You know that means two operas by Puccini are certain to be included…and you probably know what they are. There are also works by Cilea, Giordano, Lehár (and you know which one that is, too); Massenet (I’m guessing you’ll know which one that is) and Verdi (chances are you can figure this one out.) You’ll have to keep reading to see how you did.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this early enough on April 26th, you’ll still have time to see the 2018-2019 season production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites which concludes Moral Authority week. It’s not set in Paris, but it does take place in France.

Here is the full line-up for Week 59 at the Met:

Monday, April 26 – Puccini’s La Bohème

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Sonya Yoncheva, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, Alexey Lavrov, Matthew Rose and Paul Plishka. This revival of Franco Zefferelli’s 1963 production from the 2017-2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on July 6th.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. (If this sounds like the musical Rent, it is because La Bohème served as Jonathan Larson’s inspiration for that musical.)

This production had multiple casts during this season’s performances. Yoncheva was the third person to sing Mimi (following Angel Blue and Anita Hartig). Phillips was the second woman to sing the role of Musetta. Fabiano was the fourth person to sing the role of Rodolfo (following Dmytro Popov, Jean-Francois Borras and Russell Thomas).

Tuesday, April 27 – Lehár’s The Merry Widow

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader and Thomas Allen. This Susan Stroman production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on April 23rd, October 20th and December 26th. 

Franz Lehár’s opera had its world premiere in 1905 in Vienna. The libretto is based on Henri Meilhac’s 1861 comedy, L’attaché d’ambassade (The Embassy Attaché). Viktor Léon and Leo Stein wrote the libretto. 

When Hanna Glawari, a young woman, becomes a widow, the Ambassador wants her to re-marry someone who lives in their province of Pontevedro so her wealth can remain in the country. The last thing he wants is for her to fall for a Frenchman. Meanwhile his own wife, Valencienne, is having an affair with Camille, Count de Rosillon – a Frenchman. 

Hanna claims to soon be marrying Camille, hoping to preserve Valencienne’s reputation. Circling all of this is Count Danilo, Hanna’s ex who refuses to marry her for her money. When she announces her engagement to Camille, Danilo is forced to reconcile his feelings.

This was the first Metropolitan Opera production directed by a Broadway veteran and wth five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers). Also appearing at the Met for the first time is Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara (The King and I). 

Of O’Hara, Anthony Tommasini wrote in his New York Times review, “Ms. O’Hara’s ardent fans (put me in the front ranks of that group) will be delighted with the chance to hear her sing without the amplification requisite on Broadway. She is a vocalist with operatic training. And her tender voice carries nicely in the house — certainly as well as that of the gifted young tenor Alek Shrader, who sounded a little pinched as Camille in his scenes with her.”

Wednesday, April 28 – Giordano’s Andrea Chénier

Conducted by James Levine; starring Maria Guleghina, Wendy White, Stephanie Blythe, Luciano Pavarotti and Juan Pons. This Nicholas Joël production is from the 1996-1997 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available earlier this year on March 13th.

Giordano’s opera had its world premiere in Milan in 1896. It features a libretto by Luigi Illica and is inspired by the life of the poet André Chénier who was executed during the French Revolution.

A love triangle is ultimately at the center of this opera. Chénier says one too many things in the presence of Maddalena, Countess di Coigny’s daughter, about the imbalance between the French government and the poverty that has trapped so many of his countrymen. This is just prior to the French Revolution.

Half a decade later, Carlo Gérard, who was a footman to the now executed King Louis XVI and was influenced by Chénier’s talk, is now a leading political figure. The poet, however, is not in their good graces. This interrupts his plans to meet a young woman with whom he has been corresponding. That turns out to be Maddalena. Though she and Chénier are in love, Gérard also has his eyes on her. Politics and passion collide leading to the poet’s execution.

Bernard Holland was not a fan of this production when he reviewed it for the New York Times. He did, however, seem to be impressed by how Pavarotti was handling this role so late in his career.

“This is an opera that can be celebrated more for its parts than its whole. Luciano Pavarotti has the principal one. Six decades have drained a lot of the color from his voice, but in the title role he holds up admirably well. The points of vocal stress are handled gingerly but they are handled. A 61-year-old tenor must by nature be a master of disguise; and so Mr. Pavarotti directs most of our attention to his powers of articulation, almost to the point of excess.”

