Geraldine Farrar Sang Zazà With Kathleen Howard as Anaide at Met Opera

Summary: Geraldine Farrar sang Zazà with Kathleen Howard as Anaide at Met Opera in all 23 performances of Pagliacci-composer Ruggero Leoncavallo's gypsy opera.

Geraldine Farrar as Pagliacci-composer Ruggero Leoncavallo's Zazà, 1922 image from Bain News Service glass plate negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Geraldine Farrar sang Zazà with Kathleen Howard as Anaide at Met Opera in the opera house's 23 performances, distributed over three successive seasons, of Pagliacci-composer Ruggero Leoncavallo's French gypsy opera.

The Metropolitan Opera premiere of Zazà took place Monday, Jan. 16, 1920. The opera lirica in quattro atti (four-act lyric opera) by Italian opera composer and librettist Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857-Aug. 9, 1919) received nine performances in the 1919-1920 season. The opera house was the venue for the first three (Jan. 16 premiere; Monday, Feb. 2; St. Valentine's Day, Saturday, Feb. 14) and the fifth through eighth (Wednesday, Feb. 25; Thursday, March 18; Thursday, March 25; Saturday, April 17) performances. The fourth performance (Tuesday, Feb. 17) took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ninth, closing performance (Tuesday, April 27) was held at the Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.

Zazà received eight performances in the following season, 1920-1921. The opera house was the venue for the first three (Friday, Nov. 19, 1920; Saturday, Dec. 4; Wednesday, Dec. 15) and the last four (Saturday, Jan. 22, 1921; Monday, Jan. 31; Saturday, April 2; Thursday, April 21) performances. The 1920-1921 season's fourth performance of Zazà took place at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

In the next season, 1921-1922, Zazà received six performances. The opera house was the venue for all six performances (Monday, Dec. 12, 1921; Monday, Dec. 26; Wednesday, Jan. 4, 1922; Thursday, Feb. 16; Friday, March 3; Saturday, April 22).

The Metropolitan Opera has not staged Zazà since the 1921-1922 season. The season's sixth, closing performance of Saturday, April 22, 1922, numbers as the opera house's 23rd and last performance of Zazà.

Geraldine Farrar (Feb. 28, 1882-March 11, 1967) created Met Opera's Zazà, a French gypsy music hall singer who ends her passionate affair with Milio Dufresne upon verifying his marital status. She sang the title role for the opera's 23 Met Opera performances. Geraldine Farrar's appearance as Zazà in the opera's 23rd and last performance of the opera marked her last Met Opera performance. The American lyric soprano had made her Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 26, 1906, in the title role of Juliette in the opera house's 102nd performance of Roméo et Juliette by 19th-century French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Kathleen Howard (July 27, 1884-April 15, 1956) created Met Opera's Anaide, Zazà's alcoholic mother, and sang the role for all 23 performances at the opera house. 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). Her debut happened at New York City's Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Giulio Crimi (May 10, 1885-Oct. 29, 1939) created Met Opera's Milio Dufresne, the Parisian businessman whose wife and daughter remain ignorant of his passionate affair with Alcazar music hall's Zazà. He sang Milio in the premiere season's first seven performances, the last four performances of the 1920-1921 season and the third performance of the 1921-1922 season. The Italian operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Wednesday, Nov. 13, 1918, as Radamès in the opera house's 236th performance of Aida by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901).

Giovanni Martinelli (Oct. 22, 1885-Feb. 2, 1969) sang as Met Opera's second Milio in the premiere season's last two performances, the second season's first four performances and the third season's first and last two performances. (The Metropolitan Opera Archives Database credits him for the 1920-1921 season's second performance, citing "other company records," but notes Crimi's name as ". . . written into the signed program as Milio . . ."). The Italian operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Tuesday, Nov. 18, 1913, in the opera house's 96th performance of Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Morgan Kingston (March 16, 1881-Aug 4, 1936) sang as Met Opera's third Milio in the third season's second and fourth performances. The Welsh tenor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Dec. 1, 1917, in the title role of Manrico the Troubadour in the opera house's 124th performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore.

Pasquale Amato (March 21, 1878-Aug. 12, 1942) created Met Opera's Cascart, who lets his Alcazar duet partner know that she is not the only woman in Milio Dufresne's life. He sang Cascart in all nine of the first season's performances. The Italian operatic baritone had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Nov. 20, 1908, as Germont in the opera house's 67th performance of Verdi's La Traviata.

Giuseppe De Luca (Dec. 25, 1876-Aug. 26, 1950) sang as Met Opera's second Cascart in the opera's last 14 performances (all eight 1920-1921 season performances; all six 1921-1922 season performances). The Italian baritone had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Nov. 25, 1915, in the title role of Figaro in the opera house's 84th performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868).

