Mefistofele Is First 2018-2019 Saturday Matinee Broadcast Dec. 1

Summary: Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele is the first 2018-2019 Saturday matinee broadcast Dec. 1, as opener for the season’s 24 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts.

Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele opens the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast season Dec. 1, 2018, as the first of 24 scheduled broadcasts: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018

Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele is the first 2018-2019 Saturday matinee broadcast Dec. 1 and opens the season’s schedule of 24 Saturday matinee radio broadcasts running from winter 2018 to spring 2019.

Italian composer and librettist Arrigo Boito (Feb. 24, 1842-June 10, 1918) wrote the libretto and composed the musical score for Mefistofele. Boito’s literary source was a two-part tragic play by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Aug. 28, 1749-March 22, 1832). Faust: Eine Tragödie (Faust: A Tragedy), also known as Faust I, was published in 1808. Faust: Der Tragödie zweiter Teil in fünf Akten (Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy in Five Acts), also known as Faust II, was published in 1832.

Boito’s Faustian opera premiere March 5, 1868, at La Scala in Milan, Lombard region, north central Italy. Boito appeared as conductor for the March premiere.

The 2018-2019 Met Opera season offers seven performances of Mefistofele. The season premiere takes place Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Five additional performances are given in November. The month’s additional performances are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m.; Monday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 24, at 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m.

Only one performance takes place in December. The performance Saturday, Dec. 1, begins at 1 p.m. as the first of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s Saturday matinee radio broadcast series.

The three-act opera is estimated to run for 3 hours 29 minutes. Act I spans 59 minutes, followed by a 29-minute intermission. Act II runs for 59 minutes. The intermission between Act II and Act III spans 26 minutes. Act III lasts for 36 minutes.

Carlo Rizzi conducts the first three of the 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s seven performances of Mefistofele. Maestro Rizzi conducts the season premiere, Thursday, Nov. 8. He also conducts Monday, Nov. 12, and Friday, Nov. 16.

Carlo Rizzi’s birthplace is Milan in northwestern Italy’s Lombardy region. The Italian conductor made his Met Opera debut Friday, Oct. 29, 1993, in the opera company’s 989th performance of La Bohème by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). This season, Maestro Rizzi also conducts Puccini’s Tosca.

Maestro Rizzi shares the Mefistofele’s baton with Joseph Colaneri. Maestro Colaneri is responsible for the last four of the season’s seven performances. He conducts the last three November performances (Monday, Nov. 19; Saturday, Nov. 24; Tuesday, Nov. 27). He closes the season’s Mefistofele’s performances as conductor of the Dec. 1 Saturday matinee radio broadcast. The American conductor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000, in the opera company's 1091st performance of Puccini's La Bohème.

Angela Meade appears in all seven performances as Margherita, whose horrific infatuation with Faust ends with her redemption. Her birthplace is Centralia, Lewis County, southwestern Washington. The American operatic soprano’s Met Opera debut took place Friday, March 21, 2008, in the opera company’s 83rd performance of Ernani by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Jennifer Check appears in all seven performances as Helen of Troy, who beguiles Faust during his transportation by Mefistofele back in time to Ancient Greece. In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Jennifer Check also appears as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791). The American soprano's hometown is Woodbridge, Middlesex County, central New Jersey. She had made her Met Opera debut Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001, as Clotilde in the opera company’s 133rd performance of Norma by Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835).

Michael Fabiano appears in all seven performances as Faust, who ultimately rejects the Devil, Mefistofele. The American operatic tenor’s birthplace is Montclair, Essex County, northern New Jersey. He had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, as Raffaele in the opera company’s 18th performance of Verdi’s Stiffelio. In the 2018-2019 Met Opera season, Michael Fabiano also appears as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Christian Van Horn appears in all seven performances as Mefistofele, the Devil, who loses Faust and Margherita to the redemption of divine forgiveness. The American bass-baritone’s birthplace is Rockville Centre, Nassau County, Long Island. He had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Dec. 6, 2013, as Pistola in the opera company’s 176th performance of Verdi’s Falstaff.

The Metropolitan Opera last performed Boito’s Mefistofele in the 1999-2000 season. The season’s performances debuted Robert Carsen’s new staging Nov. 5, 1999. The 2018-2019 Met Opera season’s staging marks the opera house’s first revival of Carsen’s new production.

The Canadian opera director’s production team comprises Michael Levine, costume and set designer; Duane Schuler, lighting designer; and Alphonse Poulin, choreographer. The revival stage director is Paula Suozzi. Lucy Arner, Joseph Colaneri, Joan Dornemann and Dennis Giauque have musical preparation credits.

The takeaway for Mefistofele as the first 2018-2019 Saturday matinee broadcast Dec. 1 is that the season’s performances represent the Metropolitan Opera’s first revival of Canadian opera director’s 1999-2000 season new production of Arrigo Boito’s Faustian opera.

Canadian opera director Robert Carsen’s 1999-2000 Met Opera season new staging of Boito’s Mefistofeles replaces Viennese stage manager Samuel Thewman’s (Feb. 27, 1872-March 22, 1940) 1920-1921 season production that included the Metropolitan Opera debut of Italian operatic tenor Beniamino Gigli (March 20, 1890-Nov. 30, 1957) as Faust: via Metropolitan Opera Archives Database

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele opens the 2018-2019 Met Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcast season Dec. 1, 2018, as the first of 24 scheduled broadcasts: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera via Facebook Feb. 15, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137120435533/

Canadian opera director Robert Carsen’s 1999-2000 Met Opera season new staging of Boito’s Mefistofeles replaces Viennese stage manager Samuel Thewman’s (ca. 1872-March 22, 1940) 1920-1921 season production that included the Metropolitan Opera debut of Italian operatic tenor Beniamino Gigli (March 20, 1890-Nov. 30, 1957) as Faust: via Metropolitan Opera Archives Database @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/Imgs/GigliDebut.jpg

For further information:

“Debut: Angela Meade.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 352433 Ernani {83} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/21/2008.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=352433

“Debut: Beniamino Gigli.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 76130 > Mefistofele {23} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/26/1920.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=76130

“Debut: Carlo Rizzi.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 314310 > La Bohème {989} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/29/1993.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=314310

“Debut: Jennifer Check.” MetOpera Database [Met Performance] CID: 350054 New Production Norma {133} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/11/2001.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350054

"Debut: Joseph Colaneri." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 333168 La Bohème {1091} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 11/18/2000. (Debut: Joseph Colaneri) Metropolitan Opera House. November 18, 2000 Matinee.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=333168

“Debut: Michael Fabiano.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353294 Stiffelio {18} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/11/2010.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353294

“Debuts: Peter Van Praet, Paolo Fanale, Carlo Bosi, Christian Van Horn.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355173 Falstaff {176} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/06/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355173

Italian Genealogical Group and German Genealogy Group. "Samuel Thewman in the New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948." Ancestry.com > New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862-1948 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Available via Ancestry @ https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9131&h=4020416

Marriner, Derdriu. “2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Mefistofele Is Thursday, Nov. 8.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Oct. 29, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of_29.html

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “The spectacular Robert Carsen production returns to the Met for the first time since 2000 . . .” Facebook. Feb. 15, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10160137120435533/

“New Production: Mefistofele.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 76130 New Production Mefistofele {23} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/26/1920.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=76130

“New Production: Mefistofele.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 332117 New Production Mefistofele {55} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/05/1999.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=332117

U.S. National Archives. "Samuel Thewman." Ancestry.com > New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Available via Ancestry @ https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2280&h=3980662