I had the good fortune to see three of the four great Otellos of the second half of the 20th century: James McCracken, Jon Vickers and Placido Domingo. I missed Mario del Monaco by a few years and thus the last great Italian Otello of recent times. McCracken and Domingo I saw multiple times, but the only opportunity I had to see Vickers in the role came in 1978 when he appeared opposite Renata Scotto who was singing her first Met Desdemona. Just a few days after the performance I attended there was a Live From The Met telecast which has now - finally - been released on DVD:
Metropolitan Opera House
September 25, 1978 Broadcast/Telecast
OTELLO {229}
Giuseppe Verdi/Arrigo Boito
Otello..................Jon Vickers
Desdemona...............Renata Scotto
Iago....................Cornell MacNeil
Emilia..................Jean Kraft
Cassio..................Raymond Gibbs
Lodovico................James Morris
Montàno.................Robert Goodloe
Roderigo................Andrea Velis
Herald..................Arthur Thompson
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Franco ZeffirelliJon Vickers (above on the right, with Cornell MacNeil as Iago) is one of a very tiny band of singers who in my estimation transcended the operatic art of singing and acting to make a deeper impression. His Peter Grimes, Aeneas and Siegmund in particular were truly inspiring in their power and intensity. As Otello he was magnificent both in his glory and heartbreak; always using his voice as an expressive vehicle, Vickers brings many shades of tenderness and vulnerability to the character. The dreamlike piano in which he describes the handkerchief he had given Desdemona as his first pledge of love when he was courting her (and which is their undoing) is remarkably poignant. In the great anguish of "Dio, mi potevi scagliar" Vickers plumbs the depths of human despair at the perceived betrayal by his wife. This performance is a wonderful document of a great tenor in one of his finest roles.
Renata Scotto only sang Desdemona four times at the Met so it is especially gratifying to have this souvenir of her performance. Scotto has always been a tremendously controversial singer. Her debut at the Old Met on a live broadcast of BUTTERFLY in 1965 was thrilling. I recall listening to it in a state of breathless excitement (I was very excitable in my younger days) and thinking: "I want to hear her as Tosca next!" because I didn't realize what kind of singer she really was. She was soon making a name for herself with the New York public in ELISIR, TRAVIATA, RIGOLETTO and LUCIA, showing a delectable bel canto style which offset her sometimes glassy timbre. Intensity was the key to everything Scotto did.
On October 28th & 30th, 1972 I experienced Scotto's back-to-back triumphs in LA SONNAMBULA and LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (with Nicolai Gedda in the Bellini and Alfredo Kraus in the Donizetti). Someday I really must dig out my diary and publish what I wrote about those two nights because she was simply stupendous in both roles. The gallery went berserk for her, especially when she advanced to the very edge of the stage to sing the cadenza with flute in the LUCIA Mad Scene. Scale passages, mesmerizing trills, suspended pianissimi in alt: everything was on fire and she sang the words with a magical pallette of ravishing colours.
The following Spring she encountered trouble on the climactic E-flat of the LUCIA Mad Scene on a radio broadcast and after finishing her round of Lucias on tour she was absent from the Met for 16 months. She returned in Verdi's VESPRI SICILIANI marking the start of part two of the Scotto Met career which led her into much heavier vocal territory. Many people felt she was unwise, and doubtless the strain on her voice took its toll. But along the way she provided some memorable interpretations and Desdemona was one of the finest. At every moment her very personal vocal intensity make the music vibrantly alive.
Like Vickers, Scotto lets phrases taper into beguiling softness. On certain notes she barely seems to open her mouth yet everything registered in the big House. The exquisite tenderness of her "Amen risponda..." in the love duet and her expressive, delicate nuances in the Willow Song are high points of her vocal performance which culminates with the quiet intensity of her "Ave Maria" with it's gossamer high A-flat.
People who only heard Cornell MacNeil in the later years of his career probably can't imagine what it was like to experience the large, free-wheeling sound and effortless top range that made him so popular in the House during the 1960s. His Iago is very well sung barring a passing flattish tone here and there: a minor point in view of the vocal and dramatic power of his interpretation. Less verbally insinuating than Gobbi or Milnes in this role, MacNeil's straightforward approach counterbalances the expressive delicacies of Scotto and Vickers. Mac and Vickers in full cry at the end of Act II is something to experience.
Jean Kraft is an Emilia keeping up a facade in her horrible marriage to Iago. With Desdemona's death Emilia loses her only solace in life; in this production Iago brutally knifes his wife before fleeing. The young James Morris is a strong Lodovico.
James Levine has everything under firm control and sets a fine framework for the singing, especially allowing Vickers and Scotto their subtleties. Levine's OTELLO was to become far more absorbing as the seasons passed by.
One drawback of the production is the heavy robes which encumber Vickers and Scotto in their dramatic confrontations. It's also a bit odd to see Desdemona "awakened from her slumber" in Act I having apparently had time to put on her corset and gown and have her hair done before she comes onto the terrace to see what all the commotion is about.
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