Thursday, April 29 – Massenet’s Manon

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano and Artur Ruciński. This is a revival of the 2011-2012 Laurent Pelly production from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on June 25th and earlier this year on January 23rd.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. But life doesn’t always work out the way we want. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

The main attraction of any production of Manon is the performance of the soprano singing the title role. Oropesa certainly didn’t disappoint the critics.

Joshua Barone, writing for the New York Times, said of Oropesa’s performance, “With a voice by turns brightly crystalline and arrestingly powerful, she persuasively inhabits the role of this chameleon coquette. When she blows a kiss at a crowd of men in Laurent Pelly’s often stylized production, their heads whip backward, as if feeling a sudden gust of wind. The audience can’t avoid catching a bit of the gale, too.

“Ms. Oropesa’s performance, her first at the Met since winning its Beverly Sills Artist Award as well as the prestigious Richard Tucker Award this spring, is alone worth the price of admission.”

Friday, April 30 – Verdi’s La Traviata 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil. This Colin Graham production is from the 1980-1981 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on July 14th.

Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the author of The Three Musketeers) wrote the play, La Dame aux camélias on which Verdi’s opera is based. Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto for La Traviatawhich had its world premiere in Venice in 1853.

In the opera, Violetta, who is in declining health, throws an opulent party. At this party she is introduced to Alfredo by her lover, Baron Douphol. When signs of failing health get noticed by Alfredo, he encourages her to give up her lavish lifestyle. He also admits his great love for Violetta. A love triangle is now in play. From there the opera tells the story of a woman who sacrifices everything to live life on the edge.

This production had its share of backstage drama. John Dexter had been hired to direct the production, but soprano Ileana Cotrubas did not like his plans for the production and abruptly quit. When the Met replaced Dexter with Colin Graham, she returned to the production.

Drama aside, Donal Henahan, writing in the New York Times, said of her performance, “It is unlikely that there is a better Violetta now on the world’s stages than Ileana Cotrubas. In her first Metropolitan appearance as the pathetic courtesan, she gave a transfixing performance.”

Saturday, May 1 – Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Anna Netrebko, Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczała and Ambrogio Maestri. This David McVicar production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on April 18th and earlier this year on January 4th and March 10th.

Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur had its world premiere in Milan in 1902. It features a libretto by Arturo Colautti. The opera is based on the 1849 Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé play Adrienne Lecouvreur. 

At the center of this opera is a love triangle. The title character is a beloved actress who has many possible suitors. She is in love with the Count of Saxony, Maurizio. He, though smitten with Adriana, is trying to fully break ties with his ex-lover, the Princesse de Bouillon. Insecurities and jealousies lead all three down a path that will ultimately end in murder.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in his New York Times review, said of this production, “The strongest scenes in the opera, involving the three principals, leapt off the stage on Monday, especially the confrontation between Adriana and the princess in Act II, when they discover that they both love Maurizio. Ms. Netrebko and Ms. Rachvelishvili sang ferociously as they hurled accusatory phrases at each other. Yet each found moments in the music to suggest the womanly longing that consumes them.”

Sunday, May 2 – Puccini’s La Rondine

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Angela Gheorghiu, Lisette Oropesa, Roberto Alagna, Marius Brenciu and Samuel Ramey. This Nicholas Joël production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available last year on April 15th and September 21st.

Puccini’s La Rondine had its world premiere in Monaco in 1917. The libretto, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert, was written by Giuseppe Adami.

Multiple people collide in this opera about love. Magda is Rombaldo’s kept mistress. While entertaining friends, including the poet Prunier, she realizes how much she misses being in love. Prunier is in love with Lisette, who is Magda’s maid. A young man enters their group, Ruggero, who falls in love with Magda. Could he possibly provide the true love she so desperately desires? Who will end with whom and will they all live happily ever after?

Gheorghiu and Alagna were the hottest couple in opera when this production happened. They first met in 1992 while performing in La Bohème together. They were married four years later while also doing a production of the same opera. In late 2009 they separated. They reconciled two months later, but did end up divorcing in 2013.

But the chemistry was still very much alive in this production. Anthony Tomassini wrote in the New York Times:

“…in this sensitive staging, thanks to the expressive performances of Ms. Gheorghiu and Mr. Alagna, this excess of Italianate emotion just makes La Rondine more appealing.”

Well you’ve made it to the first weekend in May and the end of Week 59 at the Met. Au revoir à la semaine prochaine! Profite de ta semaine! Profitez des opéras!

Photo: Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in La Rondine (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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Both are by composer Umberto Giordano: a 1996-1997 season production of the little-seen Fedora and a production of Andrea Chénier from earlier in the same season.

