excerpt from 'Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900' pp. 377-8 (246 words)
excerpt from 'Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900' pp. 377-8 (246 words)
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The features of the season of 1893 were the first visits to London of Leoncavallo and Mascagni, and the production there of their respective operas, “Pagliacci” and “I Rantzau”. The fame of Leoncavallo's sensational opera had preceded it, and the public expected something remarkable. They were not disappointed. I have rarely seen an audience so breathless with excitement over the development of an opera plot. The effect of the little tragedy was augmented by the burning intensity of De Lucia, whose portrayal of the hapless Canio's anguish and suffering was a triumph of realism. His touching soliloquy at the end of the first act was delivered with an abandonment of feeling that completely carried away his auditors. Very fine, too, was Ancona's rendering of the already famous Prologue; deliciously pure and sweet was Melba's vocalization in the haUateUa for Nedda; excellent were the new-comers Richard Green and Bonnard as Silvio and Peppe; while Mancinelli's conducting left not a point undiscerned throughout. Leoncavallo, modest and unassuming, waited quietly in the background till the end, and then had to be forced on to the stage by the artists to acknowledge the ovation that awaited him. This was quite early in the season (May 19), and Leoncavallo remained in London for several weeks. I found him to be a man of great culture and strong intellect. He is a poet as well as a musician, and in both arts he reveals the grasp of a profound thinker. |
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