[Met Performance] CID:322630



Die Meistersinger von N?rnberg
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, December 4, 1995

Debut : Peter McClintock




Die Meistersinger von N?rnberg (387)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Hans Sachs
Bernd Weikl

Eva
Karita Mattila

Walther von Stolzing
Ben Heppner

Magdalene
Birgitta Svend?n

David
Lars Magnusson

Beckmesser
Hermann Prey

Pogner
Jan-Hendrik Rootering

Kothner
John Del Carlo

Vogelgesang
Jon Garrison

Nachtigall
Christopher Schaldenbrand

Ortel
Philip Cokorinos

Zorn
Anthony Laciura

Moser
John Horton Murray

Eisslinger
Charles Anthony

Foltz
Richard Vernon

Schwarz
LeRoy Lehr

Night Watchman
Ren? Pape


Conductor
James Levine


Production
Otto Schenk

Set Designer
G?nther Schneider-Siemssen

Costume Designer
Rolf Langenfass

Lighting Designer
Gil Wechsler

Choreographer
Carmen De Lavallade

Stage Director
Peter McClintock [Debut]





Die Meistersinger von N?rnberg received five performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of Shirley Fleming in the New York Post

'Meistersinger' a masterpiece

The Metropolitan Opera seems to have rounded up rounded up every lyrical male singer in the business for its revival of "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg" on Monday.

And that was good news for Wagner's gentlest and most tuneful opera, with its cast ratio of 15 men to two women. It was by any standards a sterling array of low voices: There was not a gruff phrase, not a bark or a growl to be heard all night.

The principal newcomer to this wonderful production, which premiered two seasons ago, was baritone Bernd Weikl, singing the pivotal role of Hans Sachs for the first time here; he was in the formidable company of Ben Heppner as Walther, Jan-Hendrik Rootering as Pogner and Hermann Prey as Beckmesser.

A lesser artist than Weikl might have been swamped, but not he: his kindly, philosophical cobbler was warmly and resonantly sung, and the personality that emerged was all that it should be - humane, wryly humorous, a bit resigned.

Heppner's Walther had all the equipment he needed to face the skeptical mastersingers, and he delivered the Prize Song with ringing tenderness (though he tired, forgivably, at the evening's end).

Rootering's resounding bass rolled out effortlessly and with a notable touch of sweetness; the scene with Eva as twilight falls in Act II included a particularly beautiful sustained high climax, soft and glowing. Prey's bumbling and petulant Beckmesser was a comic delight. Among the Meistersingers, John Del Carlo's Kothner made an especially strong impression.

In this masculine landscape Karita Mattila's Eva shone like a star; her house-filling soprano never loses focus, and the passion of her outpouring love for Walther generated real heat. Birgitta Svenden was her slightly hooty attendant.

James Levine's pacing of the opera was full of vitality, and the Gunther Schneider-Siemssen sets put you right in the middle of medieval Nurnberg. A terrific place to be.



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