The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991

• 1 (3:06) Before the performance: a glimpse behind the scenes
• 2 (1:24) The National Anthem

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)

Rigoletto (Venice, 1851), with a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876), after Le roi s'amuse ("The king amuses himself", Paris, 1832) by Victor Hugo (1802–1885).

Presented in a stage production by Otto Schenk (b. 1930), with set and costume design by Zack Brown, lighting design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Sharon Thomas. Featuring Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke of Mantua, Cheryl Studer as Gilda, the Duke's daughter, Leo Nucci as Rigoletto, the Duke's court jester, Nicolai Ghiaurov as Sparafucile, a brigand, and Birgitta Svendén as Maddalena, Sparafucile's daughter.

Act Three

• 3 (2:43) "E l'ami?" - "Sempre" (Rigoletto, Gilda, Duke, Sparafucile)
• 4 (3:06) "La donna è mobile" (Duke, Sparafucile, Rigoletto)
• 5 (1:33) "Un dì, se ben rammentomi" (Duke, Gilda, Maddalena, Rigoletto)
• 6 (4:27) "Bella figlia dell'amore" (Duke, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto)
• 7 (4:08) "M'odi! Ritorna a casa" (Rigoletto, Gilda, Sparafucile, Duke, Maddalena)
• 8 (5:58) "È amabile invero tal giovinotto" (Maddalena, Sparafucile, Gilda)
• 9 (4:33) "Della vendetta alfin giunge l'istante!" (Rigoletto, Sparafucile, Duke)
• 10 (1:42) "Chi è mai, chi è qui in sua vece?" (Rigoletto, Gilda)
• 11 (7:42) "V'ho ingannato... Colpevole fui" (Gilda, Rigoletto)

Giuseppe Verdi

Otello (Milan, 1887), with a libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), after The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (?1603) by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Presented in a stage production and set designed by Franco Zeffirelli (1923-2019), with costume design by Peter J. Hall (1926-2010), lighting design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Fabrizio Melano. Featuring Plácido Domingo as Otello, a Moor, commander-in-chief of the Venetian fleet, Mirella Freni as Desedemona, Otello's wife, Justino Díaz as Iago, an ensign, Sondra Kelly as Emilia, Iago's wife, Uwe Heilmann as Cassio, a platoon leader, Paul Plishka as Lodovico, ambassador of the Venetian republic, Charles Anthony as Roderigo, a Venetian gentleman, and Dwayne Croft as a herald.

Act Three

• 12 (3:11) "La vedetta del porto ha segnelato" (A herald, Otello, Iago)
• 13 (4:54) "Dio ti giocondi, o sposo" (Desdemona, Otello)
• 14 (5:34) "Esterrefatta fisso" (Desdemona, Otello)
• 15 (4:09) "Dio! Mi potevi scagliar tutti i mali" (Otello, Iago)
• 16 (5:22) "Vieni, l'aula è deserta" (Iago, Cassio, Otello)
• 17 (1:47) "Come l'ucciderò?" (Otello, Iago, Chorus)
• 18 (2:57) "Il doge ed il senato salutano l'eroe" (Lodovico, Otello, Desdemona, Emilia, Iago, Roderigo, Cassio, Chorus)
• 19 (1:52) "Messeri! Il doge..." (Otello, Roderigo, Iago, Cassio, Lodovico)
• 20 (6:08) "A terra! Sì, nel livido fango" (Desdemona, Emilia, Cassio, Roderigo, Lodovico, Chorus, Iago)
• 21 (5:49) "Fuggite! Tutti fuggite Otello!" (Otello, Chorus, Iago)[1]

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)

Die Fledermaus ("The flittermouse", Vienna, 1874), with a libretto by Karl Haffner (1804-1876) and Richard Genée (1823-1895), after Le réveillon ("The supper party", Paris, 1872) by Henri Meilhac (1830-1897) and Ludovic Halévy (1839-1908), after Das Gefängnis ("The prison", Berlin, 1851) by Julius Roderich Benedix (1811-1873), and with dialogue by Paul Mills adapted from that written by Otto Schenk and translated by Marcel Prawy (1911-2003).

