Verdi: La Traviata

Anna Moffo Lives La Traviata

ABOUT THE ALBUM: Verdi (La Traviata) Original 2 LP set Released In 1960 By RCA Victor Living Stereo; remastered as CD 1993 and 1997 with high resolution/stereo-orthophonic UV22 20 bit resolution. CAST: Anna Moffo, soprano (Violetta), Richard Tucker, tenor (Alfredo), Robert Merrill, baritone (Giorgio Germont), Anna Reynolds, mezzo-soprano (Flora), Franco Calabrese, baritone (Baron Duphol) Piero De Palma, baritone (Gastone), Vito Susca, bariton (Marquis D'Obigny) Liliana Poli, mezzo-soprano (Annina, Violeta's maid) Franco Ventriglia, baritone (Grenvil, Violetta's doctor)....Conductor Fernando Previtali, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus....

The Background On This Recording:

This 1960 La Traviata recording is well-known and beloved by operaphiles world wide, a classic, as the many glowing reviews say for themselves. When it was released, opera was first gaining marketable status in the recording industry and many now famed opera recordings were being made at the start of the 1960's. RCA and Decca were the lead companies and singers whose debuts at the Metropolitan Opera were recent like Anna Moffo, Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli and Birgit Nilsson owed much to these companies for the launching of successful recordings made to promote their artistry as opera singers. Recording in the States became expensive and many singers resorted to traveling to Europe to record their albums (The Sofiensaal in Vienna, Austria or the Abby Road Studios in London, England). In the case of this La Traviata, Anna Moffo, whose familiy roots were in Italy, transported her original Traviatas with New York's Metropolitan Opera to Rome, Italy. The conductor, Fernando Previtali, is not a big name (and I didn't recognize the name and he is lost to the great names at this time like Carlo Maria Giulini, Karl Bohm, Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf and Herbert Von Karajan). But his work with the Rome Opera Orchestra produced a wonderful rendition of Traviata suffusing the score with Italian color (a lot like Carlo Maria Giulini another Italian conductor), with a lot of nuance, pathos, beauty, very powerful drama and the sense of being performed as live theater. This is a very old-fashioned production of Traviata and if you have been listening or watching newer Traviatas (with Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Anna Netrebko) each who have recordings, you'll find that this one is terribly melodramatic, particularily in Anna Moffo's performance as the consumptive courtesan. But remember it was 1960 and the Traviata at the Met at this time was strictly of the period perfect kind. Never before have I heard a more beautiful Traviata, not only with singing of the highest calibre but with passionate drama. If applause and "live" sounds were mixed in, one would quickly assume this was a performance captured live at the Met in 1960, at the time Anna Moffo debuted as Violetta. There is a clarity, vitality and a real sense of theatre in this album. There is never a bad moment, the pacing is perfect, not too slow, not too fast. There is also no true embellishment in the score, neither from the orchestra or the singers. This is a very straight-forward and dramatic Traviata without pretending to be something grander. There are only four American singers - Anna Moffo(American-born to Italian parents), Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill and Anna Reynolds. The rest are quality Italian singers trained at the Rome Opera.

