Word: wagnerian
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...sweater, jacket and boots-sang with warm-timbred verve, while Tenor Karl Liebl turned in his best performance of the season as the huntsman Erik. But the real standout of a standout cast was Soprano Leonie Rysanek in the role of Senta, the self-sacrificing heroine who in characteristic Wagnerian style must die to secure the redemption of her lover. Her singing in the usually static second act was superb; her soprano rose and fell around London's steady tone, shot off in bursts of color, swooned and sighed with a purity that had the audience breathless...
...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 roles such as Tristan and Parsifal, was also to retire. After Svanholm's few remaining years with the company, no one could be found on either side of the Atlantic who could make a reasonable claim to the place in the roster vacated by him. Revivals of Wagner haven...
Because Nilsson's voice is so indestructible, the public, happily, will have all the more opportunity to hear it. One looks forward to further demonstrations of her singing, especially in the Wagnerian repertoire which, since Flagstad's retirement from the stage, has been handled by second-rate sopranos. Wagner days are probably back at the Met, even if a Heldentenor remains lacking. Wagnerities, rejoice, there is a new heroine for you to acclaim! IAN STRASFOGEL
...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 Specialist Dr. Leo P. Reckford, who treated all three tenors...
...slight man, Mahler wrote giant-sized, tempestuous music that echoes his countryman, Anton Bruckner; on first hearing, a Mahler piece usually sounds like far-out Brahms with Wagnerian delusions. To Mahler, the symphony was the ideal musical form; he composed no chamber music, no music for solo instruments, no small-scaled choral pieces; even his famous song cycle, Das Lied von der Erde, calls for a full orchestra. Of the ten symphonies he wrote, only the First and Fourth are of normal length; the rest run on for as much as 90 minutes and employ vast orchestras. Symphony...