Helen Traubel and Melchior in Title Roles at Metropolitan

Atoning for its first, almost catastrophic first performance of the season of “Tristan and Isolde,” the Metropolitan presented Wagner’s music-drama for the second time yesterday afternoon and succeeded in obliterating the effect produced by the preceding presentation.

Only Miss Thebom, the Brangäne, who had been the one saving grace of the previous cast, remained on yesterday’s list of principals. Entirely new in the role of King Marke was Mr. Szekely. Miss Traubel and Mr. Melchior returned in the title roles, both making their first seasonal appearances, and Mr. Berglund offered his first Kurwenal of the year. Mr. Busch, too, conducted for the first time this season, illness having kept him away from his post.

As Isolde Miss Traubel, who has just recovered from a protracted bout with a virus infection, had never delivered the exacting music of her role with such full realization of its ever-shifting emotional facets. Innumerable often haunting subtleties of nuance and tone color illuminated her treatment of the text and much of her vocalism, especially in passages where her fine soprano voice was not utilized full strength, ravishing the ear. Never before has she expressed Isolde’s tenderness so affectingly. Perhaps when she is again in full possession of her vocal resources she will restore the high B’s to the first act narrative and not abandon them altogether as she has the high C’s of the second act or lower ineffectual tones. But even unburnished with gleaming top tones, her singing on this occasion will not soon be forgotten.

Nor has this writer ever heard Mr. Melchior give a more telling account of Tristan’s no less arduous role. The tenor was in exceptionally good form throughout the afternoon and in the taxing third act both his singing and acting were poignantly moving.

Miss Thebom, despite the fact that she had been called upon at short notice – only the night before – to replace Rïse Stevens in the difficult role of Laura in “Gioconda,” revealed no signs of fatigue; indeed she has never poured forth her mezzo-soprano voice in this music with such shimmering opulence nor enacted the part of Isolde’s companion with such assurance and insight.

No finer exponent of King Marke’s music could be imagined than Mr. Szekely, who is the owner of a huge but extraordinary flexible bass voice which enables him to sing softly as effectively as he does loudly and without loss of expressivity. What is more he sings steadily and on pitch, attributes in a Wagnerian bass which one had almost forgotten could exist. On an equally high plane of vocal excellence tarried the Kurvenal of Mr. Berglund which had dramatic cogency as well to recommend it.

To his discourse of the orchestral score Mr. Busch brought out not only the essential incandescent touch in its seethingly climatic pages, but the poetic sensibility and inwardness demanded elsewhere; and even in the most impassioned outbursts he never forgot that even such voluminous voices as those which participated in this memorable performance have their limitations, and that Wagner’s symphonic scoring must be tempered if they are to be heard above it.

Jerome D. Bohm | 4 January 1948

From Immortal Performances (IP), the January 3, 1948 Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conducted by Fritz Busch, and starring Lauritz Melchior and Helen Traubel in the title roles. The broadcast performance adopts the numerous score cuts typical of Met Tristans of the period. In his Recording Notes, IP’s Richard Caniell describes how this broadcast has heretofore been available only in excerpt form. For its part, IP previously issued the second act of the January 3, 1948 broadcast as part of a 4-disc Lauritz Melchior tribute (IPCD 1139-4). Through his searches, Caniell was able to find various source materials sufficient to reproduce a complete broadcast. There is a caveat. As Caniell relates: “Act III had gaps and some unresolvable defects. This required some interpolation from the later Met broadcast in December 1948, with Melchior and with Busch conducting, to achieve a listenable whole, albeit a noisy one in part. This is to say that the private recording we located had an Act III beset with holes, small gaps, ticks, pops, grit and groove defects.” Those familiar with Caniell’s restoration artistry will not be surprised that the completed product is in quite presentable sound. If that sound is inferior to studio recordings of the period, the recording nonetheless allows full appreciation of the artists’ unique and treasurable contributions.

