Biterolf. It is a despicable critic’s tactic to cite, amid general wreckage, the singer of a brief and relatively undemanding role as the most fulfilling of an ill-spent evening or afternoon. Nonetheless, I would be remiss to overlook the Biterolf of Le Bu. He sang through the “grimmer Wolf‘s” rejoinder in the contest with the solid, ample tone and well-shaped line we longed to hear from our Wolfram, and brought a strong physical presence to his part, as well.

In last week’s post and today’s, we’ve seen the double bind opera is caught in at present at one of its major performance institutions: the efforts to refresh the form with contemporary work repeatedly fails to approach the level reached often enough in past centuries to constitute a canonical repertory, while the performance rewards of the latter are frequently so meager as to be unsustainable. And yet, enough of Tannhäuser survived this revival to remind us of the power that still lurks in the masterpieces of the past.

˜ ˜ ˜

NEXT TIME: We have just marked the 100th birthday of Maria Callas. While I reviewed a few of the recordings issued toward the end of her career, and have had scattered occasions to write about her since her retirement, I have never done a full assessment of the singing of this unique artist. Inasmuch as my next Met encounter is not until La Forza del destino on March 12 (I have elected to take in the new Carmen with its second cast, toward the end of the season), this seems the perfect time to do that. A lot of listening and reading is involved, so to be realistic, let’s plan on Friday, March 2. Till then, warmest wishes to all for a jolly Christmas and a Happy New Year.

# # #