Swan dive
Lohengrin, one of my favorite Wagner operas, has been missing from the Met since 2006! For holiday listening and to prepare for its 26 February return, Chris’s Cache offers four interesting versions spanning nearly 40 years.
Three years after the Cincinnati May Festival Lohengrin, John Alexander would repeat the title role just once at the Met—again with Pilar Lorengar and Mignon Dunn—before embarking on the company’s spring tour where he’d perform it seven more times. Although I missed Lohengrin, I did get to hear Alexander in two German roles in Cincinnati: as Florestan waiting to be rescued by Johanna Meier in 1980 and six years later at age 63 (!) as the Italian Tenor, again with Meier (as the Marschallin).
A veteran Heerrufer at Bayreuth, Eberhard Wächter, absent I believe from the US opera scene for a decade, came to Cincinnati for Telramund. Anja Silja, also a Bayreuth Lohengrin veteran, of course also sang Ortrud. For Zurich she torments Lucia Popp and Gösta Winbergh nearly 30 years after those early Elsas.
Dolora Zajick didn’t venture into Wagner at the Met until 2017 when she potrayed Mary in Der Fliegende Holländer. But she made an earlier detour to Lohengrin for Ortrud in 2010. It’s too bad she didn’t explore more Wagner or other German operas. What might she also have made of Fricka, Die Amme, or Klytämnestra?
Klaus Florian Vogt was the Met’s most recent Lohengrin before the long gap. Karita Mattila, his Elsa, likely never sang the role after this 2006 run first opposite Ben Heppner (I heard them together many times: Lohengrin, Meistersinger, Pique Dame and Fidelio), then Vogt.
Wagner: Lohengrin
Elsa: Pilar Lorengar
Ortrud: Mignon Dunn
Lohengrin: John Alexander
Telramund: Eberhard Wächter
Heinrich: Simon Estes
Heerrufer: Lawrence Shadur
Conductor: James Levine
Cincinnati May Festival
25 May 1974
Broadcast
Wagner: Lohengrin
Elsa: Lucia Popp
Ortrud: Anja Silja
Lohengrin: Gösta Winbergh
Telramund: Rolf Haunstein
Heinrich: Matti Salminen
Heerrufer: Rodney Gilfry
Conductor: Ralf Weikert
Zürich Opera
29 September 1991
In-house recording
Wagner: Lohengrin
Elsa: Karita Mattila
Ortrud: Margaret Jane Wray
Lohengrin: Klaus Florian Vogt
Telramund: Greer Grimsley
Heinrich: René Pape
Heerrufer: Charles Taylor
Conductor: Philippe Auguin
Metropolitan Opera
3 May 2006
In-house recording
Wagner: Lohengrin
Elsa: Soile Isokoski
Ortrud: Dolora Zajick
Lohengrin: Ben Heppner
Telramund: James Johnson
Heinrich: Kristinn Sigmundsson
Heerrufer: Eike Wilm Schulte
Conductor: James Conlon
Los Angeles Opera
November 2010
Broadcast
Each Lohengrin can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.
Chris’s Cache will continue to appear occasionally in 2023. In the meantime, Happy New Year!
Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.
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Topics: chris's cache
