Loreley

Event Information

Venue(s):
New-Yorker Stadt-Theater [37-39 Bowery - pre-Sept 1864]

Proprietor / Lessee:
Otto Hoym
Eduard Hamann [prop.-dir.]

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
6 July 2015

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

30 Mar 1864

Program Details

Benefit for Mr. Eduard Hamann.

Time is illegible in the advertisement.

Loreley is "for the first time" and "with new decorations."

Performers and/or Works Performed

Citations

1)
Advertisement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 30 March 1864, 6.
2)
Announcement: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 30 March 1864, 8.
3)
Review: New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, 01 April 1864, 8.

“Hermann Hersch’s new play, ‘Die Loreley,’ with music by Resswadba [sic], only partly met our expectations.  Hersch thought it necessary on the one hand to strip the most beautiful of the Rhine sagas of its poetic accessories; in doing so, he forfeited opportunities for the most impressive scenes.  Only in a few places does the dialogue rise above the level of the banal: one can certainly admire the skillful workmanship of an author so knowledgeable about the stage.  But that is all; as a whole, the play leaves us cold, and would have been very coolly received, were it not for Mrs. Steglich-Fuchs in the role of Loreley, who in several major scenes understood the need not just to interest the audience, but to carry them along with her as well, particularly at the close of the third act.  Resswadba’s [sic] music is not awful: the mermaids’ choruses are original, the drinking song is well composed and beautifully orchestrated, and the prelude to Act 5, variations on the familiar folk song, ‘Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,’ [‘I Don’t Know What It’s Supposed to Mean’] was a very effective entr'acte piece.  We believe the folk song which had just been presented would have been much better suited as Loreley’s closing song than the somewhat labored and artificial one by Mr. Resswadba – and would also have been more effective.  The play’s performance also left much to be desired, including emotion; the orchestra and chorus committed various human errors.  Furthermore, we are of the opinion that it is appropriate once again to offer our ceterum censeo for an enlargement and improvement of the chorus.”