Mahler's cast for Mozart's Figaro at the Met in 1909

Gustav Mahler photographed by Dupont in New York, 1909

Here's yet another post about Mozart's Figaro – but I hope I don't need to make any apology for that... and this one is rather different.

Between January and March 1909, Mahler conducted eight performances of a new production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The first night was on 13 January 1909, and the next morning's New York Times reported that it was a great success:

"Mozart's comedy, Le nozze di Figaro was given at the Metropolitan Opera House last evening for the first time in four years. It had been newly studied under the direction of Gustav Mahler; there were several new singers in the cast, there was a new and very becoming stage setting and new costumes. The performance was one of the most delightful and brilliant that can easily be recalled; not so much in the excellence of the individual singers, though here, too, there was much to enjoy; but most of all the finished ensemble, the vivacity and gaiety that were infused into every scene, the dramatic verisimilitude with which the intentions of the composer were realized. It was a performance such as there have been few at the Metropolitan Opera house in the way of precision and the elaboration of the finer details of the action upon the stage, the exquisite and delicate beauty of the orcehstral part, and the skillful co-ordination of these factors in one impression upon eye and ear. Such a performance shows the dominating influence of a master mind filled with the spirit of Mozart's music, as Mr Mahler's is, with an opportunity to achieve the results that he wishes. This Figaro had evidently been prepared with much care, and it was one that reflected the greatest credit on all who were concerned in it. The potent authority of Mr Mahler was evident in it from the beginning to the end."

According to another review, the recitatives were accompanied "by an imitation harpsichord and in the proper places by a union of this instrument with the orchestral strings", a solution that was considered "excellent."

Of the singers involved, Emma Eames later wrote that "among the many great conductors with whom I have sung, I know of none greater than Mahler. He was a genius with an abstract ideal and great humanity. ... In his simplicity and modesty he showed his true genius. ... I am very glad and very proud to number among the memories of my career, the Nozze di Figaro ... under his leadership – a leadership so delicate and so considerate that is was collaboration and not dictatorship."

All quotations are from Zoltán Román: Gustav Mahler's American Years 1907–1911: a Documentary History (1989), 200 and 205.

The principals included Adamo Didur (Figaro), Marcella Sembrich (Susanna), Emma Eames (Countess), Antonio Scotti (Count) and Geraldine Farrar (Cherubino).

Adamo Didur (Figaro):

Marcella Sembrich (Susanna):

Emma Eames (in costume as the Countess):

Antonio Scotti (Count)

Geraldine Farrar (in costume as Cherubino)

All five of these singers recorded arias and duets from Figaro, most of them quite close to the time of this production. These records make for fascinating listening. It's intriguing, for instance, to speculate on whether Sembrich put in something like the cadenza at the end of her recording of "Deh vieni" when she sang this aria under Mahler – at the Vienna Opera, he had, according to Erwin Stein, 'abolished the extra top notes and cadenzas which singers used to insert', though he did restore all the recitatives and, Stein reports, 'maintained those appoggiaturas which he felt to be in the style of the music' (see Donald Mitchell: Gustav Mahler Vol. II: The Wunderhorn Years, 1995 edition, 381). By contrast, Eames and Sembrich sing the Letter Duet without any additional ornamentation, as does Farrar in "Voi che sapete".

In the order they come in the opera, these are the extracts from Figaro I have been able to find sung by Mahler's 1909 Met cast (though "Crudel perche finora" is sung by the original Count and by Farrar, who sang Cherubino rather than Susanna in this production).

