The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991
The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991 was a four-hour concert staged by the Metropolitan Opera on 23 September 1991 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its opening night in its second home at Lincoln Center. It was televised by Cablevision, and issued by Deutsche Grammophon on Laserdisc and VHS videocassette in 1992 and on DVD in 2010. Background. Originally based in a theatre on the junction of Broadway and 39th Street in New York City, the Metropolitan Opera began performing in its second home at Lincoln Center in 1966, starting the second phase of its  life with the première of an opera commissioned for the occasion, Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra". The Met celebrated the silver anniversary of that event with a gala that lasted for some four hours. The event began with Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Leo Nucci, Cheryl Studer and Birgitta Svendén in the last act of Otto Schenk's production of "Rigoletto", a staging in which Pavarotti had appeared at its first outing two years earlier. Plácido Domingo, Charles Anthony, Dwayne Croft, Justino Díaz, Mirella Freni and Paul Plishka followed in the third act of Franco Zeffirelli's production of "Otello . Hermann Prey, Croft, Barbara Daniels, Andrij Dobriansky and Anne Sofie von Otter concluded the gala in a performance of an abridged version of the second act of Schenk's production of Die Fledermaus", deploying the theatre's revolving stage and incorporating eleven items sung by guests at Prince Orlofsky's party. The original stage productions were supported by the Gramma Fisher Foundation of Marshalltown, Iowa, with supplementary help from Mr and Mrs Paul M. Montrone for "Rigoletto", from Mrs John D. Rockefeller for "Otello" and from Mrs Donald D. Harrington for "Die Fledermaus". The revival of "Rigoletto" was supported by  the Edith C. Blum Foundation. The television broadcast of the gala was supported by the Texaco Philanthropic Foundation, Inc., the National Endowment For the Arts and the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation. The gala was jointly produced by the Metropolitan Opera, Cablevision, NBC, PolyGram and MAX Japan. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) DVD chapter listing. DVD 1. "Rigoletto" (Venice, 1851), with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876), after "Le roi s'amuse" ("The king amuses himself", Paris, 1832) by Victor Hugo (1802–1885). Presented in a stage production by Otto Schenk (b. 1930), with set and costume design by Zack Brown, lighting  design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Sharon Thomas. Featuring Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke of Mantua, Cheryl Studer as Gilda, the Duke's daughter, Leo Nucci as Rigoletto, the Duke's court jester, Nicolai Ghiaurov as Sparafucile, a brigand, and Birgitta Svendén as Maddalena, Sparafucile's daughter. Act Three Giuseppe Verdi "Otello" (Milan, 1887), with a libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), after "The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice" (?1603) by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Presented in a stage production and set designed by Franco Zeffirelli (1923-2019), with costume design by Peter J. Hall (1926 -2010), lighting design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Fabrizio Melano. Featuring Plácido Domingo as Otello, a Moor, commander-in-chief of the Venetian fleet, Mirella Freni as Desedemona, Otello's wife, Justino Díaz as Iago, an ensign, Sondra Kelly as Emilia, Iago's wife, Uwe Heilmann as Cassio, a platoon leader, Paul Plishka as Lodovico, ambassador of the Venetian republic, Charles Anthony as Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, and Dwayne Croft as a herald. Act Three DVD 2. Johann Strauss II (1825-1899) "Die Fledermaus" ("The flittermouse", Vienna, 1874), with a libretto by Karl Haffner (1804-1876) and Richard  Genée (1823-1895), after "Le réveillon" ("The supper party", Paris, 1872) by Henri Meilhac (1830-1897) and Ludovic Halévy (1839-1908), after "Das Gefängnis" ("The prison", Berlin, 1851) by Julius Roderich Benedix (1811-1873), and with dialogue by Paul Mills adapted from that written by Otto Schenk and translated by Marcel Prawy (1911-2003). Presented in a stage production by Otto Schenk, with set design by Günther Schneider-Siemssen (1926-2015), costume design by Peter J. Hall, lighting design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Paul Mills. Featuring Hermann Prey as Gabriel von Eisenstein, a wealthy gentleman of leisure , Barbara Daniels as Rosalinde, Eisenstein's wife, Barbara Kilduff as Adele, Rosalinde's chambermaid, Grace Millo as Ida, Adele's sister, Anne Sofie von Otter as Prince Orlofsky, a wealthy Russian, Andrij Dobriansky as Ivan, Orlofsky's servant, Dwayne Croft as Dr Falke, a notary, and Gottfried Hornik as Frank, a prison governor. Act Two Party guests' sequence Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) "Die Zauberflöte" ("The magic flute", K. 620, Vienna, 1791), with a libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812) Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) "La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein" (Paris, 1887), with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy  Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) "Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione" ("The barber of Seville, or The useless precaution", Rome, 1816), with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini (1784-1831), after "Le barbier de Séville" (Paris, 1775) by Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799) Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896) "Mignon" (Paris, 1866), with a libretto by Jules Barbier (1825-1901) and Michel Carré (1821-1872), after "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" ("Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship", 1795-1796) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) "West Side Story" (New York City, 1957), with a book by Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) and lyrics by  Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930), after "Romeo and Juliet" ("circa" 1595-1597) by William Shakespeare Umberto Giordano (1867-1948) "Andrea Chénier" (Milan, 1896), with a libretto by Luigi Illica (1857-1919), based on the life of André Chénier (1762-1794) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni" ("The rake punished, or Don Giovanni", K. 527, Prague, 1787), with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838), after "El burlador de Seville y convivado de piedra" ("The trickster of Seville and the stone guest", ?1616) by Tirso de Molina (1579-1648) Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) "Linda di Chamounix" (Vienna , 1842), with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi (1774-1855) Mitch Leigh (1928-2014) "Man of La Mancha" (New York City, 1965), with a book by Dale Wasserman (1914-2008) and lyrics by Joe Darion (1917-2001), after Wasserman's teleplay "I, Don Quixote" (1959), after "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha" ("The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", 1605-1615) by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) Francesco Cilea (1866-1950) "Adriana Lecouvreur" (Milan, 1902), with a libretto by Arturo Colautti (1851-1914), after "Adrienne Lecouvreur" (1849) by Eugène Scribe (1791-1861) and Ernest Legouvé (1807-1903) Giacomo  Puccini (1858-1924) "La Bohème" ("The Bohemian", Turin, 1896), with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906), after "Scènes de la vie de bohème" ("Scenes of Bohemian life", 1851) by Henri Murger (1822-1861) Johann Strauss II "Die Fledermaus" (resumed) Critical reception. Reviews. Edward Rothstein reviewed the gala in "The New York Times" on 25 September 1991. The Met's first night at Lincoln Center, he recalled, had been an utter catastrophe, and the gala celebrating its silver anniversary in its second theatre had begun with disappointments just as discouraging as those of the première of Barber 's "Antony and Cleopatra" in 1966. The third act of "Rigoletto" began the concert with "a nearly funereal mood, and not quite the one anybody had in mind". Luciano Pavarotti's "groping make-out scene" with the injudiciously cast Birgitta Svendén was unfortunate, and his singing did not show him at his best. His voice sounded constricted, and a histrionic laugh could not conceal that a climactic note had cracked. An excerpt "drained of human characters, offering pasteboard roles and posing voices" was partly redeemed by the force and personality of Nicolai Ghiaurov as Sparafucile. Matters improved with the third  act of "Otello", but only marginally. Justino Díaz was "curiously insubstantial" as Iago, and Plácido Domingo "stolid" as the Moor of Venice. Mirella Freni exhibited her ability to sing high notes very loudly. Conducting, James Levine "seemed to treat the music as a collection of fragments designed for glitter and response ... belting out exclamations with little thought for proportion and sense and drama". One began to question whether the idea of turning bleeding chunks of operas into showcases for celebrities might not be essentially misconceived. But the feeling of the evening lifted abruptly with the second act of "Die Fledermaus . Hermann Prey's winsome" Eisenstein and Barbara Daniels's "brash" Rosalinde introduced "a party that became a triumphant homage to the powers of the voice", as the tradition of interpolating guest appearances into Orlofsky's festivity was honoured in "one of the most exquisitely refined and extravagant assemblages of vocal artistry" in the Met's entire 108-year history. Hermann Prey evoked memories of his 1966 Met Papageno with an aria that brought the bird-catcher to life with expressive artlessness. Thomas Hampson won an overwhelming ovation with the energy, accuracy and supernatural acting of his "Largo al factotum". Kathleen  Battle combined delicately engraved phrasing and a tone of sensuous velvet in "O luce di quest'anima". Frederica von Stade was charming and kindly in "Ah! Que j'aime les militaires". Broadway was acknowledged by Sherrill Milnes in "Maria" and by Samuel Ramey in "The impossible dream". Ferruccio Furlanetto, currently starring at the Met as Don Giovanni, contributed Leporello's catalogue of his master's conquests. June Anderson was immaculate and celestial in "Je suis Titania". Aprile Millo was suitably overcome by emotion in "La mamma morta". Mirella Freni was forcefully eloquent in "Io son l'umile ancella". And Pavarotti and Domingo joined  forces in a duet from "La Bohème", "clowning with scarves, clasping shoulders and hands and showing a subtle but good-hearted rivalry in their singing and bows". All in all, despite its moments of strain and its lapses into vanity, the gala was "a grand-scale tribute to a great opera company", and one was left admiring the gifts of the evening's soloists and Levine's manifest affection for them. The gala was also reviewed by Martin Bernheimer in "The Los Angeles Times", by Peter G. Davis in "New York Magazine" and by Tim Page in "Newsday". It was  also discussed in "Opera News", "Opernwelt", "Stereo Review" and in Dantia Gould's "The pay-per-view explosion" (1991). Accolades. The gala was recognized three times in the Primetime Emmy Awards for 1992. Brian Large won an award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Classical Music/Dance Programming - Directing, and Plácido Domingo and Kathleen Battle both won awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Classical Music/Dance Programming - Performance. Broadcast and home media history. The gala was broadcast live on Cablevision pay-per-view television on 23 September 1991. Deutsche Grammophon issued the gala in several formats, all with 4:3 NTSC colour video: a  181-minute pair of CLV (constant linear velocity) Laserdiscs (catalogue number 072-528-1) released in 1992, a 167-minute VHS videocassette (catalogue number 072-528-3) also released in 1992 and a 179-minute pair of Region 0 DVDs (catalogue number 00440-073-4582) released in 2010. The DVDs have audio in both lossless PCM stereo and an ersatz 5.1 channel DTS surround sound upmix synthesized with the AMSI II (Ambient Surround Imaging) technology created by Emil Berliner Studios. They have subtitles in Chinese, English, French, German and Spanish, and - although only for items sung in that language - Italian , and are accompanied by a 24-page booklet with four photographs and an essay by Richard Evidon in English, French and German.