Richard Wagner News

First Tristan, now Isolde. Already missing tenor Ben Heppner because of a virus, the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" lost Deborah Voigt in the middle of the second act Friday night because of a stomach ailment.

That left the Met in the highly unusual situation of having both singers in the lead roles making their Met debuts, Gary Lehman and Janice Baird.

Heppner withdrew from the first four performances of the highly anticipated six-performance run and was replaced by John Mac Master in Monday's opener and by Lehman on Friday.

Voigt sang the opener but didn't sound at her best Friday and had particular trouble with the high notes during the first act and the 20 minutes of Act 2 she performed.

"She was very heroic," Met general manager Peter Gelb said. "She told me before the second act began that she was feeling sick this morning but she didn't tell us because she didn't want to disturb us. She wanted to be very supportive of Mr. Lehman."

After the first act, Voigt spoke with Gelb and said she was ill.

"We agreed she would start the second act and see how it went," Gelb said.

Baird, Voigt's cover singer, was put on alert during the first intermission, which lasted about 10 minutes longer than usual, and by the start of the second act was standing by.

Voigt signaled near the beginning of the love duet that she couldn't continue and hurried offstage. Music director James Levine kept conducting. Then the curtain came down, but Lehman kept singing until the orchestra stopped.

An announcement was made that Voigt suddenly had taken ill. Baird got into the costume that Voigt had been wearing and replaced her about 15 minutes later.

When the curtain went up again in the middle of Act 2, Baird and Lehman received enthusiastic applause. And when the final curtain came down a half-hour late at 12:30 a.m., they got more than that — a standing ovation.

Gelb had appeared before the performance started to urge the audience's support for Lehman, who not only was making his Met debut but also was singing the role of Tristan, one of the most difficult parts for tenors in all of opera, for the first time anywhere. Gelb said how much Heppner regretted missing the performance and — ironically in light of what was to come — assured the audience that everyone else in the cast was in good health.

Mac Master received mostly negative reviews following Monday's opener of the revival. The Tristan for the next two performances is listed as TBA, including the March 22 matinee that is to be telecast to theaters worldwide.

Gelb said later that he expected Voigt would recover in time to sing the next scheduled performance Tuesday night.

Heppner and Voigt, two of the world's most acclaimed Wagnerian singers, were to be performing "Tristan" together for the first time.

Friday night's improvised casting is sure to remind old-timers of the legendary night of Dec. 28, 1959, when soprano Birgit Nilsson sang Isolde opposite three different Tristans (Ramon Vinay, Karl Liebl, and Albert da Costa) — one for each act.

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On the Net:

http://www.metopera.org

http://www.deborahvoigt.com

http://www.benheppner.com