[Met Performance] CID:143770
Siegfried {204} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/22/1947.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 22, 1947
SIEGFRIED {204}
Siegfried...............Lauritz Melchior
Brünnhilde..............Helen Traubel
Wanderer................Joel Berglund
Erda....................Margaret Harshaw
Mime....................John Garris
Alberich................Walter Olitzki
Fafner..................Mihály Székely
Forest Bird.............Mimi Benzell
Conductor...............Fritz Stiedry
Review of Harold C. Schonberg in the Sun
"Siegfried" Given With Melchior
Wagner's "Siegfried" was presented last night in the Metropolitan Opera House with a cast that differed in important particulars from previous ones of the season. There was a different Siegfried, Wanderer and Alberich, with brand new singers for Fafner and the Forest Bird. Otherwise the faces were familiar. John Garris sang his dependable Mime, while the roles of Erda and Brünnhilde were taken by Margaret Harshaw and Helen Traubel. Fritz Stiedry conducted.
Lauritz Melchior, returned as Siegfried, looked considerably thinner than last year, though he retains certain heroic proportions. His acting has not changed much, and this part has its difficult moments for him. He is yet capable of some magnificent singing, in which authority and skill are equally evident. The constant, brilliant flow of former years is missing, naturally; voices do not improve with age.
Honors of the evening went to the low-voiced contingent - to Joel Berglund's imposing Wanderer; to Walter Olitzki's sufficiently malevolent and well sung Alberich; and to Mihaly Szekely, who sang his first Fafner. Although the part is small, enough was heard to demonstrate a flexible, smooth voice used with a knowledge of what, in Wagner, constitutes legato phrasing. This leaves Mimi Benzell's initial appearance as the Voice of the Forest Bird, which to judge from her performance last night, is still a project for the future.