[Met Performance] CID:243900
Elektra {50} Matinee Broadcast ed. Metropolitan Opera House: 01/10/1976., Broadcast
(Debuts: Roberta Knie
Broadcast
Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
January 10, 1976 Matinee Broadcast
ELEKTRA {50}
Elektra.................Ursula Schröder-Feinen
Chrysothemis............Roberta Knie [Debut]
Klytämnestra............Astrid Varnay
Orest...................William Dooley
Aegisth.................Robert Nagy
Overseer................Carlotta Ordassy
Serving Woman...........Batyah Godfrey Ben-David
Serving Woman...........Shirley Love
Serving Woman...........Cynthia Munzer
Serving Woman...........Loretta Di Franco
Serving Woman...........Christine Weidinger
Confidant...............Elinor Harper
Trainbearer.............Maureen Smith
Young Servant...........Charles Anthony
Old Servant.............Edward Ghazal
Guardian................Edmond Karlsrud
Conductor...............Heinrich Hollreiser
Rebroadcast on Sirius Metropolitan Opera Radio
Review of John Rockwell in The New York Times
It was old-fashioned star time at the Metropolitan Opera Saturday afternoon, with Ursula Schröder-Feinen in her first assumption of Elektra with the company, Roberta Knie in her Met debut as Chrysothemis and Astrid Varnay as Klytämnestra.
Miss Schröder-Feinen isn't the greatest actress in the world, and her short stature was a bit incongruous, dramatically, next to the taller Miss Knie. But she will no doubt develop her interpretation - it's conscientious and intelligent even now. And her singing was as spectacular as this listener has ever heard in the part: huge, even, pure and rich, flashing on top and astonishingly solid in the middle and lower registers. For sheer sound there can't be a dramatic soprano active today who can match her.
Miss Knie wasn't the ideally complementary Chrysothemis. The part should offer a "feminine," vocally dulcet contrast to the title role. Miss Knie sounded rather like a slightly inferior Brünnhilde, with a strong if slightly acidic top and a weaker lower voice. At the end, the two sopranos together were thrilling, but it wasn't the ideal match. Miss Varnay's acting was as full of malevolent personality as ever and her singing was as strong and secure as necessary.