[Met Performance] CID:5370



Tannhäuser
Metropolitan Opera House, Fri, November 26, 1886




Tannhäuser (28)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Tannhäuser
Albert Niemann

Elisabeth
Auguste Seidl-Kraus

Wolfram
Adolf Robinson

Venus
Lilli Lehmann

Hermann
Emil Fischer

Walther
Max Alvary

Heinrich
Otto Kemlitz

Biterolf
Max Heinrich

Reinmar
Emil Sänger

Shepherd
Ida Klein


Conductor
Anton Seidl


Director
Mr. Van Hell

Set Designer
Charles Fox, Jr.

Set Designer
William Schaeffer





Tannhäuser received six performances this season.

Review 1:

Review of W. J. Henderson, The New York Times:

With the exception of Herr Niemann's portrayal of Tannhäuser, the impersonations beheld at the Metropolitan last evening were familiar to frequenters of the house. Herr Robinson's admirable Wolfram, Frau Seidl-Krauss's forceful if not exactly dignified or touching Elisabeth, and Fräulein Lehmann's Venus-an ideal performance, both as to appearance and song-were seen last season, and revealed, on the occasion under notice, no new characteristics. Frau Krauss's first air and her duet with Tannhäuser were her happiest efforts; in the last scenes something of tenderness was wanting in her tone and accent. As for Herr Robinson, he made as much of his melodious measures in the septet as Herr Seidl's dragging of the tempo would allow him to, and sang the "evening star" romance in the fourth act with his accustomed feeling and breadth. Herr Niemann's Tannhäuser, like the portrayals the German tenor had already made known to the public, was a delineation distinguished, in a dramatic sense, by sincerity, intensity, and simplicity, if a trifle deficient, perhaps, in the picturesqueness habitually allied to operatic representations. Vocally he succeeded in husbanding his resources so as to finish the evening in a most effective way. Twice, indeed, he awoke unpleasant anticipations of disaster; in the scene with Venus in the first act he strayed from the key, and in the last act his voice broke on a high note. Herr Niemann, however, has experience as well as genius, and he recovered himself so promptly that, a few seconds later, the audience had forgotten alike the mishaps and their possible consequences. In his parting with Elisabeth, and in his "racconto," the tenor's declamation and acting wrought a profound impression, and he was called before the curtain twice after the second act, and half a dozen times after the last, the audience rising, ultimately, to their feet and welcoming him to the footlights with ringing cheers. The performance in general was as good as ever, and the stage attire of "Tannhäuser," enriched by a fresh picture of the Wartburg, magnificent.

Albert Niemann as Tannhäuser. Photograph by Reichard & Lindner, Berlin.



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