Leyla Gencer Archive

DON GIOVANNI

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Opera in two acts in Italian

Libretto: Lorenzo de Ponte

Premièr at National Theatre, Prague – 29 October 1787

09, 12, 15, 19†, 24, 28 February 1962                           

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London

Conductor: Georg Solti

Chorus master: Douglas Robinson

Stage director: Franco Zeffirelli

Scene and costumes: Franco Zeffirelli

Lighting: Franco Zeffirelli and William Bundy

The Commandatore DAVID WARD bass

Donna Anna his daughter LEYLA GENCER soprano

Don Ottavio her betrothed RICHARD LEWIS tenor

                                            ANDRE TURP tenor (28.02)

Don Giovanni a young nobleman CESARE SIEPI baritone

Leporello his servant GERAING EVANS bass

Donna Elvira a lady of Burgos SENA JURINAC soprano

                                                  CLAIRE WATSON soprano (24, 28.02)

Zerlina a country girl MIRELLA FRENI soprano

Masetto her betrothed ROBERT SAVOIE baritone

Time: Seventeenth Century

Place: Seville

† Recording date

Photos © REG WILSON, London 

Photos © HOUSTON ROGERS, London 

Photos © DONALD SOUTHERN, London 

Photos © ATHONY CRICKMAY, London 

 

Costume for Leporello

THE TIMES

1962.02.02

TATLER MAGAZINE

1962.02.07

A
to
ZEFFIRELLI

Zeffirelli: his vitality embraces all aspects of the theatre divergent parts, moulds them into a final pattern
Zeffirelli is always in close liaison with the conductor. In the above sequence he and Georg Solti, Covent Garden's musical director, plan the opening scene of the opera. 
There is a popular thought that opera singers habitually wear winged helmets, or at least gold lame. At the first rehearsal for Don Giovanni, the cast- eight soloists whose names mean House Full signs and hysteresis in the gallery-looked like nothing so much as a group of teachers gathered for a conference on comprehensive schools. They sat in a row before the footlights facing the stage, attention focused on one man, the director, Franco Zeffirelli.
It was 10.30 am. In the background a group of scene shifters decided to remove the backdrop (Oliver Messel's design for The Sleeping Beauty): somewhere a vacuum cleaner moaned in un-Mozartian tones: carpenters and electricians squatted in the wings, listening as Zeffirelli explained with quick gestures and unexpected passages of mime, his conception of Don Giovanni
His design for the opening scene was passed round, a sombre arrangement of pillars and heavy gates. The singers looked from it to the stage which had been built into a sloping ramp for this production, shallow but still tricky for high heels and active baritones ("No one will be able to call this a flat performance," commented Cesare Siepi after a slight skid).
Carefully Zeffirelli explained the exact effect he wanted for the opening of the opera. Geraint Evans and the conductor Georg Solti listened. "It is dark, there is gloom, terror and as you turn the light picks out your face." Evans nodded; in the wings, rehearsal pianist John Constable began the opening molto allegro and the rehearsal was under way.
That molto allegro was to be hammered out a number of times before singer and producer were equally happy about the staging.
Franco Zeffirelli is in his early thirties, a Florentine who began his career as a radio actor. He has appeared on the stage, and his first major stage designs were
for a Visconti production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He worked as assistant director on a series of Italian films (including Bellissima with Anna Magnani) and made his initial impact in opera at La Scala, Milan, in 1952.
This background of the theatre in all its aspects makes him unique among today's opera producers. His productions invariably attempt to be faithful to the composer's intentions and also to the period in which the work was written. His ability to make the most farfetched operatic conventions dramatically valid was seen in his handling of the mad scene in Lacia; the success of his realistic approach, in which every detail of the visual aspect of a production is essential to the ultimate effect, was demonstrated in his Romes & Juliet at the Old Vic.
Slightly built and with immense charm, Zeffirelli on stage never seems to stop moving or talking and often appears to be talking Italian and English at the same time. His enthusiasm bubbles over into active participation. He showed the Donna Anna (Gré Brouwenstijn, who later had to withdraw from the cast and has been replaced by Leyla Gencer how to make her first entry, clinging on to Don Giovanni and in negligée ("miles of silk and lace"). He immediately assumed the urgent sensuality of the role and though Miss Brouwenstijn was singing as she watched, he too sang her line. With a firm hand on the tempo Georg Solti joined in and for a vivid half-minute that particular moment in the opera crystallized.
Don Giovanni is a soloist opera, but the Act One finale requires chorus, ballet and extras. Tackling this episode, Zeffirelli gives a pretty good demonstration of how to do several things at once, while ensuring that everything fits into the pattern required.
First, he gathered the chorus round. To him an opera chorus is composed of individuals with independent reactions. "It is a magnificent set," he told then proudly, "with pillars, gold and glitter, piles of food and at the front of the stage a still life of fruit, wine and birds. It has a quality of decaying splendour Baroque." Two members of the chorus were placed among the still life: "The men are buttoned, you make love- nothing vicious," he explained. Then, "Who can dance?” he requires singers to join the dancing. A soprano and a tenor a quietly did the Twist in corner. Choreographer Harold Turner had already arranged the ballet, but the soloists have to dance the famous minuet. While Sena Jurinac and Cesare Siepi practised their dances, making sure they were facing the audience when a line had been sung. Zeffirelli turned his attention to a group of boys. They are extras, servants "Do not stay put," they were told, "but walk among the people and serve wine." Then a plicated bit of dramatic business involving four main characters had to be fitted in. Soon the whole stage was a mass of singers and dancers, a seemingly incoherent jumble of faces and feet. But Zeffirelli nodded, the pattern was emerging.
His concern for the drama and the detail of action does at mean that Zeffirelli minimises the musical side. In fact, every move, action, gesture complements or reflects the music. "Only one or two tricks in each aria," he told the singers, and if an idea occurs that might harm the music (he wanted Donna Anna to scream at one point) the conductor is consulted.
In private life Franco Zeffirelli drives fast ears and collects antiques. At work this love of high-speed action and reverse for beauty combine to produce operatic performances that are usually collectors' items.