Roberto Moranzoni (Oct. 5, 1880-Dec. 14, 1959) conducted all 23 performances of Zazà. The Italian conductor had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 12, 1917, in the opera house's 225th performance of Verdi's Aida.

Richard Ordynski (Oct. 5, 1878-Aug. 13, 1953) directed the production's Metropolitan Opera premiere. The Polish film and theatre director had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, March 8, 1917, in the opera house's world premiere of The Canterbury Pilgrims by American composer Henry Louis Reginald De Koven (April 3, 1859-Jan. 16, 1920).

James Fox was the production's set designer. He had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Jan. 23, 1904, in the Metropolitan Opera premiere of L'Elisir d'Amore by Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Samuel Thewman (Feb. 27, 1872-March 22, 1940) was credited as the production's director for the 1920-1921 season. The Viennese American stage manager had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 15, 1920, in the opera house's 29th performance of La Juive by French composer Fromental Halévy (May 27, 1799-March 17, 1862).

Armando Agnini (July 11, 1884-March 27, 1960) was credited as the production's director for the 1921-1922 season's production of Zazà. The Italian stage director had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, April 26, 1919, in the opera house's eighth performance of I Puritani by 19th-century Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835).

The takeaways for Geraldine Farrar as Zazà and Kathleen Howard as Anaide at Met Opera are that they created the respective roles of the French gypsy music hall singer and her alcoholic mother at the opera house and sang those roles in all 23 Met Opera performances of Pagliacci-creator Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera; and that the opera's 23rd performance marked Geraldine Farrar's last Met Opera performance and the last Met Opera performance of Zazà.

Kathleen Howard's portfolio of operatic gypsy roles included such famous gypsy roles as Bizet's Carmen and Verdi's Azucena at European opera houses and Anaide, alcoholic mother of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Zazà, at the Metropolitan Opera; undated image from Bain News Service glass plate negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Geraldine Farrar as Pagliacci-composer Ruggero Leoncavallo's Zazà, 1922 image from Bain News Service glass plate negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014713878/

Kathleen Howard's portfolio of operatic gypsy roles included such famous gypsy roles as Bizet's Carmen and Verdi's Azucena at European opera houses and Anaide, alcoholic mother of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Zazà, at the Metropolitan Opera; undated image from Bain News Service glass plate negative; George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014686304/

For further information:

Arakelyan, Ashot."Morgan Kingston (Tenor) (Wednesbury, Staffordshire 1881 – London 1936)." Forgotten Opera Singers. May 17, 2012.
Available @ http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2012/05/morgan-kingston-wednesbury.html

"Debut: Armando Agnini." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID:71980 I Puritani {8} Matinee ed. Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia: 04/26/1919.
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"Debut: Giovanni Martinelli." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 55010 Tosca {96} Albany, New York: 11/18/1913.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=55010

"Debut: Giulio Crimi." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 70020 Aida {236} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/13/1918.
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"Debut: James Fox." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 32610 Metropolitan Opera Premiere L'Elisir d'Amore {1} Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/23/1904.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=32610

"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

"Debut: Morgan Kingston." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 67230 Il Trovatore {124} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/1/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67230

"Debut: Pasquale Amato." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 42050 La Traviata {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/20/1908.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=42050

"Debut: Samuel Thewman." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 76000 La Juive {29} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/15/1920. Opening Night {36} Giulio Gatti-Casazza, General Manager.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=76000

"Debuts: Geraldine Farrar, Charles Rousselière, Jules-Charles Simard." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 38000 Roméo et Juliette {102} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/26/1906. Opening Night {22} Heinrich Conried, General Manager.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=38000

"Debuts: Giuseppe De Luca, Giacomo Damacco, Pompilio Malatesta." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 61120 Il Barbiere di Siviglia {84} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/25/1915.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=61120

"Debuts: José Mardones, Roberto Moranzoni." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 67000 Aida {225} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/12/1917. Opening Night {33} Giulio Gatti-Casazza, General Manager.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=67000

"Debuts: Richard Ordynski, Homer F. Emens, Hildreth Meière." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 65390 World Premiere The Canterbury Pilgrims {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/8/1917.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=65390

Howard, Kathleen. Confessions of an Opera Singer. New York NY: Alfred A. Knopf, MCMXVIII (1918).
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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2021/06/myrtle-schaaf-sang-in-54-performances.html

"Metropolitan Opera Premiere: Zazà." MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 73730 Metropolitan Opera Premiere Zazà {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/16/1920.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=73730

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