Metropolitan Opera Archives

"Die Meistersinger" was represented for the last time, but one, at the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday evening. The performance only differed from its predecessors in respect of increased finish of detail and smoothness of progress; it did not terminate, however, until well past midnight. The opera was sung by Herren Alvary, Fischer, Basch, Kernlitz, and von Milde, and by Frau Seidl-Krauss and Fräulein Brandt, all of whom were concerned in its first public rehearsal this season. Some time may go by before Herr Alvary becomes an ideal Walther, but the rapid advance the young tenor has made since he was introduced to local audiences gives abundant promise of future distinction. His portrayal last evening embodied, in a still more marked degree than in the past, the merits of earnestness, expressiveness, and picturesqueness. Dr. Basch renewed the favorable impression wrought by his Beckmesser, and Herr Fischer was as good as ever - and the rôle is one to which he is admirably fitted - as Hans Sachs. Frau Seidl-Krauss as Eva and Fräulein Brandt as Magdalene were seen in characters, to the artists' conception and execution of which sufficient allusion has already been made. Herr Kemlitz as David is scarcely as acceptable a representative of the personage as was Herr Kraemer last winter. The loudest applause of the evening was elicited by the noble quintet in the last act, but the animation and vividness of the final scene also called forth hearty plaudits, notwithstanding the very late hour at which its presentation was effected.

Search by season: 1886-87

Search by title: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,

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