Kathleen Howard Created Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at Met Opera

Summary: American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard created Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at Met Opera via 19 performances in five seasons.

Kathleen Howard poses with six career highlights, including her role as Gianni Schicchi's Zita (first left, second row); ca. 1915 to ca. 1920 Bain News Service negative glass photo; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress

American mezzo-soprano Kathleen Howard created Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at Met Opera through 19 appearances in the opera house's first 20 performances of the short comic opera.

The world premiere of Gianni Schicchi (pronounce: jahn-nee skee-kee) took place Saturday, Dec. 14, 1918, at the Metropolitan Opera. Gianni Schicchi was staged with the first two installments, Il Tabarro (The Cloak) and Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), of Il Trittico (The Triptych), three one-act operas by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). Italian librettist and playwright Giovacchino Forzano (Nov. 19, 1884-Oct. 28, 1970) based his Italian libretto of Gianni Schicchi on an episode in Canto XXX of the first cantica, Inferno, of Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy) by medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri (May/June 1265-Sept. 14, 1321).

Including the world premiere, Il Trittico received seven performances in the 1918-1919 Met Opera season. The second performance, Tuesday, Dec. 17, took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Metropolitan Opera was the venue for the third through seventh, closing performances (Monday, Dec. 23; Friday, Jan. 3, 1919; Thursday, Jan. 16; Saturday, Feb. 1; Wednesday, Feb. 26).

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956) created the role of Zita in Gianni Schicchi's world premiere season. The American mezzo-soprano had made her Metropolitan Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 14, 1916, as the Nurse in the opera house's 27th performance of Boris Godunov by Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (March 21, 1839-March 28, 1881).

The Metropolitan Opera offered four performances of Il Trittico in the next season, 1919-1920. The opera house was the venue for all four performances (Wednesday, Dec. 17, 1919; Saturday, Jan. 3, 1920; Saturday, Jan. 31; Monday, March 1).

Five seasons elapsed between the 1919-1920 season and the next staging of Gianni Schicchi. The Metropolitan Opera did not perform Il Trittico, in part or as a triple feature, from the 1920-1921 season through the 1924-1925 season.

In the 1925-1926 season, Gianni Schicchi received four performances. The opera house was the venue for all four performances (Saturday, Feb. 6, 1926; Friday, Feb. 19; Thursday, March 4; St. Patrick's Day, Wednesday, March 17).

For the 1925-1926 season, the Metropolitan Opera disconnected Gianni Schicchi from Il Trittico. Instead, the season's first performance paired Gianni Schicchi with the opera house's 246th performance of Pagliacci by Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919).

For the season's second and third performances, Gianni Schicchi headed a triple feature with Pagliacci and Skyscrapers. The world premiere of Skyscrapers: A Ballet of Modern American Life by American composer John Alden Carpenter (Feb. 28, 1876-April 26, 1951) took place during the second performance, between the opera house's 13th performance of Gianni Schicchi and 247th performance of Pagliacci.

The 1925-1926 season's fourth, closing performance of Gianni Schicchi was triple-billed with Petrouchka and Skyscrapers. Kathleen Howard achieved her 15th appearance as Zita in between the opera house's 11th performance of Petrouchka Petrouchka by Russian-born composer, conductor and pianist Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882-April 6, 1971) and Met Opera's second performance of Skyscrapers.

The next season, 1926-1927, Gianni Schicchi received three performances. The Metropolitan Opera was the venue for the first two performances (Saturday, Jan. 29, 1927; Monday, Feb. 28). The season's third, closing performance (Tuesday, April 26) was held at the Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Gianni Schicchi's three performances were paired with L'Amore dei Tre Re by Italian composer Italo Montemezzi (Aug. 4, 1875-May 15, 1952). Kathleen Howard sang Zita for the season's first two performances, putting in her 16th and 17th Zita appearances after the opera house's 43rd and 44th performances of L'Amore dei Tre Re.

In the following season, 1927-1928, Gianni Schicchi received two performances. The opera house was the venue for the first, opening (Wednesday, March 21, 1928) and second, closing (Saturday, April 7) performances.

The first performance preceded the opera house's 265th performance of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. The second performance preceded the opera house's 102nd performance of Hänsel und Gretel by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (Sept. 1, 1854-Sept. 27, 1921).

Kathleen Howard's singing Zita in both performances numbered as her last two appearances as Met Opera's first Zita. Her 19 appearances in Met Opera's first 20 performances of Gianni Schicchi had been distributed over five seasons.

After Kathleen Howard's last season, 1927-1928, as Zita, Gianni Schicchi remained unperformed for five seasons (1928-1929, 1929-1930, 1930-1931, 1931-1932, 1932-1933). The Metropolitan Opera revived Puccini's one-act comic opera for six performances in the 1933-1934 season.