THE GUARDIAN

1962.02.10

 

OPERA MAGAZINE

1962 March

Don Giovanni. Covent Garden, February 9
 
These are only first brief impressions which will be expanded next month, when we will publish a long and detailed review of this important new production together with photographs. After the many disappointments of the season, it was a pleasure to experience a performance in which the stage picture and production were in accord with the musical conception, even if one did not agree with this conception (I did), which stressed the drama almost at the expense of the giocoso.
Some people found Franco Zeffirelli's production fussy, but only at one or two points, at the most, did it get in the way of the music-and then only slightly; others complained about the waits between scenes despite the use of a front curtain-but how lovely to see solid, real scenery, in the grand manner. This seemed to me how Don Giovanni should look in a large opera house-rich, sumptuous, sensuous. Georg Solti's Mozart, likewise, may not be to all tastes, but again I liked his conception, which was serious, dramatic, and tense. And as usual the orchestra played extremely well for him.
Leyla Gencer has not a big dramatic voice, but she is a sensitive musician and sang Anna rather in the manner that one imagines Callas might sing the part: 'Non mi dir' was beautifully done. Sena Jurinac, indisposed, was still an Elvira to reckon with; and Mirella Freni's Zerlina was irresistible. Cesare Siepi's young-looking Don was all quicksilver and charm not quite demoniac enough perhaps, but extremely well sung. Geraint Evans's Leporello was keyed in a lower pitch than usual, but this was in accord with the Zeffirelli-Solti approach. Richard Lewis, ever the stylist, was a fine Ottavio; Robert Savoie an excellent Masetto; and David Ward completely magnificent in the closing scene as the Commendatore. H.D.R.

OPERA COVENT GARDEN BOOKS

1962 April

Franco Zeffirelli's set for Act I, Scene IV

Richard Lewis and Leyla Gencer

Mirella Freni and Cesare Siepi

Geraint Evans, Cesare Siepi and Sena Jurinac

Cesare Siepi

Artists Appearing 1960 – 1962

Victoria de los Angeles
* Mariella Angioletti
Heather Begg
Teresa Berganza
 Ursula Böse
Gré Brouwenstijn
*Biserka Cvejic
*Mary Costa
*Régine Crespin
Gloria Davy
*Anny Delorie
*Joan Edwards
Victoria Elliott
*Mirella Freni
*Rena Garazioti
*Catherine Gayer
*Leyla Gencer
Rita Gorr
*Maureen Guy
*Heather Harper
Margaret Harshaw
Marga Höffgen
Grace Hoffman
*Ann Hood
Sena Jurinac
*Raina Kabaiwanska
Iris Kells
Gloria Lane
Edith Lang
Adèle Leigh
*Marguarita Lilova
*Laura Londi
*Marijke van der Lugt
*Julia Malyon
Elsie Morison
*Margaret Neville
Birgit Nilsson
*Norma Procter
Judith Pierce
Roberta Peters
Rosina Raisbeck
Regina Resnik
*Marion Roberts
*Irene Salemka
Monica Sinclair
*Teresa Stratas
Joan Sutherland
Marjorie Thomas
Herta Töpper
*Ivana Tosini
*Gabriella Tucci
*Anita Välkki
*Galina Vishnevskaya
Claire Watson
Virginia Zeani

Luigi Alva

*Ettore Babini
*Ettore Bastianini
*Emile Belcourt
*Ernst Blanc
*Grayston Burgess
*Enrico Campi
Boris Christoff
*Renato Cioni
Charles Craig

*Giuseppe di Stefano
Murray Dickie
*Agostino Lazzari
Richard Lewis
William McAlpine
*Robert Massard
*Pietro Menci
James Milligan
Mario del Monaco
Nikola Nikolov
*Russell Oberlin
*Luigi Ottolini
Peter Pears
Ronald Dowd
Geraint Evans
Gottlob Frick
*Peter Glossop
Tito Gobbi
*Richard Golding
*Nicolae Herlea
Richard Holm
Hans Hotter
*Ernst Kozub
*Walter Kreppel
Albert Lance
James Pease
Arturo Sergi
Cesare Siepi
*Thomas Stewart
*Gerhard Stolze
*Giuseppe Taddei
Hermann Uhde
Alain Vanzo
Jon Vickers
Wolfgang Windgassen
Alexander Young
Robert Thomas
John Shirley Quirk

*These artists making their first appearance at Covent Garden.

 

OPERA MAGAZINE

1962 April

London Opera Diary

Don Giovanni. Covent Garden, February 9 and 26

It is a pity that most critics can write only about first performances-- had I not attended the last as well as the first of the Covent Garden Don Giovannis, I would not have been able to report to readers that the long waits between scenes that were commented on after the first night had, by the last night (and I am reliably informed even by the second performance), all but vanished; this was achieved by having both 'Mi tradi' and 'Non mi dir' sung in front of the act-drop, and by quicker work behind the scenes. In addition, I am able to report that the mists that enveloped the stage and front stalls during the cemetery scene on the opening night have vanished, and the scene has been relit, so that the Don's words 'Che bella notte! E più chiara del giorno' now made sense. I can likewise comment on the excellent performance given on February 26 by Cesare Siepi, who was so completely master of the situation, vocally and dramatically, as to confirm him as the finest Don Giovanni of the day-his pointing of words both in aria and recitative was outstanding. Indeed, all the singers who were in both performances had become freer in action and song, and the give and take between them was a joy-this was particularly noticeable in all the scenes in which Siepi, Geraint Evans, and Mirella Freni were involved.
As I have said in my Comment on page 224, I have little patience with those people who can only find fault with everything Franco Zeffirelli turns his hand to, and even less with those who think that it is wrong to

Photo: The entrance of Zerlina (Mirella Freni) and Masetto (Robert Savoie) in Act 1, scene 3 of 'Don Giovanni' at Covent Garden

Photo: Don Giovanni (Cesare Siepi) dines in style, while Leporello (Geraint Evans) looks on

