Die Walkure Metropolitan Opera 1934

Frida Leider as Brunnhilde

Following on from the extracts from Tristan in January 1934, here are about 90 minutes of Die Walkure from a few weeks later. Again we get a chance to hear Gertrude Kappel, this time as Sieglinde, as well as a very rare chance to hear Frida Leider live on stage. Leider was perhaps THE Wagnernian soprano of the 1920s and 1930s, especially at Bayreuth where she sang with tenor Laurtiz Melchior for many seasons. She did not sing often in America, and only appeared in two seasons in New York between 1933 and 1934. These home recordings preserve about half of acts 1 and 3, but only 25 minutes of act 2. The sound is fairly primitive, though slightly better than the Tristan of the same season.

Metropolitan Opera House
February 3, 1934 Matinee Broadcast


DIE WALKÜRE

Brünnhilde..............Frida Leider
Siegmund................Paul Althouse
Sieglinde...............Gertrude Kappel
Wotan...................Ludwig Hofmann
Fricka..................Karin Branzell
Hunding.................Emanuel List
Gerhilde................Phradie Wells
Grimgerde...............Philine Falco
Helmwige................Dorothee Manski
Ortlinde................Margaret Halstead
Rossweisse..............Ina Bourskaya
Schwertleite............Irra Petina
Siegrune................Elda Vettori
Waltraute...............Doris Doe

Conductor...............Artur Bodanzky

http://rapidshare.com/files/445920279/1934Walkure.zip