, the waxing and waning of his voice inconsistent and irregular. It seems as though the overworked organ is resisting its master’s demands. His voice trembles when forced. The same applies to the voices of Carmen Poch and Natali Testa. There was not a single clear and solid sound coming from either of these two women. Bellini seemed to be the only real singer one could listen to.