ANNA MOFFO IS VIOLETTA

Anna Moffo coughs, cries, loves, lives and dies throughout the recording. Some may find her coughing excessive and melodramatic but again, she is acting in the style that was very common at the time in opera productions or perhaps this was her own way of acting and living out the part of Violetta. Other sopranos who have played her make her very strong and a fighter despite her illness (Maria Callas' Violetta is very strong as is Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballe, Carol Vaness and Angela Gheorghiu). But the real way to interpret Violetta is at least a combination of fragile beauty and dynamic woman. Many sopranos today don't cough and just sing the part with a full lyric voice but don't add any reality to their performance and the reality is that Violetta has tubercolosis. This is the only tragic aspect of the opera, for if she didn't have consumption, the ending would have been a happy one, even at the close call she gets when Alfredo's father Germont puts an end to their romance simply because he feels she is shaming the family name with her association with Alfredo. He later changed his heart, after all, upon realizing that Violetta is a good woman. Anna Moffo's tears and coughs may seem affected and over-the-top but it was in fact a thing which Verdi had written into the score for Violetta's scenes, even in the first Act, where not only does she feel faint, is pale but is also supposed to be coughing between lines. Anna Moffo's debut at the Met was as Violetta and it was the role she sang with most frequency. At the time of her debut, no other soprano could hold a candle next to her Violetta. She looked part - beautiful, Italian looking, charming, frail and her singing was as good as the most skilled of Italian sopranos before her. Her Italian heritage is to her credit, for she has a deep understanding of the language's nuance, color, expression and drama. She spins out beautiful phrases, darkens her voice and uses a lot of the middle part of her voice, has a gleaming high register and a very generous chest register which she employs for various moments (such as her confrontation with Germont in which she refuses to give up Alfredo). Many sopranos don't use the chest register to sing Violetta which calls for lyric coloratura capabilities and for the voice to remain "youthful" or "light" as well as sounding fragile and passionate. Moffo has the abilities to sing with passion and with fragility but she is also very strong in the dramatic departments. She has such a strong, and BIG voice for what some see as being a small voice. She is somehow able to produce a larger-than-life appearance and makes Violetta very heroic. Her voice sounds dark and sultry and at times I swear I was hearing not Anna Moffo but Leontyne Price. The comparisons aren't exact but at times she sings the lyrico spinto parts Verdi wrote with the same regial and noble bearing as Leontyne. Her coloratura is not perfect and other singers (like Beverly Sills and Joan Sutherland) seem to place emphasis on the elaborate coloratura such as with "Sempre Libera". What Moffo has is fioritura, and this is what Verdi wanted in Violetta. She sings with a breathy, fluttery voice to depict her consumption, her "social butterfly" appearance and her fragility. The Maria Callas fanatics who adored her interpretation of Violetta (much more hardcore but clinical) don't seem to like Anna Moffo. The truth is at this time, Callas' reign in opera was ending and Anna Moffo, a younger rival, was taking over and doing a fantastic Violetta which at one time had been one of Callas' successes. Anna Moffo is a glorious soprano who died only recently (2005)and this Traviata is a perfect tribute to her unique artistry as one of the few American singers who were at the top of the opera world at the time. She was the first "glamorous" and super model like singer (along with Callas after she lost weight). She was overshadowed by singers like Leontyne Price, Birgit Nilsson, Renata Scotto, Joan Sutherland and Montserrat Caballe because Moffo seems to have made a career out of the same type of roles - Violetta, Mimi in La Boheme, Lucia, and rarely ventured into the more dramatic reperotire like other contemporaries did and never sang anything more challenging than Madame Butterfly. She is however very well-documented on recordings of La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Rigoletto, Lucia and Le Nozze Di Figaro. She married a film director who made her a star in his "opera films" of Traviata and Lucia.

Richard Tucker's Alfredo

American tenor Richard Tucker's voice was not at its prime in this recording. He had sung Alfredo often times before with great aplomb and he did in fact sing opposite Moffo in Traviata at the Met. What we hear in this recording is an older, mature, more experienced voice with heroic characterization. This is the loudest and brassiest Alfredo you'll ever find. It is also sung in a very dark vein, almost as if slipping into baritone. It's not an ardent young lover we hear but a middle-aged man who has fallen in love with a younger woman. But while Tucker's vocal interpretation is neither elegant or youthful, it's passionate. It's just too bad they didn't cast a better tenor to match Moffo perfectly. He was able to sing well even in his older age. At this time he sang B.F. Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly opposite Leontyne Price in an RCA recording. He sings magnificently. But this Traviata seems to find him in somewhat of a bad shape, though he sure gives it a hell of a good try. It's a pity they didn't cast Franco Corelli or Carlo Bergonzi to match Moffo's elegance. It was also too bad that Placido Domingo and Nicolai Gedda were not yet ready to sing Alfredo at the Met or anywhere else at this early time in their careers.

Robert Merril's Germont

Merrill, another American, was too was singing past his prime but his baritone power still did wonders and he sings a very touching Germont with fatherly and strong warmth. At times, I must admit he is boring and very technical in his interpretation, singing without any real sense of reality and drama. The role of Germont is actually very pivotal, and in fact he has more characterization than even Alfredo, who Verdi unfortunatelly wrote to be very flat, merely the love interest, only once exploding with jealous rage (something which Violetta herself never does). Germont changes along with Violetta throughout the opera. Violetta from devil-may-care free spirit to seriously in love and self-sacrificing and Germont from prejudiced and discriminate to human, compassionate and finally guilty. If a baritone sings the role flatly, we won't be able to pick up the exact moment when he changes his heart about Violetta and begins to see her as not a Parisian whore but as a woman with a heart of gold (this moment comes at the end of Act 2 at Flora's party). For all of Merrill's skills, and he is a very accomplished baritone by all accounts, he does not seem to understand the part of Germont and is singing it without the dynamics he sang other roles at the Met. His voice is perfect for Verdi and bel canto and he fared better in other baritone roles such as Forza Del Destino, Ballo In Maschera, Aida, Trovatore and Rigoletto. But he is very bland as Germont. Still, if you wish to have an idea as to how Merrill sang, this recording is but one of his many examples.

