Metropolitan Opera Archives

Yesterday evening's representation of "Die Walküre" drew a larger audience to the Metropolitan Opera House than foregoing performances of the work would have led one to expect. "Die Walküre," in fact, has worn less well than any of Wagner's achievements, and its occasional production last season was scarcely encouraging enough to warrant its revival this year. If the promised appearance of Herr Anton Schott as Siegmund exercised last night a marked influence upon the numbers of the assemblage, it is only just to the German tenor to mention, at the very outset of this notice, that the good points of his portrayal rewarded handsomely the confidence placed in him by his admirers. The tenor's opportunities in "Die Walküre" lie, as will be remembered, in the first act, wherein the long story of Siegmund's woes tests the variety and eloquence of his declamation, and the "Spring song," the duet, and the "sword song" reveal the quality of his voice and the proportions of his art. Herr Schott's narrative was not to be compared, as may be imagined, with Herr Niemann's, but he sang the exquisite "Spring song" with refreshing tonal beauty and the "sword song" with much timbre and with a broad and spirited delivery that accorded perfectly with its heroic character. The curtain was raised four times after it had fallen upon the closing measures of the scene and twice after the second act, in which, however, Herr Schott bore off but a fraction of the honors of the representation. The remaining personages in "Die Walküre" were assigned to familiar artists, Fraülein Lehmann embodying Brünnhilde, Fraülein Brandt Fricka, Frau Seidl-Krauss Sieglinde, and Herr Fischer that dreariest or demigods, Wotan. The charm of Fraülein Lehmann's tones and presence made amends for such fervor and breadth as are at times missed from her delineation of Brünnhilde, while Fraülein Brandt's consummate skill as an actress imparted some interest even to her share of the wearisome duet - fortunately reduced in length - between Fricka and Wotan. Frau Seidl-Krauss was an earnest Sieglinde, and Herr Fischer a becomingly dissatisfied Wotan. The orchestra was in capital form, and the "Ride of the Walkyries" and the "magic fire scene" called forth, as usual, its best endeavors.

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Search by title: Die Walküre,

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