[Met Performance] CID:124270



G?tterd?mmerung
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, December 12, 1938




G?tterd?mmerung (134)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Br?nnhilde
Kirsten Flagstad

Siegfried
Carl Hartmann

Gunther
Julius Huehn

Hagen
Emanuel List

Waltraute
Kerstin Thorborg

Alberich
Adolf Vogel

First Norn/Flosshilde
Doris Doe

Second Norn
Lucielle Browning

Third Norn/Gutrune
Dorothee Manski

Woglinde
Thelma Votipka

Wellgunde
Irra Petina

Vassal
Max Altglass

Vassal
Arnold Gabor


Conductor
Artur Bodanzky


Director
Leopold Sachse

Set Designer
Hans Kautsky





G?tterd?mmerung received five performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Samuel Chotzinoff in the Post

"G?tterd?mmerung" Heard With Flagstad as Br?nnhilde

Hartmann Fails to Match the Work of the Soprano in Wagner's Cycle Finale

Wagner's "G?tterd?mmerung" was performed for the first time this season at the Metropolitan last night. The cast included the Mmes. Flagstad, Thorborg and Manski and the Messrs. Hartmann, Huehn, List and Vogel. Mr. Bodanzky conducted.

The great finale of the "Ring" cycle requires, among other things, the participation of a soprano and a tenor who possess sufficient vocal and dramatic resources to convey the tragic climax of the Rhine saga. Last night's performance fulfilled only half of this requirement. Mme. Flagstad's Br?nnhilde remains a characterization in the grand style of Wagner's music drama. The Metropolitan has known more impassioned "G?tterd?mmerung" Br?nnhildes, but not, I believe, better sung.

Unfortunately Br?nnhilde must have a Siegfried to share with her the burden of carrying the story, and I regret to say that Mr. Hartmann was not an ideal helpmate. To the "G?tterd?mmerung" Siegfried, Wagner has allotted some tall singing and Mr. Hartmann's vocal endowment falls short of the taxing demands of the score. And yet, who could blame Mr. Johnson for going easy on Mr. Melchior, the Met's prize Wagnerian male. Rather should we blame this age of specialization in which singers are not just singers but become Wagnerian or French or Italian singers. In the old days Jean De Reszke used to sing Faust one night and Siegfried the next, and his voice was the better for it.

The major achievement in last night's presentation was Mme. Thorborg's Waltraute. Hers was a touching and beautifully sung characterization. Next to Br?nnhilde Waltraute is the most interesting of the warlike daughters of Wotan. Indeed, one would like to know something more about Waltraute after the great scene between her and her sister. More dutiful and more mindful of her duties as a goddess than her erring relation, Waltraute gives one the feeling that she, too, is all too human, and that she would have behaved as Br?nnhilde did had she been given the chance.

Julius Huehn as Gunther, Emanuel List as Hagen and Mr. Vogel as Albrich were all in the Wagnerian picture.



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