Met Centennial Gala - 1983 - Unreleased bits (Upgraded Sound)
The official DVD, despite being 4 hours long, only has slightly more than half of the selections that day (Yep, that's right, a whole day). Here is most of the material that only aired once. Not available in stereo like the official releases, but I did what I could to clean up the broadcast audio.
Conductors: James Levine, Richard Bonynge, Jeffrey Tate, John Pritchard, Thomas Fulton
00:14 Die Walküre: Act I Duet - Jessye Norman, Jess Thomas
16:01 Carmen Quintet - James Courtney, Isola Jones, Shirley Love, Charles Anthony, Louise Wohlafka
21:45 Dio mi potevi - James McCracken
26:39 Bess you is my woman now - Evelyn Lear, Thomas Stewart
32:34 Carmen - Habañera - Regine Crespin
37:28 Man of La Mancha medley - James Morris
43:47 When the sky grows brighter - Richard Cassilly
49:49 Die Zauberflöte - Papagena-Papageno Duet - Betsy Norden, Christian Boesch
53:23 Reverenza! - Bianca Berini, Louis Quilico
59:14 Prince Gremin's Aria - Paul Plishka
1:06:15 Ch'ella mi creda - Giuseppe Giacomini
1:09:30 Là ci darem la mano - Myra Merritt, John Cheek
1:13:43 O Mimì tu più non torni - Gösta Winbergh, Vernon Hartman
1:19:17 Viens Mallika - Jean Kraft, Mariella Devia
1:26:48 Signorina in tanta fretta - Barbara Daniels, Italo Tajo
1:36:55 Wie aus der Ferne - Carol Neblett, Simon Estes
1:54:10 Ebbene Donnina innamorata; Nemico della patria - Cornell MacNeil, Andrea Velis
2:02:16 Fu la sorte - Martina Arroyo, Mignon Dunn
2:14:57 Dio, che nell'alma infondere - Pablo Elvira, Ermano Mauro
2:22:21 Sweethearts (Maytime) - Anna Moffo, Robert Merrill
2:26:53 Vanessa Quintet - Johanna Meier, Regina Resnik, Rosalind Elias, John Alexander, John MacCurdy
2:31:12 Vecchia zimarra - Jerome Hines
2:34:21 L'amo come il fulgor del creato! - Lucine Amara, Bianca Berini
2:39:04 Allmächt'ger Vater - Timothy Jenkins
2:48:11 Va pour Kleinzach - Neil Shicoff (Incomplete)
I've been waiting for a very, very long time to see these extracts which are not on the DG DVD. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Lucine Amara made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the "Voice from Heaven" in Verdi's Don Carlos, the opening night of Sir Rudolf Bing's inaugural season as general manager, on November 6, 1950. She continued at the Met over the course of 41 seasons until 1991, singing 56 roles in 882 appearances, nearly 60 of which were broadcast on radio and television. Appearing regularly as Micaëla in Carmen, Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly, and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Nedda in Pagliacci, Mimi in La bohème, her repertoire also included Leonora in Il trovatore and Aida. In the mid-1970s, Amara was given only a "cover" contract - essentially a contract to be a stand-by for an indisposed singer - and was scheduled for fewer and fewer performances. In 1976 at the age of 51, she successfully sued the Met for age discrimination, but sang only sporadically with the company after that, and was absent from the roster from 1977 until 1981. Time Magazine wrote that "she brought to the stage the kind of dazzling vocal splendor that made the Met famous. In 1989 she was inducted into the Academy of Vocal Arts Hall of Fame. She is now 99 years old. A great artist.
Never seen this! I knew the Gala was larger than published on dvd. Thank you so much!
So many of these veterans sound more secure and sing with more ease, sheen and gusto than most of current stars of the time. Amara, Arroyo, Resnik, Alexander, Hines, Dunn, et, al. Their performances really showcase the high quality of singing available to be heard at the met from the 40's to the 80's.
