Manon with a plan

On this day in 1913, the Met revived Manon with Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini conducting.

Max Smith in the New York Press:

Under Toscanini’s tutelage Miss Farrar’s embodiment of Manon has passed through a remarkable change. It has so ripened, broadened and deepened musically and dramatically, that it represents to all intents and purposes an entirely new achievement – one, indeed, which the American soprano has never surpassed. One of Miss Farrar’s most conspicuous faults has always been her consciousness of self. Those characters which call for ingenuousness, simplicity, naiveté, still offer problems to her which she is apparently unable to solve.

But of late Miss Farrar has shown an ability to sink her identity into that of the role impersonated – or to create that impression at least — and a power of infusing not only into her singing but also into her acting the accents of true emotional feeling which she did not disclose in years gone by. That was why she obtained such impressive results in the turbulent scene with Des Grieux at the close of the third act yesterday, supported by the flaming torch of Toscanini’s baton and quickened by the temperamental fervor of her great tenor associate. Her facial expression, her action and the modulations of her voice seemed to be genuine manifestations of inner impulses.