# Who was the greatest Wagnerian soprano ever?



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Mirroring the previous thread. Who is your favorite?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

My immediate response is to say Frida Leider, with Flagstad giving me occasional reason to hesitate. There's no getting around the sheer splendor of Flagstad's voice in her prime, and some of her radio broadcast recordings reveal a livelier temperament than she projects in some of her studio recordings, but Leider - also heard at her best in live performance - had liveliness in spades, along with a vibrant, flexible voice that met Wagner's demands for both power and a strong legato line, quite naturally exuding a warm femininity as opposed to the more heroic or monumental quality of some other Wagner singers.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I haven’t really heard Leider and excerpts are, in my opinion, not the whole story. Flagstad, though, I’ve heard at length, thanks to many recordings - the voice is astonishingly large and majestic and beautiful, with a warmth that eluded the one I have heard the most, Birgit Nilsson, both live and in recordings. So, in my limited experience, I’d pick Flagstad.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Flagstad, but because of this group I have come to highly regard Leider. I love Traubel's voice. Two others I'll mention: Varnay's first stereo Ring from Bayreuth when she was still in great voice is amazing and even though Farrell never sang a Wagner role onstage, her Immolation Scene and Siegfried"s duet are astonishing. I never saw the Wagnerian famous greats including Nilsson, but I am so greatful I saw Eaglen in all the big Wagner roles as she had the vocal beauty and vocal weight to do justice to those superhuman parts. and did so with great power. I never dreamed I would hear someone do justice to those roles.


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## Shaafee Shameem (Aug 4, 2021)

Frida Leider, without a doubt, at least amongst the ones who have been recorded to a reasonable extent. Others who might vie for the title in my opinion, are Germaine Lubin, Felia Litvinne, Florence Austral, Lilli Lehman and Johanna Gadski, although we do not have sufficient recorded evidence from them. A similarity in all these singers is that they were of the Italian school, and their singing is limpid, warm and inward compared to their successors. Their versatility too is much greater.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

I'm split almost evenly between Traubel, Flagstad and Leider. Traubel sings with the most heroic majesty, while Leider and Flagstad both sing with Italian warmth and femininity. Traubel may have struggled with high Cs, but honestly, I just don't care, because all of her transpositions sound just fine, and it's infinitely more impressive to hear a mighty, lightning-voiced dramatic soprano hitting a Bb5 than a canary soprano hitting a C6 (or for that matter, E6). When you consider how her voice was about a 4th lower than that of a typical soprano (she could sing all the way down to a D3), the extremely wide range she did possess was even and perfectly balanced from top to bottom.

You know what though? Being the chest voice junky that I am, I am gonna have to give the ever-so-tiny edge to Traubel.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I'm split almost evenly between Traubel, Flagstad and Leider. Traubel sings with the most heroic majesty, while Leider and Flagstad both sing with Italian warmth and femininity. Traubel may have struggled with high Cs, but honestly, I just don't care, because all of her transpositions sound just fine, and it's infinitely more impressive to hear a mighty, lightning-voiced dramatic soprano hitting a Bb5 than a canary soprano hitting a C6 (or for that matter, E6). When you consider how her voice was about a 4th lower than that of a typical soprano (she could sing all the way down to a D3), the extremely wide range she did possess was even and perfectly balanced from top to bottom.
> 
> You know what though? Being the chest voice junky that I am, I am gonna have to give the ever-so-tiny edge to Traubel.


I wish I could hear her sing to D3! She had one of the most beautifully even voices from the chest up to B5. For most of Wagner that was fine. Nilsson is much better known, but Traubel had a much more beautiful voice. I would have loved to have heard her as Amneris, but she was the leading soprano in the world and would have never have sung a secondary role.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I wish I could hear her sing to D3!


