Word: arias
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Tenor David Poleri), murderous in the arms of the villainous police chief (Baritone Josh Wheeler), and distraught at her lover's death. Vocally, she was head and shoulders above the others, crooning pearly high notes here, dropping into gutty dramatic tones there. She sang the great second-act aria, Vissi d'arte (rendered in English as "Love of beauty") with a flair worthy of the Met. Except for clumsy phrases in the translation ("How your hatred enhances my resolve to possess you!"), and a phlegmatic but overbearing orchestra, TV's first Tosca was a rattling good show...
...singers know the music so well that they rarely have to watch the conductor. Consequently, the staging has the flexibility and coherence often lacking in opera. Another important concession to dramatic values is the use of translations. English does not lend itself really well to the rapid-fire arias of Bartolo and Figaro, but in recitatives it becomes invaluable for following nuances of the plot. Apart from the language change, Mr. Goldovsky adheres to the composer's intentions. Rosina, for instance, is sung by a mezzo-soprano as Rossini first planned. And she sings his original Lesson Scene...
Tongue-Lashing Aria. Menotti is a master melodist and an excellent hand at concocting workable dramatic episodes. Moment by moment, he has his audience believing in his action, even if it is laden with stereotypes. Each of his five scenes works to a strong, stirring climax. Michele drives the gawking neighbors out of his cold-water flat after Annina's vision. During a religious parade, he is beaten and shackled to a steel fence in symbolic martyrdom. He stabs his mistress after she accuses him of incestuous love for Annina. In a bleak subway station, he curses Annina when...
...flavor of his subject. He writes with absolute conviction in an idiom that was new when Puccini was young. His strings sing with silken suavity behind tender scenes, but brasses and percussion can also rasp and grump disturbingly. Tenor David Poleri (Michele) has a tongue-lashing, show-stopping aria (". . . You are ashamed to say: 'I was Italian' "), and Soprano Gloria Lane* as his mistress has another...
Dorothy Dandridge's Carmen has her best moments in the Habanera aria where she establishes the brand of sultriness which is to drive men mad. Miss Dandridge seems a little relenting for this demoniac task but her equipage is more than adequate. Harry Bellafonte, as Joe--nee Don Jose--relies too much on eye-popping and nerve-straining, emotional displays which the Cinema-Scopic screen shoves into the realm of the ludicrous...