“Gode di privilegi il tuo soriano!”

On this day in 1918 Puccini’s Il trittico premiered at the Metropolitan Opera. 

Henry E. Krehbiel in the Tribune:

Apropos of the applause bestowed upon the performers a significant incident is to be noted. The claque, which was unusually numerous and particularly pestiferous, had not a hand for the most exquisite bit of melody and singing of the evening – the mock-serious appeal to Gianni made by Miss Easton as Lauretta. But the genuine portion of the audience appreciated the song and the singer, and kept up the applause until a repetition of the little air was grudgingly granted. The significance of the demonstration was explained by the fact that the song occurs when Puccini’s music, strongly suggestive here of lessons learned from “Meistersinger” and “Rosenkavalier,” is not only at its best, but is of remarkably fine quality.