Metropolitan Opera Archives

Though "Die Walküre" has had performances of recent memory that possessed more of surge and flame, the one on the evening of Dec. 29 reached and maintained a more than creditable level. There was particular interest in the Siegmund of Max Lorenz and the Hunding of Emanuel List, the latter a characterization entirely new to Metropolitan audiences and the former a riper achievement than it was when Mr. Lorenz was last with the company.

The Saxon tenor preserved the lyric line of the Wagnerian "melos" to a degree not the customary thing in "Walküre" performances, and was physically prepossessing as the ill-fated Wälsung. Mr. List utilized the weight and inky blackness of his voluminous voice to make Hunding the formidable and threatening being he was intended to be, but only occasionally is. Ludwig Hofmann as Wotan again won admiration for a characterization that was pictorial and strong. The chief women of the cast, Göta Ljungberg as Sieglinde, Gertrude Kappel as Brünnhilde and Karin Branzell as Fricka, were all praiseworthy, Mme. Ljungberg being particularly successful with the many lovely phrases that fall to Sieglinde in the first act. There was a debut among the Walküren, Irra Petina appearing as Schwetleite, in the group that also included Dorothee Manski, Phradie Wells, Margaret Halstead, Ina Bourskaya, Philine Falco, Doris Doe and Elda Vettori. No doubt there will be better opportunities to adjudge her voice and abilities in subsequent operas. Artur Bodanzky, the conductor, had his forces well in hand, but this was not one of his more exciting "Walküre's."

Search by season: 1933-34

Search by title: Die Walküre,

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