noch mehr tristan! noch mehr isolde!
La Cieca just can’t get enough of the old Love-Death. So this week’s edition of Unnatural Acts of Opera begins a classic performance of Wagner’s music drama from the 1976 Bayreuth Festival under the magical guidance of Carlos Kleiber.
UPDATE: Well, you can spank La Cieca’s butt and call her “Tony,” because she foolishly neglected to check her facts before writing the script for tonight’s podcast. The Tristan in this performance is not Helge Brilioth (as your doyenne announces) but rather Spas Wenkoff.
Mrs. Claggart
Troyanos was indeed a fine Oktavian though I always felt that her diction was quite unclear (even though she had lived for a while in Hamburg). I was present in Vienna in 1967 when Troyanos made her debut there as the Komponist in an Ariadne Wiederaufnahme under Boehm with Rysenek, Holm, King and Popp as Nyade. This was no easy task for Troyanos in Vienna where Wechsburg in his review pointed out that the Viennese were used to Jurinac and Ludwig not to mention Seefried. I think, after the prologue, a man I overheard in the foyer hit the nail on the head when he said (in German) that the Komponist was good but one could not understand a word she was singing.
Seefried was one of those singers (Lehmann, Tebaldi, Jurinac, Crespin, de los Angeles, Janowitz) who had the most beautiful and sumptious middle voices even early in their careers. All of them had more difficulties at the top later in their careers while the middle remained gorgeous. It was always said that with Seefried, it was as she sang too late into pregnancy and then too soon after the two Caesarian births which she had (1950 and then April 1957) Two months later in 1957 she was prancing around at Salzburg in Cosi and Figaro and after that the voice was never quite the same according to Jurinac and others. After 1963 Seefried was forced to give up her main Mozart roles, Fiordiligi, Susanna, Zerlina and Pamina though she sang a few Figaro countesses from 1963-66. (Actually her first Mozart role was Donna Anna under Karajan when she was 20 in Aachen – he insisted she sing it as he needed a Donna Anna for a series of performances and ordered her to learn the role – but later she moved to and stayed with Zerlina stating Zerlina “lies right with my voice”)
One can hear the early fresh voiced Seefried in extracts from Suor Angelica from 1944 (sung in German) or the Freischuetz “Leise Leise” from the same year or the 1949 Rossini Stabat Mater from Salzburg. Half of the Zauberfloete she recorded in 1944 under Boehm is lost (but the second act has most of Pamina’s music and is on Preiser) and the entire 1944 Cosi fan Tutte under Boehm also recorded in German with the classic Viennese cast (Seefried, Hoengen, Noni, Dermota, Kunz, Schoeffler) is also lost though someday it may be found in the archives. But there is Ariadne, Meistersinger and Fidelio from 1944. Seefried was the only Fiordiligi in Vienna and Salzburg from 1943 til April of 1957 when her daughter, Mona Seefried, the German actress, was born. Lisa della Casa stepped in as Fiordiligi in Vienna that April and Seefried’s foothold on the role was broken as Schwarzkopf, Stich-Randall and then Gueden were finally allowed to sing the role though strangely Jurinac never sang it in Vienna. There must have been alot of intrique there in Vienna during those years as they had so much soprano talent on the roster and most of the sopranos could sing each other’s roles. Seefried wanted Mimi but Jurinac and Schwarzkopf got it leaving Seefried to alternate with Welitsch as Musette. Jurinac wanted a new production of Bartered Bride in 1959 but Seefried got it. Most everyone sang Butterfly – Seefried sang all three roles in Tales of Hoffman at the premiere after the war but only 3 times and then the roles were all divided up among the many sopranos in the ensemble. I wasn’t there then but saw Seefried’s debut at the Met as Susanna. She had almost 5 minutes applause after the “Deh Vieni” which completely stopped the show and she had walked slowly off the stage after the aria was finished and took no bows. Stiedry kept trying to re-start the opera but to no avail. I cannot ever remember hearing so much applause for a Mozart aria (or any other for that matter except maybe Gruberova in her Zerbinetta aria and only in Vienna). Before that Figaro began there was a tremendous feeling of excitement in the air in the Family Circle as Bing had brought in a Viennese cast including Kunz and the debut of della Casa as well and in those days many Germans and Austrians lived in Manhattan and knew of these singers. Seefried was known in NY through a few recitals plus recordings etc. and Kunz was at the Met the year before. But at that time della Casa did not have any recordings available and had not sung in the USA. When the curtain opened in the second act there was almost a gasp in the audience to witness such beauty on the stage and when della Casa opened her mouth, such a beautiful voice was emitted. For the letter duet there was very lengthy applause – it was meltingly sung. Though Seefried’s Met debut was written up at length in Time Magazine (they did not mention della Casa) and she was asked back to the Met on several occasions for Bruno Walter and for Boehm, Seefried never appeared again at the Met nor did Kunz. Della Casa went on for 16 or so seasons, fortunately.
