Tannhäuser

Artur Bodanzky
New York Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Date/Location
12 January 1935
Metropolitan Opera House New York
Recording Type
  live   studio
  live compilation   live and studio
Cast
Hermann Ludwig Hofmann
Tannhäuser Lauritz Melchior
Wolfram von Eschenbach Richard Bonelli
Walther von der Vogelweide Hans Clemens
Biterolf Arnold Gábor
Heinrich der Schreiber Giordano Paltrinieri
Reinmar von Zweter James Wolfe
Elisabeth Maria Müller
Venus Dorothee Manski
Ein junger Hirt Lillian Clark
Gallery
Reviews
Paul Jackson

Melchior had sung all the previous Tannhäuser broadcasts and is again the reluctant penitent, always undaunted by the high tessitura. He splendidly outgoing in his final evocation of Venus, but saves the purest of headtones for a magical naming of “Elisabeth”. Maria Müller joins the list of notable broadcast Elisabeths (Jeritza, Rethberg, Lehmann) portraying a more girlish saint than we are accustomed to, and one more indulgent in self-pity (“mein Herz sich abgewandt von dir”) than internally devout in her prayer. Yet her pianissimo “Nimm dich gnädig meiner an!” is very lovely, and her singing gains quietude as she nears heavenly grace. The radio audience would hear this engaging artist again in Don Giovanni before her Metropolitan career of eleven seasons ended.

Rating
(8/10)
User Rating
(4/5)
Media Type/Label
Technical Specifications
64 kbit/s CBR, 44.1 kHz, 42 MByte (MP3)
Act 1 missing, Act 2 is incomplete.
Remarks
Matinee broadcast
A production by Samuel Thewman (1923)