History of the Metropolitan Opera's Opening Nights

I've been in several recent discussions regarding opening nights at the Metropolitan Opera. I'd mentioned I found this year's choice, "Le Nozze di Figaro" to be an unusual, but lucky one. Several friends disagreed saying it wasn't unusual at all and that it could work. I agreed that it could (and does) work, but still maintain for the Met it's an unusual choice. (The Met has only opened with it one other season, back in 1941).

The history of Met Opening Nights is fascinating, with the most frequent opera appearing to be Aida, the choice for
eleven seasons. Otello opened seven seasons and Faust and Roméo et Juliette each opened six.

I find it odd, and perhaps it's just a personal issue, but I'm not in favor of, as has happened several times in the Met's history using a Gala Concert to open the season in lieu of an actual opera performance. I'm sure, however, others would prefer this kind of evening but I don't call them opera lovers!

Following is a list of the Met's Opening Nights.

1883: Faust
1884: Tannhauser
1885: Lohengrin
1886: Die Königin von Saba
1887: Tristan und Isolde
1888: Les Huguenots
1889: Der Fliegende Holländer
1890: Asrael
1891: Roméo et Juliette
1892: (No Season)
1893: Faust
1894: Roméo et Juliette
1895: Roméo et Juliette
1896: Faust
1897: (No Season)
1898: Tannhäuser
1899: Roméo et Juliette
1900: Roméo et Juliette
1901: Tristan und Isolde
1902: Otello
1903: Rigoletto
1904: Aida
1905: La GIoconda
1906: Roméo et Juliette
1907: Adriana Lecouvreur
1908: Aida
1909: La Gioconda
1910: Armide
1911: Aida
1912: Manon Lescaut
1913: La Gioconda
1914: Un Ballo in Maschera
1915: Samson et Dalila
1916: Les Pêcheurs de Perles
1917: Aida
1918: Samson et Dalila
1919: Tosca
1920: La Juive
1921: La Traviata
1922: Tosca
1923: Thaïs
1924: Aida
1925: La Gioconda
1926: La Vestale
1927: Turandot
1928: L'Amore dei Tre Re
1929: Manon Lescaut
1930: Aida
1931: La Traviata
1932: Simon Boccanegra
1933: Peter Ibbetson
1934: Aida
1935: La Traviata
1936: Die Walküre
1937: Tristan und Isolde
1938: Otello
1939: Simon Boccanegra
1940: Un Ballo in Maschera
1941: Le Nozze di Figaro
1942: La Fille du Régiment
1943: Boris Godunov
1944: Faust
1945: Lohengrin
1946: Lakmé
1947: Un Ballo in Maschera
1948: Otello
1949: Der Rosenkavalier
1950: Don Carlo
1951: Aida
1952: La Forza del Destino
1953: Faust
1954: Gala Concert (Telecast)
1955: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
1956: Norma
1957: Eugene Onegin
1958: Tosca
1959: Il Trovatore
1960: Nabucco
1961: La Fanciulla del West
1962: Andrea Chénier
1963: Aida
1964: Lucia di Lammermoor
1965: Faust
1966: Antony and Cleopatra
1967: La Traviata
1968: Adriana Lecouvreur
1969: Aida
1970: Ernani
1971: Don Carlo
1972: Carmen
1973: Il Trovatore
1974: I Vespri Siciliani
1975: The Seige of Corinth
1976: Il Trovatore
1977: Boris Godunov
1978: Tannhäuser
1979: Otello
1980: Mahler: Symphony No. 2
1981: Norma
1982: Der Rosenkavalier
1983: Les Troyens
1984: Lohengrin
1985: Tosca
1986: Die Walküre
1987: Otello
1988: Il Trovatore
1989: Aida
1990: La Boheme
1991: Gala Concert (25th Lincoln Center Anniversary - Telecast)
1992: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
1993: Gala Concert: 25th Anniversaries of Domingo & Pavarotti
1994: Il Tabarro & Pagliacci (Unheralded 35th Anniversary for Stratas)
1995: Otello
1996: Andrea Chénier
1997: Carmen
1998: Samson et Dalila
1999: Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci
2000: Don Giovanni
2001: Gala: A Celebration of Verdi
2002: Gala: Fedora Act 2; Samson et Dalila Act 2; Otello Act 4
2003: La Traviata
2004: Otello
2005: Gala: Nozze di Figaro Act 1; Tosca Act 2; Samson et Dalila Act 3
2006: Madama Butterfly
2007: Lucia di Lammermoor
2008: Renee Fleming Gala
2009: Tosca
2010: Das Rheingold
2011: Anna Bolena
2012: L'Elisir d'Amore
2013: Eugene Onegin
2014: Le Nozze di Figaro