Presented in a stage production by Otto Schenk, with set design by Günther Schneider-Siemssen (1926-2015), costume design by Peter J. Hall, lighting design by Gil Wechsler and stage direction by Paul Mills. Featuring Hermann Prey as Gabriel von Eisenstein, a wealthy gentleman of leisure, Barbara Daniels as Rosalinde, Eisenstein's wife, Barbara Kilduff as Adele, Rosalinde's chambermaid, Grace Millo as Ida, Adele's sister, Anne Sofie von Otter as Prince Orlofsky, a wealthy Russian, Andrij Dobriansky as Ivan, Orlofsky's servant, Dwayne Croft as Dr Falke, a notary, and Gottfried Hornik as Frank, a prison governor.

Act Two

• 1 (2:39) "Ein Souper heut uns winkt" (Chorus)
• 2 (2:11) Dialogue
• 3 (2:53) "Ich lade gern mir Gäste ein" (Orlofsky)
• 4 (0:39) Dialogue
• 5 (1:07) "Ach, meine Herr'n und Damen" (Orlofsky, Falke, Adele, Eisenstein, Chorus)
• 6 (3:40) Adele's Laughing Song: "Mein Herr Marquis" (Adele, ensemble)
• 7 (3:28) Dialogue
• 8 (4:36) Watch duet: "Dieser Anstand, so manierlich" (Eisenstein, Rosalinde)
• 9 (1:06) Dialogue
• 10 (5:04) Csárdás: "Klänge der Heimat" (Rosalinde)
• 11 (1:37) Dialogue

Party guests' sequence

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Die Zauberflöte ("The magic flute", K. 620, Vienna, 1791), with a libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder (1751-1812)

• 12 (5:58) Aria (Papageno): "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" (Hermann Prey)

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880)

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Paris, 1887), with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

• 13 (4:53) Aria (La Grande-Duchesse): "Ah! Que j'aime les militaires" (Frederica von Stade)

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)

Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ("The barber of Seville, or The useless precaution", Rome, 1816), with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini (1784-1831), after Le barbier de Séville (Paris, 1775) by Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799)

• 14 (5:19) Aria (Figaro): "Largo al factotum" (Thomas Hampson)

Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)

Mignon (Paris, 1866), with a libretto by Jules Barbier (1825-1901) and Michel Carré (1821-1872), after Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre ("Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship", 1795-1796) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

• 15 (6:52) Aria (Philine): "Je suis Titania" (June Anderson)

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

West Side Story (New York City, 1957), with a book by Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930), after Romeo and Juliet (circa 1595-1597) by William Shakespeare

• 16 (3:28) Song (Tony): "Maria" (Sherrill Milnes)

Umberto Giordano (1867-1948)

Andrea Chénier (Milan, 1896), with a libretto by Luigi Illica (1857-1919), based on the life of André Chénier (1762-1794)

• 17 (6:55) Aria (Maddalena): "La mamma morta" (Aprile Millo)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Il dissoluto punito, ossia Il Don Giovanni ("The rake punished, or Don Giovanni", K. 527, Prague, 1787), with a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838), after El burlador de Seville y convivado de piedra ("The trickster of Seville and the stone guest", ?1616) by Tirso de Molina (1579-1648)

• 18 (6:10) Catalogue aria (Leporello): "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" (Ferruccio Furlanetto)

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

Linda di Chamounix (Vienna, 1842), with a libretto by Gaetano Rossi (1774-1855)

• 19 (7:31) Aria (Linda): "O luce di quest'anima" (Kathleen Battle)

Mitch Leigh (1928-2014)

Man of La Mancha (New York City, 1965), with a book by Dale Wasserman (1914-2008) and lyrics by Joe Darion (1917-2001), after Wasserman's teleplay I, Don Quixote (1959), after El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha ("The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha", 1605-1615) by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)

• 20 (4:23) Song (Don Quixote): "The impossible dream" (Samuel Ramey)

Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)

Adriana Lecouvreur (Milan, 1902), with a libretto by Arturo Colautti (1851-1914), after Adrienne Lecouvreur (1849) by Eugène Scribe (1791-1861) and Ernest Legouvé (1807-1903)

