Verdi - I Vespri Siciliani Met 1974

1. VESPRI Part 1
2. VESPRI Part 2
3. VESPRI Part 3

Elena...................Cristina Deutekom
Arrigo..................Plácido Domingo
Guido di Monforte.......Sherrill Milnes
Giovanni da Procida.....Paul Plishka
Ninetta.................Cynthia Munzer
Danieli.................Douglas Ahlstedt
Manfredo................Paul Franke
Tebaldo.................Nico Castel
Sire di Bethune.........Robert Goodloe
Roberto.................Andrij Dobriansky
Conte Vaudemont.........Edmond Karlsrud

Conductor...............James Levine

Metropolitan Opera House
September 23, 1974
In Italian
Opening Night

The Metropolitan Opera opened its doors on its ninetieth season Monday night with a performance of Verdi's "I Vespri Siciliani.' Most of the singers were familiar, the exception being Placido Domingo in the role of Arrigo. And Mr. Domingo coped superbly. The part needs a good deal of vocal heft, which this tenor has, and a quality of animal excitement, which he also has. Mr. Domingo has come a good way these last few years, and he is now a very convincing actor. But he has also developed a vocal sob to go along with his acting, and he might well consider dropping it. Once a night, twice a night, fine; but not as a regular mannerism.

Mr. Domingo works beautifully with his admirable colleague, Sherrill Milnes, who was singing Monforte. There was a time when both singers were apt to bull their way through an opera. Now they have much more finesse and subtlety. Mr. Milnes was in especially good voice Monday night. Manly in bearing, sinister in appearance, mellow in sound, he was a dominating force in the production.

The Dutch soprano Cristina Deutekom sang the role of Elena a few times last season, and she is filling in this year for Montserrat Caballé, who is indisposed. Miss Deutekom is a slow starter - at least, she was Monday. At the beginning there was some obvious strain. But by the time she reached the last act, everything was under perfect control. She is not a singer of great temperament, and her portrayal of Elena was cool, to say the least. Her repertory of movement and facial expression is circumscribed. But the voice is lyric, flexible and capable of unexpected bursts of power. There also was a good enough technique to take care of the last act Bolero in easy fashion. Much better, indeed, than the singing of her predecessor in this showpiece.

As for Paul Plishka, he has a well-schooled bass, is a competent actor, and he was entirely convincing as Procida. --- Harold C. Schonberg, The New York Times

Les vêpres siciliennes (The Sicilian Vespers) is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi agreed to set it to music in 1854. The story is based on a historical event, the Sicilian Vespers of 1282, using material drawn from the medieval Sicilian tract Lu rebellamentu di Sichilia. Today the opera is better-known in its final Italian version: in 1855 it was first known as Giovanna de Guzman and then in the post-1861 Italian Unification era version as I vespri siciliani).

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