For some reason I listen to Seefried singing lieder from recordings and live performances very frequently and Schwarzkopf much less. There is something about the naturalness of Seefried in lieder which is far more charming. But then I do not think we have any female lieder singers today who can match either of them in distinction or range, interpretation or beauty of voice. When asked recently who were the best lieder singers, Christa Ludwig is reported by a famous Viennese agent to have said “For Schubert, Seefried, for Wolf, Schwarzkopf and for Brahms, me” Enough said.
How rich your experiences are Bill!! I AM Alda Noni, and have all her records and videos. It’s true we couldn’t quite tune reliably and faked our high notes with girly falsetto but we were hot stuff. I can’t imagine Hoengen as Dorabella — my old relatives told me they trembled when they thought of her and made the jettatura against the evil eye (but to be fair they had seen her do Herodias and Klytemnestra. On my first visit to Vienna I missed her Kostelnichka and went to Moedl’s instead, with the very greatest Jurinac. I think it is the greatest performance of anything I have ever seen and I cried for days after act three. I think Hoengen might have been doing Carmen at the same time but I didn’t get to see it. On the Cebotari Salome (poor woman is dying), Heongen has NO voice and barks her role, presumably she was sick but it’s pretty terror inducing.)
Leonie at Carnegie Hall was astounding, didn’t move a muscle and the audience went mad after act two and applauded through the intermission. It’s a long time ago, but I still remember Moedl very slowly kneeling to Jurinac (horribly ashamed and embarrassed) to beg her pardon and how she reached out her hand at the end of her ‘speech’ for what seemed an eternity (though of course was a matter of seconds) Jurinac held back, then seized her hand and hugged her helping her stand up (I wasn’t the only one sobbing). Leonie’s partner was Benackova, gorgeous voice, nasty lady so she never had that rapport with her ‘God daughter’.
I made my grandfather sit through the Italian Lieder Book in Carnegie Hall with Imgard and Fishy Dishy. I was in heaven but about 2000 people fled after half hour (my grandfather cursed me roundly after this). Irmgard had such richness and color automatically in the middle, whereas Lizzie had to ‘ventriloquize’ her way through the middle especially as time went on, bouncing off the chest, blowing through her nose and changing vowels (also singing flat). It was wonderful to encounter her in a sense for she was such a ‘creature’ — and I was lucky to see her in Sprague Hall at Yale, which was small and she really was magical there.
I have been told the Seefried Susanna was a once in a life time experience at the Met, I bet she beat out my first, Nadine Connor (than whom one could do worse) and Laurel Hurley, my second, Sodestroem my third and Judy Raskin my fourth (fabulous though, if not echt echt). I missed Gueden for some reason. Sad.
I can understand a native’s criticism of any foreign singer — yet Tatie in the Aix Ariadne (which I am forbidden to say I have on a private DVD) is so incredible as the Komponist, the orchestra gets up and cheers her at her bow. She’s with her then and last male lover (as I’ve been told) Mr. Schoffler, and also there is Regine (the greatest if flat on top), Jean Cox, glorious, I wonder why the Met ignored him, Mesple (mosquito voice but a good sport) and people like Van Dam and Senechal among the comedians. Sadly the conductor is the awful Sebastien, who doesn’t beat clearly, and cues nobody (no prompter), so winds sit out several stretches, I don’t know what notes the bassoon is playing only that Herr Strauss didn’t write them, the piano doesn’t know when to come in, and those superb musicians among the comedians save their ensembles but are walking on egg shells.
Mrs JC, your account of Martha as Kostelnicka is incredibly vivid. Thank you.
Didn’t Jean Cox simply run out of voice?
Mrs Claggart
We seem to be having a private conversation here but you have such vivid memories that it is a delight to read what you have to say (though I may not agree with you about Schwarzkopf – she was a talent, very ambitious, worked very hard, and carved out an extremely important career at a time when there were many brilliant rivals for her roles – also the voice was often beautiful, particularly earlier in her career though she used chest tones as Donna Elvira even as early as 1950 at Salzburg and for me chest tones have no place in most of Mozart’s soprano roles – a very even voice from top to bottom with no breaks in register is what is ideal for the fluidity of the music.
That is why Jurinac or Seefried were so appreciated in their primes, Gruemmer also or Margaret Price later or Janowitz – Maybe Isokoski today or Monika Gonzales or Ezster Wierdl (who looks like Romy Schneider) both radiant Evas in Budapest currently.