This is a magnificent example of three American singers coming together for the sake of drama and not for themselves. They must have taken their trip to Rome very seriously when they made this Traviata. Own this recording and you'll be in Heaven listening to Traviata as it ought to be performed and as a document of a time when opera was becoming exciting and Americans were engaged. This is one of the most beloved and most popular operas of all time. September 17, 2008

sometimes powerful pretty, sometimes pretty powerful

This may be the best of all the Verdi operas to start off with. It is indeed so accessable because of its fund of melody. The music is beautiful throughout; from the rousing opening party scene to Violetta's poignant and dramatic death scene, love songs abound. It's all just very pretty music: sometimes powerful pretty, sometimes pretty powerful. I advise anyone who is at all opera-curious or Verdi-curious to start with this opera and this recording which is outstanding-also comes comeplete with detailed liner notes and an easy-to follow libretto with Italian on one side of the page and English on the other-max convenience. February 10, 2008

A fine New York "Traviata" that happened to be recorded in Rome (II)

SOURCE: Studio performance recorded at the Rome Opera House, June 16-25, 1960.

SOUND: This recording has always offered superb sound. It sounded great on Lp in the 1960s. It sounded great on CD in the 1990s. (A later re-mastering with hybrid SACD bells and whistles sounds great, too.)

CAST: Violetta Valery - Anna Moffo (soprano); Flora - Anna Reynolds (mezzo-soprano); Annina - Liliana Poli (soprano); Alfredo Germont - Richard Tucker (tenor); Giorgio Germont - Robert Merrill (baritone); Gastone - Piero de Palma (tenor); Doctor Grenvil - Franco Ventriglia (bass); Baron Douphol - Franco Calabrese (baritone); Marquis d'Obigny - Vito Susca (bass); Giuseppe - Adelio Zogonara (tenor).

CONDUCTOR: Fernando Previtali with the Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

DOCUMENTATION: Printed libretto in Italian with English translation. Esaay on the history of the opera. Brief biographical sketches on principal performers. Track list with timings.

TEXT: This performance follows that standard performing text that was in use for over a century until the rise of what might be called the "completist" movement, two or three decades ago. The omissions, even including a florid passage for the tenor, are neither particularly extensive or particularly important.

COMMENTARY: Perfect recordings of Verdi's "La Traviata" are about as plentiful as unicorns. This recording, and the performance of Anna Moffo, in particular, has tended to split opera lovers into two camps. Those who love this performance seem to love it intensely. Most of the reviews here on Amazon are very much on the positive side of the divide, using such terms as, "a`Traviata' to treasure!" "beautiful and moving performance," and "everything that little girls dream that a soprano should be."

On the other side are those who are much less taken with the cast. Some question the intrinsic suitability of Richard Tucker for the role of Alfredo Germont. More importantly, there are those who are not impressed by Anna Moffo's Violetta. Here is a rather prominent doubter: In 1964 Maria Callas was to do a revival of "Norma" under the stage direction of Franco Zefferelli. Zefferelli asked her to avoid unreasonable vocal challenges. "I can't, Franco," he recalled her saying. "I won't do what Anna Moffo does in Traviata. I won't skim through my music. I have to take chances even if it means disaster and the end of my career." (With Callas holding that attitude, I imagine that the atmosphere in the studio during the recording of "La Boheme" when Callas did Mimi and Moffo, Musetta, must have been a bit strained.)

As for myself, I think this is a good recording. It is certainly a safe bet for anyone who simply wants to hear the opera and not get involved with the minutia of operatic fandom and rivalries. For those primarily concerned with sound reproduction, despite its narly five decades, this may still be the best recorded "Traviata."

By 1960, RCA had cut the costs of recording opera in expensive New York by shifting to Italy to make use of an Italian orchestra, chorus and supporting singers. Nevertheless, "La Traviata" is essentially a three-singer opera and the three singers in this production, all Americans, were gleaming stars of the New York-based Silver Age of the Metropolitan Opera.

