[Met Performance] CID:131040
Götterdämmerung {144}
Ring Cycle [70] Uncut. Matinee ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 02/26/1941.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
February 26, 1941 Matinee
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG {144}
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Cycle [70] Uncut
Brünnhilde..............Kirsten Flagstad
Siegfried...............Lauritz Melchior
Gunther.................Herbert Janssen
Gutrune.................Irene Jessner
Hagen...................Emanuel List
Waltraute...............Kerstin Thorborg
Alberich................Walter Olitzki
First Norn..............Anna Kaskas
Second Norn.............Elsa Zebranska [Last performance]
Third Norn..............Thelma Votipka
Woglinde................Eleanor Steber
Wellgunde...............Irra Petina
Flosshilde..............Helen Olheim
Vassal..................John Dudley
Vassal..................Wilfred Engelman
Conductor...............Erich Leinsdorf
Review signed "H" in Musical America
Matinee of "Ring" Comes to a Close
The matinee cycle of the "Ring" dramas came to a close on the afternoon of Feb. 26 with a superb performance of "Götterdämmerung." Not soon will we hear another such magnetic rendition of this greatest of music dramas, for every singer on the stage was at his or her best and the ensemble, both vocal and dramatic, was splendid. Mme. Flagstad has seldom sung better and one may forgive her omission of the high C in the farewell scene in Act I, on account of her magnificence in the second act. The Curse on the Spear was terrifying in its malevolence. Mme. Flagstad still treats the Immolation with less of drama than it might possess, but her singing of it was splendid.
Mr. Melchior's Siegfried was one of the finest he has done and Mr. List who replaced Mr. Kipnis as Hagen sang well. Mr. Janssen's Gunther was the best, vocally, we have had in a long time. Mme. Thorborg sang the Waltraute scene well, but it has been done with greater dramatic significance. The remainder of the cast repeated that of the former performance: Irene Jessner as Gutrune; Walter Olitzki, Alberich; Three Norns, Anna Kaskas, Elsa Zebranska and Thelma Votipka; Rhinemaidens, Eleanor Steber, Irra Petina and Helen Olheim.
Mr. Leinsdorf conducted splendidly and, save for some bad playing from the brasses on more than one occasion, the orchestra was excellent.