Word: jonel
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OTHER musical figures passed away this summer. Among them was Jonel Perlea, an ill-fated man whose promise as a conductor was never fulfilled. A dedicated teacher and inspired conductor, the fates seemed to conspire against his ever achieving the success which he deserved...
...grim week for the world of music. On Wednesday, news came of the death of British Conductor Sir John Barbirolli, 70, whose early failure with the New York Philharmonic had long been erased by his direction of the Hallé orchestra (see MILESTONES). The same day, Conductor Jonel Perlea, 69, died in New York, ending a career whose flickering brilliance had been dimmed by war and a succession of illnesses. Then came perhaps the saddest word of all. George Szell, 73, had died in Cleveland, victim of fever, bone cancer and heart attack...
...Metropolitan Opera usually picks a conductor to work at his specialty, thus assigns him to one particular "wing" of the Met repertory, i.e., the French, German or Italian. Jonel Perlea, the goateed Rumanian conductor whom the Met hired this season, had no specialty, and the Met decided he needed none. When he arrived in Manhattan in October, he was told that he would have to work in all three wings. His first assignments: Tristan und Isolde...
...cello and violin ("The piano is the instrument I play least badly"), later studied composition at the Munich Conservatory. By the time he was 21 he was conducting at the Leipzig Opera House; at 29 he was general manager of the Bucharest Opera. In 1944, the Nazis interned both Jonel and his writer wife for refusing to declare themselves pro-German. Liberated at war's end by the British, the Perleas went to Italy. Jonel eventually got a job conducting at La Scala, Milan...
This small, jolly opera might well get lost in the majestic spaces of the Met. But Viennese-born Stage Director Herbert Graf and Rumanian Scene Designer Jonel Jorgulesco, besides framing the production with its own curtain, brought the four brightly-colored sets as far down stage as possible. Ladislas Czettel designed gay costumes to match Lily Pons's, which was run up by famed, high-priced Dressmaker Valentina. To the military in the original libretto Director Graf added 24 high-stepping vivandieres, explaining: "You cannot think of a regiment with Lily Pons in it without having more female soldiers...