Thank you *so* much for uploading this house recording! This was the very first opera performance that I ever attended. I was just 10 years old at the time. It's truly a thrill to be able to hear this performance (nearly 60 years later -- wow!). My late father drove us into Manhattan on that chilly Saturday evening, January 22, 1966, to the old Metropolitan Opera House, at 39th and Broadway, just 3 months before the Met bade farewell to this storied building in anticipation of the move to the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. I recall my dad telling me that this was one of the last opportunities to see an opera at the Old Met. I was captivated by the grandeur of the hall (including the spectacular curtain, by far the largest and still the most magnificent one I've ever seen), the majesty of the production, and the elegant attire of the patrons. (Confession: My full appreciation of the *music* of opera would take some years to develop.) It was incredibly special to be out with my dad at an event like this, just the two of us. I will never, ever forget it. (Thanks, Dad!) By the way: I vividly recall being totally shocked and deeply saddened by the final scene -- specifically by the thought that anyone could be so cruel as to bury people alive. For many years after attending this performance, whenever this scene would come to mind, I would have to remind myself that this was a work of fiction. I suppose my reaction was a tribute to Verdi's brilliance, the compelling performances by Corelli and Arroyo in particular, and to the (seemingly) realistic sets and costumes. Bravo!!
Thanks so much for your recollections. It’s incredible that you were at this actual performance. My dad took us to Yankee games. Never got to the old Met. Thanks again for sharing. I’m so glad you found this upload.
Later that same year, Dad took my two brothers and me to our first Yankee game. A beautiful Sunday afternoon and what looked like an SRO crowd at the much-missed House That Ruth Built. That was the most people I’d ever seen in one place at a single time. Ah, those were the days. Thanks again!
By the way: The Twins took both games of a doubleheader that day and went on to win the AL pennant that year, which was, alas, the beginning of many years of mediocrity for the Yankees. It was June 20, 1965 (Father’s Day), and I just read that the paid attendance was over 71,000 (!) - probably because it was Bat Day, possibly the first one ever at Yankee Stadium.
@@RadioRNI71 My father played the organ at Yankee stadium. I think my first game was bat day 1967. The Yankees all got old at the same time, and that was tough, being a kid and a fan at that time. I loved old Yankee stadium. Unforgettable.
I saw Corelli 4 times. Voice from another galaxy. Fantastic!! Milnes I saw in concert. Intense voice and powerful interpretations. Then as if to cool us down, he sang Oh Shenandoah in a soft, gentle voice. Riveting performance!
@@promptersbox I worked with Mr. Milnes for two years at Yale, and I never thought Amonasro was a good role for him. Thought it too low. Boy was I wrong! And this is at the beginning of his career.
@@promptersbox I get in trouble when I say this: He was the perfect Kavaliersbaritone. I love his voice in Di Luna, in Don Carlo (Ernani), Valentine, Germont, I would have love to hear him sing Ford,Renato in Ballo but wanted more in Amonasro, Macbeth, and Boccanegra, or Scarpia, even Tonio. His voice had a nobility and flexibility in it that made the afore mentioned rep shine, but not the weight for the latter. Still love his singing and his musical ideas.
Per quanto riguarda il Sib finale in Celeste Aida,non mi è mai piaciuto il finale morendo...ma quello eseguito da Francone è spettacolare!!! Per quanto riguarda il Radames di Corelli,siamo ai più alti livelli vocali... Molto brava l'Aida della signora Arroyo...sorpresa positiva,a mio parere, è l'Amonasro di Milnes, sempre interprete di prim'ordine...il resto mi sembra molto di routine...grazie
Can't wait to hear if the recording matches my memory of the performance or what I wrote about it the next day. Excerpts from my personal review (not in my book "Reflections from the Audience"): "This was one of the best performances of 'Aida' I've seen at the Met. Martina Arroyo is a brilliant Aida. Her voice is big and glorious. It easily flows out over the ensembles, with piercingly beautiful high notes. Franco Corelli was lustrous as Radames. The ending of 'Celeste Aida' was exquisite. He took the B natural and turned it into a B piano. [While I had seen Franco previously in this role, this was the first time I recall hearing his famous diminuendo at the end of the aria.] Following a superbly sung Nile Scene, Franco and Martina conquered the audience in the final scene. There, in their last note together, they both took a B and held it, then took it down. [I guess I hadn't heard the word diminuendo when I was twenty.] It was superlative singing. Both Franco and Martina were ideal, and they complemented each other nicely." I should say I did not care for Dalis' Amneris and thought Milnes (whom I later came to be a big fan of) a rather young and tentative Amonosro.