This desire to hear voices sing higher than they actually can... When did you first notice it? Did other kids recognize that you were different and make fun of you? Did it impair your social life? Did you come out to friends and family, or are you mentioning it here for the first time? I want you to know that we understand, that we love and accept you for who you are, and that you're safe with us. Believe me, some of us have weird secret desires too.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Wagner is not my field really. I don't have or even listen to multiple recordings of his operas the way I do to Verdi, so maybe I'm not qualified to judge. However I'd have thought that, as in Verdi, further qualifications need to be made. I assume that when we say "Wagnerian soprano", we really mean Brünnhilde and Isolde. But what of the roles of Eva, Elisabeth, Elsa, Sieglinde and Senta? Or even Kundry, which is regularly performed by both sopranos and mezzos. Are these not Wagnerian sopranos? Many who sing these roles do indeed graduate to Brünnhilde and Isolde, but just as many don't.

Of those sopranos I have listened to, I'd probably have to say Frida Leider, who had both beaury of voice and flexibility, which allowed her to sing a much wider repertoire.

I wish we had better recordings of Lili Lehmann, who sang at the first Bayreuth Festival. What we have were late in her career and early in the recording process, so are hardly ideal. As it is, _from recorded evidence alone_ I'd have to choose Frida Leider, whilst giving the nod to some of those that Shaafee mentioned.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> This desire to hear voices sing higher than they actually can... When did you first notice it? Did other kids recognize that you were different and make fun of you? Did it impair your social life? Did you come out to friends and family, or are you mentioning it here for the first time? I want you to know that we understand, that we love and accept you for who you are, and that you're safe with us. Believe me, some of us have weird secret desires too.


Yes, well, I always liked exceptions to rules, but D3 is low. The only sopranos I've heard sing that low are Norman and Ponselle.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Just listen to the finale of Tristan at Bayreuth 1966 and here Nilsson sail over the orchestra. For sheer cutting edge no-one could beat her.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Yes, well, I always liked exceptions to rules, but D3 is low. The only sopranos I've heard sing that low are Norman and Ponselle.


Hahaha. I thought D3 was the D above high C. What number D is that? Somehow I've managed to live over 70 years without learning this terminology. It must be part of my general hatred of numbers.

See? I told you some of us were weird.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> It must be part of my general hatred of numbers.


How many years have you felt this way?

Oops . . . Sorry, never mind.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck;[I said:


> [/I]2249875]Hahaha. I thought D3 was the D above high C. What number D is that? Somehow I've managed to live over 70 years without learning this terminology. It must be part of my general hatred of numbers.
> 
> See? I told you some of us were weird.


I've never learned it either. The only term I knew was that notes above the stave are referred to as _in alt_ or even _in altissimo_ for notes an octave above the top of the stave. Mind you I think those notes might only apply to Mado Robin.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

amfortas said:


> How many years have you felt this way?
> 
> Oops . . . Sorry, never mind.


Always. I'll never understand why my guidance counselor in high school told me I was good at math. My arithmetic is good, and that's good enough for anything I recognize as living. Algebra? All jabber.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> Hahaha. I thought D3 was the D above high C. What number D is that? Somehow I've managed to live over 70 years without learning this terminology. It must be part of my general hatred of numbers.
> 
> See? I told you some of us were weird.


I thought you were mixing it up.... but you have a lot of credit. D6 is what Callas sings in the big aria from Armida. Mezzos rarely sing above the 5th octave. C3 is middle C.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I thought you were mixing it up.... but you have a lot of credit. D6 is what Callas sings in the big aria from Armida. Mezzos rarely sing above the 5th octave. C3 is middle C.


I think I'll just remember that a soprano's high C is C3 and count down or up from there. But only when I'm forced to at gunpoint.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I think I'll just remember that a soprano's high C is C3 and count down or up from there. But only when I'm forced to at gunpoint.


Although a soprano high C is C5


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Op.123 said:


> Although a soprano high C is C5


Google, my source says this:Is High C C5 or C6?
The seventh octave is the highest octave of a piano. Using middle C (C4) as a guide, the next higher C is C5 or tenor C. The next C is C6 or soprano high C.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Holy ****. I think I'll just call it "soprano high C."


