The Rysanek reel
Leonie Rysanek in film clips spanning 35 years of her career: Die Aegyptische Helena, Der Fliegende Hollaender, Die Walkuere, Salome, Tosca, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Cavalleria Rusticana, Parsifal, Elektra, and Jenufa. More video.
O herrlichstes Wunder! More please, Mme la Cieca.
P.S. what a fine pair of legs James King had.
THANK YOU !!!!!
I am a huge rysanek fan… the only video I have seen of her is that live Elektra from the Met with Nilsson… Are there more videos? Do share!
THANK YOU! Although more, specially of Frau, would have been better.
The clips are bits and pieces included in a couple of German-language documentaries about Rysanek. Later on I’ll encode some of the Jones/Rysanek ELEKTRA that is available on DVD.
I’ve always been a little bit on the fence about Rysanek, but this is just glorious. I think I’m off the fence. Interesting to wonder how many of these exist as full documents of which we’re just seeing a short excerpt.
it’s a shame that lots of those old clips are not readily available… surely there is a market for it?!
i went to a talk with anja silja on her career last year and they showed lots of clips from performances, amongst them a queen of the night when she was in her early twenties (or even late teens?!). it was fascinating to see where she went from there!
Karita Mattila sang a Queen of the Night in college!
Cheryl Studer has not only recorded the QotN’s music but has also performed both arias live, in key.
Studer’s QotN drives me nutsy. The high F’s are placed differently than the rest of the staccati, she pushes herself notably out of tune from time to time, and I’m not big on her brand of vibrato. The runs are remarkable, though, and she does actually sound ticked off in the second aria. Also, that’s the studio recording. Live would have been different. How, I don’t know.