Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt — Volume 2
- Pages
- about 336
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6.2 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
Yesterday (Saturday, January 7th) first performance of
"Lohengrin" at Leipzig. The public, very numerous in spite of
double prices, displayed much sympathy and admiration for this
wonderful work. The first act went tolerably well as far as the
artists were concerned. Rietz conducted in a precise and decent
manner, and the ENSEMBLES had been carefully studied. The second
and third acts, however, suffered much from the faults and
shortcomings of both chorus and principals. Further performances
will, no doubt, show an improvement, although the Leipzig theatre
does certainly not possess the proper singers and scenic artists.
The flagging in the second act, which I previously took the
liberty of pointing out to you, was felt very much on this
occasion, and the public seemed painfully and unmistakably tired.
The tempi of the choruses seemed to me considerably too fast, and
there was more than one break-down in this scene. Altogether,
without self-conceit, I may say that the Leipzig performance is
inferior to ours, as you will probably hear from other quarters.
On the other hand the Leipzig public is in many respects superior
to ours, and I feel convinced that the external success of
yesterday's performance will prove very considerable indeed. The
grand success of this work can no longer be denied; of that we
should be glad, and the rest will follow sooner or later. The
actors, Rietz and Wirsing, were called after the first act, and
after the last the representatives of the principal parts had to
appear again. T., who had come from Paris for this performance,
was very dissatisfied with it. I toned him down, not thinking it
advisable to impair the chief thing by detailed criticism. Before
all, let it be stated that "Lohengrin" is the grandest work of
art which we possess so far, and that the Leipzig theatre by
performing it has done credit to itself.
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