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> I think I'll just remember that a soprano's high C is C3 and count down or up from there. But only when I'm forced to at gunpoint.


I think there's an older European notation that puts it like that. In standard American notation, it's 
C6: soprano high C
C5: tenor high C
C4: middle C
C3: low C (low range of tenor)
C2: deep C (low range of basso)

the number changes at C, so B5 is just before C6 (ex: my range in peak vocal condition was around D#2-Bb4, my good notes were from around F2-Ab4)


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> I think there's an older European notation that puts it like that. In standard American notation, it's
> C6: soprano high C
> C5: tenor high C
> C4: middle C
> ...


My range went up to G6 at 15 and it was really big up to C6, but puberty won out. I wish I had a Youtube time capsule from then. I could sing along with Callas. Je Suis Titania was my favorite. Dimash reminds me of the voice I lost, but of course his is much better. The joys of dating were compensation for losing my soprano, but I felt like I was missing something for many years after I lost my upper register.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

What's a Wagnerian soprano?

I'm tempted to put forward Waltraud Meier (after all she sang Isolde and Sieglinde and recorded the imolation scene). However, I think that's cheating, she really was a mezzo, despite sometimes singing soprano roles.

I'm guessing that 'Wagnerian soprano' here means the type of dramatic soprano that sang/sings Brunhilde and Isolde. This isn't a voice type that particularly appeals to me and I find Flagstad didn't have the emotional depth that I need in any singing for me to be a fan (despite the glorious scale of her voice and singing). My favourite Brunhilde is Modl, (Which proves that Woodduck is right about some of us being weird), but I consider the greatest Brunhildes to be Leider and Marjorie Lawrence (I know that's herectical, but there goes). 

However, that isn't the whole story. I much prefer the lighter types of Wagnerian soprano, such as would be ideal for Elsa, Elizabeth or Sieglinde. I like Grummer and Schwarzkopf in their music. That said, I'm going to go with Cheryl Studer. I was fortunate enough to see one of her Elizabeth's in Vienna and it was one of the most moving performances I have ever seen. She's my favourite Wagnerian soprano.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> What's a Wagnerian soprano?
> 
> I'm tempted to put forward Waltraud Meier (after all she sang Isolde and Sieglinde and recorded the imolation scene). However, I think that's cheating, she really was a mezzo, despite sometimes singing soprano roles.
> 
> ...


I made a similar point in post #9. Most people think of Brünnhilde or Isolde when they think of Wagnerian sopranos, but that's only two roles. What of Senta, Elisabeth, Elsa, Sieglinde, Eva or even Kundry, which is often sung by both sopranos and mezzos?

Incidentally, from what I know of Marjorie Lawrence, she would also be a contender for me.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The Conte said:


> My favourite Brunhilde is Modl, (Which proves that Woodduck is right about some of us being weird),


I shall remain respectfully silent.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I made a similar point in post #9. Most people think of Brünnhilde or Isolde when they think of Wagnerian sopranos, but that's only two roles. What of Senta, Elisabeth, Elsa, Sieglinde, Eva or even Kundry, which is often sung by both sopranos and mezzos?
> 
> Incidentally, from what I know of Marjorie Lawrence, she would also be a contender for me.


I have heard others greatly praise Marjorie and the bits I have heard sounded great, plus she looked great onstage.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Birgit Nilsson who else.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sloe said:


> Birgit Nilsson who else.


Unless you hang out in nursing homes Nilsson is probably the greatest Wagnerian soprano that anyone has ever heard live who you would encounter today. She was really wonderful in the roles and was never defeated by the music.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Unless you hang out in nursing homes Nilsson is probably the greatest Wagnerian soprano that anyone has ever heard live who you would encounter today. She was really wonderful in the roles and was never defeated by the music.


The only one in the last half-century who looked and sounded like a daughter of Wotan.