The January 3, 1948 broadcast was the second Tristan performance of the Met’s 1947-8 season. The first, on November 26, 1947, featured Max Lorenz and Erna Schlüter as Wagner’s tragic lovers. Wolfgang Martin conducted. I’m not aware of any recording of this performance. But the contemporary reviews do not make one yearn for such a document. Writing for the New York Times, Olin Downes called it “one of the dullest performances of ‘Tristan’ that we recall, with a new Isolde who is certainly, beyond doubt or peradventure, the worst impersonator of the title part in our considerable experience of the opera.” Schlüter, an important dramatic soprano who was making her American debut, sang “very badly, explosively, off pitch, with tones that and bearing.” But by this stage of Lorenz’s career, his voice was a hollow shell of its earlier glory. Schlüter was 43 at the time of the 1947 Met Tristan, and Lorenz was 46. When Traubel and Melchior took to the Met stage of January 3, 1948 for the Tristan broadcast, they were, respectively, 48 and 57. Both display a vocal freshness that would have been the envy not only of Lorenz and Schlüter, but singers a decade or so younger. I’ve had the opportunity to write about Melchior’s Tristan on numerous occasions, thanks to IP’s releases of several Met broadcasts that span the years 1933-48. Lauritz Melchior sang his first Met Tristan on March 5, 1929, and performed the role for that company a total of 129 times. If Melchior’s interpretation changed little over the years, it nonetheless exhibited greatness from the very start. Indeed, no other recorded Tristan equals Melchior’s combination of rich vocalism, keen dramatic involvement, and almost superhuman power and stamina. In the January, 1948 broadcast, Melchior is in remarkable voice. Perhaps the Danish heroic tenor cuts off a few high notes a bit more quickly than in the past, and the hushed dynamics may no longer come quite so easily. But those are minor quibbles when one is in the presence of greatness. On this occasion, late in his Met career, Lauritz Melchior remains the finest of Tristans. Traubel is likewise a vocal miracle. In a February 6, 1943 Met Tristan broadcast (IP 1102-3) (Reviewed, Fanfare 41:4, Mar/Apr 2018), Traubel avoids the high Cs in Act II, and the high Bs of Act I are briefly touched upon. By the time of the 1948 broadcast, both the Cs and Bs are gone. The absence of those few notes aside, Traubel is in resplendent voice, and keenly attuned to the progression of Isolde’s dramatic journey. Isolde’s fury in Act I is imposingly projected. Traubel and Melchior had a wonderful chemistry, and the two join forces for a glorious rendition of the Act II love duet, by turns passionate and tender. Traubel rises to sublime heights in the concluding Liebestod, radiant in vocal opulence and expression. The remainder of the principals are excellent. Blanche Thebom is a strikingly youthful and vibrant Brangäne. Joel Berglund, always an impressive vocal presence, powerfully conveys Kurwenal’s loyalty and affection for Tristan. If Mihály Székely does not possess the most opulent bass voice, he is an intense and highly sympathetic King Marke.

I previously mentioned the February 6, 1943 Tristan broadcast, also issued by IP. In addition to Melchior and Traubel, the 1943 performance stars Kerstin Thorborg as Brangäne, Julius Huehn as Kurwenal, and Alexander Kipnis as King Marke. I think that broadcast is the more impressive in terms of the singers. Melchior and Traubel are in fresher estate. And Thorborg and Kipnis were among the vocal giants of their time. The sound is also quite excellent, rivaling commercial recordings of the time. What distinguishes the 1948 broadcast from its predecessor, is the inspired conducting of Fritz Busch (1890-1951). Busch, a brilliant conductor who was at the height of his powers when he died at the age of 61, leads a taut performance that seethes with tension and fire. Listen, for example, to how Busch masterfully times the pauses in the Act I Prelude to enhance the portrait of the lovers’ desperate passion. Throughout Act I, Busch’s masterful pacing never allows the momentum to flag. The buildup to the reuniting of Tristan and Isolde in Act II is among the most ferocious and erotically charged I’ve ever heard. And through the remainder of the opera, Busch sculpts the narrative in a fashion that while never hurried, has a pervasive intensity and dynamism. Traubel and Busch’s collaboration in the ecstatic Liebestod is all one could wish for. In the 1943 Tristan, Leinsdorf’s conducting strikes me, as I wrote in my review, as “expert and efficient”. Admirable qualities to be sure. But Fritz Busch is both technically superb and interpretively brilliant.

As I mentioned, Richard Caniell has provided an excellent restoration of this performance. Act III is the most problematic sonically, but even there, the artists may be heard with presence and clarity. Also present and clear, I’m sad to report, is the barrage of coughing that invades the mournful Act III Prelude’s English horn solo. Met radio host Milton Cross may be heard as part of Acts I and II. IP’s booklet includes William Russell’s extensive notes on Wagner’s Tristan, its history at the Met, and the January 3, 1948 broadcast. Richard Caniell provides an in-depth plot summary, and his Recording Notes. I think that Busch’s contribution, on its own, justifies acquisition of this set. But when you add the all-star cast of singers, the prospect becomes even more tantalizing. Highly recommended.

