University of Virginia Library

Carmen Described As 'Outstanding'

By Roy Bonavita
Cavalier Daily Reviewer

The tragedy of early death for
Georges Bizet is only partly offset
by his opera Carmen. Indeed, it was
only in the last few years of his
thirty-six that Bizet began to truly
express his intellect in the depth
and breadth that is exemplified in
this opera. Carmen was first performed
exactly three months before
his death in 1875. It was not
popular despite Bizet's undoubted
success as composer and pianist of
great virtuosity, much admired by
Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz. In
short, Bizet was very much a man
among men in the musical world of
his day.

Not A Success

Yet the opera was not a success.
Perhaps the reason lies in the role
of the "snobs" who reigned in the
Paris of his day. They were used to
having pleasant, cheerful works that
did not upset the audience's peace
of mind. Carmen, needless to say,
does not fall into these classes of
respectability, but rather presents a
highly plausible dramatic situation,
framed in a perfectly balanced
musical setting and as valid today as
then. Carmen is a musician's opera
first, last and always. The respect
Bizet showed other composer's
works was later, and is today,
repaid doubly.

Attracts The Great

The title role has attracted every
great soprano and mezzo from the
early performances to the present.
It is a role of supreme musical and
dramatic expression and coloration.
The role of Carmen is equalled by
the greatest interpretations of verismo
roles of Puccini, but never
surpassed. So careful was Bizet in
the musical development of Carmen's
character that the other
principal characters fit most
naturally into his overview of the
Meilhac and Halevy libretto, based
on a story by Prosper Merimee. The
fact that in the present generation
the opera has been very successfully

recorded by three great sopranos -
Victoria de Los Angeles, Maria
Callas and Leontyne Price, and two
great mezzos - Regina Resnik and
Rise Stevens, all of whom have
brought a distinct and valid touch
to the masterpiece, indicates Carmen's
timelessness. It is inconceivable
that Carmen not be included
in the standard repertory of
every great opera house in the
world.

It was not any of these great
opera houses' companies that performed
in University Hall Tuesday
evening, but rather the Boris
Goldovsky Grand Opera Theatre,
the only repertory opera company
in the United States available for
performing major operatic works. It
is splendid if only for that it
annually brings to many thousands
a major operatic work performed
within the limitations of budget but
with fine singers of exceptional
talent, many of whom have progressed
to the Metropolitan and
other first-rate houses. Mr.
Goldovsky performs a real service.

Very fortunately for the audience
on Tuesday, the performance
of Carmen was outstanding for
many reasons other than those
inherent in live performance availability.
First, the performance has
enjoyed a good, clear translation
done by no less than Mr. Goldovsky
and the renowned Sarah Caldwell,
the latter being impresario of the
Boston Opera. The problem of
words-in-music, carrying impact,
was Handled with great attention to
he drama, and the overall theme of
"fate" was carefully projected.
Opera in English, despite the
purists, will have a substantially
broader appeal to the masses and
the practice is slowly being accepted,
wisely.

All the singers handled diction
excellently. It would have been
better to deliver the spoken lines in
recitative, which would have carried
the dramatic and vocal line more
clearly from one set piece to
another. Some of the lines are quite
comical, and one is never sure if the
audience is laughing at, or with, the
singers when the lines are just
spoken.

The first Act was the weakest
both vocally and dramatically. This
is not too surprising for a company
this size trying to operate in a
building like University Hall, an
acoustical problem. It is more
apparent with voice than instrumental
or orchestral recitals. The
company recovered with some
adjustment of vocal placement, and
events moved swiftly from Act I
on. Marguerite Baxter has one of
the most melodic roles written in
opera. Her Micaela was convincing
and quite pure. One had the
impression that Maestro Alley
pushed her timing of her Air in Act
III, but she won the hearts of the
audience with her simplicity and
good acting, all carefully built on
solid vocal foundations.

Plays A Slut

Nancy Williams' Carmen is
identifiable more with the Resnik
school of performance than the de
Los Angeles one. That is, she is
prepared to sacrifice vocal purity
on occasion for sheer intensity of
drama. It is a perfectly valid
approach, and Miss Williams carried
the performance with her. Her
acting is perfectly in tune with the
intensity of the role: she chose to
play Carmen as a slut rather than an
aristocratic gypsy with the latter's
psychological structure. Miss
Williams has completely mastered
vocal pacing. Her Habanera of Act I
suffered a little from too much
movement around Don Jose, but
after this she moved easily from act
to act, completely sustaining her
interpretation throughout. The
Gypsy Song and blending into the
quintet of Act II were most
gratifying.

Scot Free Promiscuity

Don Escamillo, as sung by the
only replacement of the evening -
Harvey Hicks for J. B. Davis - is
one of those roles with so much
bravura it is always appealing to the
male voice. After all, this Don,
similar to the Duke in Rigoletto,
gets off "Scot free" for his promiscuity.
Mr. Hicks showed all the
dash one would want with the
toreador. His vocal line was pleasing
and he was the most audible of all
the singers. One jump from the
steps of Lillas Pastia's is enough,
though, and two looked crafted.

Thomas O'Leary has a pure
tenor voice, but it is too small for a
hall our size. Not once did he falter
in vocal line, but he was inaudible
to anyone sitting more than half
way up the steps. His Flower Song
was moving dramatically and vocally,
achieving a very specially beautiful
moment in the evening. Mr.
O'Leary's acting is a bit stiff, but he
generally performed his difficult
role well. Shapleigh Howell maximized
the role of Captain Zuniga
with its bits of comedy mixed with
plain lust.

Outstanding Solos

The four comprimarios were
outstanding, handling solo parts
and blending in the various quints
with flair. Fredreika Wisehart as
Frasquita, Barbara Smith-Davis as
Mercedes, Enzo Citarelli as Remendaro
and Lucien Olivier as Dancairo
all portrayed their roles with a
sureness that comes only from
complete mastery. The quintet of
smugglers in Act II was a portrait of
perfect timing and stage movement
in opera. The card duet in Act III
with Frasquita and Mercedes telling
fortunes has never been done
better. Carmen's vocal intensity,
reiterating the fate theme, while
these girls play with the cards, was
simply beautiful. The fate of
Carmen is set by this one trio.

The chorus of the Goldovsky
Company is as finely trained and
staged as one could want. They
moved easily through each act and
were always perfectly balanced
against the solo parts. One will be
glad when the proper auditorium
contained in the Ten Year Plan is
completed so the audience doesn't
have to suffer through the noisy
entrances and exits from the stage.
It is certainly not the singers' fault.

More Strings

Orchestrally, the only things this
company needs is about ten more
string instruments. The overture
was very good until one got to the
solo string parts. They too warmed
up through the evening, but in the
final scene with Don Jose bending
dramatic over the fatally stabbed
Carmen, the orchestra did not have
the hard-hitting bite necessary to
really move the audience, shock
them into the realization of the
horror. Maestro Alley is sympathetic
to the singers, with the
exception of rushing Micaela's arias,
and provided good, clear direction
throughout. Abandonment of the
preludes to Acts II and III was a
mistake. They are quite necessary
to establish the dramatic setting of
the acts and should have been
retained.

The Boris Goldovsky Grant
Opera Theatre has done another
fine job for this year; they have
attained some remarkably high
levels of vocal and dramatic
intensity. The performance shows a
high professional respect within the
company which can only make the
audience want to see them again,
which should be next year.