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## marlow (11 mo ago)

Germaine Lublin as Isolde. When Karajan heard her at Bayreuth in 1939 under de Sabata he said, 'She was the most gracious, noble, the most wonderful Isolde I have ever encountered, better than those endless German cannons who have sung the role.'
Unfortunately she got put in prison after the war on collaboration charges which curtailed her career. The voice is very clear from what one can hear on the ancient recordings


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

marlow said:


> View attachment 166115
> 
> 
> Germaine Lublin as Isolde. When Karajan heard her at Bayreuth in 1939 under de Sabata he said, 'She was the most gracious, noble, the most wonderful Isolde I have ever encountered, better than those endless German cannons who have sung the role.'
> Unfortunately she got put in prison after the war on collaboration charges which curtailed her career. The voice is very clear from what one can hear on the ancient recordings


Thanks for bringing up Lubin, who is probably my favorite Wagnerian soprano. I usually think of her as a Ponselle who decided to have a career in Wagner and even prefer her sensuous timbre to Flagstad's and Leider's. It's a pity that she didn't leave many recordings (compared to her contemporaries) and there is no extensive scenes or full opera with her. I read that she was a ]difficult person to work with and didn't get along with her colleagues; that might explain why.

And as you said, her career was over after the war with those charges even though she was eventually acquitted. Else, we could have her voice captured in better sound in the early 1950s like we do with Flagstad.


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## sAmUiLc (9 mo ago)

I'd pick Astrid Varnay. Hard to explain but I like her better than any other sopranos I've heard in Wagner.


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## Kundry0013 (9 mo ago)

I really love Martha Modl and Astrid Varnay (as Brunhilde, Isolde, and Kundry) and Maria Reining in lighter Wagner soprano roles.


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## sAmUiLc (9 mo ago)

My Elsa is Elisabeth Grümmer.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

I like Gwyneth Jones. With Wagner, there is no such concept as "too much", and that includes wobble. Sue me!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Couchie said:


> I like Gwyneth Jones. With Wagner, there is no such concept as "too much", and that includes wobble. Sue me!


To me Jones is best when you can watch her sing. You forget her faults because she is so beautiful and riveting as an actress. I love her Ring DVD's.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> To me Jones is best when you can watch her sing. You forget her faults because she is so beautiful and riveting as an actress. I love her Ring DVD's.


I agree. Apart from her early work (when her voice was brighter and lighter) she sounds somewhat uncomfortable vocally. However, she is incredibly convincing when you can see her as well as hear her. Not necessarily due to her good acting, but the results of her vocal emission somehow match and only make complete sense when combined with her visual committment and stage presence.

N.


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## Andjar (Aug 28, 2020)

Waltraud Meier for me! I was first mersmerised by her performance in the 2007? Scala production Tristan &Isolde....also so beautiful at 51...


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## Aerobat (Dec 31, 2018)

Andjar said:


> Waltraud Meier for me! I was first mersmerised by her performance in the 2007? Scala production Tristan &Isolde....also so beautiful at 51...


I also have a lot of love for Meier. One of the best of the modern era by a long way. I've also seen her as both Isolde and Kundry and would have to describe her performances as utterly thrilling. I'm not sure how well this translates into recordings, but on stage she was fabulous.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Aerobat said:


> I also have a lot of love for Meier. One of the best of the modern era by a long way. I've also seen her as both Isolde and Kundry and would have to describe her performances as utterly thrilling. I'm not sure how well this translates into recordings, but on stage she was fabulous.


I like her both on stage (I have seen her many times) and on recordings. Strictly speaking she is a mezzo, but since she's sung both Isolde and Sieglinde, I think we can include her in a 'Wagnerian sopranos' thread.

N.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

Another vote for Birgit Nilsson (among those I've heard via recording). An unbelievably powerful voice.


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

Who was considered the greatest Wagnerian soprano of the pre-recording era?


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Yabetz said:


> Birgit Nilsson


there is this fine video with accompanying score;


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

hammeredklavier said:


> there is this fine video with accompanying score;
> ...


