# OMG! Frieda Leider! Any Fans Out There?



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I remember some of you praising her, but she has never been on my radar. It was a serendipitous birthday discovery to listen to her. Oh My LORDY! This is a voice to be reckoned with. It is beautiful on the level of Ponselle or Flagstad! It would be nice to know how big her voice was in a house. She was a Wagnerian rarity... a normal sized person. She was also an even greater rarity: someone who excels both at Wagner and Verdi. I think I remember someone saying she was better live. What is essential listening for her? listened to her big Il Trovatore aria and it was absolutely sensational! Her voice had such warmth and such an exciting vibrato and timbre. The other plus is that she seems to have the easy top that Nilsson had, which eluded Flagstad and Traubel.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I remember some of you praising her, but she has never been on my radar. It was a serendipitous birthday discovery to listen to her. Oh My LORDY! This is a voice to be reckoned with. It is beautiful on the level of Ponselle or Flagstad! It would be nice to know how big her voice was in a house. She was a Wagnerian rarity... a normal sized person. She was also an even greater rarity: someone who excels both at Wagner and Verdi. I think I remember someone saying she was better live. What is essential listening for her? listened to her big Il Trovatore aria and it was absolutely sensational! Her voice had such warmth and such an exciting vibrato and timbre. The other plus is that she seems to have the easy top that Nilsson had, which eluded Flagstad and Traubel.


yup, been a fan of her for years now


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Huge fan of Leider here.

She, together with Germaine Lubin (who you should check out also!!!), Olive Fremstad, Lillian Nordica, Lilli Lehmann and to some lesser extent Florence Austral and Marjorie Lawrence, belongs to the group of Wagnerian sopranos that have been long extinct: highly versatile singers who perform Wagner in bel canto style. If you read her biography _"Playing My Part"_, you will notice one of the recurrent themes is her firm belief in the importance of singing Wagner in the Italian way.

_"I always tried to sing in the *Italian bel canto* style, and above all, I endeavored to incorporate this style into my Wagner interpretations. I put my enunciation under the microscope. I accentuated very sharply but tried to do this while sustaining my vocal line."
_

Her recording legacy well illustrates her belief and efforts. As you pointed out, her _D'amor sull'ali rosee _ is a miracle. The phrasing and coloratura is so stylishly-Verdian that I completely forget she is singing in German (I bet she is much more _"Italianate"_ here than Sutherland and Price):






Another favorite example of her bel canto Wagner is how she soars effortlessly with that warm, fast-vibrato voice in _Der Engel_ , or the brilliant trills in Die Walkure:











People usually simplify this way: Nilsson/Flagstad is icy-cold, while Leider is much more heated. But I think this point is usually misunderstood. The fact that she is a great singing-actress does not mean that she endorses the kind of declamatory "barks" like many of her contemporaries (i.e. Nanny Larsén-Todsen and Wildebrunn). In contrast, she always projects the vocal lines, even the "rudest" one, with great cares for the tone and the shape of the phrase (indeed, earlier critics called her Isolde too "oratorio-like"). For example, this furious cry _"Betrug! Betrug!_" from a live Gotterdammerung is sung with style, not barked:






She is fierce -but in a restrained and noble way- probably similar to her idol Eleanora Duse, rather than other more flamboyant, Sarah-Bernhardt-inspired singers. John Steane sums it up perfectly, that her voice and her portrayals _"existing at that rarely achieved point where the heroic has not become inhuman and where the human does not undermine tragic dignity".
_


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

I believe that Leider is a singer of the theatre rather than of the studio. Some of her studio recordings can be really boring, but most likely because she was feeling rushed. The dull studio Liebestod is nothing compares to the transcending Liebestod from a live broadcast in 1934:










.

That being said, my most favorite Leider performance is probably the studio Tristan Love Duet with Melchior, conducted by the great Albert Coates:


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I have little to add to silentio's posts. I'm just here to agree!

Awhile back we were asked to cast our ideal performances of our favorite operas, and I proposed a _Tristan_ with Leider, Melchior, Branzell, Schorr, and Kipnis under Furtwangler - a performance which actually could have taken place, as all those singers were in superb voice in the early 1930s. Leider was the leading Isolde at the Met before the arrival of Flagstad, and those who witnessed both of them (lucky people!) acknowledged Leider as the more passionate interpreter, despite the unique splendor of Flagstad's voice. Leider's live _Liebestod_ posted by silentio is probably my favorite rendition; her free use of portamento (something we never hear today) conveys her total immersion in Isolde's delirious ecstasy, and it thrills me every time I listen to it.

Here are two more fine examples of the versatile Mme. Leider, from 1924 and 1943. The latter recording gives us a clearer idea of the warmth and beauty of her timbre. She had retired from the opera stage by then, but the voice was still in splendid shape.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I have little to add to silentio's posts. I'm just here to agree!
> 
> Here are two more fine examples of the versatile Mme. Leider, from 1924 and 1943. The latter recording gives us a clearer idea of the warmth and beauty of her timbre. She had retired from the opera stage by then, but the voice was still in splendid shape.


Both of these are stunning. This is A. Really gorgeous singing and B. Real artistry. Thanks!!!!


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I'm very much in agreement with *silentio* post above.

Leider was great singing Wagner, and great singing Verdi too, because she always used that "Italian belcanto style" that is simply the best way to sing opera. There is a wonderful tradition of singing Verdi in German, by people like Svéd, Schlusnus, Rosvaenge, Wittrisch, Teschemacher, Lorenz, Scheppan, Klose, Lemnitz,... and, of course, Leider herself, in quite a few recordings to enjoy, though they are somehow still unknown to many opera fans.

Coming back to Leider, she was also a refined Mozart singer. Her Donna Anna was justly praised.


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