Five stars: Fritz Busch leads an all-star cast in a thrilling Met Tristan

Ken Meltzer | Issue March/April 2023

A fine-sounding transfer of a 1943 Met broadcast of Tristan und Isolde with Lauritz Melchior and Helen Traubel already exists on Immortal Performances, and this one has some sonic problems. One might well ask, “Why bother?” The answer is on the podium, The 1943 performance is efficiently conducted by Erich Leinsdorf; but efficiency should only be the baseline for Tristan, not the goal. From the Prelude to the Liebestod Fritz Busch is inspired, never letting the dramatic tension flag. He seems to inspire the singing, so there is a level of intensity throughout this performance that is anything but common.

The music practically boils over during Isolde’s Narrative and Curse, as she relates the story of Tristan’s treachery in killing her fiancé. Traubel was sometimes accused of being a bland singer blessed with a rich voice, but here she is inspired. The Met orchestra plays with a concentration and intensity that they rarely exhibited in those days—dynamic shading is carefully graded, accents are razor-sharp where they need to be, and long arching phrases are shaped meticulously and never sag. The moment in act I when the two protagonists drink the love potion and the mood suddenly changes is characterized perfectly by the orchestra. Busch’s contribution is at a level of excellence beyond what Artur Bodanzky or Leinsdorf achieve.

In his recording notes producer Richard Caniell details what it took to assemble this performance. It has long been known to exist but with major gaps. The masters of the broadcast aren’t extant in the Met’s archival holdings. The first two acts had circulated in complete form; the third act had not, but Caniell felt almost certain that some private collectors must have recorded it. He found a “particularly noisy” recording of act 3, which unfortunately still had some gaps and lots of ticks and pops. He cleaned up what he could and inserted a few passages from a later 1948 broadcast with Melchior and Busch in order to overcome the worn groves in Tristan’s “delirium scene.” Despite its sonic problems, this is a thoroughly riveting performance from start to finish in Busch’s hands. The sound of the first two acts is more than acceptable.

As for the singing, it is at a level we are unlikely to ever encounter again. Melchior is a known quality to Fanfare readers, a Wagnerian tenor the likes of whom has not existed since his retirement. As John Steane points out in his landmark study of operatic singing, The Great Tradition, those critics who carp about Melchior’s supposedly sloppy rhythm and lack of attention to nuance must simply not have been listening carefully. The voice rings with authority or warms with tenderness as the music requires. At the end of the “delirium” Melchior sounds so fresh, you think he could sing the entire role again.

Traubel has rarely sounded better than she does here. Her high notes, which sometimes sounded forced, are almost entirely free and open on this occasion. Inspired not only by Melchior, with whom she enjoyed singing, but also by Busch’s conducting, she is an impassioned Isolde. Her fury at Tristan before drinking the potion is blistering. In the second act, Traubel and Melchior truly seem to be singing to each other, communicating on the level of two lovers rather than singing notes to the audience. The warm glow in Traubel’s voice must be what Wagner imagined for this role. Blanche Thebom was easy to take for granted, because over a 22-year career at the Met she sang a huge repertoire: Amneris, Azucena, Dorabella, Laura (in La Gioconda), Baba the Turk, Orlofsky, Fricka, Brangäne, Dalila, Giulietta (in Les contes d’Hoffmann), Adalgisa, and much more. She was extremely effective in everything she did, but her Brangäne was special. The solidity of her tone was a match for the Isoldes of Flagstad and Traubel, and she also portrayed a character with strength. After all, Brangäne disobeys Isolde’s order to prepare the fatal poison, and in so doing she sets the whole plot in motion.

The great Hungarian bass Mihály Székely’s King Marke is gorgeously sung and presented with dignity. The hurt he feels is very clearly portrayed without resorting to the exaggerated anguish that spills over into self-pity. As Kurvenal the fine bassbaritone Joel Berglund is also a major asset, adding his tonal richness and dramatic intelligence. Kurwenal’s confrontations with Brangäne are completely convincing because Berglund and Thebom are such skilled vocal actors as well as singers. As Caniell warns, the third act presents the most difficult listening from a sonic perspective. But the performance is so thrilling that you hear past the problems. At the end of the opera comes the great catharsis that Busch and Traubel make of the Liebestod, with the heroine’s soaring apotheosis fully supported by the richness of the orchestral texture that the conducting elicits.

As usual, Immortal Performances provides a booklet rich with lovely historical photographs, an illuminating essay about the opera and this performance by Wagner scholar William Russell, a very detailed synopsis by Caniell along with his recording notes. Russell calls this 1948 Tristan “one of the finest performances of this opera that this writer has heard, surpassed by none, from all viewpoints.” Except for sonic quality, I cannot disagree.

Henry Fogel | Issue March/April 2023