Or this. No accompanying score, but I've never heard this done better:


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## OffPitchNeb (Jun 6, 2016)

Yabetz said:


> Or this. No accompanying score, but I've never heard this done better:


Agree, one of the best moments in Nilsson's career and in all Wagnerian singing.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Yabetz said:


> Or this. No accompanying score, but I've never heard this done better:


It's a glorious conclusion to a dramatic performance of the opera, in which Nilsson demonstrates a phenomenon I experienced when I heard her do it at Met in 1972. Her voice was actually lighter and more radiant at the end of the evening than at the beginning. All voices need to warm up, but for her, apparently, a four-hour opera constituted an ideal warmup exercise. At the climax it's as if she simply turns a knob to full volume, and then, at the end of a long evening, floats a perfectly controlled f# pianissimo. She was a magnificent monster.

This is still not my favorite "Liebestod." That would be Frida Leider's - not her studio recording, which is a bit rushed and routine, if well-sung - but her live 1933 performance at the Met. The sound is awful, but the concentration and raptness, as well as a flawless legato line and portamenti such as we never hear today, are unmistakable. The "Liebestod" starts at about 1:00:15.


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## Dick Johnson (Apr 14, 2020)

Best on recording - Birgit Nilsson
Best I've heard in person - Lise Davidsen.


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## Parsifal98 (Apr 29, 2020)

Kirsten Flagstad, with a side-glance towards Frida Leider. If we had more complete recordings of Leider in her main Wagnerian roles, I would maybe reconsider my ranking. As for Flagstad, her voice is for me one of the most beautiful instruments I have heard since my interest for opera and music in general emerged. The purity of her tone, the homogeneity of her voice, the complete coordination of her registers and the longevity of her career make her instrument an operatic miracle. Nilsson may have had easier high Cs, but she could not compete with the Norwegian Walkyrie in terms of beauty and security of tone, and the latter was one hell of a competition when comparing high As and Bs. Full, warm but penetrating, the true sounds of a goddess. When listening to her Liebestod with Reiner, I can easily imagine the regal Isolde saying farewell to her Tristan and being transfigured away from this - or her - cruel world .


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

Parsifal98 said:


> Kirsten Flagstad, with a side-glance towards Frida Leider. If we had more complete recordings of Leider in her main Wagnerian roles, I would maybe reconsider my ranking. As for Flagstad, her voice is for me one of the most beautiful instruments I have heard since my interest for opera and music in general emerged. The purity of her tone, the homogeneity of her voice, the complete coordination of her registers and the longevity of her career make her instrument an operatic miracle. Nilsson may have had easier high Cs, but she could not compete with the Norwegian Walkyrie in terms of beauty and security of tone, and the latter was one hell of a competition when comparing high As and Bs. Full, warm but penetrating, the true sounds of a goddess. When listening to her Liebestod with Reiner, I can easily imagine the regal Isolde saying farewell to her Tristan and being transfigured away from this - or her - cruel world .


I completely agree. I have no idea who the greatest ever was. Lilli Lehmann probably had a strong claim, but we have such limited access to her work. For me, Kirsten Flagstad in her prime was the ultimate in terms of interpretation and beauty. That Reiner _Tristan_ was the recording that really opened my ears to Wagner as a vocal composer and dramatist. I'd appreciated his orchestral music and some of the more obvious pieces, such as the love duet in act II, but I'd never understood nor (based on the tedious, shrill noises I'd heard passing for Wagnerian singing up to then) wanted to understand the conversation with Brangaene in Act I, for instance. With Flagstad, it suddenly hit me: "This makes sense. This is drama. This is awesome."