Verismo refers to a sense of realism in the arts and applies primarily to 19th century Italian operas. So crack open your favorite bottle of chianti and settle in for a week of Italian operas by Cilea, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Puccini and Zandonai joining the two operas by Giordano.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on March 8th, you might still have time to catch the 1983-1984 season production of La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi that concludes a week celebrating women’s history month at the Met. (Plus it gives you another Italian opera!)

Here is the full line-up of Week 52 at the Met:

Monday, March 8 – Puccini’s Manon Lescaut

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Pablo Elvira. This Gian Carlo Menotti production is from the 1979-1980 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on May 27th.

Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was based on Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel, Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut. The libretto is by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva. Manon Lescaut had its world premiere in Turin in 1893.

This is another opera about an ill-fated couple. Manon is taken by her brother to live in a convent. A local student, Des Grieux, feels it is love at first sight and persuades Manon to run away with him. Poverty doesn’t suit her, nor does a life of having everything she wants when she leaves Des Grieux for Geronte, the man her brother had chosen as a possible husband. Passion cannot be denied, but doesn’t mean Manon and Des Grieux will live happily ever after.

Harold C. Schonberg raved about both lead performances in his review for the New York Times.

“Renata Scott sang the title role and it was a typical Scotto performance. She understood the character dramatically and vocally and her acting was always convincing…Domingo cemented the point that he is probably the best all-around tenor active in the world today.”

Tuesday, March 9 – Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci

Cavalleria Rusticana: Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jane Bunnell, Marcelo Álvarez and George Gagnidze.

Pagliacci: Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Patricia Racette, Marcelo Álvarez, George Gagnidze and Lucas Meachem.

Both operas were David McVicar productions from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of these two one-act operas that was previously available on May 10th and January 8th.

Perhaps no pairing of one-act operas is more popular than the combination of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. 

Cavalleria Rusticana had its world premiere in Rome in 1890. The opera is based on a short story which later became a play by Giovanni Verga. Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci adapted them both for their libretto.

Mascagni’s opera centers on a love triangle. Turridu, who has returned from military service, goes to see his ex-lover, Lola, before seeing his current lover, Santuzza. Lola is married to Alfio. Santuzza decides to tell Alfio about the infidelity and the two men decide to duel. At the end of the opera, multiple hearts are left broken.

Pagliacci had its world premiere in Milan in 1892. Leoncavallo also wrote the libretto.

The opera tells the story of a married couple, Canio and Nedda, who are performers in a small theatre company on the road. Canio is insanely jealous and that jealousy drives Nedda to seek affection from another man, Silvio. Nedda and Silvio make plans to elope, but their plans are overheard by Tonio, another member of the company. He tells Canio about Nedda’s plans. Looking for revenge, Canio, during a performance of their touring play, makes his personal life mirror the drama in the play.

For those relatively new to opera, these two one-act productions are easy ways to explore the art form. There is well-known music, but there is more. Pagliacci is not just a commonly performed opera, it is also one that is referenced in countless films and television shows. But don’t count out Cavalleria Rusticana. If you’ve seen either Raging Bull or The Godfather III, you’ll recognize this opera, too.

There was controversy surrounding these two productions when David McVicar’s productions replaced the long-performed productions by Franco Zeffirelli. Alex Ross, writing for The New Yorker, made the case for the new productions as a way for the Met Opera to continue to grow and evolve.

“If the Met were to offer nothing but fixed stagings of a fixed canon, it would succumb to terminal atrophy. Not that Europe is so far ahead: all those antic deconstructions are a defense against the boredom of an overfamiliar repertory. The really radical move would be to focus on new opera, as every company did before 1900.”

Wednesday, March 10 – Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Anna Netrebko, Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczała and Ambrogio Maestri. This David McVicar production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on April 18th and January 4th.

Francesco Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur had its world premiere in Milan in 1902. It features a libretto by Arturo Colautti. The opera is based on the 1849 Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé play Adrienne Lecouvreur. 

At the center of this opera is a love triangle. The title character is a beloved actress who has many possible suitors. She is in love with the Count of Saxony, Maurizio. He, though smitten with Adriana, is trying to fully break ties with his ex-lover, the Princesse de Bouillon. Insecurities and jealousies lead all three down a path that will ultimately end in murder.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in his New York Times review, said of this production, “The strongest scenes in the opera, involving the three principals, leapt off the stage on Monday, especially the confrontation between Adriana and the princess in Act II, when they discover that they both love Maurizio. Ms. Netrebko and Ms. Rachvelishvili sang ferociously as they hurled accusatory phrases at each other. Yet each found moments in the music to suggest the womanly longing that consumes them.”

