La Rondine
Composed during World War I and originally intended for a premiere in Vienna, La Rondine had its Met premiere in 1928 in a production by Wilhelm von Wymetal, designed by Joseph Urban. The distinguished critic W. J. Henderson called it a “vivacious high-class musical play,” warning the audience not to expect the sort of opera that Puccini normally produced. Star singers soprano Lucrezia Bori and tenor Beniamino Gigli attracted the public initially, but La Rondine could not compare with Puccini’s other hits. After a few seasons, it disappeared for decades, finally returning to the Met in 2008 in a stylish new production by Nicolas Joël. Prior to the 2023–24 season, the Met has performed La Rondine 33 times.
Left: Beniamino Gigli’s mellifluous timbre made him an icon for voice lovers and a model for many Italian tenors through his many recordings. After singing more than 500 performances with the Met from 1920 to 1932, Gigli refused to take a fee cut during the Great Depression and quit the company, only returning for a handful of performances in 1939.
Right: Spanish soprano Lucrezia Bori was known for her “irresistible charm” and “achieved one of the triumphs of her career” as Magda in the Met premiere of La Rondine. At the end of her career, Bori became an active supporter of the Met, chairing the company’s first public fundraising campaign to “Save the Met” in the 1930s.
In 2008, the Met gave its first performances of La Rondine in 72 years, in a new production by Nicolas Joël and Stephen Barlow, with set designs by Ezio Frigerio and costumes by Franca Squaciapino.
Photo: Ken Howard
Left: Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu sang the role of Magda in the 2008 new production of La Rondine. Making her Met debut in 1993 as Mimì in La Bohème, Gheorghiu’s other Puccini roles with the company have included Tosca and Liù in Turandot.
Photo: Ken Howard
Right: Roberto Alagna, who sang Ruggero in the 2008 new production of La Rondine, made his Met debut in 1996 as Rodolfo in La Bohème. One of the leading French tenors of his generation, Alagna is equally at home in Italian opera and has also sung the lead tenor roles in Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca at the Met.
Photo: Ken Howard
Left: Tenor Jonathan Tetelman makes his much-anticipated Met debut as Ruggero in La Rondine during the 2023–24 season.
Photo: Ben Wolf
Right: Angel Blue adds a new role to her burgeoning Met repertory when she sings Magda in this season’s revival of La Rondine. Blue has been the lead soprano in two Met Opening Nights: the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess in 2019 and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones in 2021.
Photo: Dario Acosta
La Rondine