produce Don Giovanni as a sensuous romantic opera in a large theatre. Of course, this method would not hold good for the small Glyndebourne, and of course there are many ways of staging and playing this work- that is its fascination. I do not intend to enter again into the discussion as to whether Don Giovanni is more dramma than giocoso, more opera buffa than opera seria. In any case this problem will probably be discussed until the end of time. But what surely is monstrous, is to suggest that there is only one way of approaching this work-be it the Viennese way, the way Dent envisaged it, or what will you-and condemning out of hand every other kind of approach.
Granted, then, that there are other ways of doing Don Giovanni, and accepting that for Covent Garden the romantic approach as exemplified in this Zeffirelli-Solti production is possibly the best way to do it, let us proceed from there.
I think that few will deny that the series of stage pictures that were unfolded were amongst the most splendid ever seen on any opera stage, and the evocative lighting by Zeffirelli and William Bundy exhibited them and the richly bejewelled costumes to wonderful advantage. The Watteau- like set of the first Zerlina-Masetto scene, used again for the opera's closing moments, was madly out of period, but a delight to the eye none the less. It was possibly a mistake for the ballroom and banqueting room to be identical; the long rows of men in armour disappearing into the gloom seemed fitting for the supper scene, but not for the merry making at the end of the first act. Outstanding was the opening scene (used also for the second scene in Act 2), and especially the street scene with Elvira's inn.
In the general production there were two points where I would take Issue with Zeffirelli: the first occurred during the great quartet 'Non ti fidar, o misera' when one's attention was forced to wander from the four soloists to the group of villagers that Zeffirelli brought on to watch the proceedings for a few moments; the second was the rounding off the opera by having Zerlina and Masetto return to their friends in the Watteau-like setting. Presumably the Don's palace vanished in the mists and clouds that swallowed up the Don? There were one or two places as well where Zeffirelli's master-touch failed-notably the cemetery scene. where the Statue seemed too far back and awkwardly placed to make its full effect; and in the Act 1 finale, from Zerlina's scream to the end. which was a general muddle.
There were, on the other hand, countless little touches in the individual characterizations that were a joy to see. One loved the way the Don took off his hat and cast it to the ground before every possible conquest; one approved of the way Elvira was made into a sensuous womanly figure, and, for the first time, her many entrances did not raise a smile or laugh; Leporello was seen as a vital figure in the Don's household, more a companion than a servant ; and so one could go on.
Musically Mr Solti's reading was at one with the producer. His was a frankly romantic and dramatic approach-and yet the exquisite details and charm were there too. One recalls the seduction in the orchestra as well as in Siepi's voice in 'La ci darem'; the wonderful string playing in 'Ah! fuggi il traditore'; the beautifully shaped postludes to 'Dalla sua pace', and 'vedrai carino' (and incidentally how clever Zeffirelli was here. to fill up those closing moments with action, thus preventing premature applause and so letting us hear those exquisite 20 bars); the twining larghetto of the rondo to 'Non mi dir-all these I can still hear with my inner ear. But do let us have a consistent policy with regard to appogiaturas!
I have already commented on Siepi's Don, a role he has made his own. and one in which he succeeds in lightening his bass voice most success- fully. In fact, one did not mind having a bass Don and bass-baritone Leporello on this occasion. Geraint Evans's mastery of the stage increases at every performance, and it must be really gratifying for him to receive an increasing number of invitations to sing abroad. A moment I will never forget occurred in the 'Catalogue' aria, when he hastily opened the 'picciol libro' to make quite sure that it really was 'mille e tre' in Spain!
Leyla Gencer's exquisite singing of 'Non mi dir' was a highlight of both performances. Perhaps she has not the ideal voice of steel for Anna, and so 'Or sai chi l'onore' fell a little flat. But she is a fine artist, with a most beautiful middle register, and she can produce the most ravishing pianissimos. Mirella Freni's Zerlina was as perfect an interpretation in every respect as one could wish for. One sees boundless possibilities for the future of this most gifted artist. Sena Jurinac's Elvira is an old friend; unfortunately, she was ill on the first night and had to omit 'Mi tradi'- by the broadcast performance she was back in voice, and sang it as only she can. Claire Watson, the Elvira of the last three performances,

Above Photos: I., Richard Lewis as Don Ottavio; r., Geraint Evans as Leporello; 

Below Photo: David Ward as the Commendatore

DON GIOVANNI

Opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; words by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Producer Franco Zeffirelli; scenery and costumes by Franco Zeffirelli; lighting by Franco Zeffirelli and William Bundy. First performance of new production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 9 February 1962

Leporello Geraint Evans

Donna Anna Leyla Gencer

Don Giovanni Cesare Siepi

The Commendatore David Ward

Don Ottavio Richard Lewis/André Turp

Donna Elvira Sena Jurinac/Claire Watson

Zerlina Mirella Freni

Masetto Robert Savoie

Conductor: Georg Solti

 

 
is an accomplished and lovely artist. However, Elvira is not her part temperamentally-she would be a good Anna one feels.
Richard Lewis still sings Italian strangely, but Mozart extremely well. Both the Ottavio arias were well done, the 'Dalla sua pace' being well- nigh perfect. André Turp, with his warmer Italianate method of singing. made Ottavio into a more vital figure than had Mr Lewis, and for a first attempt at Mozart this promised well. He is not yet technically accomplished enough to cope with the hazards of 'Il mio tesoro', and he sounded rather short of breath. Robert Savoie made much of Masetto, and revealed a fine, dark-grained baritone. For David Ward's Commendatore no praise is too high. He looked and sounded magnificent. And I have rarely heard such a stream of solid tone from any bass on the Covent Garden stage as he produced in the supper scene.
Finally, a word for the future. This is too fine an achievement to leave lying fallow even for a season. It must obviously have needed many months of planning to have assembled the cast for these performances, and it might well be a long time before we got them all together again. But suitable alternatives do exist, and one hopes that another series of Don Giovanni performances will form part of the 1962-3 season. H.D.R.

OPERA MAGAZINE

1962 September

MUSICAL TIMES

1962 December

Photo: The final scene of Zeffirelli's 'Don Giovanni'

Don Giovanni

At Covent Garden Franco Zeffirelli staged a sumptuous Don Giovanni [Feb 9] in which the dominant impression was left by soaring arches, tremendous perspectives, larger-than-life suits of armour, Watteauesque parks and post-Impressionist townscapes, romantic gloom, and heavy crusted costumes from Velasquez. It was not a swift- moving drama played out in music and intelligible words, but a Grand Opera House entertainment distinguished by lavish spectacle, spacious music, and impassioned star performances. On the first night the action was held up by long waits while tons of scenery were shifted into place (this was improved later but at the cost of hearing the stage- hands at work behind the drop-curtain).

Solti conducted and had likewise taken his cue from the big 19th-century house. There was none of the dynamism of his Glyndebourne Don Giovanni here, but a broad spacious reading, splendidly executed, less than electrifying. The cast (Siepi, Geraint Evans, Richard Lewis; Leyla Gencer. Jurinac, Mirella Freni) was a good one. On its own terms-given the spectacular approach, given that Covent Garden were not setting out to do what Glyndebourne (in the Rennert/Pritchard version) already do so well-it was a triumph. A.P.

