Wagner

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Hotter, Treptow, Kupper; Jochum
München, 1949

Regular price $34.95
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Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

It is hard not to wonder what the audience must have felt during this 1949 performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg from Munich. The physical and mental scars from World War II were far from healed, and the country had to come to terms with their sense of nationalism free of the iconography of National Socialism. Years later you get the sense that whatever emotional baggage remained must have been washed away during the six or so hours of this stirring performance. Hans Hotter carries most of the show. Captured during his absolute prime, he brings vitality and dynamism that is rare in this role. Günther Treptow brings a robust if somewhat wooden tone to Walther von Stolzing and Annelies Kupper is an energetic Eva. Eugen Jochum does an excellent job in keeping the orchestra light and sprightly.

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Customer Reviews

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3.0 Based on 2 reviews
5 ★ 0
4 ★ 1
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2 ★ 1
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John B.✓ Top Reviewer

United States

Overall rating

worth it for hotter

The best thing about this Meistersinger is Hotter's wonderful performance as Hans Sachs, possibility the most moving and varied ever committed to disc. The worst thing is the Walther of Gunter Treptow whose constricted top notes are a real liability. The sound quality is quiet good.
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Theodore S.✓ Top Reviewer

United States

Overall rating

Theodore Shulman

I used to own this on CD.This performance is an interesting one and Hans Hotter in his prime is great, and Gunther Treptow makes up for his whiny timbre with sincerity and intelligence, but there is one terrible flaw which ruins the entire performance, and that is the execrable Annelies Kupper as Eva. This shrill, tinny, hooty and altogether dreadful soprano has a reverse-Midas touch: everything she associates herself with turns into garbage. The more I hear her, the more I wish I could go back in time and prevent her parents from getting together, or surgically remove her larynx at birth. Recordings she has ruined for me include a ZAUBERFLOTE with Teresa Stich-Randall as Pamina, which should have been fantastic, but Kupper sang the First Lady and made all her ensembles impossible to listen to without wincing; and a performance of Haydn's DIE SCHOPFUNG with my beloved heldenbasso Josef Greindl as the Archangel Raphael, which I spent ten years looking for only to hear the ensembles rendered worthless by Kupper's miserable interpretation of the Archangel Gabriel; also a LOHENGRIN with the great Ferdinand Frantz as Friedrich von Telramund, which should have been outstanding but was once again ruined by Kupper as Elsa.Kupper, Kupper, Kupper! We hates it, precious, we hates it forever!
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