No. 12. Voi che sapete, recorded by Geraldine Farrar on 8 December 1908.
http://www.mediafire.com/?lszk53yjrryz726

No. 17. Crudel perche finora, recorded by Geraldine Farrar and Antonio Scotti on 4 October 1909.
http://www.mediafire.com/?999nazzjmj1b4n1

No. 21. Sull' aria...Che soave zeffiretto, recorded by Emma Eames and Marcella Sembrich on 25 January 1908.
http://www.mediafire.com/?4bc2zf8c546cwb8

No. 27. Aprite un po' quegli occhi, recorded by Adamo Didur c. 1917.
http://www.mediafire.com/?9kuxo63451p2d1c

No. 28. Deh vieni non tardar, recorded by Marcella Sembrich on 5 November 1904.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1s3dh21sxp386da

(numbering is from the Neue Mozart Ausgabe score)

More Figaro: Crudel perche finora with contemporary embellishments

In 1789 the firm of Birchall & Andrews published an unusual souvenir of a current operatic hit at the King’s Theatre in London. On 9 May 1789 Francesco Benucci and Nancy Storace appeared in an opera called La vendemmia. On 11 May 1789, The Morning Post reported:

"The Opera. Haymarket. The attraction of a New Opera, and a new performer, drew a very large audience to this place on Saturday. La vendemmia (the Vineyard), so far as the music is concerned, is the production of Signor Gazzaniga. It has the merit of being light and pleasing, and is also very correct; but there is little to excite any high idea of the composer. Besides the music of Gazzaniga, a song by Paisiello, another by Tarchi, another by Pozzi, and a duet by Mozart, are introduced into the opera. ... Mozart's delicious duet was encored." (from C. Eisen: New Mozart Documents, Stanford University Press, 1991, 150).

Nancy Storace, the original Susanna

Francesco Benucci, the original Figaro

Mozart's "delicious duet" was "Crudel perche finora" from Act III of Le nozze di Figaro, where it is sung by Susanna and the Count. When it was inserted into La vendemmia it was sung by Nancy Storace (1766–1817) and Francesco Benucci (c.1745–1824) – who had taken the roles of Susanna and Figaro in the world première of Figaro at the Burgtheater, Vienna, on 1 May 1786.

The Birchall & Andrews edition of Crudel perche finora has the unusual status of being the first appearance of any part of the music of Le nozze di Figaro in print, even though it doesn't mention the opera by name. This edition was reissued in about 1794, with the imprint changed to Robert Birchall. A copy of this reissue, printed on paper with a dated watermark of 1794, is now in the British Library (G.537.z). What makes this a particularly interesting document is the addition of extensive vocal embellishments in a contemporary hand. The author of these decorations is unknown, but they seem to date from around 1800, and provide intriguing evidence for how this duet might have been ornamented at the time, with numerous added appoggiaturas and turns as part of the extensive embellishments.

A few months ago I asked three friends to record this version of "Crudel perche finora", so here it is, sung by Sophia Carroll (Susanna), Matthew Palmer (Count) and Gary O'Shea (piano). With warmest thanks to them, here is their performance, together with images of the embellished score:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLTCYZMLa_U

A Famous Figaro: Sadler's Wells – 1965 – Charles Mackerras

Welcome to my blog! I'm a musician and writer with interests ranging from the Baroque to Broadway, and in the art of musical interpretation. I'll be posting things that I hope anyone reading this blog might enjoy.

Here are some still photos taken from a (very) short filmed sequence of Charles Mackerras conducting the last few bars of the famous production Figaro at Sadler's Wells in 1965:

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this Figaro is the extensive vocal decoration used – this was certainly what attracted the widest attention (and even some controversy) at the time. It is heard to most obvious effect in the reprises of "Voi che sapete", "Dove sono", the vocal cadenzas at the end of the Letter Duet, and so on – but already at the end of the first duet, Elizabeth Harwood throws in a wonderful ornamented flourish. When numbers aren't decorated much, the use of upper and lower appoggiaturas is extensive.

Mackerras later said that some of the decoration in this production was perhaps a bit over the top, but on the whole I think it works marvellously, and the performance also has tremendous vitality. I'm also not at all sure that anyone has done quite such an extensively ornamented Figaro since – so this is a performance to relish. I've listened to it on many occasions over the last month or so, with absolute delight.

