Word: idomeneo
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...there were any doubts left about the abilities of the New England Opera Theatre, they vanished on Sunday afternoon, December 21. From various points of view that afternoon's performance of "Idomeneo" was the high-water mark of the musical season in Boston and very probably in New York, too. Singing and staging combined as they seldom do in the opera world to produce a performance which was a gem in itself and, more than that, opened up new vistas for the future of Boris Goldovsky's pet project...
...most significant artistic achievement was the opera itself, which Mr. Goldovsky and a similar cast lied presented for the first time in America at Tanglewood last summer. Like several other Mozart operas, notably "Cosi Fan Tutte," "Idomeneo" is a diamond lying neglected amidst the track of the nineteenth century. The orchestral passages are exceptional even for Mozart, and the choral writing is superior to that in his more famous operas. As presented in Mr. Goldovsky's adaptation, the first act was highly conventionalized and contained too much plot exposition in the form of recitative--arias were scarce, in fact...
...sinister Electra, who has the best aria of the piece, a magnificent last-act preface to suicide, Paula Lenchner looked evil but sang with only moderate control and acted rather clumsily. The one big disappointment of the day was Joseph Laderoute, who was weak and unimpressive as Idomeneo...
...encouragement of "Idomeneo" leaves one wondering where Mr. Goldovsky will head after his January 18 "Don Giovanni," the last scheduled production of the series. He and his troupe ought now to struggle for the facilities to do more frequent productions, watching the quality all the while. With this first success in Opera Seria (in which, incidentally, the English translation went much better than it did in their recent Opera Buffa success, "Figaro") they might try next "La Clemenza di Tito," another Mozart work in the form and the last opera he wrote. Perhaps they might experiment with Berlioz, Giordano...
...Anguish. In the tiny, clapboard opera theater at Tanglewood, Idomeneo was a joy to hear. Wrote the New York Times's Critic Noel Straus: "For its astounding choral writing alone, Idomeneo would be worthy of frequent hearings. No two of the choruses are alike. . . . Never was Mozart to write a finer operatic ensemble than the great quartet in this opera...