Baritone Hermann Prey also made his Met debut as Wolfram.

Robert Sabin in Musical America:

In some ways, Tannhäuser is a severer challenge to the conductor than the Ring operas or Wagner’s other mature masterpieces, but Mr. Solti had solved every one of its ticklish problems of tempo, balance, phrasing and dramatic emphasis. Most notable were the fluidity of his tempos, the transparence of texture he achieved and the emotional vitality of his conception. True, the Bacchanale was pale and certain of the ensembles could have been weightier and more majestic. But this was a price willingly paid for the flow and clarity of Mr. Solti’s conception. He kept the audience absorbed every minute up to the last note and he richly deserved the prolonged ovations he received (in which the orchestra, be it noted, joined).

Mr. Prey proved himself an intelligent and sensitive artist. (I am told that he is an admirable Lieder singer, and I am not surprised.) His voice was light for the role, but so clear was his diction and so musically finished his delivery that one overlooked the small scale of his performance. He actually succeeded in removing every trace of cliche from ‘O du, mein holder Abendstern!’

Birthday anniversaries of composers Domenico Cimarosa (1749)
and Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (1904)
and tenor Seth McCoy (1928)

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