Cornell MacNeil As Barnaba Metropolitan Opera Photo by Louis Melancon

Description

Cornell MacNeil As Barnaba in La Gionconda.
Metropolitan Opera Photo by Louis Melancon
Cornell MacNeil (Sept
ember 24
,
1922
–
July 15
,
2011
) was
an American operatic baritone
known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F. Paul Driscoll wrote in Opera News that he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones — Warren, Gobbi, Merrill, Milnes — and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."
Louis Mélançon
(1901-1974) was the in-house
photographer
for the Metropolitan Opera from 1947 to his death in 1974.