I remember watching every moment on PBS as a 16 year old! This was in the days when the local classical music stations would simulcast so you could get the audio in stereo. Ah the good old days!!!
I'm so happy to finally see all the pieces cut because they weren't artists of the label that released it. The Gioconda duet is wonderful!
Wonderful Simon Estes and Carol Neblett in The Dutchman. What a treat. I think that Neblett was a very special singer who could tackle a wide range of repertoire with her warm , full - toned voice. She was successful as Minnie , Vitellia , Aida , Tosca, Marietta in Die Tote Stadt, Thais. So many wonderful artists in this gala.
and she had that exciting upper register that gave a thrill of energy and risk that it may spin out of control .. 😊❤
@nir0bateman Thank you so much! You saved the world! Back then, singing was at a much higher level in general!
Thank you!!!!!! So much!!!! I was looking and hoping that someone would do this favor to all of us and to opera history. Amara/Berini, in Gioconda was the part of the gala I most missed. Amara was fantastic. But all arias and duets, etc...were missed. Great artists were put by side...a great shame in my opinion. Best wishes from Brasil.
Bravo for taking the trouble to list and time-stamp the selections.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful gem with a whole new generation! So many great voices I wasn't aware of before!
I wondered if this is still around. I have most of it on a VHS tape at 4 hour speed. This is much better!! Yes it was measured in DAYS.
I remember hearing Barbara Daniels and Luis Lima in La Traviata. Wonderful memories 😊
Exceptionally good day for Giacomini. Bravo!
Giacomini , making it look so easy as well as Winbergh, which begs the question, “why the were cut from the original broadcast?”
Thank you so much for this treasure! Unbelievable! 🤩
Bellissimo. Dovrebbero pubblicarlo integralmente, con il dvd già distribuito.
It’s interesting to revisit these gems 40 years later. Almost everyone sounds wonderful. Some critics and opera mavens came down hard on Jess Thomas and Anna Moffo - ok, they’re both way past their prime, but Thomas manages a creditable Siegmund, and holds the ending high-A where most tenors die. Moffo still has her famous creamy tone and manages her high notes well. Carol Neblett didn’t have a great time as Senta but, other than a few squeezed top notes, she handled a difficult assignment well. A lot of people freaked out when James Morris sang Man of La Mancha, and he even said in an interview that Bonynge at first refused to conduct “this shit.” But he’s fantastic, and the audience certainly agreed.
Thank you so much for posting this ❤❤❤❤
Thank you so much! I remember these missing ones so well. Especial the Magic Flute and Maytime duets.
Jess Thomas more voice than I would have believed at this late date.
Awesome!!! I’ve never had the opportunity to see and hear this. Here in Belgium, we only have the official dvd. Thank you so much!
I have been looking for a complete set of the centenial celebrationn including the interviews, films and have failed. This additional material is in great condition and a whole broadcast is in order. Regardless of any flaws in by PBS or the Met, its a historical document.
I have the entire concert(s) and the interview feature. But I recorded them on Betamax, then transferred to VHS, then to DVD, so you can imagine the poor quality. That’s why I’ve never uploaded it.
This is awesome 🎉🎉🎉 thank you! I wish you could have time to do the one from James Levine’s gala, they cut so much from it as well!
I don't have the unreleased material of that, sorry
I recorded it from the PBS telecast. I still have it on a personal DVD, but I don’t know if the PBS program contains everything you’re looking for.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for sharing this absolute treasure!
The applause greeting Arroyo is striking-she hadn’t sung in the house for five years, and had suffered ailments.
The first singer is missing from this video(Eva Marton sung “In questa reggia” from Turandot)
That was included in the released DVD. These are most of the excerpts that were not included in that DVD (the only one repeated is McCracken's Otello).
Isola Jones and her famous tá-tas ! she was a great artist, she sang hundreds of performances there, always as a comprimaria (with the exception of one Carmen). I wonder why she left the Met.
You answered your own question. She was a fine artist who was given meager assignments at the Met. So she performed on other stages instead.
