“LA FA VORITA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 350, 10 May 1928, Page 14

“LA FA VORITA”

Rarely Heard Opera Produced by Gonsolez MELODIOUS WORK “La Favorita,” rarely produced, proved melodious and dramatic at Sydney St. James,” says a Sydney paper, referring to the Fuller-Gonsolez opera performers, “but Donizetti shows some queer artistic lapses. “In the third act climax, when Ferdinand, who has forsaken his monastic

vows for love of the mystery lady and won distinction as a general against the Moors, learns that his bride Leonora has been the mistress of the king, he is naturally wrath; and so is the king when Ferdinand not only spurns the heartbroken, ashamed lad3 r , but tears off the of honour recently handed him by the monarch and breaks his sword across his knee. “The tense situation is one that calls for drums, but, figuratively speaking, Donizetti has given it cymbals. None the less the artistic Scamuzzi as the king, Rota as Ferdinand, and Nina Algozino as Leonora, held the situation very well. Thenceforward the lady got over her lack of fervency and went to the demise invariably demanded by grand opera in a style that left nothing to be desired. “Rota did his best work of the season and earned a double encore for his singing of ‘Spirito Gentil.* Clad in amazing whiskers, the sonorous Fumagalli was very impressive as the monastic chief, Balthazar; and the chorus was in unusually good trim.”