Earth and Space News: Franco Zeffirelli Made His Met Opera Debut in Staging Verdi’s Falstaff

Summary: Franco Zeffirelli made his Met Opera debut in staging Verdi’s Falstaff during the 1963-1964 Met Opera season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s debut of Franco Zeffirelli’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff on March 6, 1964, featured Leonard Bernstein as conductor and Anselmo Colzani, Gabriella Tucci, Mario Sereni, Regina Resnik and Judith Raskin as Sir John Falstaff, Alice Ford, Ford, Dame Quickly and Nannetta, respectively: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook June 22, 2019

Italian film, opera and television director and producer Franco Zeffirelli made his Met Opera debut in his new staging of Verdi’s Falstaff during the Metropolitan Opera’s 1963-1964 season.

Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (Feb. 12, 1923-June 15, 2019), known as Franco Zeffirelli, debuted Friday, March 6, 1964, at the Metropolitan Opera in his new production of Falstaff by 19th-century Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). The new production received 15 performances in the 1963-1964 Met Opera season.

The new production’s season premiere marked Zeffirelli’s debuts as production director and as designer. He designed the production’s costumes and sets. Choreographer and ballet dancer William Burdick (?-2005) was the production’s choreographer.

American music critic and historian Irving Kolodin (Feb. 21, 1908-April 29, 1988) noted in his review in the March 7, 1964, issue of Saturday Review that Zeffirelli’s production of Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera numbered as his sixth career staging and design of the opera. Zeffirelli’s prior Falstaffs included stagings for the Holland Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1956; Israel National Opera, Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1959; and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, England, in 1961.

Zeffirelli’s new Falstaff also debuted Leonard Bernstein (Aug. 25, 1918-Oct. 14, 1990) as the opera’s conductor. The American composer, conductor and pianist conducted 10 of the premiere season’s 15 performances.

Martin Rich (Oct. 8, 1905-Oct. 23, 2000) conducted five of the six performances that were staged away from the opera house for Met Opera’s 1963-1964 tour. The German opera and symphonic conductor had made his Metropolitan Opera debut Jan. 25, 1955, in the opera house’s 177th performance of Manon by French Romantic Era composer Jules Massenet (May 12, 1842-Aug. 13, 1912).

The Metropolitan Opera staged 10 revivals of Zeffirelli’s production. The first revival took place in the following season, 1964-1965. Subsequent 20th-century revivals were staged in the 1965-1966, 1967-1968, 1971-1972, 1974-1975, 1985-1986, 1992-1993 and 1995-1966 seasons.

The production’s ninth and 10th revivals took place in the 21st century. The ninth revival was offered in the 2001-2002 Met Opera season. The 10th and last revival was staged in the 2005-2006 season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s second music director, James Levine, began his association with Zeffirelli’s production during the fourth revival. In the fourth revival, in the 1971-1972 season, he conducted two of the season’s nine performances. In the fifth revival, in the 1974-1975 season, Maestro Levine conducted eight of the revival’s 13 performances. He conducted all performances in the sixth through ninth revivals, which took place in the 1985-1986, 1992-1993, 1995-1996 and 2001-2002 seasons, respectively. In the 10th and last revival, staged in the 2005-2006 season, Maestro Levine conducted seven of the season’s eight performances.

The Metropolitan Opera’s last performance of Zeffirelli’s Falstaff took place Oct. 22, 2005. The production’s 109 performances encompassed 10 revivals and spanned 41 years and 7 and one-half months.

The Metropolitan Opera replaced Zeffirelli’s Falstaff with a new production in the 2013-2014 Met Opera season. Robert Carsen’s new staging debuted Dec. 6, 2013, in the opera’s 176th performance at the opera house. The Canadian opera director’s production received 10 performances in the 2013-2014 season. James Levine conducted all performances.

The Metropolitan Opera revived Carsen’s production during the 2018-2019 season. Seven performances were offered during the first revival.

The Metropolitan Opera hosted the United States premiere of Falstaff Feb. 4, 1895. English actor and stage manager William Parry (Jan. 9, 1856-) directed the newly produced opera. Italian orchestral conductor Luigi Mancinelli (Feb. 5, 1848-Feb. 2, 1921) was the premiere’s conductor. The production received 12 performances in the 1894-1895 season. The Metropolitan Opera never revived Parry’s staging.