Sounds like recorded in a slaughter house... Corelli's horrible Celeste Aida with its final fff Bflat strangled halfway (but that's the way his decrescendos always sound) and he never recovered.
1:10:36 Arroyo is so loud on the high C in the Triumphal Scene you can barely hear Corelli, who is singing the same note-- and that must be very loud indeed. Not even Nilsson could do that. (I tend to think that Arroyo’s all-out fortes made it hard for her to achieve really sweet piani (although she does very well on the rising phrase to the dolce high C in the Nile aria, here), and possibly shortened her career. But that’s always guesswork.)
you have to learn to read scores, the note on 1:10:36 is a note for the soprano, not for the tenor. The moment where the soprano shows if she really soars from 1:09:59 to 1:10:05 , at the end of the second ensemble 1:15:25 to the end of the end,, there are several Bflats and some B, that are very cruel for the soprano (1:15:40 the most difficult one) and many sopranos do not sing then.Arroyo sings them here
Thank you *so* much for uploading this house recording! This was the very first opera performance that I ever attended. I was just 10 years old at the time. It's truly a thrill to be able to hear this performance (nearly 60 years later -- wow!). My late father drove us into Manhattan on that chilly Saturday evening, January 22, 1966, to the old Metropolitan Opera House, at 39th and Broadway, just 3 months before the Met bade farewell to this storied building in anticipation of the move to the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. I recall my dad telling me that this was one of the last opportunities to see an opera at the Old Met. I was captivated by the grandeur of the hall (including the spectacular curtain, by far the largest and still the most magnificent one I've ever seen), the majesty of the production, and the elegant attire of the patrons. (Confession: My full appreciation of the *music* of opera would take some years to develop.) It was incredibly special to be out with my dad at an event like this, just the two of us. I will never, ever forget it. (Thanks, Dad!) By the way: I vividly recall being totally shocked and deeply saddened by the final scene -- specifically by the thought that anyone could be so cruel as to bury people alive. For many years after attending this performance, whenever this scene would come to mind, I would have to remind myself that this was a work of fiction. I suppose my reaction was a tribute to Verdi's brilliance, the compelling performances by Corelli and Arroyo in particular, and to the (seemingly) realistic sets and costumes. Bravo!!
Thanks so much for your recollections. It’s incredible that you were at this actual performance. My dad took us to Yankee games. Never got to the old Met. Thanks again for sharing. I’m so glad you found this upload.
Later that same year, Dad took my two brothers and me to our first Yankee game. A beautiful Sunday afternoon and what looked like an SRO crowd at the much-missed House That Ruth Built. That was the most people I’d ever seen in one place at a single time. Ah, those were the days. Thanks again!
By the way: The Twins took both games of a doubleheader that day and went on to win the AL pennant that year, which was, alas, the beginning of many years of mediocrity for the Yankees. It was June 20, 1965 (Father’s Day), and I just read that the paid attendance was over 71,000 (!) - probably because it was Bat Day, possibly the first one ever at Yankee Stadium.
@@RadioRNI71 My father played the organ at Yankee stadium. I think my first game was bat day 1967. The Yankees all got old at the same time, and that was tough, being a kid and a fan at that time. I loved old Yankee stadium. Unforgettable.
I saw Corelli 4 times. Voice from another galaxy. Fantastic!! Milnes I saw in concert. Intense voice and powerful interpretations. Then as if to cool us down, he sang Oh Shenandoah in a soft, gentle voice. Riveting performance!
