La Fanciulla del West
The first world premiere ever produced by the Metropolitan Opera took place on December 10, 1910. The opera was Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, based on The Girl of the Golden West by American playwright David Belasco, which Puccini saw on Broadway when he visited New York in 1907.
“Signor Puccini has reached a pinnacle such as none of his contemporaries has attained in the United States,” wrote the eminent critic and chronicler of opera history Henry Krehbiel in 1908. For the 1910–11 season, just ten years after his works started to appear at the Met, 37 performances of four Puccini operas were given. Following its star-studded premiere, La Fanciulla del West remained in the repertory for only four seasons but returned in 1929 in a new production that featured soprano Maria Jeritza, tenor Giovanni Martinelli, and baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Subsequent new stagings appeared in 1961 and 1991, and to date, the Met has performed La Fanciulla del West 111 times.
Left: The Met agreed to pay Puccini 20,000 lire—and provide a hotel room with a bath—for him to oversee the production of La Fanciulla del West and attend performances. He also agreed not to attend any performances of his operas with other companies while in New York without the Met’s agreement.
Right: Playwright David Belasco, whose play The Girl of the Golden West provided inspiration for the opera, directed the premiere of La Fanciulla del West, with conductor Arturo Toscanini on the podium and Puccini in attendance at rehearsals.
The world premiere of La Fanciulla del West brought in a record $20,270 for the company.
Left: Czech soprano Emmy Destinn sang the title role at the premiere, opposite tenor Enrico Caruso as Dick Johnson. Destinn was the Met’s leading prima donna for dramatic Italian repertory from 1908 to 1915, when she returned to her homeland. Her involvement with the Czech resistance during World War I caused her passport to be revoked, and she was confined to her chateau, unable to return to New York until after the war.
Photo: White Studios
Right: Pasquale Amato created the role of Jack Rance in the world premiere of La Fanciulla del West at the Met in 1910. Amato was one of the leading Italian baritones with the company from his debut in 1908 to his final performance in 1921, during which time he sang more than 600 performances.
Photo: Herman Mishkin
Left: Enrico Caruso, the greatest tenor of his day, was also an inveterate sketch artist. He drew himself as Dick Johnson during the rehearsals for La Fanciulla del West.
Right: When he visited the Met in 1907, Puccini privately criticized celebrated tenor Enrico Caruso as “lazy and too pleased with himself.” Despite his complaints, the composer acknowledged Caruso’s unique vocal gift, admitting his voice was “magnificent,” and in composing La Fanciulla del West, he perfectly tailored the role of Dick Johnson to the singer’s artistry.
Photo: White Studios
Left: Following Caruso’s death in 1921 at age 48, the young tenor Giovanni Martinelli inherited most of his major Italian roles. Martinelli sang Dick Johnson in the 1929 new production of La Fanciulla del West opposite soprano Maria Jeritza.
Photo: Hermann Mishkin
Right: California-born baritone Lawrence Tibbett made a believable sheriff in the 1929 new production of La Fanciulla del West. His father had been a deputy sheriff who was killed in a shootout when Tibbett was a child. The handsome young baritone had a career in film concurrently with his leading roles at the Met, which included frequent appearances in both standard repertory and contemporary works.
Photo: Carlo Edwards
Left: Soprano Leontyne Price’s Met debut in 1961 as Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore was one of the most heralded in Met history. She was slated to open the following season as Minnie in a new production of La Fanciulla del West, but a threatened orchestra strike nearly caused the cancellation of the Met’s season. In the end, Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg mediated an agreement, and Price had her Opening Night. In spite of excellent reviews, Price felt that the role was unsuited to her voice and gave it up after only four performances.
Photo: Louis Mélançon
Right: Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi recorded the title role of La Fanciulla del West earlier in her career, but she did not sing it on stage until she portrayed the character at the Met in 1970. Her teacher, Carmen Melis, sang the role and studied with Puccini, but Tebaldi was wary of the vocal and dramatic difficulties.
Photo: Louis Mélançon
Left: The Met’s 2010 staging of La Fanciulla del West revived the Del Monaco production and starred American soprano Deborah Voigt as Minnie opposite Italian tenor Marcello Giordani as Dick Johnson. It was broadcast to an international audience as part of the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions. Known principally for her German repertory, Voigt only sang one other Puccini heroine at the Met, the title role of Tosca.
Photo: Ken Howard
Right: The thoroughly realistic new production of La Fanciulla del West in 1991 was a major triumph for director Giancarlo Del Monaco. His father, tenor Mario Del Monaco, was a famous interpreter of Dick Johnson. American soprano Barbara Daniels starred opposite tenor Plácido Domingo in the premiere.
Photo: Hans Fahrmeyer
The Met revived La Fanciulla del West in 2018, starring Jonas Kaufmann as Dick Johnson. From his debut in 2006, the German tenor created a wide fan base singing a variety repertory of Italian, French, and German works. The performance, co-starring soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Minnie, was transmitted to cinemas worldwide as part of the company’s Live in HD series.
Photo: Ken Howard
La Fanciulla del West