Met Opera Gave Only Three Performances of Goetz's Taming of the Shrew

Summary: Met Opera gave only three performances of Goetz's Taming of the Shrew in 1916 and has not performed the opera since the 1915-1916 season.

As creator of Katharine in the Metropolitan Opera's only three performances (March 15, 1916; March 20; April 13) of Hermann Goetz's Shakespearean opera, The Taming of the Shrew, German contralto Margarete Ober remains Met Opera's only shrewish Katharine; undated Bain News Service glass negative of Margarete Ober, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Met Opera gave only three performances of Goetz's The Taming of the Shrew in 1916 and has not revived the opera since its premiere season, 1915-1916.

German composer Hermann Gustav Goetz (Dec. 7, 1840-Dec. 3, 1876) based his four-act comic opera, Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung, upon The Taming of the Shrew by Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616). The German libretto was written by Swiss journalist and writer Joseph Victor Widmann (Feb. 20, 1842-Nov. 6, 1911).

The Metropolitan Opera premiered Goetz's The Taming of the Shrew on Wednesday, March 15, 1916. The comic opera received three performances in the 1915-1916 season. The Metropolitan Opera House was the venue for the opera's premiere and second performance (Monday, March 20). The Taming of the Shrew's third, closing and, in fact, last Met Opera performance was staged Thursday, April 13, at the Boston Opera House in Boston, Massachusetts.

Artur Bodanzky (Dec. 16, 1877-Nov. 23, 1939) conducted all three performances. The Austrian-American Jewish conductor had made his Met Opera debut Thursday, Nov. 18, 1915, in the opera house's 85th performance of Götterdämmerung by German Romantic era composer-librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883).

Margarete Ober (Margarete Arndt-Ober; April 15, 1885–March 17, 1971) sang the title role of shrewish Katharine for all three performances. The German contralto had made her Met Opera debut Friday, Nov. 21, 1913, as Ortrud in the opera house's 279th performance of Wagner's Lohengrin.

Clarence Whitehill (Nov. 5, 1871-Dec. 19, 1932) sang in all three performances as Petruchio, a fortune seeker who seeks to tame his wealthy wife. The American bass-baritone had made his Met Opera debut Monday, Nov. 15, 1909, as Wolfram in the opera house's 169th performance of Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Marie Rappold (Aug. 17, 1872-May 12, 1957) sang Bianka, Kate's younger sister, in all three performances. The German-born American operatic soprano had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, Nov. 22, 1905, as Sulamith in the opera house's 37th performance of Die Königin von Saba by Hungarian-born Viennese composer Karl Goldmark (Károly Goldmark; May 18, 1830-Jan. 2, 1915).

Johannes Sembach (Johannes Semfke; March 9, 1881-June 20, 1944) sang Bianka-enamored Lucentio in all three performances. The German operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut in the title role in the opera house's 74th performance of Wagner's Parsifal.

Otto Goritz (June 8, 1872/1873?-April 11, 1929) sang Baptista, Katharine and Bianka's father, in all three performances. The German baritone had made his Met Opera Thursday, Dec. 24, 1903, debut as Klingsor in the opera house's United States premiere of Wagner's Parsifal.

Basil Ruysdael, stage name of Basil Spaulding Millspaugh (July 24, 1878-Oct. 10, 1960), sang Petruchio's grumpy servant Grumio in all three performances. The American film actor and operatic bass-baritone had made his Met Opera debut Friday, Nov. 18, 1910, as Hunding in the opera house's 141st performance of Wagner's Die Walküre.

Robert Leonhardt (1877-Feb. 2, 1923) sang Hortensio in all three performances. The Austrian baritone had made his Met Opera debut Dec. 26, 1913, as Peter in the opera house's 75th performance of Hänsel und Gretel by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (Sept. 1, 1854-Sept. 27, 1921).

Albert Weiss (Feb. 2, 1870-June 19, 1940) appeared as the Tailor in all three performances. The German operatic tenor had made his Met Opera debut Saturday, Oct. 12, 1901, as Remendado in the opera house's 144th performance of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875).

Max Bloch (1881/1882?-1930) appeared as the Major-domo in all three performances. The German/Polish Jewish tenor had made his Met Opera Friday, Nov. 20, 1914, debut as Faninal's Major-domo in the opera house's 12th performance of Der Rosenkavalier by German composer Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

Marie Mattfeld (1870-1927) appeared as the Housekeeper in all three performances. The American mezzo-soprano Marie Mattfeld had made her Met Opera debut Wednesday, April 11, 1906, in the title trouser role of Hänsel in the opera house's 16th performance of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel.

The production was directed by Jan Heythekker. The Dutch stage manager's Met Opera debut had occurred Thursday, Nov. 18, 1915, in the opera house's 85th performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung.

The production's designer was Ludwig Sievert (May 17, 1887-Dec. 11, 1966). The German production designer's appearance in the opera's premiere marked his Met Opera debut.

The Metropolitan Opera has not staged Goetz's Taming of the Shrew since the opera's Met Opera premiere season, 1915-1916. The premiere season's third, closing performance, Thursday, April 13, 1916, marked the opera's last performance at the Metropolitan Opera.

The takeaways for Met Opera's three performances of Goetz's Taming of the Shrew are that the Shakespeare-based opera received its Met Opera premiere March 15, 1916; that less than one month later, on April 13, 1916, the opera logged its third and last performance of the 1915-1916 season; and that Goetz's Taming of the Shrew's Met Opera performance history is restricted to the three premiere season performances, as Met Opera has not staged the opera since the 1915-1916 season.

As creator of Petruchio in the Metropolitan Opera's only three performances of Hermann Goetz's Shakespearean opera, The Taming of the Shrew, American bass-baritone Clarence Whitehill remains Met Opera's only Petruchio; ca. 1915-1920 Bain News Service glass negative of Clarence Whitehill, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

As creator of Katharine in the Metropolitan Opera's only three performances (March 15, 1916; March 20; April 13) of Hermann Goetz's Shakespearean opera, The Taming of the Shrew, German contralto Margarete Ober remains Met Opera's only shrewish Katharine; undated Bain News Service glass negative of Margarete Ober, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014682560/; no known restrictions on publication, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margarete_Ober_LCCN2014682560.jpg

As creator of Petruchio in the Metropolitan Opera's only three performances of Hermann Goetz's Shakespearean opera, The Taming of the Shrew, American bass-baritone Clarence Whitehill remains Met Opera's only Petruchio; ca. 1915-1920 Bain News Service glass negative of Clarence Whitehill, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (LOC) Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known copyright restrictions, via LOC Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014705733/; no known restrictions on publication, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whitehill_LCCN2014705733.tif

For further information:

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Arakelyan, Ashot. "Robert Leonhardt (Baritone) (Linz, Austria 1877 – New York City February 2, 1923)." Forgotten Opera Singers. Oct. 19, 2016.
Available @ http://forgottenoperasingers.blogspot.com/2016/10/robert-leonhardt-baritone-linz-austria.html

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