[Met Tour] CID:48370



Lohengrin
Auditorium, Atlanta, Georgia, Mon, May 2, 1910




Lohengrin (257)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Lohengrin
Carl Jörn

Elsa
Olive Fremstad

Ortrud
Louise Homer

Telramund
Otto Goritz

King Heinrich
Robert Blass

Herald
Adolph Mühlmann

Gottfried/Noble
unknown

Page
Anna Case

Page
Miss Martin [Last performance]

Page
Rosina Van Dyck

Page
Henriette Wakefield


Conductor
Alfred Hertz







Review 1:

Review by Louise Dooly in The Atlanta Constitution:

Like a spiritual romance is Lohengrin - mystic, beautiful, its impressiveness perennial, and last night, as presented by the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company, if it had needed borrowed brilliance, there was all the glamour of a "first night" and long expectation. The cast was a stellar one, the orchestra, that well-attuned instrument which is a strong asset of the Metropolitan Opera Company, and all the material details of staging were adequate.

Most Appreciative Audience

The great size of the Auditorium seemed not to dim the luster of the music, either in the case of the singers or musicians, and the huge audience was enthusiastically appreciative of the treat afforded them. Wagner's graphic picture of medieval life and thought and creed was portrayed by a cast who were well suited to it, not only in the essential detail of voice, but in their impersonations.

Carl Jorn, a youthful, serious Lohengrin, a lover more reminiscent of the cold, pure Parsifal, his father, than of the more human Parsifal in the garden of the temptress, has a voice that is rich and flexible. Mme. Fremstad's Elsa it would be hard to have conceived beforehand in view of the singer's powerful temperament. Her portrayal of the "cold, pure maiden" one could scarcely expect to be so faithfully in comparison with her great dramatic success as Kundry, for instance. But the ardency she infused into the part was never overdrawn. Her voice is of a quality all its own. Its timbre is inimitable and in all the great range her role demands of the voice and feeling, [illegible] ?lack in that vibrant sweetness, that soaring quality which distinguishes it.

Otto Goritz and Mme. Louise Homer in the "great scene" when they are outcasts - a scene which is rather a trial in its length and purely dramatic quality to the average listener, but a fine exploitation, both of character and the Wagnerian intimacy between text and music, were vastly interesting.

The Telramund of Goritz was distinctly the primal nature coming to the surface, the passions of the man expressing themselves untrammeled even by the limitations of musical tone, although the singer's voice is a splendid one. And in contrast with the primitive man was the clever woman, "evolved" as any of today, but using the thoughts, the methods of her time. Mme. Homer's voice is one to make her American audience proud. She is an American, and she lacked nothing of temperament in that she was born on this side of the water.

Robert Blass was King Henry, his smooth bass used most tellingly in constant recitative, and Adolf Muhlmann, as the herald, displayed a voice of delightful quality. Alfred Hertz was the conductor of the orchestra, and his work, which had its conspicuous opportunity in a most satisfying rendition of the beautiful "prelude," was an important factor in securing some wonderful climaxes.

The chorus was one of great size and its tone was well controlled, its spirit highly dramatic.

A brief opportunity for the Auditorium's magnificent new pipe organ was a thrilling feature of the evening, at least to all the Atlanta people in the audience. Mr. Charles Shelden, Jr., of Atlanta, was the organist.



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