OPERA MAGAZINE

1968 July 

BRIEFE VON OTTO KLEMPERER

2012

6 «Auch hier überwiegte das schwere, dunkle Element, verstärkt durch die zwar hinreißend schönen, aber fast erdrückenden Szenenbilder Zeffirellis, deren häufige und schwierige Umbauten den Abend ungebührlich verlängerten. Anderseits wurde man durch eine intelligente, lebendige Regie, Georg Soltis brillante Stabführung und eine Besetzung entschädigt, die wenig zu wünschen übrig liess. Die drei Frauenrollen fanden in Sena Jurinac (Donna Elvira). Leyla Gencer (Donna Anna) und Mirella Freni (Zerline [sic]) ideale Protagnisten, Geraint Evans war ein Leporello par excellence, und wenn dem ausgezeichneten Cesare Siepi jener dramatische Sex-appeal fehlt, den wir nun einmal von der Rolle verlangen, so bleibt er immer noch einer der besten Don Giovanni der heutigen Opernbühnes» (NZZ, a. a. o.).

OPERA NEWS

DON GIOVANNI

Links from OPERA NEWS ARCHIVES related with Gencer’s performances

Don Giovanni > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild

... Richard Lewis's mild-mannered Ottavio, singing sweetly in all-too-English

Italian, is no match for Leyla Gencer's awe-inspiring Anna. ..

The Practice > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild

... Similarly, we have Leyla Gencer, a soprano not given to pulling punches, cast as

an emotive Donna Elvira in a terrific Don Giovanni conducted by Francesco ..

Don Giovanni > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild

... edgy at the top. Leyla Gencer displays much agility, not much expressive

urgency, as Donna Elvira. Graziella Sciutti, the sweetest ...,

COMPLETE RECORDING

1962.02.19

Recording Excerpts [1962.02.19] 

Overture Act I

Notte e giorno faticar Act I Scene I

Non sperar: se non m'uccidi Act I Scene I

Lasciala, indegno! Act I Scene I

Leporello, ove sei? Act I Scene I

Ah del padre in periglio Act I Scene I

Fuggi, crudele, fuggi! Act I Scene I

Orsu, spiciati presto Act I Scene II

Ah, chi mi dice mai Act I Scene II

Chi e la? Act I Scene II

Madamina, il catalogo e questo Act I Scene II

Giovinette che fate all'amore Act I Scene III

Manco male e partita Act I Scene III

Ho capito, Signor, si! Act I Scene III

Alfin siam liberati Act I Scene III

La ci darem la mano Act I Scene

Fermati, scellerato! Act I Scene III

Ah! Fuggi il traditor! Act I Scene III

Mi par ch'oggi il demonio si diverta Act I Scene III

Non ti fidar, o misera Act I Scene III

Povera sventurata! Act I Scene III

Don Ottavio, son morta!  Act I Scene III

Or sai chi l'onore Act I Scene III

Come mai creder deggio Act I Scene III

Dalla sua pace Act I Scene III

Io deggio ad ogni patto Act I Scene III

Finch'han dal vino, "Champagne Aria" Act I Scene III

Masetto, senti un po'! Act I Scene IV

Batti, batti, o bel Masetto Act I Scene IV

Guarda un po' come seppe Act I Scene IV

Presto, presto, pria ch'ei venga Act I Scene IV

Tra quest arbori celata Act I Scene IV

Bisogna aver coraggio Act I Scene IV

Protegga il giusto cielo Act I Scene IV

Riposate, vezzose ragazze! Act I Scene V

Venite pur avanti Act I Scene V

Ecco il birbo che t'ha offesa Act I Scene V

Trema, trema o scellerato! Act I Scene V

Eh via, buffone, non mi seccar! Act II Scene I

Leporello! - Signore? Act II Scene

Ah! Taci ingiusto core Act II Scene I

Amico, che ti par? Act II Scene I

Deh, vieni alla finestra Act II Scene I

V'e gente alla finestra Act II Scene

Meta di voi qua vadano Act II Scene I

Zitto! Lascia ch'io senta Act II Scene I

Ah! ahi! La testa mia! Act II Scene I

Vedrai, carino Act II Scene I

Di molte faci il lume Act II Scene II

Sola, sola in buio loco Act II Scene II

Mille torbidi pensieri Act II Scene II

Dunque quello sei tu Act II Scene II

Ah, pieta, signori miei! Act II Scene II

Ferma, perfido, ferma! Act II Scene

Il mio tesoro intanto Act II Scene II

In quali eccessi, o Numi Act II Scene II

Mi tradi quell'alma ingrata Act II Scene II

Ah, ah, ah questa buona! Act II Scene III

O statua gentilissima Act II Scene III

Calmatevi, idol mio! Act II Scene IV

Crudele! Ah no, mio bene Act II Scene IV

Non mi dir, bell'idol mio Act II Scene IV

Gia la mensa e preparata Act II Scene V (Finale)

L'ultima prova dell'amore mio Act II Scene V (Finale)

Che grido e questo mai? Act II Scene V (Finale)

Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m'invitasti Act II Scene V (Finale)

Da qual tremore insolito Act II Scene V (Finale)

Ah, dove e il perfido? Act II Scene V Epilogue

Or che tutti, o mio tesoro Act II Scene V Epilogue

Resti dunque quel birbon Act II Scene V Epilogue

Questo e il fin di chi fa mal! Act II Scene V Epilogue

DEATH OF BRUNO WALTER

(1876.09.15 Berlin – 1962.02.17 San Francisco)

Sir David Webster pays tribute to Bruno Walter at the beginning of the performance on February 19th.

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) , K. 620, Act II: March of the Priests

 

