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Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Paul Schöffler (Sachs), Gottlob Frick (Veit Pogner), Eberhard Waechter (Nachtigall), Erich Kunz (Beckmesser), Hans Braun Fritz Kothner), Hans Beirer (Walther), Murray Dickie (David), Irmgard Seefried (Eva) & Rosette Anday (Magdalena)

Vienna State Opera, Fritz Reiner

The heavily bombed State Opera House in Vienna reopened on November 5, 1955, with a performance of Fidelio. Die Meistersinger, the Viennese favourite, followed in a new production and was the... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 9th Jan 2006
Catalogue No: C667054
Label: Orfeo
Series: Orfeo d'Or, Wiener Staatsoper Live
Length: 4 hours 17 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Work length4:17:40

$61.00

$79.10

Paul Schöffler, Gottlob Frick, Karl Terkal, Eberhard Wächter, Erich Kunz, Hans Braun, Hans Beirer, Ljubomir Pantscheff, Murray Dickie, Adolf Vogel, Harald Pröglhöf, William Wernigk, Erich Majkut, Fritz Sperlbauer, Irmgard Seefried, Rosette Anday, Chor der, Hans Beirer, Gottlob Frick, Harald Pröglhöf, Irmgard Seefried, Erich Kunz, Rosette Anday, Frederick Guthrie, Murray Dickie, Paul Schöffler, Eberhard Wächter, Fritz Sperlbauer, Erich Majkut, William Wernigk, Adolf Vogel, Ljubomir Pantscheff, Hans Braun, Karl Terkal
Wiener Staatsoper, Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Fritz Reiner
Recorded: 14 November 1955
Recording Venue: Live recording, Osterreich, Austria

Act I Scene 1: Prelude

Track length9:22

$2.00

$2.60

Act I Scene 1: Da zu dir der Heiland kam (Chorus)

Track length3:46

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 1: Verweilt! Ein Wort! (Walther, Eva, Magdalene, David)

Track length8:49

$2.00

$2.60

Act I Scene 2: David, was stehst? (Apprentices, David)

Track length0:49

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Fanget an! (David, Walther, Apprentices)

Track length13:56

$3.00

$3.85

Act I Scene 3: Seid meiner Treue wohl versehen (Pogner, Beckmesser, Walther, Sachs, Nachtigal, Chorus)

Track length4:26

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Zu einer Freiung und Zunftberatung (All)

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Das schone fest, Johannistag (Pogner, Meister, Sachs, Kothner, Beckmesser, Nachtigall, Chorus)

Track length11:12

$3.00

$3.85

Act I Scene 3: Wohl! Meister! Zur Tagesordnung kehrt! (Pogner, Beckmesser, Meister, Kothner, Nachtigall, Sachs)

Track length3:24

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Am stillen Herd in Winterszeit (Walther, Sachs, Beckmesser, Kothner, Chorus)

Track length4:35

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Nun, Meister, wenn's gefallt (Kothner, Walther, Beckmesser)

Track length5:16

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 3: Fanget an! - So rief der Lenz (Walther, Beckmesser, Pogner, Meister, Kothner)

Track length4:59

$1.00

$1.30

Act I Scene 6: Halt Meister! Nicht so geeilt! (Sachs, Beckmesser, Nachtigal, Kothner, Pogner, Meister, Walther, Apprentices)

Track length7:23

$2.00

$2.60

Act II Scene 1: Prelude - Johannistag! (Apprentices, David, Magdalene, Sachs)

Track length3:50

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 2: Lass seh'n, ob Meister Sachs zu Haus? (Pogner, Eva, Magdalene)

Track length6:19

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 3: Was duftet doch der Flieder (Sachs)

Track length6:02

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 4: Gut'n Abend, Meister! (Eva, Sachs, Magdalene)

Track length8:12

$2.00

$2.60

Act II Scene 4: Das dacht' ich wohl! (Sachs, Magdalene, Eva, Pogner)

Track length1:56

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 5: Da ist er! (Eva, Magdalene, Walther, Nachtigall)

Track length5:35

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 5: Uble Dinge, die ich da merk' (Sachs, Walther, Eva)

Track length2:33

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 5: Jerum! Jerum! (Sachs, Beckmesser, Eva, Walther)

Track length12:10

$3.00

$3.85

Act II Scene 5: Den Tag seh' ich erscheinen (Beckmesser, Sachs)

Track length5:28

$1.00

$1.30

Act II Scene 5: Seid ihr nun fertig? (Sachs, Beckmesser, Nachtigall, David)

Track length6:27

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 1: Prelude

Track length8:24

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 1: Gleich, Meister! Hier! (David, Sachs)

