Metropolitan Opera Archives

Florence Easton was fervently welcomed back to the Metropolitan fold by the huge audience which attended last night's performance of Wagner's "Die Walküre" at the Broadway house. The former favorite, who was last heard on the same stage in "Madama Butterfly", April 10, 1929, made her reappearance as Brünnhilde, at this second presentation in the popular priced Saturday night "Ring" cycle.

There was a great outburst of applause when Miss Easton was first glimpsed in her warrier-maiden panoply, high on the rocky eminence, at the rise of the curtain. And another storm of plaudits arose at the conclusion of her brilliant negotiation of the "Ho-yo-to-ho", which was voiced with ringing tones alive with exultation. The high B's and C's flowed forth without effort and were admirably true to pitch. Miss Easton's singing at this point set the pace for what was to come in her sympathetic and affecting interpretation, which had a thrilling dramatic force, and when required, an ample fund of touching tenderness. Her diction was such that every word came clearly to the ear and altogether she earned her pronounced success.

The opera was off to a rather tame start. Miss Kappel, as Sieglinde, and Mr. List, the Hunding, did their best to bring the first act to life, and so did Mr. Bodanzky in the orchestra pit. But for some reason the Siegmund of Mr. Althouse failed to fit into the picture histrionically or vocally and had a dampening effect, through want of vitality and flame. Mr. Hofmann's Wotan was again a vivid and powerful portrayal, though with greater emphasis on the god-like, than the paternal, characteristics of the rôle.

As for Miss Branzell, her voice was in its best estate, and she gave a superb account of herself as the shrewish Fricka. After the first act Mr. Bodanzky worked with a vengeance to retrieve the performance from the flatness of the initial division and succeeded in accomplishing the feat.

Search by season: 1935-36

Search by title: Die Walküre, Ring Cycle [58],

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