Word: tristan
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...with such an extraordinarily successful Isolde, the Met lacks a competent Tristan. Because the opera requires a Tristan who is in every way equal to her, especially when the Irish bride is so commandingly portrayed, the Met's production does not satisfy entirely. Though Ramon Vinay and Karl Liebl are seasoned, intelligent performers, neither has the considerable vocal resources or discipline requisite for the taxing part. When Melchior left the Metropolitan's stage in 1949, there was no Heldentenor to replace him. By that time, Set Svanhom, his beautiful voice always a bit too lyric for the heaviest Wagnerian tenor...
...world there are probably only 15 tenors capable of stepping stage center in the second act of Tristan und Isolde and belting out "Seine eitle Pracht, seinen prahlenden Schein verlacht, wem die Nacht den Blick geweig't." Three of the 15 sing at Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera, a house that rightly prides itself on the size of its singing lineup. But last week, on the eve of a performance of Tristan starring new Soprano Birgit Nilsson (TIME. Dec. 28), the Met's three Heldentenore suddenly found themselves out of voice, the victims of winter colds. (The fact...
Chilean-born Tenor Vinay, 46, had originally been scheduled to sing the role. At noon he called the Met to cancel. German-born Tenor Liebl, 44, who subbed for Vinay at the season's first Tristan, in which Soprano Nilsson scored her dramatic triumph, phoned the Met at 2 to say that he, too, was in no condition to go on. U.S.-born Tenor Albert Da Costa. 33, phoned in at 4 with the same report. With no other Wagnerian tenors available, Bing gave Vinay the first act, Liebl the second and Da Costa the third. Backstage was Throat...
Vinay negotiated the hour-long opening act commendably, while Liebl huddled backstage in an overcoat waiting to change costumes with him. Liebl sang the second act in adequate style, and Da Costa turned in some of the best singing of the evening during Tristan's third-act death delirium. All three took separate curtain calls and somewhat reluctantly posed for photographers with Soprano Nilsson, who can outthunder even a perfectly healthy Heldentenore. "I was just afraid to catch the bacillus." said she. "They were all really wonderful, my Tristans." Were the tenors all really ailing? "They said they were...
...production as a whole was less exciting. German Tenor Karl Liebl, substituting as Tristan for the ailing Ramon Vinay, had neither stage presence nor the power to match the Nilsson salvos. Baritone Walter Cassel as Kurvenal and Bass Jerome Hines as King Mark both turned in workmanlike performances, and Soprano Irene Dalis was impressive as Brangaene. Conductor Karl Boehm led his orchestra through a methodical reading. As for the decor, with the world's best to choose from, the Met had again picked the second-rate. The sets by German Designer Teo Otto were pedestrian and confusing: starkly realistic...