Anna Moffo (1932-2006) made her debut in Italy in 1956. Her first appearance at the Met was in 1959, when she appeared as Violetta. She was renowned for her looks as much as for her singing, once being voted one of the ten most beautiful women in Italy. This recording was RCA's obvious attempt to capitalize on the appearance of the bright new American star.

Richard Tucker (1913-1975), born Rubin Ticker, was trained as a cantor and became a famous exemplar of that art. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in "La Gioconda" in 1945. Tucker was not quite 47 when this opera was made. Always a bit to my surprise, he managed to reduce his big voice and personality to fit happily (more or less) into the narrow shoulders of that callow, shallow schoolboy, Alfredo Germont, playing well against his much younger co-star.

Robert Merrill (1917-2004), born Moishe Miller, possessed an extraordinarily fine-sounding baritone voice. Like Tucker's, his debut at the Met also came in 1945 in--of course!--the role of Giorgio Germont. He and Leonard Warren were an amazing pair of house baritones at the Met until the premature death of Warren during a performance. Warren was generally considered the better of the two at dramatic roles and Merrill the go-to man for comedy and lyric parts. Whatever his dramatic failings, Merrill might have been born to play Papa Germont.

The conductor for this recording was Fernando Previtali (1907-1985). He had studied composition under the composer Franco Alfano ("Turandot," "Cyrano.") From 1936 to 1953 he was resident conductor of the Symphonic Orchestra of Radio Rome. He was also resident conductor at the Academy of St Cecila and at La Scala. He became principal conductor at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in 1960, the year of this recording, and remained there until 1967. In 1970 he was appointed music director at Teatro Regio in Turin. In opera, he was not a flashy conductor. He was content to allow composers to have their say. He appears on recordings as the conductor in a handful of Italian operas, all of them well-led and quietly effective.

Fans of this diva or of that may carp and quibble, but across the board, this is a very good to excellent recording.

Five stars. October 26, 2007

The Legendary Anna Moffo

First of all, I must say that I am completely biased to Anna Moffo. I absolutely adore her. She was everything that little girls dream that a soprano should be. She was born to be "Violetta" with a spectacular creamy voice, beautiful phrasing and gorgeous physical features. Like the previous viewer, I like Richard Tucker and he was immensely talented. However, due to the softness of Moffo's voice - one wonders why she was not better paired here with Carlo Bergonzi. I believe theirs would have been a perfect duo. Anyways, this is a wonderful recording with strong performances from Tucker and Merrill. It is Moffo who is the star here and she really shines! The Rome Orchestra and Chorus is a fine accompanist and well conducted. Pick up this cd as you will be very satisfied. February 7, 2007

One of the best versions of La Traviata available

Way back in the 1960s, this was the first opera recording that I purchased (because I was a poor college student, I brought the "greatest hits" version rather than the full opera). It immediately became one of my favorite LPs (back in the days of vinyl recordings), and my dull needles on the record player (I could not afford to buy new needles so regularly) over time destroyed any recording quality. Even at that, I continued to enjoy this album for decades, even as the sound quality became degraded.

The cast here, in the end, is terrific. As others have noted, Richard Tucker's stentorian vocal qualities almost overwhelm Alfredo. On the other hand, Tucker's voice is a wonder of the 20th century, and I enjoyed listening to those vocal qualities even in roles for which he was not ideal. Robert Merrill did his usual splendid job, as Alfredo's father, Giorgio. Tucker and Merrill appeared together in a number of operas, and their voices, I think anyhow, work well together.

The young Anna Moffo is wonderful in this role. In the 1960s, she was one of my favorite sopranos. Her voice fits this part nicely. She was able to sing roles such as this as well as some coloratura roles. As many note, a lovely lyric-coloratura voice. She also portrays a character on this album. That is, one does not just get lush, pretty singing; one gets a characterization. Indeed, during her peak years, she was known as much for her acting as for her singing. In that, she combined the presentation of characters like a Maria Callas (whose vocal technique was not necessarily wonderful) with a voice that works well on the music, as a Joan Sutherland might (Sutherland, on the other hand, was hardly a quintessential operatic actress).

This recording is well done for the era. The conductor, Fernando Previtali, does a nice job of creating tension with the music, moving the action along smartly without a listener feeling that matters are rushed.

There are a number of fine renderings of Verdi's "La Traviata." From having listened to a number of these, I would say that this CD--with Moffo in her prime, Merrill providing his reliably excellent work, Tucker restraining his voice enough not to overwhelm the role, and the fine conducting of Previtalli--is one of the must buy sets of this classic opera. Well worth attending to!
January 7, 2007

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