[Met Performance] CID:54625



Götterdämmerung
Ring Cycle [41]
Metropolitan Opera House, Thu, February 20, 1913 Matinee





Götterdämmerung (79)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Brünnhilde
Olive Fremstad

Siegfried
Jacques Urlus

Gunther
William Hinshaw

Gutrune
Rita Fornia

Hagen
Carl Braun

Waltraute/Flosshilde
Margarete Matzenauer

Alberich
Otto Goritz

Woglinde
Lenora Sparkes

Wellgunde
Bella Alten


Conductor
Alfred Hertz


Ring Cycle [41]








Review 1:

Review of W. J. Henderson in the Sun

"Goetterdaemerung" Admirably Performed at the Opera House.

The annual presentation of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" was brought to an end at the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday afternoon with a remarkably fine performance of "Goetterdaemmerung." It is difficult to recall any other performance of the stupendous tragedy which equaled this in the sustained level of its dramatic intensity and its general plane of interpretative skill. All the artists, with the exception of Mme. Fornia as Gutrune, shone in their roles, and the orchestra put to its credit an uncommonly smooth and transparent delivery of its part. For much of this beautiful achievement Alfred Hertz, the conductor, was surely to be thanked.

Among the impersonators of Wagner' characters Carl Braun probably aroused the deepest admiration, not because his Hagen overshadowed some other characterizations but because it was the most commanding impersonation of the role ever disclosed to this public. The profound depth of the sinister nature, the relentless and irresistible power of the Nibelung's son, the bitter spirit of cruel revenge and the almost superhuman craft were all denoted with a masterly histrionic and vocal skill. Mr. Braun's grand voice filled the music with tragic splendor and his fine intelligence vitalized every line with a communicative eloquence.

Mr. Urlus was a good Siegfried, though it must be confessed that in the first two acts his voice sounded cold and was by no means steady. But his delivery of the narrative was excellent and his burst of emotion when the memory of Brunnhilde returned to him was genuinely moving. Mme. Fremstad repeated her great impersonation of Brunnhilde, not for one instant falling below the lofty level of dramatic interpretation to which she has accustomed local operagoers. Mr. Hinshaw was a competent Gunther, and three excellent Rhine maidens were Mmes. Alten, Sparkes and Matzenauer. The last named also acted and sang beautifully the role of Waltraute.

Photograph of Jacques Urlus as Siegfried in Götterdämmerung by Herman Mishkin.



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Search by title: Götterdämmerung, Ring Cycle [41],



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