OH MY GOD!! The morrendo on the High Bflat is amazing!!!
Wait for the final scene! Entire cast in their primes. Sensational.
@@promptersbox I worked with Mr. Milnes for two years at Yale, and I never thought Amonasro was a good role for him. Thought it too low.
Boy was I wrong! And this is at the beginning of his career.
@@jamestaylorstudios28 I think you’re right. Sits outside the strongest parts of his voice. Almost comes off as light.
@@promptersbox I get in trouble when I say this: He was the perfect Kavaliersbaritone. I love his voice in Di Luna, in Don Carlo (Ernani), Valentine, Germont, I would have love to hear him sing Ford,Renato in Ballo but wanted more in Amonasro, Macbeth, and Boccanegra, or Scarpia, even Tonio. His voice had a nobility and flexibility in it that made the afore mentioned rep shine, but not the weight for the latter.
Still love his singing and his musical ideas.
Really good thoughts. I’ve always thought his greatest role was Don Giovanni. Vocally, musically, visually and acting. Wonderful.
Per quanto riguarda il Sib finale in Celeste Aida,non mi è mai piaciuto il finale morendo...ma quello eseguito da Francone è spettacolare!!! Per quanto riguarda il Radames di Corelli,siamo ai più alti livelli vocali...
Molto brava l'Aida della signora Arroyo...sorpresa positiva,a mio parere, è l'Amonasro di Milnes, sempre interprete di prim'ordine...il resto mi sembra molto di routine...grazie
Can't wait to hear if the recording matches my memory of the performance or what I wrote about it the next day. Excerpts from my personal review (not in my book "Reflections from the Audience"):
"This was one of the best performances of 'Aida' I've seen at the Met. Martina Arroyo is a brilliant Aida. Her voice is big and glorious. It easily flows out over the ensembles, with piercingly beautiful high notes. Franco Corelli was lustrous as Radames. The ending of 'Celeste Aida' was exquisite. He took the B natural and turned it into a B piano. [While I had seen Franco previously in this role, this was the first time I recall hearing his famous diminuendo at the end of the aria.] Following a superbly sung Nile Scene, Franco and Martina conquered the audience in the final scene. There, in their last note together, they both took a B and held it, then took it down. [I guess I hadn't heard the word diminuendo when I was twenty.] It was superlative singing. Both Franco and Martina were ideal, and they complemented each other nicely."
I should say I did not care for Dalis' Amneris and thought Milnes (whom I later came to be a big fan of) a rather young and tentative Amonosro.
Your review and thoughts are spot on. The final high notes are bflats though. Don’t make it harder than it already is! :)
AAHHHHHHH!!! Thank you!!!
Sounds like recorded in a slaughter house... Corelli's horrible Celeste Aida with its final fff Bflat strangled halfway (but that's the way his decrescendos always sound) and he never recovered.
Thanks 💯👍
Can anyone enlighten me on why haven't Corelli essayed Saint Saens' Samson?
1:10:36 Arroyo is so loud on the high C in the Triumphal Scene you can barely hear Corelli, who is singing the same note-- and that must be very loud indeed. Not even Nilsson could do that. (I tend to think that Arroyo’s all-out fortes made it hard for her to achieve really sweet piani (although she does very well on the rising phrase to the dolce high C in the Nile aria, here), and possibly shortened her career. But that’s always guesswork.)
Never knew Corelli was actually a leggero in disguise as a di forza. What an imposter!
Martina Arroyo's singing lacks absolute dramatic tension, plus she sings behind the beat
you have to learn to read scores, the note on 1:10:36 is a note for the soprano, not for the tenor. The moment where the soprano shows if she really soars from 1:09:59 to 1:10:05 , at the end of the second ensemble 1:15:25 to the end of the end,, there are several Bflats and some B, that are very cruel for the soprano (1:15:40 the most difficult one) and many sopranos do not sing then.Arroyo sings them here
Loudness of theese high Cs very much depands on the position of the mic.
@@ginopietracupa4305 In the score the C is written for the soprano, but in performance, it is often sung by the tenor as well.