FROM CD BOOKLET

THE SOLTI - ZEFFIRELLI DON GIOVANNI COVENT GARDEN FEBRUARY 1962

2007

PATRICK O'CONNOR

In September 1961, when Georg Solti took up bis post as musical director of the Covent Garden Opera Company, one of his first stated aims was to “arrange more balanced programmes including more Mozart, Wagner and Strauss”. Solti’s first assignment to himself as conductor was a new staging of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Taurìde, which was followed by Wagner’s Die Walküre in October and then by Don Giovanni in February 1962, the performance heard on this set.
Unbelievable though it may seem. Don Giovanni had not been revived by the company since before World War II. The only Mozart operas performed by the post-war ensemble had been The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute - both in English. Solti set about to change that and between 1962 and 1968 conducted new productions in the original language of Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflòte and Cosi fan tutte, the last in its first-ever production by the company at the Royal Opera House. (It had been heard there in September 1947, given by the visiting Vienna State Opera.)
Solti’s team on stage for this memorable evening was led by Franco Zeffirelli, as designer and director. Zeffirelli had established himself at Covent Garden in 1959 with the famous production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor starring Joan Sutherland (to be heard on ROHS002). He and Sutherland had then gone on to a triumphant success with Handel’s Alcina in Venice in 1960, and that production had been chosen for Sutherland’s American stage début, at the Dallas Opera in November 1960.
During that same month Zeffirelli had also staged Don Giovanni in Dallas, the beginning of what he called “my lifelong struggle with Mozart’s opera”. In his designs for the night scenes, Zeffirelli tried to suggest a world that was “in the wake of some terrible catastrophe”. The walls were scrofulous, dark and scarred. In most respects, the 1962 Covent Garden staging was a continuation of what Zeffirelli had designed for Dallas. As he put it: “I saw the work as an allegory outside time and place.” Nevertheless, the costumes were rich, brocaded and ruffed, very much of the time of the first production of Molière’s play in 1665.
Solti and Zeffirelli got off to a bad start when the director turned up late for the first rehearsal - Solti was a stickler for punctuality - but they soon developed a “warm and successful partnership”, as Sir Georg wrote in his memoirs. The production was much criticized because of the long time it took to change each scene. Attempting to mount modern, often very elaborate, productions in the 19th-century conditions that prevailed at the theatre until its renovation in the late 1990s was a challenge each designer and director had to face. The Times opera critic thought that Zeffirelli had chosen to “bathe almost his entire production in an atmosphere of romantic gloom and grandeur”, but even this somewhat hostile reviewer had to admit that the supper scene in the last act, which took place in a large hall lined with gigantic suits of armour, was very impressive: “What better place could there be for so sombre a supper party?”
Harold Rosenthal, editor of Opera magazine was more favourable: “Few will deny that the series of stage pictures that were unfolded were amongst the most splendid ever seen on any opera stage.” The scene for the celebrations of the marriage between Zeriina and Masetto was costumed and set as if in a painting by Watteau; admittedly, this jarred with the rest of the action which seemed to be a good half century earlier, but it was a moment that always enchanted the spectator.
British opera-goers had been used to a heavier approach to the orchestra in Mozart’s operas, as well as to a much broader way with the comedy in Don Giovanni. This was challenged by Zeffirelli and Solti in the present production. Later Solti noted that “I laboured under the delusion that a reduced string section would not ‘sound’ in a big hall. Slowly, after years of experience, I learned that this is not right. In Mozart operas the reduction should be rather drastic -this not only helps the wind-string balance; it also makes the overall texture more transparent.”
The one thing everyone agreed on was the outstanding cast that had been assembled. Cesare Siepi in the title role was “lean as a greyhound and with a streak of self-destruction in his very energy” (The Times). Siepi had first appeared at Covent Garden in 1950 with the company of La Scala, Milan, as Pistol in Falstaff, but this Giovanni was his début with the resident Covent Garden company. Siepi’s career was based at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, where he sang more than 480 performances. Don Giovanni was always one of his favourite roles, one for which he was perfectly equipped vocally, physically and dramatically. When he reappeared as Giovanni at Covent Garden as late as 1973, he proved to be just as authoritative and charismatic.
Leporello was one of Geraint Evans’s calling-card parts. Although, earlier in his career, he had experimented with singing the title role, it was the put-upon manservant that suited his particular skills as an actor and his darker hued voice. In his autobiography, Evans described in detail how he honed his interpretation of the part over the years: “He’s not a nice character at all, just the opposite in fact; he’s ready to pick up whatever Don Giovanni might discard, whether it’s a leg of chicken, his clothes, or even a woman. Nasty, I know, but the opera is absolutely about good and evil, and shouldn’t be afraid to show it.”
Richard Lewis, who sings Don Ottavio, David Ward as the Commendatore and Robert Savole as Masetto were all valued members of the Covent Garden team in the 1960s. Solti may have had a particular rapport with Ward, whose performances as Wotan, the Dutchman, Pogner and King Marke in new productions of Wagner’s operas during Solti’s tenure made the bass an international singer.
In the 19th century. Zerlina was considered to be the leading female role in Don Giovanni. (Malibran, Viardot and Patti, all chose it, rather than Anna or Elvira.) This is hardly surprising, as Zerlina has two ravishing arias and the great duet with Giovanni, “Là ci darem la mano”. Mirella Freni had sung the part at Glyndebourne in the 1960 season, and had made her Covent Garden début as Nannetta in Zeffirelli’s production of Falstaff in 1961. Freni has had one of the longest and most consistently successful careers of any Italian soprano in the last half century.

Leyla Gencer, the most famous Turkish soprano of all time, enjoyed a remarkable career, mostly in Italy, in a wide repertory ranging from Monteverdi to Poulenc. One of the key figures in the 1950s and ’60s revival of many early Verdi operas, as well as those of Donizetti and Bellini, she made very few commercial recordings but bacame one of the most sought-after prima donnas in the era of “pirate” LPs. A sometimes-controversial singer, she inspired devotion from a band of fanatical admirers.
 
Sena Jurinac made her Covent Garden début in 1947. One of the most beloved singers in the Vienna State Opera company, specializing in Mozart and Richard Strauss, she was also a great interpreter of lieder. Her Elvira has none of the grotesque or shrewish elements that had often been used to make this character a suitable contrast with the noble suffering of Donna Anna. Harold Rosenthal wrote; “Jurinac’s inherent musicianship, sense of style and sincerity make her the ideal Mozart singer.”
 
At the start of his career, Solti had worked as a repetiteur at the Salzburg Festival, where he heard Toscanini conduct Die Zauberflòte and Bruno Walter Don Giovanni. He wrote: “I understood for the first time in my lite the greatness of those operas.” Bruno Walter died on 17 February 1962, two days before the performance preserved on this historic broadcast. Solti and the company’s general administrator Sir David Webster decided to dedicate the evening to Walter’s memory. Webster’s speech and the march from Die Zauberflöte that Solti chose as an appropriate piece of music can be heard here as bonus tracks.

