[Met Tour] CID:33220



Siegfried
Ring Cycle [27]
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fri, March 11, 1904




Siegfried (67)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Siegfried
Alois Burgstaller

Brünnhilde
Marion Weed

Wanderer
Anton Van Rooy

Erda
Edyth Walker

Mime
Albert Reiss

Alberich
Otto Goritz

Fafner
Victor Klöpfer [Last performance]

Forest Bird
Marguerite Lemon


Conductor
Felix Mottl








Review 1:

Review from a Philadelphia newspaper

THE THIRD PART OF THE 'RING' TRILOGY

A Highly Successful Performance of 'Siegfried" Although Ternina Was Absent

Mr. Conried is having trouble with his Brünnhildes, though he put off the "Ring" to the very end of the season to accommodate them. Gadski sang in "Die Walküre," and was to have assumed, for the first time, the more exacting role of Brünnhilde in "Götterdämmerung," while Ternina, whose health has been precarious this winter, was let off with the short part in "Siegfried." When the Götterdämmerung" was to be presented in New York on Thursday night Gadski was indisposed and Ternina was compelled to take the big role. It was necessary, therefore, to relieve her from the Philadelphia appearance on the following evening, and Miss Weed was accordingly substituted as Brünnhilde in "Siegfried" last night. In this case a substitution is not of great importance. Brünnhilde sleeps through two acts and a half and awakens only to end the drama. The scene of her awakening, with the ecstatic duet that follows, is one of the noblest in all opera, when nobly sung. Miss Weed has sufficient voice and confidence to sustain her part without manifest shortcoming and the orchestra did the rest. The performance had been so successful throughout that, while it did not reach a proportionate climax in the finale, the impression remaining is one of great musical enjoyment.

Mottl conducted the opera with admirable spirit, with appreciation alike of its poetry and of its life. It moved smoothly, firmly and with vitality. Very rarely is the whole musical poem unfolded with so little tedium, with so much significance, and the singers were all adequate. Burgstaller's Siegfried has the charm of youth and buoyancy. He is a little sad at times, a little given to a posturing not quite spontaneous; but he sings the part beautifully, with sentiment and fine imagination. His great scene at the forge, though it sometimes tried his voice, was splendidly effective and aroused real enthusiasm, and his treatment of the forest scene, in the tender passages especially, was very lovely. He made a genuine success, deepening the impression left from last season, and the audience was warmly responsive to his merit.

Van Rooy sang the Wanderer with much of his former excellent style, with comparatively little of the roughness his voice has exhibited this season, and Goritz was again a malignant and forceful Alberich. As for the Mime of Reiss, it appears more wonderfully witty with every hearing and his scenes with Siegfried and with Alberich were a model of dramatic dialogue.

The general management of the stage was excellent. Some new scenery, not very different from the old, but fresher, had been brought over for the occasion; there was a new and very hideous dragon, whlch made no mistakes and, while the fire made a prudent call upon the imagination, there was no neglect of essential details. But all these things are mere accessories. The value of the performance was in the completeness of its musical effect, which was uncommonly bright and interesting throughout. The audience, which was a very large one, showed its appreciation of this by repeated and continued calls after every act, to which the conductor was compelled to respond with the artists. This was Mottl's last appearance for the season and he can be sure of a warm welcome when he returns.



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