Thursday, March 11 – Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Marcello Giordani and Mark Delavan. This is David Kneuss’s re-working of the 1984 Piero Faggioni production from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on July 9th.

Riccardo Zandonai is not the best known of composers nor are his works regularly performed. Francesca da Ramini is his most popular work. The opera had its world premiere in Turin in 1914. The libretto was written by Tito Ricordi. Gabriele d’Annunzio’s play Francesca da Rimini was the source material that inspired this opera.

The title character, Francesca, is set to marry Giovanni (who is known by his nickname, Gianciotto.) When she is introduced to his brother, Paolo, she believes this man to be her groom. He falls in love with her, but has conspired to take Francesca away from his brother. Sibling rivalry significantly intensifies when Gianciotto’s youngest brother, Malatestino, gets involved.

This production marked the first time in over a quarter century since the Met had performed Francesa da Rimini. Steve Smith, writing for the New York Times said of Zandonai’s music, “…his musical language, though grounded in Italian lyricism, bears traces of Tristan und Isolde, Pelléas et Mélisande and Der Rosenkavalier.” But he concluded his review with two words, “Still – why?”

Friday, March 12 – Giordano’s Fedora FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by Roberto Abbado; starring Mirella Freni, Ainhoa Arteta, Plácido Domingo, Dwayne Croft, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. This Beppe De Tomasi production is from the 1996-1997 season.

Umberto Giordano was on the podium leading the orchestra in the world premiere of Fedora in Milan in 1898. The libretto, written by Arturo Colautti, is based on a 1882 play of the same name by Victorien Sardou.

After Count Vladimir betrays his fiancé Princess Fedora, he is killed and it is believed Count Loris Ipanov is responsible. Fedora plans her revenge. She travels to Paris and while at a party Ipanov declares his love for her. How will she reconcile his newly-announced passion for her with her suspicions he murdered her husband-to-be?

Yes you read that cast list correctly. Classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet appears in this production in a non-singing role. But the highlight for most people in the audience was another opportunity to see legendary soprano Freni.

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tomassini talked about the response she got upon her first entrance on opening night.

“When Ms. Freni appeared, she was greeted by a round of applause that forced the conductor Roberto Abbado to stop the performance. Now 61, she could be making her last appearances at the Met. Her voice remains full, rich and intensely expressive. There are signs of wear, but the sense of line, varied colorings, and enveloping resonance of her singing harken to a tradition that may disappear with her retirement.”

She did return to the Metropolitan Opera stage in 2005 for a celebration of her 40th anniversary of her Met debut and the 50th anniversary of her career.

Saturday, March 13 – Giordano’s Andrea Chénier FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by James Levine; starring Maria Guleghina, Wendy White, Stephanie Blythe, Luciano Pavarotti and Juan Pons. This Nicholas Joël production is from the 1996-1997 season.

Giordano’s opera had its world premiere in Milan in 1896. It features a libretto by Luigi Illica and is inspired by the life of the poet André Chénier who was executed during the French Revolution.

A love triangle is ultimately at the center of this opera. Chénier says one too many things in the presence of Maddalena, Countess di Coigny’s daughter, about the imbalance between the French government and the poverty that has trapped so many of his countrymen. This is just prior to the French Revolution.

Half a decade later, Carlo Gérard, who was a footman to the now executed King Louis XVI and was influenced by Chénier’s talk, is now a leading political figure. The poet, however, is not in their good graces. This interrupts his plans to meet a young woman with whom he has been corresponding. That turns out to be Maddalena. Though she and Chénier are in love, Gérard also has his eyes on her. Politics and passion collide leading to the poet’s execution.

Bernard Holland was not a fan of this production when he reviewed it for the New York Times. He did, however, seem to be impressed by how Pavarotti was handling this role so late in his career.

“This is an opera that can be celebrated more for its parts than its whole. Luciano Pavarotti has the principal one. Six decades have drained a lot of the color from his voice, but in the title role he holds up admirably well. The points of vocal stress are handled gingerly but they are handled. A 61-year-old tenor must by nature be a master of disguise; and so Mr. Pavarotti directs most of our attention to his powers of articulation, almost to the point of excess.”

