ABSTRACT
The status of City Opera as New York's "second" opera company does not necessarily imply that the "first" opera house, the Metropolitan, is performing impeccably, or indeed is giving the most responsible account of the full operatic repertory, from baroque to contemporary. City Opera has encouraged contemporary American works and, in general, has been more daring even in the presentation of warhorses from the repertory. In the excellent English translation of Andrew Porter, City Opera's Magic Flute was sung by a cast quite different from that of opening night earlier in September—a good test of vocal depth for any company. Mr. Richman must have been aware that the music was the thing—the music written by Dvorak both in New York City and in Spillville, Iowa, where he spent an intervening summer in a Czech emigre farmer community.
