Powder at Met Opera May Have Been Human Ashes

[+ WilliamM]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/nyregion/metropolitan-opera-cancels-performance-white-substance.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

 

The last act of "Guillaume Tell" was cancelled in the afternoon as well as last night's opera.

 

I had a ticket for Tell, but could not attend because of an accident in Tuesday.

[+ nycman]

Sprinkling "dust"....at a public place....in NYC?

 

What a moron.....

[whipped guy]

I had friends who were there and received a text from them telling me that the last act (or what was left of the much cut final act) was suddenly canceled without any explaination. The normally well behaved MET audience suddenly turned into the equivalent of a rowdy bunch at a red neck tractor pull screaming and booing at the top of their lungs!

 

My friends were offered tickets to another performance of the piece, but given that they planned this months in advance and came from out of state they doubt that they will be able to take advantage of the offer.

 

The evening opera was another Rossini piece L'Italiana in Algeri. I wonder how many Rossini/Bel Canto lovers had tickets for both and got screwed due to some total idiot!!!!!

[+ Keith30309]

This is the most lame attempt at avoidance of purchase of season tickets I've ever seen.

[+ Charlie]

Friends of mine were at a Sat. matinee a number of years ago when an elderly man fell or jumped to his death from the Family Circle into the Orchestra, causing the remainder of the performance to be cancelled, and of course there was the famous incident of Leonard Warren dropping dead of a heart attack on stage during a performance of La Forza del Destino, but I am not aware of any other cancellations at the Met in mid-performance.

[bostonman]

Friends of mine were at a Sat. matinee a number of years ago when an elderly man fell or jumped to his death from the Family Circle into the Orchestra, causing the remainder of the performance to be cancelled, and of course there was the famous incident of Leonard Warren dropping dead of a heart attack on stage during a performance of La Forza del Destino, but I am not aware of any other cancellations at the Met in mid-performance.

 

The suicide was during, of all things, a performance of Macbeth. It happened during intermission - I still have a faint memory of hearing that broadcast and wondering what must have been going on as they kept extending the intermission time. I don't remember how the incident and cancellation of the rest of the performance was handled by the radio host Peter Allen (who himself just very recently passed away).

 

There was another incident, eerily similar to the Leonard Warren story. Tenor Richard Versalle died due to, I believe, a heart attack, when he fell from a ladder during a performance of Janacek's The Makropulos Case. The odd similarity to Warren's death comes from the circumstance - Warren was midway through an aria where the opening recitative lyric is "what a tremendous thing to die" ("morir, tremenda cosa"), Versalle fell shortly after singing a lyric such as "it's too bad one can only live so long."

[whipped guy]

The only cancellations in mid performance that I ever experienced were probably about 25-30 years ago. They were technically not performances, but final dress rehearsals that were open to Met Opera Guild members. One was a La Bohème where Act 4 was not performed and it was certainly a disappointment not to experience its tear jerking conclusion. The other was of Verdi's Macbeth where I know that we never got to see Birnam Wood advance... As I recall it was all of Act 4 that was not presented as I don't recall hearing the chorus "O patria oppressa" or Lady Macbeth's sleep walking scene. In compensation they did present the not often heard Act 3 ballet.

[whipped guy]

The suicide was during, of all things, a performance of Macbeth. It happened during intermission - I still have a faint memory of hearing that broadcast and wondering what must have been going on as they kept extending the intermission time. I don't remember how the incident and cancellation of the rest of the performance was handled by the radio host Peter Allen (who himself just very recently passed away)."

 

I recall that they announced very cryptically that it had nothing to do with the performers or the stage. I also recall that they played the remainder of the opera from the 1959 MET recording with Warren and Rysaniek as conducted by Leinsdorf. I don't recall if this was from the MET itself or simply by the local radio station.

[+ g56whiz]

I was in the Opera Club that intermission. The mics in the hall picked up the collective gasp as he fell. But there was no immediate explanation and the intermission went on for far too long before it was announced that the rest of the performance was cancelled without saying why.

 

FWIW I was also there the night of the infamous performance of La Giaconda.

