DAS RHEINGOLD @ The Met ~ 1957

Above: bass-baritone Hermann Udhe

A 1957 radio broadcast of Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD from The Met; it’s in surprisingly good sound for the time period.

In the cast are several singers who were Met mainstays at the time: the great Hermann Uhde is Wotan, Blanche Thebom (she of the long tresses) is Fricka, Ramon Vinay (a favored Otello and Tristan) is Loge, the monumental contralto Jean Madeira (Erda), and two formidable bassos – Dezső Ernster and Kurt Böhme – are the giants. The Rhinemaidens are lovely: Heidi Krall (under-utilized by The Met, in my opinion), the luscious Rosalind Elias, and Sandra Warfield (who married our Froh – and a future Otello – James McCracken). Less-familiar names – Mariquita Moll, Norman Kelley, Lawrence Davidson, and Arthur Budney – hold up well in their roles; Mssrs. Davidson and Budney are, in fact, quite impressive as Alberich and Donner.

Listen here.