Miss Ponselle’s Violetta was, as before, unabashedly emotional and demonstrative-an entirely valid interpretation if not one that eclipses memories of the more aristocratic, more subtly delineated interpretation of this role by Lucrezia Bori-and the noted American soprano was usually in excellent voice. Her vigorous treatment of certain measures was not altogether adapted to the style and contour of the music, but she offered much eloquent, exquisitely phrased singing.
On this day in 2005 mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato made her Met debut as Cherubino.
Birthday anniversaries of composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739); tenor Giuseppe Lugo (1898); film, stage and opera director and designer Luchino Visconti (1906); baritone Sigurd Björling (1907); composer Harold Faberman (1929); soprano Ruth Falcon (1942); film and stage director Patrice Chéreau (1944) and composer and conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli (1946).
