Royal Opera House Victoria and Albert Museum 19 August - 10 October 1971

Extracts(Siegfried Productions at Covent Garden 1940's-1950's) from

Covent Garden 25 Years of Opera and Ballet

by Alan Tagg (et al.)

Original by Sheila Porter, entitled Opera Statistics first appeared in magazine About The House, the magazine for The Friends of Covent Garden, November 1968, Vol.2, No.12.

The number in brackets indicates the number of performances.

1948-49 Revivals. Siegfried. 48/11/11 (5). Composer: Wagner. Producer: Schramm. Designer (pre-War). Conductor: Rankl. Brunnhilde: Varnay/Flagstad. Siegfried: Svanholm. Wanderer: Hotter/Schon. Mime: Klein/Markwort. Alberich: Clifford.

1949-50 Revivals. Siegfried. (2) Rankl; Flagstad; Svanholm, Boehm, Zimmermann/Klein, Clifford.

1950-51 Revivals. Siegfried. (2). Rankl; Varnay, Svanholm, Hotter, Klein, Kraus.

1953-54 New Productions.* Siegfried. 54/6/8 (8 June 1954). Composer: Wagner. Producer: Hartmann. Director: Hurry. Conductor: Stiedry. Brunnhilde: Harshaw. Siegfried: Svanholm. Wanderer. Frantz. Mime: Kuen. Alberich: Kraus.

The 25 June 1954 performance was the only one broadcast this season by the BBC Third Programme. It featured Dennis Brain in Act 2, Forest Murmurs. A private recording exists of excerpts from Act 2, including the horn-call. This has been positively identified by Norman Del Mar as played by Dennis Brain. The excerpts last just over 33 minutes.

* Also 2 performances of earlier production. See "revivals".

1953-54 Revivals. Siegfried. (2). Stiedry; Harshaw, Svanholm/Treptow, Hotter/Kamann, Kuen, Kraus.

1954-55 Revivals. Siegfried (2). Kempe; Harshaw, Svanholm, Hotter/Pease, Klein, Kraus.

1955-56 Revivals. Siegfried (2). Kempe; Harshaw, Windgassen, Hotter/Pease, Klein, Kraus.

Dennis Brain performed the Horn Call in this production, according to Stephen Pettitt (Dennis Brain, 1989, p.145) on 31 May 1956, and on two previous occasions in 1954 and 1955.


Return