A delightful one

Musical America:

The season’s second “Walküre” on Jan. 20 was notable for the American debut of Göta Ljungberg, soprano, in the role of Sieglinde. One may dismiss the remainder of the cast by naming them and saying that they were all satisfactory in the rôles in which they have been heard before. They included Mme. Kappel as Brünnhilde, Mme. Branzell as Fricka, and, as the Valkyries Mmes. Manski, Wells, Besuner, Bourskaya, von Essen, Wakefield, Divine and Flexer. Mr. Lorenz sang Siegmund; Mr. Tappolet, Hunding; and Mr. Schorr, Wotan.

Mme. Ljungberg has three desirable qualities which have been absent from the Metropolitan for some time: she knows how to walk across the stage, she knows the decorative value of the lines of the human body and she realizes that synchronization of gesture with the music is to the advantage of both. The voice is one of size and of a quality appealing to the intelligence through its expressiveness rather than to the senses.

Vocally, her debut was scarcely a test, and while there was no sign of nervousness there was, often, a fluttery quality which, though its vibrations were never ample enough to be considered a tremolo, was a bit disturbing. One hopes that it is not a permanent defect of this otherwise charming singer.

Histrionically. Mme. Ljungberg would seem to be highly talented. She knows how to listen to what is going on on the stage. Even the lengthy scene at the table in Act I was given vitality by her intense interest in Siegmund’s narration and there were other bits of acting that show careful schooling backed by solid intelligence.

With the audience her success was unqualified and the applause was not only prolonged but was from the house and not from a claque. It looks as though the Metropolitan had acquired a valuable artist if one may judge from one performance. There is no doubt that Mme. Ljungberg is a delightful one.

On this day in 1967 Colin Davis made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Peter Grimes.

Birthday anniversaries of composers Sebastián Yradier (1809) and Ernest Chausson (1855), and conductors Gabriele Santini (1886) and Antonio de Almeida (1928).

Happy 90th birthday to tenor André Jobin and happy 88th birthday tenor Ugo Benelli.

Happy 25th birthday to invaluable parterre box scribe Harry Rose.