[Met Tour] CID:133370



Lohengrin
Metropolitan Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, Thu, March 19, 1942




Lohengrin (453)
Richard Wagner | Richard Wagner
Lohengrin
Lauritz Melchior

Elsa
Astrid Varnay [Acts I, II]

Elsa
Maxine Stellman [Act III]

Ortrud
Kerstin Thorborg

Telramund
Julius Huehn

King Heinrich
Norman Cordon

Herald
Leonard Warren

Noble
Emery Darcy

Noble
John Dudley

Noble
Wilfred Engelman

Noble
Gerhard Pechner


Conductor
Erich Leinsdorf





Varnay cancelled after Act II and was replaced as Elsa by Stellman.

Review 1:

Review of Alexander Williams in the Boston Traveler

THE OPERA

"Lohengrin"

The [first night] of the Boston season of the Metropolitan Opera Company proved to be an evening of heavy weather last night, mishaps that were unfortunately not all due to bad luck. In the first place, the soprano, Astrid Varnay, who was manifestly not singing well at the outset, grew rapidly worse vocally in the second act. After a prolonged wait Mr. Johnson, the manager of the company, came before the curtain and announced that Miss Varnay could not proceed, owing to the fact that the terrific heat on the stage had "lowered" her voice. The substitute for the third act was Maxine Stellman, who did an excellent job.

Would that this summed up the sad tale of the Metropolitan's [first night]! The best work came with Mme. Thorborg in a fine performance of the uncongenial role of Ortrud, and the orchestra, which gave a good and steady account of itself under Mr. Leinsdorf. But "Lohengrin" was an unhappy choice to open the season here. We had heard it only last spring with the same cast, except for Mme. Flagstad in Miss Varnay's role. Why the management considered it the ideal opera with which to begin a season in these difficult times we shall never know. There was, in fact, no sense whatever in the selection. "Lohengrin" is second-rate Wagner in any event and needs a better than first-rate performance to put it over.

Under the circumstances it is perhaps unfair to offer any very extended criticism of Miss Varnay, whose Boston operatic debut this was. She did not impress us favorably in the first act, when presumably she was at her best. The voice seemed adequate and agreeable, but too small. For example, Miss Stellman's singing in the last act, though she might pardonably be let off much on account of nervousness, was fully as good. If this was Miss Stellman's big chance, she took it efficiently and deserved the warm applause she received.

Mr. Melchior was distinctly not in voice last night. When he addressed the swan he was not in tune, and indeed he never really warmed up to the full extent of his powers thereafter. Mr. Huehn, who has been one of the coming singers of the Metropolitan, had a relapse last night. He sang the same role much better last year.

Messrs. Cordon and Warren were towers of strength, but who in the world ever heard of the King and the Herald "saving" a performance of "Lohengrin"? Mme. Thorborg was the real touchstone of what the performance should have been in all respects; and she, poor lady, had a nose-bleed in the second act and had to hide awkwardly behind Elsa for quite a spell, singing all the time.

A great deal of the praise is due Mr. Leinsdorf and his sturdy band, who withstood the heat and all other untoward events and kept the opera going. Must we add that it was proved amply last year that the Metropolitan's stage is not large enough for Wagner's requirements in this direction. Nor is the company's set exactly a novelty to our eyes. At any rate we have the "Magic Flute" tomorrow night and a number of other treats during the engagement to wash the memory of this semi-debacle away.



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