Search - Wagner, Schoffler, Dalberg :: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

A 'Meistersinger' from Wartime Bayreuth

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 11/06/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know whether this recording from the Bayreuth Festival in 1943 has been issued before; I rather suspect it has, but I'd never run across it before. It is interesting from several points of view. First, although it was recorded in 1943 it is in excellent sound for its time, largely because the Germans were already using tape recording, well before the rest of the world did. Second, it features as Pogner an English singer called here Friedrich Dalberg (born Frederick Dalrymple); what was he doing in Germany in 1943? (By the way, as 'Frederick Dalberg' he premiered the role of Claggart in Britten's 'Billy Budd' in 1951.) Third, it has two young singers who went on to huge careers in the German operatic repertoire, Ludwig Suthaus (as Walther) and Paul Schöffler (as Sachs). Erich Kunz makes an excellent Beckmesser who actually sings, rather than barks, the role. The performance is under the direction of Hermann Abendroth, a fine conductor too little remembered these days; he has mastered the subtleties of this enormously complex score and the whole thing moves along without seeming rushed or off-hand. Less impressive, but only by a little, is the Eva of Hilde Scheppan; her voice is a little light for the role. David (Erich Witte) is a bit generic.



I collect Meistersingers and this one ranks somewhere in the middle. Not as good, say, as Karajan, Kempe, Solti, Kubelik or Goodall. Myto supplies cueing numbers but no libretto.



Clearly, this one is for those who, like me, feel they cannot have too many recordings of 'Die Meistersinger.'



Scott Morrison"