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C.W. GLUCK

Performances

5 August 1959 - Salzburg Festival - Sciutti, Jurinac; Karajan
15 December 1959 - Vienna State Opera - Lipp, Rothenberger; Karajan
1 November 1960 - N.Y. Town Hall (American Opera Society) - I. Gonzales, Allen; De Almeida
7 May 1961 - La Fenice - Panni, Fusco; Caracciolo
14 May 1962 - La Scala - Lipp/Panni, Adani; Sonzogno
25 July 1964 - San Carlo - Pani, Meneguzzer; Maag

Recordings

Reviews

August 1959 "The glory of the performance was Giulietta Simionato, a perfect Orfeo from the point of view of the voice, art of singing, stagecraft and emotion. this singer's voice has exceptional power, flexibility and warmth. She guides it with absolute science, uniting the three registers without a shadow of a seam and crowing her art with communicative emotion." Paul Scapus, Metropole, August 12, 1959
August 1959 "True, she doesn't have the amplitude, the full contralto colour of hieratic dignity of her great colleague Kathleen Ferrier, who was born to play Orfeo, but by the same token she was able to resolve quite decorously all the difficult problems that were put to her, betting on the nobility of her accent and the purity of her legato, without sacrificing the vocal and expressive essence of the character." Giorgio Gualerzi, Replica
May 1962 " As expected, Giulietta Simionato dominated the stage by means of her wealth of vocal resources and the authority of her moving dramatic attitudes. She dominated with singing that was miraculous for its polished splendour and its expressive ardour, and otherwise made an impression with the lordly dignity of her interpretation, pleasing us with the seductive naturalness of her stage personality and also with the precise way she has stylised her mythical character." Franco Abbiati, Il Corriere della Serra, May 15, 1962

Anecdotes

The 1959 Salzburg Festival Orfeo was one of the great milestones of Simionato's career and was reported internationally in the press as such, in countries including Belgium, Switzerland, France, England and of course Italy and Germany. Many commentators found it hard to believe that this was Simionato's debut in the role due to the polished nature of her performance.
Karajan originally wanted to do the Orfeo's in German as a bonus for the Austrian public who had seen their language banned from the stage, but try as she might Simionato could not find time to accommodate this wish (see below) so von Karajan agreed to the Italian language version.
While singing in the Orfeo's at Salzburg, Simionato was also darting back and forth to Verona to sing Azucena in Il Trovatore.
La Simionato was engaged to sing Orfeo in the 1954-55 MET season but was suffering forma serious form of exhaustion was unable to sing (Rise Stevens replaced her). Bing was not convinced by her explanation and punished her by leaving her off the MET roster until 1959.