[whipped guy]

 

FWIW I was also there the night of the infamous performance of La Giaconda.

 

I'm not familiar with an infamous MET La Gioconda... 'Splain!

 

Of course it's not done as often as it used to be and certainly not in the past few years.

[+ Charlie]

The suicide was during, of all things, a performance of Macbeth. It happened during intermission - I still have a faint memory of hearing that broadcast and wondering what must have been going on as they kept extending the intermission time. I don't remember how the incident and cancellation of the rest of the performance was handled by the radio host Peter Allen (who himself just very recently passed away).

 

There was another incident, eerily similar to the Leonard Warren story. Tenor Richard Versalle died due to, I believe, a heart attack, when he fell from a ladder during a performance of Janacek's The Makropulos Case. The odd similarity to Warren's death comes from the circumstance - Warren was midway through an aria where the opening recitative lyric is "what a tremendous thing to die" ("morir, tremenda cosa"), Versalle fell shortly after singing a lyric such as "it's too bad one can only live so long."

I was also listening to the radio broadcast of that Macbeth and wondering why the intermission was going on much longer than the time noted in the program, with no explanation, but a friend who was in the audience phoned to tell me what was happening; he was also seated in the Family Circle and recognized the man as a fellow regular in that section, who often chatted with other regulars during intermission. He was leaning precariously on the front edge of one of the boxes, and it wasn't clear whether the plunge was deliberate or whether he simply lost his balance and fell backwards.

 

As I remember, most of the audience weren't even aware that Versalle's fall was due to a heart attack, and the performance continued without any announcement till the end, when he didn't appear for the curtain call.

[+ Charlie]

I recall that they announced very cryptically that it had nothing to do with the performers or the stage. I also recall that they played the remainder of the opera from the 1959 MET recording with Warren and Rysaniek as conducted by Leinsdorf. I don't recall if this was from the MET itself or simply by the local radio station.

I had that 1959 Met recording on LPs when it was new, and played it many times before I switched to CDs. I don't remember them playing it that afternoon, but I may have turned off the radio after I learned that the rest of the performance had been cancelled.

[TruHart1]

The performance of Forza in which Warren died was not a radio broadcast. The actual Saturday afternoon broadcast of Forza that season took place as scheduled 8 days after the cancelled performance on March 12, 1960 with Mario Sereni. I believe that broadcast was dedicated to Leonard Warren.

From the MET Archives, a first hand account of the death of Leonard Warren:

 

[Met Performance] CID:184330

Cancelled Performance

La Forza del Destino: Acts I, II partial. Metropolitan Opera House: 03/4/1960.

 

(Death of Leonard Warren

Review and Account)

 

Metropolitan Opera House

March 4, 1960

 

 

LA FORZA DEL DESTINO: Acts I, II partial

Giuseppe Verdi--Francesco Maria Piave

 

Leonora.................Renata Tebaldi

Don Alvaro..............Richard Tucker

Don Carlo...............Leonard Warren [Last performance]

Padre Guardiano.........Jerome Hines

Fra Melitone............Salvatore Baccaloni

Marquis de Calatrava....Louis Sgarro

Curra...................Carlotta Ordassy

Surgeon.................Roald Reitan

 

Conductor...............Thomas Schippers

 

[Verdi's opera was performed in three acts this season;

Acts I and II were performed as Act I with the Inn Scene omitted.

 

Leonard Warren died in Act II after his aria Urna Fatale del mio destino.

In the first violin part of the Concertmaster, the exact spot is marked:

one measure after the Letter I, following the words Ora egli viva... e di mia man poi muoia...]

 

Review of performance and account of Leonard Warren's death by Raymond A. Ericson in Musical America

 

In one of the most dramatic and tragic events to take place on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, Leonard Warren was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage and died during a performance of "La Forza del Destino" on March 4

 

The capacity audience that witnessed the occurrence in stunned disbelief had begun the evening in a state of excited anticipation-Renata Tebaldi was returning to the company for the season, and the cast included a triumvirate of leading American singers-Mr. Warren, Richard Tucker, and Jerome Hines. An ovation greeted Miss Tebaldi, the Leonora, when the curtain went up, and the audience's enthusiasm continued to erupt after each of the great Verdian arias and ensembles that followed.

