# Waltraud Meier



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I really click with her Isolde and believe I heard a few other Wagner snippets of her at one point. Are there any recordings wherein she plays a role in Wagner's Ring?


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I know she was known for her Isolde and Kundry. Her DVD Isolde is a marvel and she looks the way you want Isolde to look which helps. What an actress!!!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sonata said:


> I really click with her Isolde and believe I heard a few other Wagner snippets of her at one point. Are there any recordings wherein she plays a role in Wagner's Ring?


From the back of my head she's in the Barenboim ring .


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

She is in Haitink's Walkure. I think that's her only Ring appearance. Happy to be corrected though.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Her Isolde is brilliant! Love love love even without the potion... 

Here is her stunning performance in Met:


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

She has sung Sieglinde and Waltraute in a number of recordings. She never sing Brunnhilde because she believed the part was pitched just a semitone too high for her voice. Her Kundry (Parsifal) is probably the greatest ever filmed.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Pugg said:


> From the back of my head she's in the Barenboim ring .


Oh good! D'oh, I own the Barenboim. Shows you how well I've read my liner notes. Better get listening  And I think the library has Haitink's Walkure and the Tristan DVD

Thanks for all the discussion guys, I'm excited to listen to more now!


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Sonata said:


> And I think the library has Haitink's Walkure and the Tristan DVD


When you mention Tristan DVD, which one of the two available with Meier do you mean?


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Sonata said:


> Oh good! D'oh, I own the Barenboim. Shows you how well I've read my liner notes. Better get listening  And I think the library has Haitink's Walkure and the Tristan DVD
> 
> Thanks for all the discussion guys, I'm excited to listen to more now!


I'd forgotten she was Waltraute in the Barenboim Ring. I know she was Fricka in Walkure for Haitink but for whom did she sing Sieglinde and on what recording/s? And who else did she sing Waltraute for? Can anyone advise please?

Ah, I see she sang Sieglinde in 2002 for Zubin Mehta.


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## Faustian (Feb 8, 2015)

She was the Waltruate on the DVD of the Lepage Ring from the Met as well.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

W. Meier Wagner DVDs:

*Tristan (Isolde):*

1995 Bayreuth / Barenboim
1998 Munich / Mehta
2007 Scala / Barenboim

*Parsifal (Kundry):*

1992 Berlin / Barenboim
1993 Met / Levine
2004 Berlin / Nagano

*Die Walkure (Sieglinde):*

2010 Scala / Barenboim

*Götterdämmerung (Waltraute):*

1991 Bavarian State / Sawallisch
1992 Bayreuth / Barenboim
2012 Met / Luisi
2013 Scala / Barenboim

*Lohengrin (Ortrud):*

2006 Baden-Baden / Nagano

*Tannhauser (Venus):*

1995 Bavarian State / Mehta
2008 Baden-Baden / Jordan


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

The purple are my picks. Barenboim and Meier had a great working relationship and they produced magic together. She sang Sieglinde more in the early 00's but these are not released on DVD as of yet.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Couchie said:


> W. Meier Wagner DVDs:
> 
> *Tristan (Isolde):*
> 
> ...


I made a same sort of list, then remembering that Sonata wanted details from the Ring, but then again, well done.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Pugg said:


> I made a same sort of list, then remembering that Sonata wanted details from the Ring, but then again, well done.


Truth be told, I put this list together for myself.  I still have some holes to fill, don't have the latest Scala Ring.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Couchie said:


> W. Meier Wagner DVDs:
> 
> *Tristan (Isolde):*
> 
> ...


Do you have a similar list for cd Couchie?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Waltraud Meier is Awesome!


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

It's been a great discussion, feel free to throw my narrow focus aside and expand the topic.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Barbebleu said:


> Do you have a similar list for cd Couchie?


No idea if this is the entire discography but these are the Meier recordings I have:

Gotterdammerung - As Waltraute on the Barenboim/Bayreuth and Sawallisch/Bavarian State Orch, as both Waltraute and Second Norn on the 2013 Barenboim Proms Ring from a broadcast capture.

Walkure - As Fricka on the Haitink, as Sieglinde on the Thielemann/Vienna State Opera

Lohengrin - As Ortrud on the Abbado/VPO

Parsifal - As Kundry on Barenboim/BPO, Levine/Bayreuth, Goodall/Welsh National, Thielemann/Vienna State Opera

Tannhauser - As Venus on Barenboim/Berlin State

Tristan - As Isolde on Barenboim/BPO and a broadcast capture with Salonen/Paris Opera


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sonata said:


> It's been a great discussion, feel free to throw my narrow focus aside and expand the topic.


Did you find the ring on your shelf?


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

I'm a huge Waltraud Meier fan but I much prefer watching her to just listening to her. If I want to understand a character, I try to watch Meier.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

damianjb1 said:


> I'm a huge Waltraud Meier fan but I much prefer watching her to just listening to her. If I want to understand a character, I try to watch Meier.


Here is a great Meier performance:


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I don't love her voice, but it is a very good voice and when you combine that with her looks and acting you have a great, great opera singer. I would have loved to have heard her Kundry.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Pugg said:


> Did you find the ring on your shelf?


She's in my Barenboim Gotterdammerung, yes.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I don't love her voice, but it is a very good voice and when you combine that with her looks and acting you have a great, great opera singer. I would have loved to have heard her Kundry.


Waltraud is one of those singers blessed with a unique quality to the voice so you can pick her out from the crowd just by the vocal quality. Callas had that too. Also Beverly Sills.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

She's an interesting case since she's clearly not of the mold of classical Wagnerian sopranos like Flagstad, Nilsson, Varnay, Modl, etc. And yet she seems born to sing it. I think she raised the bar for performance in terms of acting over the traditional "park and bark" regarding Wagner performance. She really lives her roles. I suspect Wagner would be ecstatic.


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## ma7730 (Jun 8, 2015)

I agree completely. It also really helps she can look the part of a beautiful Irish princess or seductive Kundry.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

The one that stands out for me is Dalida from Samson et Dalila.
Almost perfect.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Here is a full opera with a young Waltraud Meier. All the singers in this production are great. Enjoy!


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