[Met Performance] CID:26430



Siegfried
Ring Cycle [20]
Metropolitan Opera House, Tue, March 19, 1901 Matinee





Siegfried (54)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Siegfried
Jean de Reszke

Brünnhilde
Milka Ternina

Wanderer
Edouard de Reszke

Erda
Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Mime
Adolph Von Hübbenet

Alberich
David Bispham

Fafner
Robert Blass

Forest Bird
Fritzi Scheff


Conductor
Walter Damrosch


Ring Cycle [20]








Review 1:

Review in the Brooklyn Eagle

METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

There was an enormous crowd at the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday afternoon to hear Jean de Reszke sing "Siegfried," for the first time in four years and possibly for the last time in New York, as the return of the Polish tenor for next season is one of the things which must be left for decision until September. De Reszke does not sympathize with Siegfried as completely as he does with Lohengrin and Tristan, and Alvary, and possibly, Dippel, have brought more of the spirit of eternal youth spontaneously into the role than De Reszke does. But this very want of intuitive sympathy with the character serves to set forth in a white light De Reszke's greatness as a dramatic and lyric artist. He shows complete intellectual comprehension of character and he illustrates it with a wealth of detail and a skill in composition which none of his predecessors has approached. His singing of the music is matchless, both in beauty of voice and in shading and phrasing, so as to bring out the spirit of the music in every passage. This singer vies with Lilli Lehmann in his power to interpret the soul of Wagner whenever he sings his music. Edouard de Reszke returned after his illness, to sing Wotan, and was warmly welcomed. The Wanderer is perhaps something less of a bore when his meanderings are sung in De Reszke's beautiful voice than otherwise, but there is a statue waiting for the reformer, who shall dare to cut this part down to its essential dramatic connection with the story of the ring and thus reduce the four hours and a half of "Siegfried" by at least an hour. Milka Ternina was the Brünnhilde and she played the part beautifully, as she does everything which she touches. But a little more power and resonance in the upper notes would give greater value to the great duet. Nordica is still the ideal Brünnhilde. Bispham was the Alberich, as dramatically right, but less theatrically effective than in "The Rheingold." Blass was an adequate Fafner, and the voice of the Wurm has not comported with his outward appearance before since the early German seasons. Hübbenet was the Mime and Damrosch conducted adequately.



Search by season: 1900-01

Search by title: Siegfried, Ring Cycle [20],



Met careers