Met Opera Has Given 101 Performances of Verdi's Ernani Over 14 Seasons

Summary: Met Opera has given 101 performances of Verdi's Ernani over 14 seasons, between its Jan. 28, 1903, premiere and last performance, April 11, 2015.

Italian operatic tenor Francesco Meli sang the title role in Met Opera's 101st and most recent performance of Verdi's Ernani on Saturday, April 11, 2015: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter March 26, 2015

Met Opera has given 101 performances of Verdi's Ernani over 14 seasons, from its Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1903, premiere through its last performance, Saturday, April 11, 2015.

Since its premiere season, Ernani has logged 97 additional performances over 13 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera. After its premiere season, however, Ernani was not performed for 18 seasons (1903-1904 through 1920-1921).

Season 1921-1922 offered six performances between Thursday, Dec. 8, 1921 (#5 overall performance), and Monday, April 24 , 1922 (#10). The two succeeding seasons saw four performances between Saturday, Dec. 16, 1922 (#11) and Friday, Feb. 2, 1923 (#14) and four performances between Tuesday, Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1923 (#15) and Saturday, Feb. 2, 1924 (#18).

Ernani then exhibited a sparse performance history. The opera skipped the next four seasons, 1924-1925, 1925-1926, 1926-1927, 1927-1928. Season 1928-1929 offered five performances between Tuesday, Dec. 11, 1928 (#19), and Thursday, Jan. 24, 1929 (#23). But then Ernani was not performed for 27 seasons (1929-1930 through 1955-1956).

In the 1956-1957 season, eight performances were given between Friday, Nov. 23 , 1956 (#24), and Monday, Jan. 21, 1957 (#31). No performances, however, were offered for the next five seasons (1957-1958 through 1961-1962).

Seven performances were presented in the 1962-1963 season between Saturday, Nov. 10, 1962 (#32), and Thursday, Jan. 24, 1963 (#38). Ernani skipped the following season (1963-1964), but resurfaced in the 1964-1965 season for five performances between Friday, March 5, 1965 (#39), and Saturday, April 10 (#43).

The next five seasons (1965-1966 through 1969-1970) saw no performances. But then Ernani opened the 1970-1971 season, with six performances between Monday, Sept. 14, 1970 (#44), and Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1971 (#49). The next 11 seasons (1971-1972 through 1982-1983), however, reverted to no Ernani performances.

Ernani reappeared in the 1983-1984 season. Twenty-three performances were given between Friday, Nov. 18, 1983 (#50), and Friday, June 29, 1984 (#72). In the following season, 1984-1985, nine performances were held between Thursday, Feb. 28, 1985 (#73), and Friday, March 29 (#81).

The biggest gap between performances then occurred. No Ernani performances were staged for 22 seasons, from seasons 1985-1986 through 2006-2007.

Ernani's next activation occurred in the 2007-2008 season. Seven performances were offered between St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2008 (#82), and Thursday, April 10 (#88).

A three-season drought followed. No Ernani performances were offered in seasons 2008-2009 through 2010-2011.

Ernani then was rostered in the 2011-2012 season. Six performances were given between Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 (#89), and Saturday, Feb. 25 (#94).

Ernani skipped the next two seasons, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Seven performances then took place in the 2014-2015 season, between Friday, March 20, 2015 (#95), and Saturday, April 11 (#101).

The Metropolitan Opera has not performed Ernani since the 2014-2015 season. Ernani's 14 active Met Opera seasons logged 101 performances.

Ernani's Jan. 28, 1903, opening marked it as the eighth Verdi opera premiered by the Metropolitan Opera. The first three Verdi premieres were presented during the opera house's inaugural season, 1883-1884. Il Trovatore premiered Friday, Oct. 26; La Traviata opened Monday, Nov. 5; Rigoletto premiered Friday, Nov. 16.

Four subsequent Verdi premieres claimed four seasons between seasons 1886-1887 and 1894-1895. Met Opera's fourth season, 1886-1887, premiered Aida Friday, Nov. 12, 1886, as the opera house's fourth Verdi opera. The opera house's seventh season, 1889-1890, added a fifth Verdi opera to Met Opera's repertoire, with the Wednesday, Dec. 11, 1889, premiere of Un Ballo in Maschera. Met Opera's sixth Verdi premiere was staged in the ninth season, 1891-1892; Otello premiered Saturday, Nov. 23, 1891. Ernani's predecessor was offered in the 1894-1895 season. Falstaff premiered Monday, Feb. 4, 1895, as Met Opera's seventh Verdi opera.

The takeaways for Met Opera's 101 performances of Verdi's Ernani over 14 seasons are that Ernani's Metropolitan Opera premiere occurred Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1903; that the opera's 101st and last Met Opera performance took place approximately 112 years two and one-half months later, on Saturday, April 11, 2015; and that 18 seasons passed between the opera's premiere season and its first reprisal; that two other lengthy non-performance spells, of 11 and 22 seasons, have characterized Ernani's Met Opera performance history.

Italian operatic tenor Emilio De Marchi created Met Opera's Ernani with his title role performance in the opera house's premiere of the Verdi opera on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1903: Music History @today_classical, via Twitter March 20, 2016

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Italian operatic tenor Francesco Meli sang the title role in Met Opera's 101st and most recent performance of Verdi's Ernani on Saturday, April 11, 2015: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Twitter March 26, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/581120327335452672

Italian operatic tenor Emilio De Marchi created Met Opera's Ernani with his title role performance in the opera house's premiere of the Verdi opera on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1903: Music History @today_classical, via Twitter March 20, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/today_classical/status/711496281038917632

For further information:

Arakelyan, Ashot. "Emilio De Marchi (Tenor) (Voghera 1861 – Milan 1917)." Forgotten Opera Singers. March 30, 2015.
Available @ https://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2015/03/emilio-de-marchi-tenor-voghera-1861.html

"Debut: Emilio de Marchi." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 27640 Aida {62} Buffalo, New York: 10/18/1901.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=27640

"Debuts: Paolo Arrivabeni, Catherine MiEun Choi-Steckmeyer, Francesco Meli, Andrea Silvestrelli, Nino Surguladze." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353568 Rigoletto {827} Metropolitan Opera House: 09/29/2010., Sirius and XM Broadcast live.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353568

Marriner, Derdriu. "Ernani Opened Jan. 28, 1903, as Eighth Verdi Opera at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 22, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/01/ernani-opened-jan-28-1903-as-eighth.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Gretel Urban Designed Costumes for U.S. Turandot Premiere at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, July 30, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/gretel-urban-designed-costumes-for-us.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Joseph Urban Designed Sets for 29 New Productions at Met Opera." Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 20, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/joseph-urban-designed-sets-for-29-new.html

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Listen Live tonight to ERNANI! Francesco Meli stars with @PlacidoDomingo & @SoprAngela. 7:25PM http://bit.ly/1pF1Ros." Twitter. March 26, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/581120327335452672

"Metropolitan Opera Premiere Ernani." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 30710 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Ernani {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/28/1903.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=30710

Music History @today_classical. "#Today in 1917 Death of #tenor Emilio De #Marchi #MusicHistory #classicalmusic." Twitter. March 20, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/today_classical/status/711496281038917632

Rous, Samuel Holland. The Victrola Book of the Opera: Stories of One Hundred and Twenty Operas With Seven-Hundred Illustrations and Descriptions of Twelve-Hundred Victor Opera Records. Fourth revised edition. Camden NJ: Victor Talking Machine Company, 1917.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/victrolabookofop00vict