FROM CD BOOKLET

DER DON GIOVANNI VON SOLTI - ZEFFIRELLI COVENT GARDEN 1962 FEBRUAR

2007

PATRICK O'CONNOR (Ubersetzung Stefan Lersche)

 
Im September 1961, als Georg Solti sein Amt als musikalischer Leiter der Covent Garden Opera Company antrat, war es eins seiner wichtigsten Ziele, »mehr Mozart, Wagner und Strauß auf die Bühne zu bringen, um ein ausgewogeneres Programm zu erzielen«. Die erste Produktion, die Solti in Angriff nahm, war eine Neuinszenierung von Glucks Iphigénie en Tauride, gefolgt von Wagners Walküre im Oktober sowie im Februar 1962 Don Giovanni, die Produktion, die hier zu hören ist.
Auch wenn es unglaublich klingt: Don Giovanni war am Covent Garden zuletzt vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg auf die Bühne gebracht worden. Die einzigen Mozart-Opern, die das Ensemble seit dem Krieg aufgeführt hatte, waren Figaros Hochzeit und Die Zauberflöte, beide auf Englisch. Solti machte sich daran, diese Verhältnisse zu ändern, und dirigierte zwischen 1962 und 1968 Neuproduktionen von Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte und Cosi fan tutte, alle in Originalsprache (Cosi sogar erstmals als Eigenproduktion des Royal Opera House: Das Stück war dort einzig im September 1947 als Gastspiel der Wiener Staatsoper gespielt worden).
Soltis Bùhnenensemble an jenem denkwürdigen Abend agierte unter der Regie von Franco Zeffirelli, der auch für die Ausstattung verantwortlich war. Zeffirelli hatte sich bereits 1959 mit der berühmten Produktion von Donizettis Lucia di Lammermoor mit Jean Sutherland in der Hauptrolle (zu hören auf ROHS002) Ansehen am Royal Opera House erworben. 1960 hatten er und Sutherland in Venedig mit Handels Alcina einen weiteren Triumph gefeiert, und diese Produktion war dann für Sutherlands Amerika-Debùt an der Oper von Dallas im November 1960 ausgewählt worden.
In Dallas hatte Zeffirelli im gleichen Monat auch Don Giovanni inszeniert - der Beginn des von ihm so bezeichneten »lebenslangen Kampfes mit Mozarts Oper«. In seinen Bühnenbildern für die Nachtszenen versuchte Zeffirelli, eine Welt zu suggerieren, über die «eine schreckliche Katastrophe hereingebrochen war«. Die Wände sahen aus wie von einer Hautkrankheit befallen, dunkel und narbig. Die 1962er Inszenierung am Covent Garden war in fast jeder Hinsicht eine Fortführung von Zeffirellis Produktion für Dallas. Wie er es ausdrückte, betrachtete er «das Werk als eine Allegorie jenseits von Raum und Zeit«. Gleichwohl waren die Kostüme opulent und hielten sich mit Brokat und Rüschenkragen an den Zeitstil von Molières 1665 uraufgeführtem Schauspiel.
Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Solti und Zeffirelli begann unter unguten Vorzeichen, da der Regisseur verspätet zur ersten Probe erschien und Solti es mit der Pünktlichkeit sehr genau nahm; bald aber entwickelte sich zwischen ihnen eine «warmherzige, erfolgreiche Partnerschaft«, wie Sir Georg in seinen Memoiren schrieb. Die Produktion wurde wegen des langen Umbaus pausen bei den Szenenwechseln viel kritisiert. Das Bestreben, moderne, oft äußerst aufwändige Inszenierungen auf die Bühne zu bringen, war angesichts der aus dem 19. Jahrhundert stammenden Gegebenheiten des Theaters bis zum Umbau des Hauses Ende der 1990er Jahre eine Herausforderung, der Bühnenbildner und Regisseure sich steilen mussten. Der Opernkritiker der Times fand, Zeffirelli habe «fast seine gesamte Produktion in eine Atmosphäre romantischer Düsternis und Grandeur getaucht«, aber seibst dieser eher weniger wohlwollende Autor musste zugeben, dass die Gastmahlszene im letzten Akt, die in einem großen, von gigantischen Ritterrüstungen gesäumten Saal spielte, höchst eindrucksvoll war: «Könnte es einen geeigneteren Ort für eine so finstere Abendgesellschaft geben?«
Harold Rosenthal, Herausgeber der Zeitschrift Opera, urteilte versöhnlicher: «Es lässt sich kaum leugnen, dass die Bühnenbilder, die da entwickelt wurden, zum Prächtigsten gehören, was jemals auf einer Opern Bühne zu sehen war.« Die Kostüme und Kulissen für die Szene, in der Zerlina und Masetto Hochzeit feiern, wirkten wie in ein Gemälde von Watteau versetzt; zugegebenermaßen disharmonierte dies mit der übrigen Handlung, die gut ein halbes Jahrhundert früher zu speien schien, aber es war ein Moment, der die Zuschauer immer wieder verzauberte.
Das britische Opernpublikum war bei Mozart-Opern an einen schwereren Orchesterklang und im Don Giovanni an eine breitere Ausarbeitung der komödiantischen Anteile gewöhnt. Zeffirelli und Solti wählten in der vorliegenden Produktion einen anderen Ansatz. Solti merkte später an: »Mich quälte der Irrglaube, eine kleinere Streichersektion würde einen so großen Raum nicht füllen können. Erst nach jahrelanger Erfahrung begriff ich, dass dem nicht so ist. In Mozart-Opern sollte die Reduktion sogar drastisch sein - dies kommt nicht nur der Balance von Holzbläsern und Streichern zugute, sondern sorgt auch für ein insgesamt durchsichtigeres Klangbild.«
In einem Punkt war sich jedermann einig: Es war eine herausragende Besetzung, die man für diese Inszenierung zusammengestellt hatte. Cesare Siepi in der Titelrolle war »schlank wie ein Windhund und von einer Energie, die etwas Selbstzerstörerisches hatte« (The Times). Siepi war 1950 bei einem Gastspiel der Mailänder Scala als Pistol in Falstaff erstmals am Covent Garden aufgetreten, aber dieser Don Giovanni war sein Debut mit dem Hausensemble. Das zentrale Haus seiner Karriere war die New Yorker Metropolitan Opera, wo er in über 480 Vorstellungen auf der Bühne stand. Don Giovanni gehörte immer zu seinen Lieblingspartien, und er war dafür stimmlich, körperlich und darstellerisch ideal disponiert. Als er 1973, elf Jahre später, noch einmal als Don Giovanni am Covent Garden auftrat, verkörperte er die Rolle noch genauso überzeugend und charismatisch.
Leporello gehörte zu den Vorzeigerollen von Geraint Evans. Er hatte sich früher auch an der Titelpartie versucht, aber die Rolle des stets ausgenutzten Dieners entsprach perfekt seinen besonderen Fähigkeiten als Schauspieler und dem dunklen Timbre seiner Stimme. In seiner Autobiografie beschreibt Evans ausführlich, wie er seine Darstellung der Rolle mit den Jahren verfeinerte: »Er ist überhaupt kein netter Zeitgenosse, genau das Gegenteil ist der Fall; er ist begierig, aufzusammeln, was Don Giovanni fallen lässt, sei es eine Hühnerkeule, ein Kleidungsstuck oder auch eine Frau. Widerwärtig, das stimmt, aber diese Oper handelt nun einmal zuallererst von Gut und Böse und sollte sich nicht scheuen, dies auch zu zeigen.«
Richard Lewis als Don Ottavio, David Ward als Komtur und Robert Savoie als Masetto waren geschätzte Mitglieder des Ensembles am Covent Garden in den 1960er Jahren. Solti hatte ein besonders gutes Verhältnis zu Ward, der während Soltis Amtszeit durch seine Interpretationen von Basspartien wie Wotan, dem Holländer, Pogner und König Marke in Neuproduktionen von Wagner-Opern zu internationalem Renommee gelangte.