 

In the middle of Act II (as given at the Metropolitan), the duet for Mr. Warren and Mr. Tucker, "Solenne in quest' ora" brought another crescendo of applause and bravos. Mr. Warren then was left onstage alone to sing the recitative that begins "Morir! Tremenda cosa!" ("To die! Tremendous moment!"). How ominous this phrase was to prove! Mr. Warren continued into the superb aria that follows, "Urna fatale" (0 fatal pages"), and he had never seemed in better form as his remarkable voice rode the long legato phrases and soared excitingly through the cadenzas to the climactic high notes. At the end, he stood quietly until the shouts of approval had died away. Moving to stage left he completed his next few lines of recitative and then fell forward heavily, as if he had tripped.

 

Roald Reitan, as the Surgeon, entered, singing his single phrase, "Lieta novella, e salvo" ("Good news I bring you, I saved him"). No response came from Mr. Warren, as Thomas Schippers, the conductor, waited with upstretched arms to bring the orchestra in.

 

Uncertainty and wonder gripped everyone for a few seconds, and the audience stirred uneasily. Mr. Reitan then went quickly over to Mr. Warren, knelt by his side. The audience did not know that Mr. Reitan raised Mr. Warren's head slightly, that the stricken baritone uttered faintly the word "Help!" and then went limp. The audience was only aware of Mr. Reitan's looking anxiously into the wings and at Mr. Schippers, and of a voice in the auditorium saying clearly, "Bring the curtain down!"

 

The great golden curtains came down. Mr. Schippers waited at his post and the audience waited in their seats for several minutes until Rudolf Bing, general manager of the Metropolitan, appeared before the curtains to announce that the performance would continue. Shortly thereafter, another member of the staff appeared, saying there would be an intermission until the replacement (Mario Sereni) who had been called to substitute for Mr. Warren arrived for the opera.

 

Backstage, meanwhile, the gravity of the baritone's condition immediately became apparent. Dr. Adrian W. Zorgniotti, the house physician, who was in the audience, ran backstage, examined Mr. Warren and called for oxygen. An ambulance and a police emergency truck carrying oxygen were called. Oxygen supplies kept in the Metropolitan's first-aid room were rushed backstage. Osie Hawkins, Metropolitan bass, and two staff attendants attempted to breathe into Mr. Warren's mouth.

 

Mr. Warren's wife, Agathe, had attended the performance and was at her husband's side during his final moments. She alone, at one point, had seen a peculiar expression on Mr. Warren's face and realized that all was not well with him. Also present was Mgr. Edwin Broderick, of St. Patrick's Cathedral, who left the audience to come backstage and administer the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. And at some point after 10 o'clock Mr. Warren died.

About 10:30, warning bells rang in the lobbies, and the audience filed back to their seats. Mr. Bing reappeared before the curtain, his expression grave.

"This is one of the saddest days in the history of opera," he began. "I will ask you please to stand," he continued, as the shaken audience uttered gasps of disbelief, in memory of one of our greatest performers, who died in the middle of one of his greatest performances."After the audience had arisen, some of the members openly sobbing, Mr. Bing concluded: "I am sure you will agree with me mat it would not be possible to continue with the performance." Slowly, a dazed and saddened public departed.

 

Leonard Warren, who was 48 years old, died at the height of a career in which he was acclaimed as one of the great operatic baritones of our time. Only four days before his death he had received some of the highest praise ever accorded a singer for his performance of the title role in a new production of Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra."

 

He made a specialty of the Verdi repertoire, and he invariably sang with distinction the many superb baritone roles created by the great Italian operatic composer. He was perhaps, best known for his Rigoletto, a role that he not only sang repeatedly at the Metropolitan but also at La Scala in Milan and at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. In addition to the roles already mentioned, he was familiar to Metropolitan audiences as the elder Germont in "La Traviata", di Luna in "Il Trovatore", "Iago in "Otello", Macbeth, Amonasro in "Aida", Renato in "Un Ballo in Maschera", Carlo in "Ernani". He was also much admired for such non-Verdi roles as Scarpia in "Tosca", Gerard in "Andrea Chenier", Barnaba in "La Gioconda", and Tonio in "Pagliacci".

