[Met Performance] CID:136040
Der Rosenkavalier {91} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/26/1943.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
November 26, 1943
DER ROSENKAVALIER {91}
R. Strauss-Hofmannsthal
Octavian.....................Risė Stevens
Princess von Werdenberg......Irene Jessner
Baron Ochs...................Emanuel List
Sophie.......................Eleanor Steber
Faninal......................Walter Olitzki
Annina.......................Hertha Glaz
Valzacchi....................John Garris
Italian Singer...............Kurt Baum
Marianne.....................Thelma Votipka
Mahomet......................Lina Duse
Princess' Major-domo.........Emery Darcy
Orphan.......................Maxine Stellman
Orphan.......................Mona Paulee
Orphan.......................Thelma Altman
Milliner.....................Lillian Raymondi
Animal Vendor................Lodovico Oliviero
Hairdresser..................Michael Arshansky
Notary.......................Gerhard Pechner
Leopold......................Ludwig Burgstaller
Faninal's Major-domo.........John Dudley
Innkeeper....................John Dudley
Police Commissioner..........Lorenzo Alvary
Conductor....................George Szell
Director.....................Lothar Wallerstein
Set designer.................Hans Kautsky
Costume designer.............Alfred Roller
Der Rosenkavalier received five performances this season.
Unsigned review in PM
Baron Ochs vs. Sentimentality
That sentimental, affecting, vulgar and enormously skillful opera "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss came back to the Metropolitan Friday night under a new conductor, George Szell. He must have been able to give the opera more rehearsal time than it has enjoyed in recent years, for it went with a fresh smoothness and sheen. It also went with lilt and with drama, and a nostalgic phrasing of the waltz tunes that brought a catch to the throat again and again.
Lacking a great and warm personality, such as Lotte Lehmann's, in the role of the Princess, the opera is likely to be dominated by the Baron Ochs, when he is portrayed by so authentic and convincing an actor as Emanuel List. And when Baron Ochs dominates the scene - as he did most of Friday night - the essential Teutonic boorishness and cruelty of the tale became almost unbearable, especially when contrasted with the concomitant sentimentality.
Not that Irene Jessner was anything by competent. She sang the music of the Princess quite well enough, but only lacked the great dignity and warmth which can make that lady more important than her title. Together with Rise Stevens as Octavian and Eleanor Steber as Sophie, she made the final trio a thing of real beauty.
The lesser roles were all well taken, and Kurt Baum received an ovation for his anonymous first-act tenor aria.