Metropolitan Opera Archives

Excepting for the Waltraute scene in which Mme. Thorborg for the few minutes she was on the stage brought with her something of the nobility of depth of Wagner's stupendous tragedy, this performance of "Götterdämmerung" was an unimpressive one. This want of mood which prevailed must be attributed to a great extent to the poor work of the orchestra under Mr. Leinsdorf's routine but uninspiring direction. The sounds produced by the brasses were consistently foggy and often inaccurate. The wood-winds were edgy, the strings thin. Chords in the tuttis were often out of balance and the fortissimos were noisy and unfocused. There were also many new shortcuts, some of them more than usually inept, to keep the performance from running beyond the hour when the orchestra must be paid for over-time.

With so unsatisfactory an unfolding of the orchestral portion of the score not much could be accomplished by the singers although some of them, especially the men, were well-disposed. Mme. Traubel was unfortunately not in her best vocal condition. Some of her music was expressively sung with full, telling tones. But for the most part she forced her voice injudiciously, at times with dire effects on the pitch, some tones emerging sharp, others flat. She made no attempt to sing the high "C" at the conclusion of the Prologue, but substituted the A-flat below.

Dramatically viewed her delineation showed no growth over last season's performances. Attired in a Hollywood hostess gown in taupe flaming orange the soprano did not suggest visually the fate-ridden figure envisioned by Wagner. Mme. Traubel enacted the episode of the oath at the spear like an old fashioned Italian prima donna who steps up to the footlights to deliver her aria, and then retiring. The tremendous intensity brought to the scene by such great Brünnhildes as Olive Fremstad and Kirsten Flagstad was not to be found last night. Mme. Traubel has the vocal weight for this role but not the essential dramatic insight.

Mr. Melchior was in good voice and much of his singing was brilliantly resonant. His characterization remains static. Mr. Janssen's Gunther is one of his most effective roles both from the vocal and histrionic facets. Mr. List, too, contributes some unusually steady, solid singing. His Hagen is not as sinister, commanding a portrayal as it might be, but it has dignity. Mme. Jessner's Gunther too is sympathetically acted. Never a grateful part from the vocal point of view, so little of it now remains in this abbreviated version that one can only say that she did about as much as is possible with her scattered measures.

The Norns proved one of the most satisfactory elements of the presentation, all three singing with round, substantial tones. The Rhine Maidens, too, sang agreeably. But the fact remains that the performance, despite single able impersonations, conveyed precious little of the towering majesty of Wagner's music drama.

Search by season: 1942-43

Search by title: Götterdämmerung,

Met careers