The takeaways for Franco Zeffirelli’s making his Met Opera debut in staging Verdi’s Falstaff are that the Italian film, opera and television director and producer shared his debut as director and designer with American composer, conductor and pianist Leonard Bernstein as conductor and that the Metropolitan Opera performances of Zeffirelli’s production included 10 revivals and spanned four decades.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Leonard Bernstein conducted 10 of the 15 performances of Franco Zeffirelli’s new production of Verdi’s Falstaff in the 1963-1964 season: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Aug. 25, 2019, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10162373462675533

For further information:

Browne, Walter; E. De Roy Koch, eds. “William Parry.” Who’s Who on the Stage 1908: 340. New York NY: B.W. Dodge & Company, 1908.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=1BpAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924081263240/page/n353

“Debut: Martin Rich.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 167770 Manon {177} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/25/1966.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=167770

“Debuts: Luigi Alva, Leonard Bernstein, Franco Zeffirelli.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 197440 New Production Falstaff {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/6/1964.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=197440

“Debuts: Nancy Benson, William Burdick . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 181540 Ballet Evening. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/22/1959.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=181540

Enclave of the Arts @joshuasquad. “William Burdick as found in http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Mime-All-Time-…/…/ref=asap_bc. . . .” Facebook. May 25, 2015.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/joshuasquad/photos/a.940553549299092/941450189209428/

Enclave of the Arts @joshuasquad. “William Burdick, master teacher of ballet and choreographer for the Metropolitan Opera Dance, He had an interesting life. As a ballet dancer, he was struck by a truck on the streets of Manhattan. It broke his back. He was unable to recover to dance so he changed to choreographer and performer of the Masque from the theatre of Renaissance England. He led master classes in warmups at the International Mime Institute and Festival in 1974.” Facebook. June 5, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/joshuasquad/photos/william-burdick-master-teacher-of-ballet-and-choreographer-for-the-metropolitan-/1921545607866543/

Kolodin, Irving. “Music to My Ears.” The Saturday Review, March 7, 1964: 26.
Available @ http://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1964mar07-00026/

Lawson, Wayne. “The Met Opera Swaps Out Two More Zeffirellis.” Vanity Fair > Culture. April 16, 2015.
Available @ https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/04/met-opera-cavalleria-rusticana-pagliacci-review

Lieb, N. Brooke. “Back in the Studio: Applying Alexander Technique in My Return to Dance.” ACATNYC (American Center for the Alexander Technique) > Feeling Great: The ACAT Blog. Dec. 11, 2017.
Available @ https://www.acatnyc.org/blog-posts/2017/12/11/back-in-the-studio-applying-alexander-technique-in-my-return-to-dance

Marriner, Derdriu. “Falstaff Is the March 16, 2019, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, March 11, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/03/falstaff-is-march-16-2019-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Only Two of 11 Zeffirelli Productions Are Still Revived at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, May 25, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/05/only-two-of-11-zeffirelli-productions.html

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Legendary director Franco Zeffirelli (1923–2019), who created 11 Met productions between 1964 and 1998, worked with many of opera’s greatest artists, from Leontyne Price to Leonard Bernstein to Plácido Domingo. Look back on his unparalleled career with this collection of snapshots of him at work. Photo: Zeffirelli rehearses a scene from Verdi's Falstaff, the production which marked his Met debut in 1964 Photo courtesy of Met Archives.” Facebook. June 22, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532/10162094337290533/

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “Happy birthday to legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, who was born on August 25, 1918. Here he is pictured at rehearsals for Verdi’s Falstaff, the opera that marked the American maestro’s 1964 Met debut. Photo courtesy of the Met Archives.” Facebook. Aug. 25, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10162373462675533

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. “The Met mourns the loss of director Franco Zeffirelli, one of the great visionaries in our company's history. From Falstaff in 1964 to La Traviata in 1998, he created 11 Met productions in all, and his classic La Bohème, which premiered in 1981, remains the most-performed staging in the company's history. We extend our condolences to his family and friends. Photo: A tribute to Zeffirelli, center, on the Met stage between acts of a 2008 performance of his beloved production of La Bohème. With him, from left to right, are Rosalind Elias, Paul Plishka, Angela Gheorghiu, Justino Díaz, and Peter Gelb. Photo by Marty Sohl / Met Opera.” Facebook. June 15, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10162064565770533

“New Production: Falstaff.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 197440 New Production Falstaff {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/6/1964.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=197440

“New Production: Falstaff.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355173 New Production Falstaff {176} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/06/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355173

Plotkin, Fred. “Remembering Franco Zeffirelli (1923-2019).” WQXR > Operavore. June 17, 2019.
Available @ https://www.wqxr.org/story/remembering-franco-zeffirelli-19232019/

Theatre Adelphi ’77. “William ‘Bill’ Burdick.” Theatre Adelphi ’77 > Absent Friends.
Available @ https://theatreadelphi77.com/images/absent_friends/Bill_Burdick/bill_burdick.html

“United States Premiere: Falstaff.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 14190 United States Premiere Falstaff {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/4/1895.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=14190

Earth and Space News

Monday, June 1, 2020

Franco Zeffirelli Made His Met Opera Debut in Staging Verdi’s Falstaff

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