Word: siegmunds
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...Giulio Gatti-Casazza endeavored to make up for lost time. Baritone Thomas was ordered to get himself into tail coat and top hat and enact the worried parent in Traviata. Plump Tenor Althouse, who sang at the Met twelve years ago, was told to slip on a bearskin for Siegmund in Die Walkure...
Tenor Paul Althouse, a Pennsylvanian like Thomas, looked better in a bearskin than Tenor Lauritz Melchior who usually sings Siegmund. And he sang the taxing music every bit as well. Twelve years ago critics used to find fault with Althouse's bleating but now, at 44, his voice is perfectly controlled, rich with color. Thoroughly exciting was the scene where he pulls Wotan's sword out of the ash tree. He jumped up on the table, grasped the hilt firmly, steadied himself and gave a mighty jerk that was felt throughout the audience...
...Sieglinde who moved about the stage gracefully, so sure of each difficult phrase that she never had to cock an eye on the conductor. They heard a voice so warm and expressive that for once it was easy to believe in Sieglinde's sudden love for Siegmund...
...most horrible agony in Carmen and Fedora, has a dozen devices for making opera exciting. Artistically she has done better with Walküre, Rosenkavalier, Lohengrin, Tannhaüser. Few having seen will forget the beauty of her as Sieglinde sitting still at the table listening half-hypnotized to Siegmund's narrative; the silver radiance of her as Ocatavian bringing in the rose; the iridescent tenderness of her Elsa; the white compassion of her Elizabeth. Critics carp at vocal imperfections, occasional explosive performances, but in the final reckoning they pale like small talk before the fact that operatic puppets...
Wotan has no choice but to order Brunnhilde to cut down Siegmund in the battle. The Valkyrie goes to Siegmund and orders him to follow her to Valhalla but he refuses since he knows Sieglinde cannot follow him. In the ensuing battle with Hunding, Siegmund is profected by Brunnhilde but the appearance of Wotan causes his death...