Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

214 Joakim Tillman
to hear Wagner being sung. In Vienna Mahler has conducted a Götterdämmerung
performance with a careful handling of the vocal melody, and
in which long song phrases in the piano nuance have replaced strained
voices and one-sided declamatory execution. Moreover, from London, in
a letter to Allgemeine Musikzeitung, Weingartner expresses his delight
at hearing bel canto predominate in a performance of Die Meistersinger.
The return to beautiful singing is preached everywhere, and among the
composers joining this movement is Mr Hallén.” (Josephson 1899, p.
244)
When Hallén composed Waldemarsskatten he felt that the vocal melody
should be more prominent than the orchestral texture. It is open to question
whether, when he conducted the first Swedish performance of Die
Walküre, his changed view on the relationship between the vocal parts and
the orchestra influenced his interpretation.
Just like Die Meistersinger in 1887, Die Walküre was staged in 1895 featuring
only Swedish singers. Carolina Östberg was the only one with more
extensive experience of Wagnerian singing. She was a member of Angelo
Neumann’s touring cast of Ring in 1882, singing Sieglinde in a number of
European cities. Following the Swedish Die Walküre premiere all the critics
agreed that Östberg was the most successful of the soloists, and the singer
who came closest to the ideal interpretation of Wagner. Everyone praised
her legato, her excellent phrasing and nuanced delivery, and her expressive
and noble declamation. Alongside Josephson, Henrik Victorin discussed the
demands of good Wagnerian singing in more detail, and described how Östberg
met those demands:
“The two who are most successful in the difficult art of rhythmic execution
are Mrs Östberg and Mr Söderman [Wotan]. In particular, Mrs Ö is
superior in chiselling her phrases in a clear, firm, and secure way. The
listener experiences an agreeable sensation of security and calm in her
singing, and at the same time is captivated by the performance: in the
part of Sieglinde Mrs Ö proves that she is able to convey the inner value
of the phrases even when the external circumstances are not unconditionally
favourable to having an immediate effect on the listeners.”
Like Josephon, Victorin had reservations about Almati-Rundberg. He
claimed that the part demanded better mimicry and means of expression
than were at her disposal, and her inclination to drag out her delivery, thereby
destroying the rhythm, was a fundamental fault. 14
14 Unfortunately there are no preserved recordings of Swedish Wagner pioneers such as
Caroline Östberg, Arvid Ödmann, and Matilda Jungstedt: see Stefan Johansson 2002.