Im 19. Jahrhundert galt Zerlina als weibliche Hauptrolle in Don Giovanni. (Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot und Adelina Patti gaben dieser Partie den Vorzug vor Donna Anna und Donna Elvira.) Das verwundert kaum, denn Zerlina fiat zwei hinreißende Arien und das großartige Duett mit Don Giovanni, «Là ci darem la mano«. Mirella Freni hatte die Polle schon während der 1960er Spiel-zeit in Glyndebourne gesungen, und ihr Debüt am Covent Garden hatte sie 1961 als Nannetta in Zeffirellis Falstaff-Inszenierung. Freni kann auf die längste und konstanteste Karriere einer italienischen Sopranistin im letzten halben Jahrhundert zurückblicken.
Leyla Gencer, die berühmteste türkische Sopranistin aller Zeiten, erfreute sich hauptsächlich in Italien einer bemerkenswerten Laufbahn und beherrschte ein breit gefächertes Repertoire von Monteverdi bis Poulenc. Sie war eine der Schlüsselfiguren bei der Wiederbelebung vieler früher Opern von Verdi sowie von Donizetti und Bellini in den 1950er und 60er Jahren, machte aber nur wenige kommerzielle Aufnahmen. Stattdessen avancierte sie zu einer der gesuchtesten Primadonnen im Bereich der Bootlegs. Einerseits rief sie manche Kontroverse hervor, schlug andererseits aber auch eine ganze Anzahl fanatischer Bewunderer in ihren Bann.
Sena Jurinac gab ihr Debut am Covent Garden im Jahre 1947. Sie gehörte zu den beliebtesten Mitgliedern im Ensemble der Wiener Staatsoper, wo sie sich auf Mozart und Richard Strauß spezialisierte, war aber auch eine großartige Liedinterpretin. Ihre Donna Elvira ist ganz frei von den grotesken oder zänkischen Elementen, die oft genutzt werden, um einen Kontrast zu der nobel leidenden Donna Anna herzustellen. Harold Rosenthal schrieb: «Jurinacs natürliche Musikalität, ihr Sinn für Stil und ihre Authentizität machen sie zur idealen Mozart-Sängerin.«
Zu Beginn seiner Laufbahn hatte Solti als Korrepetitor bei den Salzburger Festspielen gearbeitet, wo er Toscanini Die Zauberflöte und Bruno Walter Don Giovanni hatte dirigieren hören. Er schrieb: «Ich begriff zum ersten Mal in meinem Leben die Größe dieser Opern.« Bruno Walter starb am 17. Februar 1962, zwei Tage vor der hier dokumentierten historischen Rundfunkübertragung. Solti und der Generaldirektor des Hauses, Sir David Webster, beschlossen, den Abend dem Andenken Bruno Walters zu widmen. Websters Rede zu diesem Anlass und der Marsch der Priester aus der Zauberflöte, den Solti als dem Anlass angemessenes Musikstuck wählte, sind hier als Bonus zu hören.

FROM CD BOOKLET

LE DON GIOVANNI DE SOLTI - ZEFFIRELLI COVENT GARDEN FEVRIER 1962

2007

PATRICK O'CONNOR (Traduction Dennis Collins)

En septembre 1961, lorsque Georg Solti assuma ses fonctions de directeur musical de la compagnie d’opéra de Covent Garden, l’un de ses premiers objectifs déclarés consistait en « des programmes plus équilibrés, avec davantage de Mozart, de Wagner et de Strauss «. La première tâche que se donna Solti en tant que chef fut une nouvelle production d’Iphigénie en Tauride de Gluck, suivie par Die Walkure de Wagner en octobre puis par Don Giovanni en février 1962 - la production qu’on entend sur ces disques.

Si incroyable que cela puisse paraitre, Don Giovanni n’avait pas été repris par la compagnie depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Les seuls opéras de Mozart donnés avant-guerre par la troupe de Covent Garden avaient été Les Noces de Figaro et La Flûte enchantée -tous deux en anglais. Solti s’employa à changer tout cela et dirigea entre 1962 et 1968 de nouvelles productions dans leur langue originale de Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte et Cosi fan tutte ; pour ce dernier opéra, c’était la toute première production donnée par la compagnie au Royal Opera House. (On l’y avait vu en septembre 1947, mais dans la mise en scène de l’Opéra d’État de Vienne.)

L’équipe scénique de Solti pour cette soirée mémorable avait à sa tête Franco Zeffirelli, qui signa la mise en scène et les décors. Zeffirelli s’était imposé à Covent Garden en 1959 avec sa célèbre production de Lucia di Lammermoor de Donizetti chantée par Joan Sutherland (ROHS002). Toujours en compagnie de Sutherland, il avait remporté un succès triomphal avec Alcina de Haendel, à Venise en 1960, et c’est cette production qui avait été choisie pour les débuts de Sutherland sur la scène américaine, au Dallas Opera en novembre 1960.

Au cours de ce même mois, Zeffirelli avait également monté Don Giovanni à Dallas - c’était le début de ce qu’il appelait sa « lutte de toute une vie avec l’opéra de Mozart «. Dans ses décors pour les scènes nocturnes, Zeffirelli s’efforça d’évoquer un monde « au lendemain de quelque catastrophe terrible ». Les murs étaient scrofuleux, sombres et balafrés. Pour l’essentiel, la mise en scène de 1962 à Covent Garden était le prolongement de ce que Zeffirelli avait conçu pour Dallas. « Je voyais l’œuvre comme une allégorie en dehors du temps et de l’espace », dit-il. Néanmoins, les costumes étaient riches, avec brocarts et dentelles, renvoyant à l’époque de la première représentation de la pièce de Molière en 1665.