When I heard Jurinac as Jenufa, Grace Hoffmann was the Kostelnicka and was quite fine. Even better I thought was Ludmila Dvorakova and Eva Randova was also very effective with a somewhat smaller voice.
Rysenek was shattering – Varnay very effective though at least when I heard her, without the top notes. I never heard Moedl in that role but there is a CD from Vienna with Moedl and Jurinac from the premiere of that particular production (circa 1964). Jurinac was also a wonderful Kostelnicka (with Benackova as Jenufa) Silja was (is still) a wonderful actress in the role though with less voice. Eva Marton was stupendous in Budapest a couple of years ago, wobbly voice and all and she received a great ovation as the power of her acting and acting with the voice was overwhelming. Her replacement in Budapest now is Maria Temesi, a fine Sieglinde, very effective as seen in Jenufa two weeks ago in Budapest. There the Jenufa was Eva Batori, a bit more frenzied than, say, Benackova as Jenufa, but well sung. I did not think Kostalnicka was one of Polaski’s better roles when she did it at the Met. Baltsa was a bit hard voiced in Vienna (no trouble with the top, however) and also a good actress.
I do not believe that Elisabeth Hoengen ever sang the role – she was Buryja from 1964. She was indeed very ill when the Cebotari Salome was taped in London in 1947 when the Vienna Staatsoper visited. They probably did not have another Herodias on the tour and she had to speak through the role having no voice. But Hoengen was considered to be a very great artist – Lady MacBeth, Carmen, Ortrud, Brangaene etc. She could sing Mozart quite well, I understand, and one can hear that in the Karajan Figaro (circa 1950) where she does Marcellina and fits wonderfully into the ensemble (Seefried, Kunz, Schwarzkopf, London, Jurinac). I don’t think I ever saw Resnik as Marcellina and thought that Marie McLaughlin (Once a reasonable if dusky voiced Susanna) as Marcellina at the Met last October with her ruined voice in tatters, destroyed the performance as her audible croaking stood out and wrecked the sonorities of the ensembles (Terfel barks a bit as Figaro as well, not in the tradition of Siepi, Berry, Kunz or Ramey or Prey.
Vienna was blessed also with famous Jenufas. Jeritza, Welitsch, Jurinac, Benackova who had a radiant voice and may have sung the best Ariadne I have ever heard – a good role for her as it is a bit static and requires more emotion in the voice than on the actual stage where Ariadne is rather restricted in movement. Among Jenufas today there is Mattila who is good and Angela Denoke. also fine and Kaune (seen in Brno), a lovely voice. Did not Mignon Dunn sing Kostelnicka at the Met? It left no positive impression at all – I have seen a bunch of Kostelnicka’s in Prague and Brno but would have to look a the programs to remember their names – Kniplova was one – a large powerful piercing voice.
Incidentally, after Seefried, Soederstrom was something of a disappointment as Susanna and I always thought that Soederstrom was more effective as the Countess. But then, after Seefried (in her prime) perhaps no Susanna has equaled her though some of them, Gueden, Popp, Cotrubas, Rothenberger, Freni and even Pilou were fine, maybe Bonney as well. I was less charmed by Battle and a bit put off by Bartoli as in the ensembles her voice was too fluttery and mezzoish and Susanna has the higher line than the Countess in the ensembles and Bartoli (for me) did not blend in properly in leading the ensembles and after all, Susanna sings in every duet, trio and in all the larger ensembles in Figaro so the top voice must lyrically blend in well with all the other singers. It is a very long role for any lyric soprano. Grist was also very pleasant if lighter voiced. I never heard Cebotari, Streich, Eszter Rethy or Schwarzkopf as Susanna and I thought Nadine Connor was nothing special. I also did not hear Netrebko as Susanna and Dessay was supposed to sing it in a new production (under Muti) in Vienna but it was one of the 3 new productions in which Dessay was slated to sing in Vienna which she was forced to cancel due to her vocal crisis the others being Sonnabula (sung later twice) and Lulu. There is even a rumor in Vienna that Nebrebko was thinking of Lulu. The Luisa Miller with Villazon may have fallen off the futures list there , but Netrebko is also slated to sing Anna Bolena there as well as at the Met and definitely in the Vienna revival (though the production is done virtually every season) of the Zefferelli Carmen as Michaela with Garanca and Villazon under Janssens. Probably to be taped by DGG.
Oh, my. Netrebko in Luisa Miller. She might do a credible job in the opera if it weren’t for that opening number with all of its coloratura and staccati.