Metropolitan Opera Archives

Washington's Birthday was celebrated by two performances in the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday, both of which were attended by very large audiences. In the morning the last performance of "Parsifal" for the present season was performed. It was an entirely worthy close of a series that has in most respects maintained the high standard that was set by Mr. Conried a year ago and a notable showing of the zeal and care that have been bestowed upon this production. The New York public has not been compelled to witness the gradual lapse into perfunctoriness that might so easily have come about in a series of representations so numerous as those of "Parsifal" in this city; for that there is much cause for gratitude. The interest in the performance yesterday was much greater than in the last ones of the seven given in the earlier part of the season, when the work was several times given before small audiences. The house was well filled and the standing room largely occupied; and the behavior of the spectators showed that the impressiveness or Wagner's solemn drama had by no means been dulled by repetition.

Miss Fremstad returned to the part of Kundry which she has interpreted with such notable distinction-with such a true understanding of its almost irreconcilable contrasts and the difficulty they present. She does it with splendid temperamental power and presents a figure convincing in its threefold aspects and, in the second act, of remarkable beauty and allurement. It marks the summit of her achievement as a dramatic singer. The rest of the cast was the same that has been concerned in the previous repetitions, including Mr. Burgstaller, Mr. Van Rooy, Mr. Blass and Mr. Goritz. Mr. Hertz conducted and secured a beautifully finished performance of the score.

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