Track length7:32

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 1: Wahn! Wahn! (Sachs)

Track length7:02

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 2: Gruss' Gott, mein Junker! (Sachs, Walther)

Track length8:19

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 2: Morgenlich leuchtend in rosigem Schein (Walther, Sachs)

Track length9:56

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 3: Ein Werbelied! (Beckmesser, Sachs)

Track length14:03

$3.00

$3.85

Act III Scene 4: Sieh' Ev'chen! Dacht' ich doch, wo sie blieb'! (Sachs, Eva)

Track length3:57

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 4: Weilten die Sterne im lieblichen Tanz? (Walther, Sachs)

Track length1:57

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 4: Hat man mit dem Schuhwerk nicht seine Not! (Sachs, Eva)

Track length5:22

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 4: Ein Kind ward hier geboren (Sachs)

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 4: Die selige Morgentraum-Deutweise (Sachs, Eva, Walther, David, Magdalene)

Track length6:43

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scebe 4: Interlude

Track length5:12

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Ihr tanzt? Was werden die Meister sagen? (David, Chorus)

Track length5:50

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Wach' auf (Chorus)

Track length3:07

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Euch macht ihr's leicht (Sachs, Pogner, Beckmesser, Kothner)

Track length4:47

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Zum Teufel! Wie wackelig! (Beckmesser, Meister, Kothner, Chorus)

Track length1:43

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Morgen ich leuchte in rosigem Schein (Beckmesser, Meister, Chorus)

Track length3:03

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Verdammter Schuster! (Beckmesser, Meister, Chorus)

Track length4:39

$1.00

$1.30

Act III Scene 5: Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein (Walther, Meister, Sachs, Pogner, Eva, Chorus)

Track length7:34

$2.00

$2.60

Act III Scene 5: Verachtet mir die Meister nicht (Sachs, Chorus)

Track length6:47

$1.00

$1.30

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(live recording 14/11/1955)

Reviews

2010

The heavily bombed State Opera House in Vienna reopened on November 5, 1955, with a performance of Fidelio. Die Meistersinger, the Viennese favourite, followed in a new production and was the occasion of some disappointment.
Critics blamed the stage production team; Gottfried Kraus, in an authoritative essay accompanying this recording, is inclined to think that the reaction was due rather more to a shock to the system caused by the transference of the opera from the relative intimacy of the Theater an der Wien to the less cosy expansiveness of the new-old house.
As listeners merely, we are hardly affected, instead experiencing a few disappointments of our own. First among these must be the singing of our hero for the evening, the Walther von Stolzing of Hans Beirer. He is sympathetic and objectionable almost by alternation, starting in a warm-toned, naturally colloquial style, then developing a lumpy, graceless, forced manner of utterance: an unlikely candidate for any prize in singing. Reiner's conducting, too, will not be to all tastes, prosaic in the overture, then given to marked rallentandi and some unusually slow speeds in Act 3. More generally, the live recording is not entirely even-handed in its balancing of stage and orchestra, certain areas caught less clearly than others.
Irmgard Seefried is particularly a victim. Sung with character in every phrase, her Eva charms from the first whispered exchanges in church, throughout the great duets and quintet to the awarding of the victory-laurels, but seems smallscale, miniaturised. Of course, as long as they are on stage alongside Gottlob Frick, most voices are likely to sound small. He is the magnificent Pogner of the age, gloriously full and secure, and dealing with the tessitura of 'Das schöne Fest' as if (as the shop-girls say) 'No problem'.
Kunz's Beckmesser is familiar, and does not gain from another hearing. But Paul Schöffler, the undoubted true hero of the evening, is surely here giving the performance of a lifetime. It has all the warmth and understanding we remember from the studio recording but now, with the stage his artistic home and freedom to let movement influence pace, he is newly impressive: in the last act especially, with his deeply moved acknowledgement ('Euch macht ihr's leicht') and the final admonition ('Verrachtet mir'), where he draws on a rich reserve of vocal power and resonance.
This is a recording one would want to have for that alone, though indeed there are other as yet unmentioned attractions such as Murray Dickie's lively, clean-cut David and the sonorous Watchman of Frederick Guthrie. And the flexibility and warmth of Reiner's conducting does have an appeal of its own. Above all, the recording renews joyful contact with the adorable opera. The Viennese of 1955 may have wended their way home a little disappointedly. We, home-listeners half a century later, are likely to retire for the night with a note in our diaries: 'Bounteous Meistersinger, and, so to bed, well content'.

May 2006

…Paul Schöffler, the undoubted true hero of the evening, is surely here giving the performance of a lifetime. …I like the flexibility and warmth of Reiner's conducting.

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

4 CDs

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