Incidentally, in Act 3, "Dove sono" comes before the Sextet – the order proposed by Robert Moberly and Christopher Raeburn in their article that appeared in the same month as this production: "Mozart's Figaro: The Plan of Act III", Music & Letters, Vol. 46 No. 2 (April 1965), 134-6. The performance is sung in Edward J. Dent's English translation (the one printed in the Boosey & Hawkes piano-vocal score), and the version used in this performance was prepared by Charles Mackerras.

Here are full details of the cast:

MOZART: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Sadler's Wells Theatre, BBC Broadcast, 1966
(Version with vocal decorations, prepared by Charles Mackerras)

Charles Mackerras (Conductor)

Donald McIntyre (Figaro)
Elizabeth Harwood (Susanna)
Ava June (Countess)
Raimund Herincx (Count)
Anne Pashley (Cherubino)
Noel Mangin (Bartolo)
John Fryatt (Basilio)
Rita Hunter (Marcellina)
Stanley Bevan (Curzio)
Eric Stannard (Antonio)
Sheila Amit (Barbarina)
Sadler's Wells Chorus (Chorus Master John Barker)
Sadler's Wells Orchestra

John Blatchley (Producer)

More photos, of the curtain calls:

In the original version of this post, I included links to a poor-sounding copy of the broadcast. Since then, a far better copy has emerged, and is available on CD from Oriel Music Trust (http://orielmusic.org), allowing us to hear this famous and historic Figaro in the best possible sound. I'd urge everyone who loves this opera to hear it.

Finally, here's Edmund Tracey's review published in The Guardian on 11 April 1965.

MARRIAGE OF WARMTH AND WIT

Richest and most nourishing of opera, The Marriage of Figaro returned to the Sadler's Wells repertory on Friday in an attractively simple and direct new production by John Blatchley.

Mr Blatchley has encouraged his cast to give really stylish comic performances, almost totally eschewing those slapstick antics that usually bedevil performances of Mozart in English and which certainly disfigured the last Sadler's Wells production of this opera. The virtues of Vivienne Kernot's sets are perhaps mainly negative: the shapes are well enough conceived, but the decorations are rather bare and stark. The costumes, on the other hand, are very beautifully designed.

Of couse all this would be little to the purpose were the music not carefully prepared and vitally played and sung. The most important person in an performance of "Figaro" must always be the conductor – and in this case Charles Mackerras shapes each act with outstanding authority and imagination. There are wit and high sprits in his reading, but also great expressive warmth. Mr Mackerras clearly understands that there are cruelty, heartache and compassion in "Figaro" as well as laughter and busy intrigues: what is more, he has taught his cast to take the same serious view of the music.

At the end, when the Count dropped to his knees to beg his wife's forgiveness, the usual chuckle rippled through the audience; but not for long. Mr Mackerras invested the short ensemble that succeeds this appeal with such radiance – such holiness, I might say – that laughter was silenced; then came the exultant little tailpiece that ended everything in fizzing good humour.

The entire cast – Ava June (Countess), Raimund Herincx (Count), Elizabeth Harwood (Susanna), Donald McIntyre (Figaro), to name the four principals – is excellent. Mr Mackerras gives the opera complete (i.e. with all the recitatives and Marcellina's and Basilio's Act IV arias); redistributes the vocal lines in the Act II C major trio, so that the Countess has the upper part; reintroduces appoggiaturas throughout; and embellishes the vocal line with the sort of ornaments and cadenzas that singers in Mozart's time would have adopted and which have fallen from general use since composers took to writing down their exact requirements and singers no longer needed to acquire and practice a skill in improvisation. (Imagine Brünnhilde improvising a cadenza as she vaulted from rock to rock.)

SOME SCRAMBLES

I applaud the first three of these innovations: and my single reserve about the fourth is that elaborate ornaments are permissible only if you have singers who can throw them off brilliantly. The present cast managed them on the whole pretty well; but there were several ungainly and breathless scrambles, and perhaps Sadler's Wells ought to think twice before loading these embellishments on to less gifted and experienced singers when the opera is revived and taken on tour.