Met's Season Opener: Le Nozze fi Figaro

I found - at least as presented over the Sirius broadcast, last night to be a thoroughly enjoyable "Le Nozze di Figaro" with some special moments, one being getting to know the voice of Amanda Majeski, whose quick vibrato I found to have a lovely Pilar Lorengar-ish flutter which I found enormously attractive.

While I'm no HIP-ster, Levine led a "modern opera house orchestra" performance that was brimming with life and energy.

I've heard some complaints of its dragging, but I found Levine's tempi frequently to be on the brisk side, while certain things were prone toward a Levine-ian exaggeration (which I sometimes mind and sometimes don't).

Overall, he shaped the evening with remarkable elasticity that bore the obvious stamp of his love for this opera. This was noticeable in "Dove sono", but nowhere more so than the in the first part of the Act II finale, where Figaro begins (for me) one of Mozart's most beautiful melodies at "Mente il ceffo, iogià non mento."

Last night Abdrazakov's Figaro began this moment a bit more brusquely than most (a nice effect in this lovely melody), then immediately smoothed out by Susanna and Rosina's "Il talento aguzzi invano," - until all three implore the Count to give in. Here, Levine seemed to breathe Mozart with almost imperceptible shifts of rhythm and creating a magic that brought tears to my eyes at the sheer beauty of the sound.

Not that any of this matters, but under Levine this moment occurred approximately an hour and 27 minutes into the show. Comparing it to three other recordings/performances (Salzburg 2006; the '75 Ponnelle/Bohm film with Prey, Fischer-Dieskau, Freni, Te Kanawa
&Ewing; and the HIP recording of Le Petite Band led by Kuijken) and this moment occurred, 8 minutes earlier than Salzburg, about a minute earlier than Bohm, and almost 7 minutes AFTER Kuijken! (Yes, I'm that obsessive and do this sort of thing all the time.)

Some complained about Isabel Leonard's voice being too big or mature for the character of Cherubino, but I wasn't one of them. I found the robust but still youthful sound appropriately "masculine" for this trouser role.

Marlis Petersen was charming and delighted the ear as Susanna, never once exhibiting exhaustion in this long sing (some refer to Susanna as the Brunnhilde of lyric soprano roles).

As mentioned Ildar Abdrazakov had a rougher hue to his sound than I typically like in the character of Figaro, but the basso's charm worked in his favor in creating the character, though at the upper reaches he sounded strained and faint. Still, he put his stamp on the role and while it won't go down as my favorite Figaro, he was certainly an enjoyable one.

Peter Mattei's Count Almaviva consistently offered some of the evening's finest singing and his actorly way with text served to bring to life a Count that was deeper on most levels than many present in the role, and one who reminded me of his character a few years earlier in The Barber of Seville. Marvelous work.

On an entirely different front, I got a laugh-out-loud charge from Deborah Voigt's "diva bitch fest" intermission feature, with Fleming and Co. There was a lot of talk about Fleming's upcoming "Merry Widow," but the future Hannah veered the conversation to her performances of the Countess in Paris during a political uprising, and then segued into her trip to Israel during a dangerous period. Voigt interrupted to say something along the lines of, "that's all very nice, but I want to talk about The Merry Widow." During her interview with Anna Netrebko, the Russian went on talking about how she's performed Susanna over 150 times, causing Voigt to quip how Anna was too temperamental to play the Countess. Even over the airwaves you could sense the Russian diva's irritation, before responding, "I don't like the Countess, she doesn't interest me." Voigt recovered by asking about Anna's gown, sending Nebs into a description of how the gown had been specially made for her by Yanina, the famous Russian designer who lives in Paris etc. This was followed by Mary Jo Heath's interview of Anita Rachvellischvilli, who immediately informed us she'd sung Carmen over 150 times and how her gown was also made by a famous designer, but she hates people who name drop, and he didn't feel the need her to advertise for him. Snap.

Nozze seemed an unusual choice for a season opener, but for this guy, it worked nicely. I very much look forward to seeing this production.