I was also listening to the radio broadcast of that Macbeth and wondering why the intermission was going on much longer than the time noted in the program, with no explanation, but a friend who was in the audience phoned to tell me what was happening; he was also seated in the Family Circle and recognized the man as a fellow regular in that section, who often chatted with other regulars during intermission. He was leaning precariously on the front edge of one of the boxes, and it wasn't clear whether the plunge was deliberate or whether he simply lost his balance and fell backwards.

 

As I remember, most of the audience weren't even aware that Versalle's fall was due to a heart attack, and the performance continued without any announcement till the end, when he didn't appear for the curtain call.

Here's a short statement about the death of Richard Versalle from the MET Archives:

 

[Met Performance] CID:322940

Cancelled Performance

The Makropulos Case: Act I partial. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/5/1996.

 

(Minutes after the opera began, tenor Richard Versailles suffered a fatal heart attack on stage and the performance was cancelled.)

 

Metropolitan Opera House

January 5, 1996

 

 

THE MAKROPULOS CASE: Act I fragment

Leos Janácek--Leos Janácek

 

[Minutes into the scheduled premiere of Janácek's opera, after singing the line "You can only live so long" from a ladder on the set, Richard Versalle, portraying Vítek, suffered a fatal heart attack, and fell ten feet to the stage below. The curtain was lowered and a few minutes later General Manager Joseph Volpe announced the cancellation of the performance.]

 

This was also not a broadcast and the performance did not continue.

 

TruHart1

[+ Charlie]

I did not attend that performance of Makropoulos, so I only remember that I was told about it, and obviously I don't remember clearly what I was told. I don't think it was the first performance in the run, however, because I think I saw Versalle in an earlier performance. After more than twenty years, my memory of the details is somewhat fuzzy, though I do remember the set in which he climbed the ladder.

 

I know that the Forza was not a broadcast, and I don't think any post here claimed that it was.

[TruHart1]

I did not attend that performance of Makropoulos, so I only remember that I was told about it, and obviously I don't remember clearly what I was told. I don't think it was the first performance in the run, however, because I think I saw Versalle in an earlier performance. After more than twenty years, my memory of the details is somewhat fuzzy, though I do remember the set in which he climbed the ladder.

 

I know that the Forza was not a broadcast, and I don't think any post here claimed that it was.

I am sorry Charlie, if I seemed to be alluding to your post as indicating that Forza performance was a broadcast, which I did not mean to convey in any way. An opera aficionado friend of mine once made the ironic observation, though, that there seemed to be more than at least three times the number of people possible for the old Metropolitan Opera house seating capacity who claimed to have attended that Forza performance.

 

As for the few minutes of Makropoulos where Mr. Versalle had the heart attack, I am just quoting in toto what the entry for the Makropoulos Case (January 5, 1996) on the MET Archives has. They never counted it as the primo because it was so short and refunds/replacement tickets were issued.The performance of January 11, 1996 turned out to be the actual primo. That 1-11 performance of Makropoulos was actually the Metropolitan Opera premiere of that opera. I tend to trust the MET Archives since the archivist, the late opera scholar Robert Tuggle, was always very meticulous in making sure all the archive entries were accurate.

 

I'm sorry if I inadvertently put you on the defensive. I was just sharing the historical facts because I found the eyewitness account of the Forza performance so very moving and had never before read the report of Mr. Versalle's passing before I looked it up.

 

TruHart1

[whipped guy]

Update regarding what the MET is offering as compensation for the cancellation... My friends were able to get tickets to another opera since they could not fit another Wm Tell into their schedule. They called the MET and they were very accomodating. Of course the friend who called was very respectful and prefaced his comments by saying that he totally understood the situation. The young lady on the other end of the conservation said that not all who called have been as understanding!