[Met Performance] CID:197480
Lohengrin {524} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/10/1964.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
March 10, 1964
LOHENGRIN {524}
Lohengrin...............Jess Thomas
Elsa....................Leonie Rysanek
Ortrud..................Margaret Harshaw [Last performance]
Telramund...............Hermann Uhde
King Heinrich...........Jerome Hines
Herald..................William Walker
Noble...................Charles Cooke
Noble...................William Zakariasen
Noble...................Peter Sliker
Noble...................John Frydel
Conductor...............Joseph Rosenstock
Review of John Ardoin in Musical America
We had a new knight, a new Elsa and an almost new Telramund in the March 10 "Lohengrin." Heard for the first time at the Met in these roles were Jess Thomas, Leonie Rysanek and Hermann Uhde (Mr. Uhde had earlier in the season been scheduled to sing Telramund but performed only Act I before becoming indisposed; Walter Cassel finished the opera).
Looking like a statue of silver in his impressive paneled costume, tenor Tess Thomas was an ardent, fresh Lohengrin. He had ample dramatic instincts to match his fine voice, and it all added up to a commanding performance. Leonie Rysanek was also in top form, singing in a possessed, hypnotic manner. Her Elsa was no sheltered lily, but a passionate woman torn by devotion and doubt to point of virtual hysteria. These two fine artists made the Bridal Chamber Scene a taut, vivid affair - high verismo, that set the stage ablaze.
Mr. Uhde was obviously struggling with the upper reaches of Telramund's part, and on the whole it was a losing battle. His sense of drama was as potent as ever, but he simply lacked the vocal security to give it proper due.