• 21 (5:25) Aria (Adriana): "Io son l'umile ancella" (Mirella Freni)

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

La Bohème ("The Bohemian", Turin, 1896), with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906), after Scènes de la vie de bohème ("Scenes of Bohemian life", 1851) by Henri Murger (1822-1861)

• 22 (6:45) Duet (Marcello and Rodolfo): "In un coupé?... O Mimi, tu più non torni" (Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo)

Johann Strauss II

Die Fledermaus (resumed)

• 23 (4:20) Champagne song: "Champagner hats verschuldet" (All)
• 24 (0:26) Closing credits[1]

Edward Rothstein reviewed the gala in The New York Times on 25 September 1991. The Met's first night at Lincoln Center, he recalled, had been an utter catastrophe, and the gala celebrating its silver anniversary in its second theatre had begun with disappointments just as discouraging as those of the première of Barber's Antony and Cleopatra in 1966.[2]

The third act of Rigoletto began the concert with "a nearly funereal mood, and not quite the one anybody had in mind". Luciano Pavarotti's "groping make-out scene" with the injudiciously cast Birgitta Svendén was unfortunate, and his singing did not show him at his best. His voice sounded constricted, and a histrionic laugh could not conceal that a climactic note had cracked. An excerpt "drained of human characters, offering pasteboard roles and posing voices" was partly redeemed by the force and personality of Nicolai Ghiaurov as Sparafucile.[2]

Matters improved with the third act of Otello, but only marginally. Justino Díaz was "curiously insubstantial" as Iago, and Plácido Domingo "stolid" as the Moor of Venice. Mirella Freni exhibited her ability to sing high notes very loudly. Conducting, James Levine "seemed to treat the music as a collection of fragments designed for glitter and response ... belting out exclamations with little thought for proportion and sense and drama". One began to question whether the idea of turning bleeding chunks of operas into showcases for celebrities might not be essentially misconceived.[2]

But the feeling of the evening lifted abruptly with the second act of Die Fledermaus. Hermann Prey's "winsome" Eisenstein and Barbara Daniels's "brash" Rosalinde introduced "a party that became a triumphant homage to the powers of the voice", as the tradition of interpolating guest appearances into Orlofsky's festivity was honoured in "one of the most exquisitely refined and extravagant assemblages of vocal artistry" in the Met's entire 108-year history.[2]

Hermann Prey evoked memories of his 1966 Met Papageno with an aria that brought the bird-catcher to life with expressive artlessness. Thomas Hampson won an overwhelming ovation with the energy, accuracy and supernatural acting of his "Largo al factotum". Kathleen Battle combined delicately engraved phrasing and a tone of sensuous velvet in "O luce di quest'anima". Frederica von Stade was charming and kindly in "Ah! Que j'aime les militaires". Broadway was acknowledged by Sherrill Milnes in "Maria" and by Samuel Ramey in "The impossible dream". Ferruccio Furlanetto, currently starring at the Met as Don Giovanni, contributed Leporello's catalogue of his master's conquests.[2]

June Anderson was immaculate and celestial in "Je suis Titania". Aprile Millo was suitably overcome by emotion in "La mamma morta". Mirella Freni was forcefully eloquent in "Io son l'umile ancella". And Pavarotti and Domingo joined forces in a duet from La Bohème, "clowning with scarves, clasping shoulders and hands and showing a subtle but good-hearted rivalry in their singing and bows".[2]

All in all, despite its moments of strain and its lapses into vanity, the gala was "a grand-scale tribute to a great opera company", and one was left admiring the gifts of the evening's soloists and Levine's manifest affection for them.[2]

The gala was also reviewed by Martin Bernheimer in The Los Angeles Times,[1] by Peter G. Davis in New York Magazine[3] and by Tim Page in Newsday.[1] It was also discussed in Opera News,[4] Opernwelt,[5] Stereo Review[6] and in Dantia Gould's The pay-per-view explosion (1991).[7]

The gala was recognized three times in the Primetime Emmy Awards for 1992. Brian Large won an award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Classical Music/Dance Programming - Directing, and Plácido Domingo and Kathleen Battle both won awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Classical Music/Dance Programming - Performance.[8]