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Tenor Transformed. For Italian Tenor Del Monaco, the evening marked an amazing transformation. Del Monaco's singing career got a major boost when he was a soldier in World War II: his music-loving C.O. let him sing instead of shipping him to the front. One performance, in Butterfly, brought him his big chance: a buxom soprano watched the tenor sweep up his fragile leading lady and carry her offstage. The visitor was fascinated. "You must come and do it with me in Florence," she burbled. Then and there, Del Monaco earned a reputation more for force than for artistry. After a heavy workout in Florence, he moved to La Scala. His first season at the Met (1951-52) caused some terrible word-hurling. Wrote one New York Times critic of his acting in Otello: "His chop-licking, heart-clasping, tooth-gnashing, narrow-glancing, head-wagging, threatening, tottering behavior had the audience snickering in embarrassment." Critics admired his powerful voice, but found it cold.
Last week the critics enthusiastically reversed themselves on all counts, found his voice both strong and compelling, his acting no longer athletic. How did the change come about? Explains Tenor Del Monaco, an older and wiser man at 35: "I think and I think, so many critics, all of them, criticizing me for the same reason: The acting is not right, he overacts, he sings too loud.' I tell myself maybe I am wrong. So I study hard. This year I feel much better."
*In real life, Poet André de Chénier (1762-94), called by French Critic Sainte-Beuve the greatest writer of French classic verse after Racine and Boileau, spoke out against the revolutionists' bloody excesses, was eventually executed for conspiring while in prison.