Metropolitan Opera Archives

As it was with "Tristan und Isolde" earlier this season, so it was with "Die Walküre" in this Metropolitan revival after a two-season absence: Given the right singers and conductor, the Wagnerian operas become as dramatically cogent and musically exciting as the more popular works in the repertoire.

For this first performance, the Metropolitan had assembled a sometimes superb, always admirable cast. Birgit Nilsson, as Brünnhilde; Aase Nordmo-Lövberg, as Sieglinde; Jon Vickers, as Siegmund; and Jerome Hines, as Wotan, were all appearing in their roles for the first time at the Metropolitan. Irene Dalis reappeared as Fricka; Deszo Ernster was a familiar figure as Hunding. The Valkyries were Heidi Krall, Carlotta Ordassy, Gloria Lind, Margaret Roggero, Martha Lipton, Mignon Dunn, Helen Vanni, and Belen Amparan. Herbert Graf had staged the work in the lack-luster Simonson settings, and the estimable Karl Böhm was in charge in the orchestral pit.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the many outstanding factors of the evening was Mr. Vickers' Siegmund. No tenor at the Metropolitan for decades has been able to encompass both the heroic and lyric elements of the role with such mastery. He was equally effective in such tremendous outbursts as the "Wälse! Wälse!" and in the softly tender expressions of his devotion to Sieglinde in Act II.

As might have been expected, Miss Nilsson managed Brünnhilde's music with unfailing beauty of tone and dramatic awareness. From the clarion brightness of her "Ho-yo-to-ho" to the poignant appeal of her "War es so schmählich?" this was a magnificent performance.

That Mr. Hines's Wotan would be vocally beautiful was a foregone conclusion; that it would be stylistically right had been implied by his King Mark; but the profound sensitivity that communicated itself in so many of Wotan's phrases on this occasion was unexpected and a wonderful augury of performances to come. In time, this should be one of the great Wagnerian characterizations.

Miss Dalis' Fricka was so complete and convincing in dramatic detail, so colored and inflected in musical terms, that her long, shrewish colloquy with Wotan was thoroughly engrossing and even seemed short. Miss Lövberg was a warm-spirited, womanly Sieglinde, full of ecstasy in her growing love for Siegmund. Some of her singing had that lack of resonance peculiar to her, but elsewhere it was rich and gleaming, and the soft phrases were lovely indeed. On her entrance in Act II, as the desperate, tired fugitive, she was not only dramatically heart-rending, but her singing took on a rare vibrancy. Mr. Ernster's dependably bleak-hearted Handing and the vocally resounding chorus of Valkyries also contributed to the evening's success.

Mr. Böhm moved the Wagnerian score along at a swift pace, keeping the orchestral texture light, clear, and flowing, and building sudden powerful climaxes. More profound interpretations than this are possible, and certainly the last scene between Brünnhilde and Wotan was taken at too fast a tempo for the singers to do justice to the music, but Mr. Böhm's approach remains memorable when it is carried through with so much consistency and musicianship.

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