Coming November 8: SWF D16
Lohengrin is not one of Wagner's operas most conducted by Furtwängler, unlike Tristan or Die Meistersinger. But one legendary production remains: that of Bayreuth 1936. The year of the Olympic Games was also the year of the conductor's triumphant return to the sacred hill, as he conducted a complete Ring and five performances of Parsifal.
All festival attendees and commentators were unanimous in their praise for the overall production of Lohengrin, and the high standard of the cast.
The July 19 performance was broadcast by many radio stations around the world. The Swedish radio recorded excerpts from Act 3, to our great delight, and the discs have survived. Reissued several times, we now present them restored from the sources provided in high definition by the Swedish radio.
Only thirty minutes or so! But let's not deny ourselves the pleasure of hearing the fabulous Franz Völker, the greatest Lohengrin before Sandor Konya (in the late '50s), the charming Maria Müller (Elsa), as well as Margarete Klose's exceptional and terrifying Ortrud.
What about sound? One can hardly expect miracles. The most important restoration work involved processing the levels, as the sound engineer — when transmitting in Germany? when engraving in Sweden? — had fairly “played with the potentiometer”! At least Christophe Hénault's work is faithful to the source and makes the most of the document!
Please consider this excerpt from the Prélude of Act 3 (here in mp3).
The full download — with a digital booklet featuring period photos — will be available on November 8, priced at €6. It will be available online for streaming in mid-December.
Furtwängler and two of his assistants for Lohengrin :
conductor Erich Riede (left) and choirmaster Friedrich Jung.