Lucia di Lammermoor Metropolitan Opera 1945

Patrice Munsel

American soprano Patrice Munsel holds the record for the youngest professional to appear at the Met, being just 17 on her debut in 1943. At the time of this broadcast, her first as Lucia, Munsel was not yet 20 and she recently celebrated her 85th birthday. All that seems to survive of this broadcast is about an hour, the end of act 1 and a complete act 2, probably from an AFRS relay during the war.

Metropolitan Opera House
January 6, 1945 Matinee Broadcast


LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR {206}

Lucia...................Patrice Munsel
Edgardo.................Jan Peerce
Enrico..................Leonard Warren
Raimondo................Nicola Moscona
Normanno................Lodovico Oliviero
Alisa...................Thelma Votipka
Arturo..................Richard Manning

Conductor...............Cesare Sodero


https://rapidshare.com/files/1589812478/1945Lucia.mp3

Die Meistersinger Metropolitan 1945

 This broadcast is the most complete example we have of Herbert Janssen as Hans Sachs. Perhaps best known for the lighter Wagnerian baritone roles (Kurwenal, Telramund etc), Janssen moved into the heavier roles of Sachs and Wotan towards the end of his career. Most of his Sachs is preserved here since the missing parts of the opera - the first 30 minutes of act 1 and the final 8 minutes of act 3 - are  not crucial to his role. The broadcast started at 2pm, half an hour after the performance since it seems that the maximum amount of airtime WJZ was willing to give to opera on a Saturday afternoon was four hours (2-6pm). This policy of course affected Wagnerian operas the most and perhaps it was for this reason that there was no broadcast of Parsifal between 1938 and 1952 and no complete broadcast of Gotterdammerung between 1936 and 1951. Long operas such as Tristan and Walkure, both of which were broadcast regularly during the 1940s, were heavily cut. The original discs are in the New York Public Library and it is not clear if the final eight minutes are preserved or not but sadly they are not included here.

Herbert Janssen

Metropolitan Opera House
February 10, 1945 Matinee Broadcast (Partial)


DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG

Hans Sachs..............Herbert Janssen
Eva.....................Eleanor Steber
Walther von Stolzing....Charles Kullman
Magdalene...............Kerstin Thorborg
David...................John Garris
Beckmesser..............Gerhard Pechner
Pogner..................Emanuel List
Kothner.................Mack Harrell
Vogelgesang.............Morton Bowe
Nachtigall..............Hugh Thompson
Ortel...................Osie Hawkins
Zorn....................Richard Manning
Moser...................Lodovico Oliviero
Eisslinger..............Karl Laufkötter
Foltz...................Lorenzo Alvary
Schwarz.................John Gurney
Night Watchman..........Louis D'Angelo

Conductor...............George Szell

[Note: The opera began at 1:30 and the broadcast at 2:00.]
https://rapidshare.com/files/891184674/1945MeistersingerAct1.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/2114280556/1945MeistersingerAct2.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/610072/1945MeistersingerAct3.mp3

Tristan und Isolde Metropolitan December 1943

Melchior and Traubel on stage in Tristan in 1944

 After Flagstad left America in 1941 to return to Norway she never sang with Melchior again, despite them being the most famous pairing in Wagnerian opera at the time. Indeed, they never even met again. Flagstad's replacement in the major Wagner roles was St Louis born Helen Traubel. She would appear in seven Tristan broadcasts with Melchior between 1943 and 1949. The earliest was in February 1943, and this upload is the second one, in December 1943. As with all the posts in this blog, this preservation is not complete, missing Act 1 in this instance. The recording comes from a Brazilian relay, and contains some of the original Brazilian commentary. Latin American countries had a separate feed from the Metropolitan Opera, and are the source for many excellent preservations from the 1940s. Interesting, this is the only time this cast broadcast Tristan in this particular combination, even though many of them were veterans in their roles.

Metropolitan Opera House
December 11, 1943 Matinee Broadcast


TRISTAN UND ISOLDE {301}

Tristan.................Lauritz Melchior
Isolde..................Helen Traubel
Kurwenal................Herbert Janssen
Brangäne................Kerstin Thorborg
King Marke..............Norman Cordon
Melot...................Emery Darcy
Sailor's Voice..........John Garris
Shepherd................John Garris
Steersman...............John Gurney

Conductor...............Thomas Beecham

https://rapidshare.com/files/461539149/1943TristanAct2.mp3
https://rapidshare.com/files/461539150/1943TristanAct3.mp3