Sunday, March 14 – Puccini’s Tosca

Conducted by Emmanuel Villaume; starring Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo and Željko Lučić. This David McVicar production is from the 2017-2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on April 21st and September 25th.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

This 2018 production of Tosca was a troubled one. The two announced stars pulled out of appearing. Two conductors, for very different reasons, also left the production. This McVicar production was new and it replaced the previous production by Luc Bondy that sharply divided Met Opera audiences. Bondy’s production had replaced the beloved production by Franco Zeffirelli. Yoncheva and Grigolo sang these roles for the first time.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review had mixed feelings about the two leads.

“Jumping in for Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann, who canceled, Ms. Yoncheva and Mr. Grigolo were both singing their roles for the first time, and they looked wonderfully youthful as Puccini’s lovers, the opera diva Floria Tosca and the painter Mario Cavaradossi. They saved the day and gave compelling performances, but their greenness came through, in different ways.”

I’ll leave it up to you if you want to read how, in Tommasini’s mind, that greenness impacted the performance he attended.

That ends not just Week 52 at the Met, but our first full year of streaming productions. How will they launch their second year? Time will tell.

In the meantime, enjoy the operas and enjoy your week.

Photo: Eva-Maria Westbroek and Marcello Giordani in Francesca da Rimini (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Verismo Passions: Week 52 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Some of the operas find Pavarotti singing signature roles and/or roles in which he performed on a regular basis at the Met. All of the productions are Italian operas with, predictably, Verdi and Puccini represented the most.

They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series, their New Year’s Eve Gala and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column early enough on December 21st, you might still have time to catch the 2013-2014 production of Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi that concludes last week’s Holiday Fare week.

Here is the all-Pavarotti line-up for Week 42 at the Met.

Monday, December 28 – Puccini’s La Bohème 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Maralin Niska, Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, and Paul Plishka. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1976-1977 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 8th.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. (If this sounds like the musical Rent, it is because La Bohème served as Jonathan Larson’s inspiration for that musical.)

Pavarotti made his Met Opera debut in 1968 in La Bohème. This 1977 production of Puccini’s beloved opera was actually the very first Live at the Met broadcast.

Harold C. Schonberg, writing in the New York Times, said of Pavarotti’s performance, “Nobody around today can sing a better Rodolfo, and this despite the fact that the voice has changed somewhat in recent years. It is a little heavier passages above the staff are not produced as effortlessly as before sometimes there is a decided feeling of strain. One hopes that the Manricos he has been singing have not taken the lyric bloom from his voice. With all that, he sang most beautifully last night. Only Mr. Pavarotti can spin out long phrases with such authority and color.”

Tuesday, December 29 – Puccini’s Tosca 

Conducted by James Conlon; starring Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil. This Tito Gobbi production is from the 1978-1979 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 4th and December 6th.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

When Pavarotti took on this role it was one of his first forays into more demanding roles that were tougher on his vocal chords. 

Donal Henahan, had this to say about Pavarotti in his New York Times review, “Mr. Pavarotti, though a bit thin of voice in such outpourings as ‘Recondite armonia,’ pitched himself into the action, vocally and theatrically, with his usual infectious enthusiasm. Puccini is notoriously hard on voices—perhaps more so than Verdi or even Wagner— and Mr. Pavarotti is taking a calculated risk in moving into emotionally heavy and tone‐shredding roles. But his ‘Vittoria!’ rang out excitingly, without sounding strident, and in the lyrical passages he was nothing less than glorious. Bravissimo is not good enough for such singing. How about pavarotissimo?”

Wednesday, December 30 – Verdi’s Rigoletto 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Christiane Eda-Pierre, Isola Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Louis Quilico and Ara Berberian. This revival of John Dexter’s 1977 production is from the 1981-1982 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 12th.

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about. 

For most opera fans, Pavarotti’s appearance in this production was the selling point. But for New York Times critic Edward Rothstein, he found something, or rather, someone else to admire.

“Though Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke may attract the most attention, Louis Quilico, as Rigoletto, was at the center of the drama; his passions and fears could be heard in his voice as well as seen in his face and body. His ‘La ra, la ra, la la’ seemed sobbed out by a jester who has lived too long and seen too much.”

Thursday, December 31 – Verdi’s Ernani 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes and Ruggero Raimondi. This Pier Luigi Samaritani production is from the 1983-1984 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 1st.

The trio of Giuseppe Verdi, Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave served as the foundation for this opera that had its world premiere in Venice in 1844 (seven years before Rigoletto.) Hugo’s 1830 play, Hernani, inspired the composer and Piave, his librettist for Ernani.