@@wotan10950 well, I was curious as to whether she left on her own or was it the Met’s decision, or mutual. It’s not as if she had much of a career elsewhere, right?
È sempre emozionante vedere la bella e brava Moffo con Merrill e non capisco perché alcuni artisti mancano dal DVD ufficiale. Grave colpa ed ingiustizia nei confronti di tutti ma forse era il volere di Levine.
I agree! Unfortunately, the Moffo/Merrill performance was given the reputation of being a “party record,” a crappy rendition, and Moffo took most of the heat. I don’t understand it, I think she sounds wonderful.
Anna Moffo mostra qualche prblema come tanti altri famosi in quel concerto, più vecchi o più giovani. Nel rispetto di tutti, il dvd doveva essere presentato con tutti gli ospiti. Si è ripetuto quello che fu fatto per il gala in onore di Bing nel 1972: la Deutsche Grammophone pubblico allora un lp dal quale rimasero fuori molti degli ospiti (Moffo compresa che cantò benissimo 'Obéissons quand leur voix applelle' dalla Manon di Massenet, accompagnata da Richard Bonynge.)
In quel periodo Levine decideva le sorti di molti cantanti del MET e la Moffo non era nelle sue grazie e ne decretò la fuoriuscita nella metà degli anni 70 per farne ritorno nell'83 in occasione di quel concertone. Nonostante tutto era ancora affascinante e conservava il suo carisma.
@@erasmopagano6585 Certo, un po' di rispetto per due artisti come Robert Merrill ed Anna Moffo - ed altre colonne del Metropolitan - con la loro presenza non avrebbero sfigurato nell'album ufficiale dei dvd Deutsche Grammpohon (considerando le numerose inutili registrazioni operistiche effettuate da questa casa durante i tardi anni novanta e gli anni ottanta).
Amazing!!!
I absolutely adore the Vanessa Quintet. It's a shame they didn't give Johanna Meier more to do on that concert
She was an amazing and versatile artist, who deserved a solo or duet. They had some pretty questionable singers in other solos and duets.
James McCracken jest rewelacyjny, pozostanie na zawsze w mojej pamięci jako wspaniały w mistrzowskim arcydziele Verdiego zawsze
PLISHKA! PLISHKA! PLISHKA!
Timothy Jenkins sounds fantastic! His early death was a tragedy.
So sorry to hear about Mr. Jenkins.
Great singing was a lot more common than today, kind of taken for granted.
Anymore please
A triumphant return to the Met for McCracken, who had quit after being passed over for the Otello broadcast in favour of Jon Vickers. And what better way to do it than to sing from his signature role an aria in which the protagonist is convinced that he has been mortally wronged.
You’re correct about the oversight. There were two telecasts in that period, one with Vickers, one with Domingo. McCracken was furious. To be honest, I was happier to see both Vickers and Domingo in the theater, and I thought they were both a level above McCracken.
Neben allen anderen Größen ist für mich Timothy Jenkins als Rienzi das Ereigniß. Scheint mir ein Fritz Wunderlich der Heldentenöre zu sein !?
Amara tried repeatedly to acknowledge Berini but she wasn't having it. Yikes.
Why do you think?
Such a strange moment. I read somewhere that Berini stepped in for Fiorenza Cossotto. I wonder if she (for some reason) was unhappy with the assignment. A normal -person would have been delighted to have a second moment to shine at such a high-profile event. (The only other repeat performer was Frederica von Stade, who stepped in for an indisposed Tatiana Troyanos in the Rosenkavalier Trio.)
Yeah, after all these years, I still can’t understand her reaction. She was actually very rude. I recall reading somewhere that Berini had poor eyesight and she didn’t notice Amara’s gesture. But it sounds like BS to me.
@@wotan10950 we all agree Berini comes across as simply mean and rude. Amara was the one who acted professionally. No excuse for that behavior in front of millions regardless of the reason(s) behind.