The takeaways for Kathleen Howard's creation of Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at Met Opera are that the American mezzo-soprano sang the role in 19 of the opera's first 20 performances at Met Opera; that she reprised the role after the opera's five season break; and that five seasons elapsed between the opera house's 20th Gianni Schicchi performance (Kathleen Howard's 19th Zita appearance) and Met Opera's 21st Gianni Schicchi performance.

Kathleen Howard as Puccini's Zita in 1918 Metropolitan Opera world premiere of Gianni Schicchi; 1918 photo by White Studio, New York; Metropolitan Opera Archives: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Kathleen Howard poses with six career highlights, including her role as Gianni Schicchi's Zita (first left, second row); ca. 1915 to ca. 1920 Bain News Service negative glass photo; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/ggbain.30172/

Kathleen Howard as Puccini's Zita in 1918 Metropolitan Opera world premiere of Gianni Schicchi; 1918 photo by White Studio, New York; Metropolitan Opera Archives: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kathleen_Howard_3.jpg

For further information:

"Debut: Kathleen Howard." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 64010 Boris Godunov {27} Academy of Music, New York, Brooklyn: 11/14/1916.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=64010

Howard, Kathleen. Confessions of an Opera Singer. New York NY: Alfred A. Knopf, MCMXVIII (1918).
Available from University of California Libraries via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/confessionsofope00howarich
Available via Project Gutenberg @ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32980/32980-h/32980-h.htm#page_076

Marriner, Derdriu. "2018-2019 Met Opera Season Premiere of Il Trittico Is Friday, Nov. 23." Earth and Space News. Monday, Nov. 12, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-2019-met-opera-season-premiere-of_12.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Florence Easton, Puccini’s Lauretta Creator, Died Aug. 13, 1955." Earth and Space News. Monday, Aug. 12, 2019.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2019/08/florence-easton-puccinis-lauretta.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Il Trittico Is the Dec. 8, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast." Earth and Space News. Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/12/il-trittico-is-dec-8-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kathleen Howard Began, Ended Met Opera Career as Boris Godunov's Nurse." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 21, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-began-ended-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Kathleen Howard Sang Boris Godunov With Adamo Didur and Fyodor Chaliapin." Earth and Space News. Monday, June 28, 2021.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/kathleen-howard-sang-boris-godunov-with.html

Opera News. "Metropolitan Opera Broadcast: Il Trittico." Opera News Magazine, issue 86, article 2068.
Available @ https://www.operanews.com/operanews/issue/article.aspx?id=2068&issueID=86

Puccini Museum. "Gianni Schicchi." The Puccini Museum > Getting to Know Giacomo Puccini > The Operas.
Available @ http://www.puccinimuseum.org/en/getting-to-know-giacomo-puccini/the-operas/

Puccini Museum -- Casa natale, Lucca @PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca. "#accaddeoggi #history #trittico 11 gennaio 1919 Va in scena la prima italiana de Il trittico al Teatro Costanzi, oggi Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, a meno di un mese dalla prima assoluta al The Metropolitan Opera di New York il 14 dicembre 1918. Direttore d'orchestra: Gino Marinuzzi, Protagonisti Carlo Galeffi, Edoardo Di Giovanni e Maria Labia (Il tabarro); Gilda Dalla Rizza e Matilde Blanco Sadun (Suor Angelica); Carlo Galeffi, Gilda Dalla Rizza, Edoardo Di Giovanni (Gianni Schicchi). Scena di Galileo Chini." Facebook. Jan. 11, 2021.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca/photos/a.124285127655245/3586006418149748/?type=3&theater

Puccini Museum -- Casa natale, Lucca @PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca. "#accaddeoggi #history #trittico #iltabarro #suorangelica #giannischicchi 14 dicembre 1918 Alla The Metropolitan Opera House di New York va in scena la prima assoluta de Il Trittico. . . ." Facebook. Dec. 14, 2020.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca/posts/3527521470664910

Puccini Museum -- Casa natale, Lucca @PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca. "#Puccinikids #GianniSchicchi L'8️⃣ dicembre alle ore 15:30 ‼ Ultimo appuntamento dell'anno 2019 con le attività per bambini e con 𝐆𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐂𝐇𝐈, il simpatico birbante che diventerà il protagonista di un fumetto!! Tutte le informazioni sul nostro sito http://www.puccinimuseum.org/it/evento/puccini-comics-games/." Facebook. Dec. 6, 2019.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/PucciniMuseumCasaNataleLucca/photos/a.124285127655245/2559742960776104/?type=3&theater

"World Premiere: Gianni Schicchi." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 70380 World Premiere Il Trittico {1} Il Tabarro {1} Suor Angelica {1} Gianni Schicchi {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/14/1918.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=70380

"World Premiere: Skyscrapers." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 92460 World Premiere (Skyscrapers) Gianni Schicchi {13} Skyscrapers {1} Pagliacci {247} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/19/1926. (Debuts: Roger Dodge, John Alden Carpenter, Robert Edmond Jones, Samuel Lee.).
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=92460