New-York tribune., 1908-02-20
"sIEGFRIED" AT THE METROPOLITAN.

Had Mr.. Burgstaler been in good voice last
evenings performance of Wagner's "Siegfried' at
the Metropolitan Opera House would have been
one Of the most inspiring in recent years. Even
as 1t was. the hoarseness Of the tenor. while it
caused both him and the audience evident solici-
tude. could not wholly despoi his tones of their
luscious and virie beauty, and his gallant strug-
gle against heavy odds resulted in personation
whose total effect made for vocal well his
tri0nic eloquence. There was imaginative power IN
Mr.. Burgstaller's movements and in his utterances
there has often been before in this role. and
though his words were often shorn of consonants
and his phrases abridged more than once
owing to the need for vocal caution. this SIestrled
took his rightful place in the drama and won the
hearty recognition of the audience
The centre Of gravity in last nights doings' how
ever, lay less in the reappearance Of the admired
tenor in j peculiarly ingratiating role than in Mr'
Gustav Mahler's conducting of the score which he
then read for the first time in this city, After
Tristan and Die Walkure." It was no surprise
10 hear last evening a superbly vital and lnhueh-
tiaI performance OF "siegfried" Without resorting
70 dynamic extremes in either direction, Mr.. Mahler
kept the orchestras share of the presentation at a
high level of interest. Its emotional curve rose
and subsided with the variety that comes <rom
significance rather than accident caprice There
were abundant contrasts, both OF tempo and
nuance. but with them all the music never halted
in its full and splendid flow. Carefully the con-
ductor avoided submerging the singers in floods OF
orchestral sound ne never left them stranded, so
to the too sudden or violent eDDlng OF the
tonaI tide. There is need TO specify de-
tails Of this noble Interpretation of the score, but
a word must be said for the cumulative power of
the scene Of the forging Of the sword and for the
proclamation OF the proud phrase with which the
first act ends, while it would be pleasure also to
dwell upon later episodes and upon the gain in
plausibility resulting from the coordination of the
music with the stage management-as when Sieg-
frieds final horn call that reused the dragon was
made strikingiy insistenr by the approach Of the
unseen land admirable) horn player nearer TO the
stage from his position in the wings 1t is enough
repeat that Mr. Mahlers part in this 'Segfred"
performance was both controlling and memorable
OF the RrinnhiIde of Nine Frernstad considera-
ton must Tlerforce be brief. She had sung
this role here for two years, and in the interval
her voice and art have both developed. Suffice IL
say that Nine. Fremstad gave the role
the best of her fine powers Of singing and acting
and what she did oe sustained interest.
For the rest. there were the high excellences
which New York audiences perhaps are prone to
take too much for granted. Mr.. Van Rooy's
9Vand=rer and Mr.. Reiss Mime were at their own
lofty level. Mr.. Blass Fafner, Miss Alten d
the Voice Of the Forest Bird, Nj Gorlitz Alber-
ich and Nine Kirkby Lunn Erda contributed
their respective shares evening marking one
of the best achievements, thus far, of Mr.. Con
reds final season.