Les relations entre Solti et Zeffirelli prirent un mauvais départ, car le metteur en scène arriva en retard à la première répétition, et Solti était très à cheval sur la ponctualité;, mais ils développèrent bientôt une «collaboration chaleureuse et fructueuse», comme l’écrit Sir Georg dans ses mémoires. La production fut très critiquée en raison du temps que demandait chaque changement de décor. Tenter de monter des productions modernes, souvent très élaborées, dans les conditions du XIX siècle qui prévalaient encore au théâtre jusqu’à sa rénovation à la fin des années quatre-vingt-dix était un véritable défi pour tout décorateur et metteur en scène. Le critique lyrique de The Times estima que Zeffirelli avait choisi de « baigner sa production presque tout entière dans une atmosphère de morosité et de grandeur romantique », mais même ce journaliste quelque peu hostile dut reconnaitre que la scène du souper au dernier acte, qui se passait dans une grande salle bordée d’armures gigantesques, était très impressionnante : « Quel endroit conviendrait mieux pour un aussi sombre souper ? »

Harold Rosenthal, dans la revue Opera, se montra plus favorable : « Rares sont ceux qui contesteront que les différents tableaux scéniques déployés étaient parmi les plus splendides qu’on ait jamais vus sur aucune scène lyrique. » La scène du mariage de Zeriina et de Masetto évoquait par ses décors et ses costumes un tableau de Watteau ; il est vrai que cela jurait avec le reste de l’action, qui semblait se situer un bon demi-siècle plus tôt, mais c’est un moment qui enchantait toujours le spectateur.

Le public britannique avait été habitué à des orchestres beaucoup plus lourds dans les opéras de Mozart, ainsi qu’à un traitement moins raffiné de la comédie dans Don Giovanni. Dans la présente production, Zeffirelli et Solti allèrent à l’encontre de ces habitudes. Solti nota par la suite : « Je m’imaginais qu’un pupitre de cordes réduit ne “sonnerait” pas dans une grande salle. Peu à peu, après des années d’expérience, j’ai appris que ce n’était pas vrai. Dans les opéras de Mozart, la réduction doit étre assez drastique - cela contribue non seulement à l’équilibre entre vents et cordes, mais donne aussi plus de transparence à la texture d’ensemble. »

La seule chose qui avait mis tout le monde d’accord était la qualité exceptionnelle de la distribution qui avait été réunie. Cesare Siepi dans le rôle-titre était «fin comme un lévrier, avec une pointe d’autodestruction dans son énergie même» (The Times). Siepi s’était produit pour la première fois à Covent Garden en 1950 avec la compagnie de La Scala de Milan : il tenait le rôle de Pistol dans Falstaff. Mais ce Giovanni marquait ses débuts avec la compagnie permanente de Covent Garden. La carrière de Siepi fut basée au Metropolitan Opera de New York, où il chanta plus de quatre cent quatre-vingts représentations. Don Giovanni fut toujours l’un de ses rôles de prédilection, et il avait tout le talent vocal, physique et dramatique requis. Lorsqu’il reparut en Giovanni à Covent Garden en 1973, il se révéla tout aussi magistral et charismatique.

Le rôle de Leporello était l’une des cartes de visite de Geraint Evans. Bien qu’il eùt essayé au début de sa carrière de chanter le rôle-titre, c’est le valet malmené qui convenait à ses talents particuliers d’acteur et à sa voix aux couleurs plus sombres. Dans son autobiographie, Evans raconte en détail comment il peaufina son interprétation du rôle au fil des ans : « Ce n’est pas un gentil personnage du tout, bien au contraire ; il est prêt à ramasser tout ce que Don Giovanni pourrait abandonner, que ce soit une patte de poulet, ses vêtements ou même une femme. C’est assez déplaisant, je le sais, mais le thème de l’opéra est vraiment le bien et le mal, et il ne faut pas avoir peur de le montrer. » Richard Lewis, qui chante Don Ottavio, David Ward en Commandeur, et Robert Savoie en Masetto étaient tous des membres estimés de la compagnie de Covent Garden dans les années soixante. Solti avait sans doute des liens particuliers avec Ward, dont les interprétations de Wotan, du Hollandais, de Pogner et du roi Marke dans de nouvelles productions d’opéras de Wagner données pendant l’ère Solti avaient fait de la basse un chanteur de stature Internationale

Au XIX. Siècle, Zerlina était considérée comme le principal rôle féminin de Don Giovanni. (Malibran, Viardot et Patti le choisirent toutes, de préférence à Anna ou à Elvira.) Cela n’a rien de surprenant, puisque Zerlina a deux airs ravissants et le grand duo avec Giovanni, « Là ci darem la mano ». Mirella Freni avait chanté le rôle à Glyndebourne au cours de la saison 1960, et avait fait ses débuts à Covent Garden en Nannetta dans la 20 production de Falsfaff signée par Zeffirelli en 1961. Freni a fait l’une des carrières les plus longues et les plus réussies de toutes les sopranos italiennes du dernier demi-siècle.

Leyla Gencer, la plus célèbre soprano turque de tous les temps, fit une carrière remarquable, surtout en Italie, dans un vaste répertoire qui s’étendait de Monteverdi à Poulenc. Elle fut l’une des figures-clefs dans la reprise de bon nombre d’opéras de jeunesse de Verdi au cours des années cinquante et soixante, ainsi que de ceux de Donizetti et de Bellini ; elle grava peu de disques, mais devint l’une des prima donna les plus recherchées à l’époque du microsillon « pirate ». Cette cantatrice parfois controversée inspirait une véritable dévotion à certains admirateurs fanatiques.

Sena Jurinac fit ses débuts à Covent Garden en 1947. Elle était l’une des cantatrices les plus appréciées de la compagnie de l’Opéra d’État de Vienne, spécialisée dans Mozart et Richard Strauss, et était également une grande interprète du lied. Son Elvira n’a aucun des aspects grotesques ou hargneux qu’on prêtait souvent à son personnage pour les opposer à la noble souffrance de Donna Anna. « La musicalité inhérente de Jurinac, écrit Harold Rosenthal, son sens du style et sa sincérité en font l’interprète idéale de Mozart. »

Au début de sa carrière, Solti avait travaillé comme répétiteur au Festival de Salzbourg, où il entendit Toscanini diriger Die Zauberflöte et Bruno Walter Don Giovanni. « J’ai compris pour la première fois de ma vie, écrit-il, la grandeur de ces opéras. » Bruno Walter mourut le 17 février 1962, deux jours avant la représentation historique préservée ici. Solti et l’administrateur général de la compagnie. Sir David Webster, décidèrent de dédier la soirée à la mémoire de Walter. On entendra le discours de Webster et la marche de Die Zauberflòte que Solti choisit comme œuvre musicale sur les plages bonus.