Metropolitan Opera Archives

The Good Friday performance of "Parsifal" this year was not as well integrated or as sustained as the season's first performance on March 23. It was most gripping in the scenes dominated by Jerome Hines, as Gurnemanz, and George London, as Amfortas. Mr. London sang the role of Amfortas in the celebrated Bayreuth performance in 1951, signalized by Ernest Newman as the most moving that he had ever witnessed. (It is now available in a recording). He performed the part consummately on this occasion. The agony, the remorse, the desperate appeals for relief were conveyed with resplendent tones and the most sensitive plastique. Mr. London moves as beautifully as he sings. Every step, every gesture, is part of a phrase and therefore esthetically significant. Mr. Hines, also, has poured a wealth of

artistry into his characterization of Gurnemanz. How much richer, how much more convincing, how much nobler it is now than when he first undertook the role! In the Good Friday scene, his singing moved the audience very deeply, and I heard a man near me murmur, almost unconsciously, "Magnificent!"

The other aspects of the performance were less happy. Margaret Harshaw, who has improved so strikingly in many of her Wagnerian roles in recent seasons, does not appear to have come to grips effectively with the role of Kundry, as yet. Her conception of the temptress Kundry was unsubtle and awkward, and she did not capture the searing horror and penitence of the outburst, "Ich lachte." Bernd Aldenhoff, who had been galvanized into dramatic energy by Astrid Varnay at the previous performance, was a cipher this time.

Gerhard Pechner was a vigorous and venomous Klingsor, even though he did bark out some of the phrases unnecessarily. The others retained their rôles from the March 23 performance: Nicola Moscona, Jean Madeira, Albert Da Costa, Osie Hawkins, Vilma Georgiou, Rosalind Elias, Paul Franke, and Gabor Carelli.

The orchestra played eloquently in the second and third acts, although tired lips in the brass section caused some disturbing slips, especially in the trumpet solos. Fritz Stiedry never lost the emotional glow of the music and the audience was in a true "Parsifal" mood.

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