[Met Performance] CID:98980



Siegfried
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, March 23, 1928




Siegfried (140)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Siegfried
Rudolf Laubenthal

Br?nnhilde
Gertrude Kappel

Wanderer
Michael Bohnen

Erda
Karin Branzell

Mime
Max Bloch

Alberich
Gustav Sch?tzendorf

Fafner
William Gustafson

Forest Bird
Editha Fleischer


Conductor
Tullio Serafin







Review 1:

Review of Pitts Sanborn in the New York Telegram

Serafin Once More Conducts a Noteworthy 'Siegfried'

Kappel Sings Br?nnhilde with Rudolf Laubenthal as the Fearless Hero

To judge from the great audience that assembled at the Metropolitan last night for the first evening "Siegfried" of the season, the Woodland Scherzo of Wagner's "Nibelungen" symphony has recaptured the popular favor that it enjoyed here in the legendary days of Jean de Reszke.

If such is the gratifying case, most of the credit goes to the musical direction of Mr. Serafin - his effective feeling for the beauty and grandeur of the score, his judicious restoration of important pages which long had been omitted here, his broad and elastic tempi.

The Metropolitan can no longer boast the Wagner singers that it possessed when the de Reszke brothers numbered among their colleagues artists of the caliber of Lilli Lehmann, Marie Brema, Lillian Nordica, Milka Ternina, Emma Eames, Schumann-Heink, Van Rooy and David Bispham. But at any rate it has a real Wagner conductor in Tullio Serafin.

The cast yesterday included Mr. Laubenthal as Siegfried, the free and fearless hero; Messrs. Sch?tzendorf and Bloch as the dwarfs Alberich and Mime; Mme. Branzell to sing Erda's plaints; Mme. Fleischer to voice the Forest Bird, and Mr. Gustafson to voice the dragon, Fafner. For the first time this season Mr. Bohnen appeared as the Wanderer, striving earnestly and legitimately to do justice to a part which runs a little high for his voice.

Mme. Kappel assumed for a second time the role of Br?nnhilde. Her treatment of the music was broad and dignified in conception, but uncertain in execution. It is matter of congratulation, however, that she was much more impressive than before in the sublime "Kein Gott nahte mit" passage. But this opera puts a severe stain on Mme. Kappel's resources both as singer and actress.

The audience was lavish with its applause.



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