Set in 16th century Spain, the centerpiece of this opera is our heroine, Elvria, who finds herself the object of three men’s desires: Carlo, the King of Spain; Silva, her abusive uncle and our title character, Ernani who is a bandit formerly known as Don Juan of Aragon. Disguises, deceit, mercy, suicide and tragedy ensue.

Donal Henahan, a critic from 1967 – 1991 for the New York Times, was a very pithy writer. He began his review of this production with some historical perspective as only he could:

“Ernani is an important opera because it is by Giuseppi Verdi. Other than that, its attractions are modest. It is, in fact, third-rate Verdi, which makes it second-rate anyone else, or better. It is a mass of musical and dramatic cliches, but operagoers with an ear tuned to history find it fascinating for what it led up to.” 

Henahan won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1986. He passed away in 2012.

Friday, January 1 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Éva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1988-1989 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on July 7th.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore is based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez published in 1836. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano with additions by Leone Emanuele Badare. The opera had its world premiere in Rome in 1853.

The setting is Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon, circa 1412. To offer up a quick synopsis here would be a fool’s game to play. Several stories happen simultaneously and sometimes share the same characters. The opera has rarely been hailed for its story, but it certainly ranks as one of Verdi’s finest compositions.

When this production first opened that season at the Metropolitan Opera, Joan Sutherland sang the role of Leonora and Richard Bonynge was conducting. Pavarotti sang the role of Manrico throughout. While critics were not so keen on Melano’s direction, Donal Henahan, writing for the New York Times, liked much of Pavarotti’s performance.

“Mr. Pavarotti was in good vocal health, immediately making ears prick up with his offstage song in the duel scene. Later, his ‘Ah, si, ben mio’ was meltingly ardent and unmistakably the work of a genuine lyric tenor. In the opera’s most famous aria, ‘Di quella pira,’ his voice simply lacked the bite and thrust required for this showpiece of the Italian robust tenor.”

Saturday, January 2 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti and Leo Nucci. This revival of Piero Faggioni’s 1989-1990 production is from the 1990-1991 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 20th.

Verdi’s opera, translated A Masked Ball, had its premiere in Rome in 1859. Librettist Antonio Somma used the libretto written by Eugène Scribe for the opera, Gustave III, ou Le Ballo masqué, written by Daniel Auber in 1833. 

The opera is based on the real life assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed while attending a masquerade ball in Stockholm. 

Verdi takes some dramatic liberties which certainly enhances the drama. Riccardo is in love with Amelia. She, however, is the wife of his good friend and confidante, Renato. Riccardo is warned by his friend that there is a plot to kill him at the ball. Paying no attention to the warning, Riccardo instead seeks out Ulrica, a woman accused of being a witch. In disguise he visits Ulrica to have his fortune read. She tells him he will be killed by the next man who shakes his hand. That next man turns out to be Renato. What follows is a story of intrigue, deception, questions of fidelity and, of course, the assassination.

Pavarotti made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1968. He performed over 375 times at the venue. This production of Un Ballo in Maschera was the second production of Verdi’s opera in which he appeared. He originally performed the role at the Met in a production from the 1979-1980 season. That production was helmed by Elijah Moshinsky.

Sunday, January 3 – Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons and Enzo Dara. This John Copley production is from the 1991-1992 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 26th.

Gaetano Donizetti’s opera had its world premiere in 1832 in Milan. The libretto, by Felice Romani, was based on Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Daniel Auber’s Le philtre. 

Poor Nemorino doesn’t have anything to offer the love of his life, Adina. Sergeant Belcore is also in love with Adina, but she spurns his offer of marriage. Knowing that Adina has read the story of Tristan and Isolde, Nemorino asks Dr. Dulcamara for the same love potion that Tristan used to win over Isolde. Will this elixir of love truly works its magic?

Edward Rothstein, in his review for the New York Times had mixed feelings about certain performances and elements of the production, but he singled out Battle for praise. “Ms. Battle can send a note out into space, sustain it there, playing subtly with its shape and dimension, then call it back into her throat and gently bring it to a close so one awaits the next moment of sensuous sound. When Adina realizes that she really does love this slightly clumsy peasant, Ms. Battle’s sighs of recognition soared. Donizetti might have preferred a lighter timbre, but he would certainly have recognized his elixir in use.”

That concludes Week 42 at the Met. Happy New Year! Enjoy Pavarotti Week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Luciano Pavarotti in Ernani. (Photo courtesy Metropolitan Opera Archives)

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