# OMG! Marilyn Horne ROCKS the Immolation Scene!!!!



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

On a lark I listened to Horne's Immolation Scene today for my birthday and was blown away! Must have been from the 70's. I don't know if she could have sustained a career as a Wagnerian dramatic soprano, but as a standalone piece I'd say it holds it's own with Flagstad, Nilsson, Varnay and Traubel, and that is saying something. She sounds like a pipe organ down low and her top is amazing here. Such gorgeous singing! Her voice sounds absolutely enormous in this recording. Let me know what you think:



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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Well, it's Marilyn Horne's voice! 
Outstanding, very fascinating in the low region but IMO not suitable for Brunnhilde. It makes me think of an old charming lady, not of a young girl as I always imagine the Walkure is.

Anyway, thank you for sharing!

PS Happy Birthday!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Giocar, I never think of Bruinhilde as young because most women who excel in the part are approaching middle age. I guess the fantasy is they look like Brigitte Nielsen and sound like young Cheryl Studer with a microphone;-)


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Yes, you are right, but maybe Wagner was thinking of a young character when he wrote Brunnhilde's part.

Here's Birgit Nilsson in the 1960's Bayreuther Ring, Kempe conducting






Her voice, although less refined than the Horne's one in the low region, is of a much younger Brunnhilde.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Yes, early Nilsson did not sound matronly. Darker voices tend to sound more mature.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I always thought Rita Hunter had the best voice for Brunnhilde. Her immolation scenes (in German with Mackerras and English with Goodall) are hair raising.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

bigshot said:


> I always thought Rita Hunter had the best voice for Brunnhilde. Her immolation scenes (in German with Mackerras and English with Goodall) are hair raising.


I loved her early Bruinhildes. She sounded very young but powerful. Her top was resplendent.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I hate to say it, but I think she learned this over breakfast the morning of the concert. Splendid singing, of course, but not much consciousness of what it's all about. She actually sings two wrong notes ("Alles, alles...") and omits the words completely at "vermahlt ihm zu sein!" But she might have been a decent Wagnerian had she pursued it, as Joan Sutherland might have had _she _stayed with it. Imagine Sutherland and Horne as Elsa and Ortrud, with, say, Corelli as Lohengrin... 

An interesting listen. Thanks.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I must confess I was listening in my car and was just overwhelmed with the vocalism. I wasn't as focused on the exploration of character in an initial listening and you have a more exact ear than me.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BTW, your avatar is a hoot. :lol:


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## ericpno (Feb 23, 2016)

i stumbled across hornes immolation scene by chance last fall, and i was astonished to hear it. everybody makes mistakes, and in playbacks choose to edit it out or leave it in. having been in in editing session where such a decision presented itself, i found that it was a really tough call. being a big fan of marilyn horne, i know this: she was first a soprano in germany (gelsenkirche), and sang alot of things. when i thought about it the immolation scene mad sense. her top was easy before she make the switch in america. once she make the switch, that was it. but before she did, the immolation scene was a regular in her orchestral concerts programs. after thee switch some of her top notes changed, as in the norma recording with sutherland, alexander, bonynge, 1965/66. in that recording her high b's and c's were decidedly more strident that they once were. the immolation scene must have been sometime before the norma recording, thus 1965 at the latest, probably even earlier. yes, her sound, even in the earlier stages, when she was still mostly doing soprano repertory, was definitely the same. horne was ALWAYS horne. not really surprising, knowing that she was a natural, and didn't train extensively before she got to USC and vernard. her voice was characteristic from the very beginning. granted, one usually expects ultra bright sound in wagner (nilsson, flagstad, et al). horne was warm and velvety from beginning till the very end. when the tops started to go, she made an amicable separation from the repertory that required those tops. quality was a priority for her, and she let roles go once she couldn't deliver what she had in the past. brunhilde was perenially youthful. gods and goddesses in most pantheons did not change. they represented what they represented. period. they didn't change. if you want a steely bright brunhilde, horne's won't grab you. you'll have to stick to the wanger sopranos who do that. i try to keep expectations to a minimum when i listen to anything. horne certainly surprised me when i hear her immilation scene. but i loved notwithstanding. it was stupendous. if she had wanted to be a wagnerian she would probably have found a way to do it. after all she was in germany, where she would have had all the help she had needed. but she loved everything, and she did everything. 'soup to nuts' as she herself put it. when she decided to do the handel and rossini she focused on it. she returned to dramatic mezzo near the end. in a met special gala her high b flat in mon coeur souvre a ta vois was surprisingly difficult and flat. everything else was beautiful. but nilsson's wagner the same night was, sad to say, pretty weak EXCEPT for the high notes. but that's the way it goes in the vocal world, a very few keep their luster (shumann-heinke). most lose theirs over time. i love marilyn horne, and when i found the immolation scene i just found another of the feathers in her cap, i guess.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

ericpno said:


> i stumbled across hornes immolation scene by chance last fall, and i was astonished to hear it. everybody makes mistakes, and in playbacks choose to edit it out or leave it in. having been in in editing session where such a decision presented itself, i found that it was a really tough call. being a big fan of marilyn horne, i know this: she was first a soprano in germany (gelsenkirche), and sang alot of things. when i thought about it the immolation scene mad sense. her top was easy before she make the switch in america. once she make the switch, that was it. but before she did, the immolation scene was a regular in her orchestral concerts programs. after thee switch some of her top notes changed, as in the norma recording with sutherland, alexander, bonynge, 1965/66. in that recording her high b's and c's were decidedly more strident that they once were. the immolation scene must have been sometime before the norma recording, thus 1965 at the latest, probably even earlier. yes, her sound, even in the earlier stages, when she was still mostly doing soprano repertory, was definitely the same. horne was ALWAYS horne. not really surprising, knowing that she was a natural, and didn't train extensively before she got to USC and vernard. her voice was characteristic from the very beginning. granted, one usually expects ultra bright sound in wagner (nilsson, flagstad, et al). horne was warm and velvety from beginning till the very end. when the tops started to go, she made an amicable separation from the repertory that required those tops. quality was a priority for her, and she let roles go once she couldn't deliver what she had in the past. brunhilde was perenially youthful. gods and goddesses in most pantheons did not change. they represented what they represented. period. they didn't change. if you want a steely bright brunhilde, horne's won't grab you. you'll have to stick to the wanger sopranos who do that. i try to keep expectations to a minimum when i listen to anything. horne certainly surprised me when i hear her immilation scene. but i loved notwithstanding. it was stupendous. if she had wanted to be a wagnerian she would probably have found a way to do it. after all she was in germany, where she would have had all the help she had needed. but she loved everything, and she did everything. 'soup to nuts' as she herself put it. when she decided to do the handel and rossini she focused on it. she returned to dramatic mezzo near the end. in a met special gala her high b flat in mon coeur souvre a ta vois was surprisingly difficult and flat. everything else was beautiful. but nilsson's wagner the same night was, sad to say, pretty weak EXCEPT for the high notes. but that's the way it goes in the vocal world, a very few keep their luster (shumann-heinke). most lose theirs over time. i love marilyn horne, and when i found the immolation scene i just found another of the feathers in her cap, i guess.


Thank you SO much for this insightful essay on Horne's Immolation Scene. I love a darker and warmer sound often and Horne and Norman give these qualities in spades in their Immolation Scenes.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

wait...this was actually good? I was expecting this to be a joke! XD


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