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

^^^Alberta Masiello, former vocal coach at the Met, had a similar experience. She said on an intermission feature back in the 1960s that she didn't appreciate Wagner until she heard Flagstad singing the music with one of the most beautiful voices she had ever heard. That is definitely not the experience of this lifelong Wagnerian, a complete captive of Old Klingsor from the word "go," but congratulations! I hope you can now enjoy Wagner without Flagstad as well as with her.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I completely agree. I have no idea who the greatest ever was. Lilli Lehmann probably had a strong claim, but we have such limited access to her work. For me, Kirsten Flagstad in her prime was the ultimate in terms of interpretation and beauty. That Reiner _Tristan_ was the recording that really opened my ears to Wagner as a vocal composer and dramatist. I'd appreciated his orchestral music and some of the more obvious pieces, such as the love duet in act II, but I'd never understood nor (based on the tedious, shrill noises I'd heard passing for Wagnerian singing up to then) wanted to understand the conversation with Brangaene in Act I, for instance. With Flagstad, it suddenly hit me: "This makes sense. This is drama. This is awesome."


Because of her inhuman projection ( audience members describe a voice that always sounded like she was standing right in front of you wherever in the house) she could sing with full dynamics in volume and still be heard easily over the orchestra. Nilsson had similar capabilities and approached Flagstad dramatically by the time of her Wieland Wagner Tristan in her 60's, but never with the heart stopping beauty of voice of Flagstad. Flagstad's Isolde recorded in the studio when she was in her 60's found her more matronly in tone but she still sang with incredible beauty of tone and never sounded pushed. There are people who think it is the best Isolde recording. Quite an accomplishment.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Because of her inhuman projection ( audience members describe a voice that always sounded like she was standing right in front of you wherever in the house) she could sing with full dynamics in volume and still be heard easily over the orchestra. Nilsson had similar capabilities and approached Flagstad dramatically by the time of her Wieland Wagner Tristan in her 60's, but never with the heart stopping beauty of voice of Flagstad. Flagstad's Isolde recorded in the studio when she was in her 60's found her more matronly in tone but she still sang with incredible beauty of tone and never sounded pushed. There are people who think it is the best Isolde recording. Quite an accomplishment.


To my knowledge Nilsson was no longer singing Isolde when she was past 60. By 1980, when she returned to the Met as Elektra, I believe she had given up singing Wagner in the theater, although she still performed excerpts in concert. I presume you mean that she worked with Wieland Wagner in the _1960s_. The recording from Bayreuth was made by DG in 1966, in her vocal prime. From the recordings I've heard, I disagree that Nilsson "approached Flagstad dramatically"; in terms of vocal acting, at least, I find her dramatic projection superior to Flagstad's. Obviously we can't compare their physical acting. For sheer voice, I agree that Flagstad in her prime remains supreme.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

"in terms of vocal acting, at least, I find her dramatic projection superior to Flagstad's "
Can you give an example of this?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

vivalagentenuova said:


> "in terms of vocal acting, at least, I find her dramatic projection superior to Flagstad's "
> Can you give an example of this?


The 1966 Bayreuth _Tristan_, especially the first act.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> To my knowledge Nilsson was no longer singing Isolde when she was past 60. By 1980, when she returned to the Met as Elektra, I believe she had given up singing Wagner in the theater, although she still performed excerpts in concert. I presume you mean that she worked with Wieland Wagner in the _1960s_. The recording from Bayreuth was made by DG in 1966, in her vocal prime. From the recordings I've heard, I disagree that Nilsson "approached Flagstad dramatically"; in terms of vocal acting, at least, I find her dramatic projection superior to Flagstad's. Obviously we can't compare their physical acting. For sheer voice, I agree that Flagstad in her prime remains supreme.


As usual you are correct and besides I hadn't realized but he died in the 60's. I can't remember who directed her for these late career triumphs. Forgive me my errors.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

I don't know. There's no doubting the greatness of Flagstad, and there's also the issue of the state of recording technology in her prime which might obscure my judgement (along with my lack of expertise), but if you compare the Nilsson Götterdämmerung sequence posted above with Flagstad in 1950, I definitely prefer Nilsson's rendition, hands down. That's what a Valkyrie would sound like.


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