😍😍😍😍😍
1:06:15 First rate singing
Giacomini was a god. too bad he and many others were not acknowledged as they deserved because of marketing and agents.
Yes, but in those days, Pavarotti, Domingo, and Carreras got all the attention. If you had a record contract, you were a star. Unfortunately, a lot of opera mavens rely on old recordings (Tebaldi, Callas, DiStefano, DelMonaco) as if no other singers existed.
Hmm ale w duecie z Ermano Mauro, nie może śpiewać Pablo Elvira, który był barytonem, nie tenorem. Pablo Elvira (September 24, 1937 - February 5, 2000) was a Puerto Rican baritone.
@bartosz: Why not? Ist the duo Carlo-Rodrigo, tenor and baritone.
Dlatego, że to zupełnie dwaj inni ludzie. Wystarczy zobaczyć, tu ma KZhead, jak wygląda i śpiewa prawdziwy Pablo Elvira, potem zobaczyć i posłuchać tego tenora, to zupełnie ktoś inny.
kzhead.info/sun/jd1sZ62uhHmYpqs/bejne.htmlsi=pXO-jYHehGwu_wez
@@bartosz9898 Is this a joke? The singers here are Mauro and Elvira. I saw them onstage many times. Who do you imagine you’re seeing?
Cornell MacNeill inhabiting Gerard❤
No Met conductor could come near Levin's brilliance..
Especially his unworthy successor…
I truly agree. Levine understood the music in the way of Toscanini. And Levine turned a Garage Band into a world class orchestra.
He was a truly great musician. As a human being, who knows.
Nowadays, Lear and Stewart would be cancelled.
Why do you say that? What did they do?
@@hhardin8500 They didn’t wear black makeup 😂
Sadly most of the singers are gone as expected 40 years after the event. The lack of congeniality does not age well like for example what seems to be very rude behavior of Bianca Berini toward L Amara. The Italian mezzo should have looked happier considering she was the only one that for whatever reason got 2 appearances .
what was that about? was there bad blood between them?
@@biancacastafiore8760 not sure. It could be a personality issue but just compare to Arroyo and Dunn. They seem very supportive and deferential to each other.
It's likely Berini was covering someone else for one of those two, who withdrew.
@@Twentythousandlps I heard that she was replacing Cossotto, but that doesn’t explain that behavior
Berini lived down the block from me. She sometimes acted a bit irrationally, she was that way. One day when there was the threat of a hurricane, I saw her fervently praying in the middle of a busy NYC sidewalk, arms stretched to heaven. Very operatic. So who knows what might have sett her off at the Centennial Gala.
Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart singing Porgy and Bess! Sure, right uh huh 🤔. Everything else is pretty great.
Music is for all to sing not to be chosen by color of skin. If that is the case no soprano of color should ever do Desdemona. That would be tragic if someone thought in the same manner.
And....?
it’s in concert. let it go.
@@eugenemathlong2716 the Gershwin estate had a clause that stipulates that only Black singers can sing the opera for 100 years (although in places like NZ, they’ve had Polynesian artists do it). it’ll expire soon. it does not apply to concerts.
So what? It was a concert - and, it was a good musical "promo" for the new production of "Porgy and Bess" which the Met would stage the following season (1984-1985; the work's Met premiere), with James Levine conducting. (That production was, by the way, the last Met production designed by Robert O'Hearn - his first having been Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" in the 1960-1961 season (staged by Nathaniel Merrill).) There had also been two excellent RCA Victor recordings of "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" back in the day - namely, by Lawrence Tibbett and Helen Jepson in 1935 and by Robert Merrill and Rise Stevens in 1950. Would you put those two recordings down, too?
BEAUTIFFUL.......
I was listening, enjoying and had to remember both Dunn and Arroyo were my teachers at some point (I still shall make them proud), Dunn at UIUC, and when she reminded me of Marian Anderson ( I know why ), I recalled that she had been most inspired as an artist by Miss Anderson, she told me during a lesson; on one of those kicks to inspire us, in that case, me. Oh well. Times fly by…