Spit or swallow
Next week Puccini’s La Rondine returns to the Met for the first time in eleven years, so Chris’s Cache offers three quite diverse sopranos as Magda: Ljuba Welitsch, Virginia Zeani, and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs.
Rather than at one of the big Italian houses or the Met, Rondine had its world premiere in Monte Carlo in 1917 with Gilda Dalla Rizza, one of the composer’s favorite sopranos, as Magda and Tito Schipa as Ruggero. The opera arrived at the Met in 1928 with Lucrezia Bori and Beniamino Gigli who starred in every performance of the work until 1936 when Bori did her final Magdas with Nino Martini.
The opera then disappeared from the company for decades until a new production was mounted for Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna in 2008, followed by just one revival five years later for Kristine Opolais’s debut. In 2024 Rondine will serve as the occasion for three Met debuts: Jonathan Tetelman, Emily Pogorelc, and Bekhzod Davronov as Ruggero, Lisette and Prunier, respectively, with Angel Blue singing her first Magda, a perhaps surprising casting about which I’m most curious.
The Welitsch version may be familiar to some as it’s occasionally been released on LP and CD. Magda seems ideal for Zeani at that point in her career, while the Munich concert broadcast feels bittersweet given the abbreviated careers of both Gallardo-Domâs and Jerry Hadley, her Ruggero.
Puccini: La Rondine
(in German)
Magda: Ljuba Welitsch
Lisette: Dorothea Siebert
Ruggero: Anton Dermota
Prunier: Waldamar Kmentt
Rambaldo: Walter Berry
Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Sinfonieorchester des ORF Wien
Conductor: Meinhard von Zallinger
ORF Wien
1952 ?
Broadcast
Magda: Virginia Zeani
Lisette: Gabriella Ravazzi
Ruggero: Luciano Saldari
Prunier: Angelo Marchiandi
Rambaldo: Amgelo Romero
Conductor: Nino Verchi
Teatro del Giglio, Lucca
19 September 1971
In-house recording
Magda: Cristina Gallardo-Domâs
Lisette: Laura Cherici
Ruggero: Jerry Hadley
Prunier: Francesco Piccoli
Rambaldo: Giovanni Meoni
Munich Philharmonic
Conductor: Gianluigi Gelmetti
Gasteig, Munich
16 September 1997
Broadcast
Each Rondine can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.
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Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.
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Topics: chris's cache, virginia zeani
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People: Angel Blue, Angela Gheorghiu, Beniamino Gigli, Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Emily Pogorelc, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Jerry Hadley, Jonathan Tetelman, Kristine Opolais, Laura Cherici, Ljuba Welitsch, Lucrezia Bori, Nino Verchi, Roberto Alagna, Tito Schipa, Virginia Zeani, Walter Berry
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Works: La rondine
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Places & Organizations: Metropolitan Opera, Munich Philharmonic, Wiener Staatsoper
