Word: telramund
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...notwithstanding, the Met's Lohengrin was far from a one-man show. Marton, a dazzling Wagnerian soprano who is equally adept at setting off such potent Italian fireworks as Turandot, made a gloriously fearsome opponent as the evil sorceress. Her blazing fury as she confronts her weak husband Telramund (Baritone Franz-Ferdinand Nentwig) near the start of Act II won a spontaneous ovation that stopped the show. Providing a worthy foil for Marton's villainy was Tomowa-Sintow, a lyric soprano with a pure, unforced voice that improved after a somewhat shaky first act; her fateful exchange with...
...free translation of the German, it sounded when Walter Berry and his wife Christa Ludwig went at it again last week, snapping and snarling at each other for everyone to hear. And those who did were delighted, for as the villainous Telramund and Ortrud in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Lohengrin, their domestic-quarrel scene was an electric charge in an otherwise static drama. They did not merely rant and rage: they insinuated, they needled, they enticed. Both marvelous singer-actors, they bent and shaded their voices in a seemingly infinite variety of veiled sneers, smiling threats...
...long-awaited U.S. debut, but when he died three months ago at 49, his production was entrusted to his assistant, Peter Lehmann. Still, symbolically, Wieland was there. And fittingly so, for symbolism was his stock in trade. Lohengrin was garbed in heroic gold, Elsa in innocent white, Telramund in malevolent black, Ortrud in sinister green. In the background were painted stylized designs of a madonna, a dove and a swan. The swan, unfortunately, looked more like a Boeing 707, but, said Lehmann, "I wouldn't dare change it, because that's the way Wieland drew...
...Symphony that is only partially successful. Leinsdorf manages crowd scenes like a musical DeMille, so that sequences like the gathering of the clans in the second act are wonderfully exciting. In the title role, Sandor Konya conveys a gentle, human Lohengrin, and William Dooley makes a rich-voiced, menacing Telramund. But the female roles-usually easier to fill-are not nearly so satisfying. Rita Gorr is cruelly miscast as Ortrud, and Lucine Amara's voice is not big enough for the crucial role of Elsa. The Wagner devotee will find here a superb rendering of the master...
...production's cast was youthful and predominantly non-German: Hungary's Sandor Konya as Lohengrin, Austria's Leonie Rysanek as Elsa, France's Ernest Blanc as Telramund, the U.S.'s Astrid Varnay as Ortrud, and Keith Engen, who sang King Heinrich (wearing his 1944 University of California class ring). While the principals were vocally uninspired, the chorus was in splendid form-despite severe hardships. Wieland's staging demands that the male chorus remain frozen-and conscious-for 70 minutes in the first act. In last week's premiere, several members retreated giddily...