On disc, apart from the Elektra and Ariadne, there are a couple of Aida scenes with her in German that I have not heard. And snippets of her Leonora. Her Donna Elvira (again in German) is probably her best known record, because Fritz Wunderlich and Elisabeth Grümmer are on it too.

Apparently, she is a Kammerängerin (Kammersängerin Hildegard Hillebrecht-Stöhr), and alive and well.

She had gotten a bit of press because she had fallen down the stairs of the Fidelio set and was hospitalized with a concussion. She had to miss her scheduled performance and for once the tables were turned and the star soprano filled in for her. (Rysanek)

I wasn’t too impressed with Hillebrecht but she was quite sincere as Leonore and she seemd like a pretty jolly lady backstage afterwards.

Responding to me question, she gushed…”Ja, ja… der concussion…”

Anna T-S certainly had the range for the role at both ends, and she was a lovely singer in many ways, though I have always been slightly bothered by tendency to make a glottal attak on notes and slide into the pitches.

At one stance, he allowed the interview to be – where he was – in fact – also being interviewed. Then it careened downwards and free-wheeled : where they were discussing the gir;s family background ….when he made a throwaway suggestion about ” I bet there is a ‘#*gger’ (GULP!!) in the wood pile somewhere….” inferring some ‘hazy past family lineage . Totally oblivious to the absolutely ‘racist outrage’ that he had just committed, in the choice of words he had used. Someone had the tape of the interview and upon listening to it repeatedly, it was plain by the tone of his voice – he was creaming in his pants over the girl. ‘Something went hard and the blood flow to the brain went therefore deficient’. Yet incredibly he was allowed to continue broadcasting, for a while after that, till complaints piled up.

The point is : A person interviewing should never start getting ‘over familiar’ in any way with the interviewed person. Stick to the matter of what the interview was intended for.. Otherwise all sorts of consequences can quickly form.

I think she’s well suited to bel canto, despite what most say. I’ve said it before, but Bolena will be a hit for her if she can sing the way she does in the clip above.

Not that many people are wild about Ricarda Merbeth, apparently, but I heard a great Elisabeth out of her – a last minute replacement for Martina Serafin. A bit maternal, but I did not mind that at all.

I might mention also that at the Met some seasons ago, Christine Brewer was quite effective as Ariadne (better than Voigt I thought). I have not heard Brewer since in anything.

Yet you want ‘for people to Be fair’ : virtually pleading against such available democratic debate process, above-mentioned. A person’s reaction upon reading someone’s else’s contribution here / and then counter comments in many cases, is the reason, parterre exists. Out of which, each reader may already have their unshakeable opinion or form their own final conclusions.

To start implying by hints/ or then further interpret the motivations WHY someone made a particular comment is a added distortion of any construction, you first made. It becomes pure conjecture. In the middle of the slipstream of bitchy comments made: always lies the real truth somewhere!
It is up to each one of us to find it.

Here’s a riddle for all of you who miss the matchless TURANDOTs the Met was broadcasting:

What was Frau Doktor Schwarzkopf-Legge’s absolute favorite SINGLE WORD in the ARIADNE libretto?

The only other Ariadne I’ve seen live was Schwanewilms (finally, I’ve seen a singer you haven’t…) at Covent Garden in, I think, 2004. It was the first revival of the little black dress production and Schwanewilms’ wonderful performance was swamped by all the press hooha about Voigt. She was absolutely radiant, however, despite some sniffy ‘well, she’s no Debbie’ reviews in the London press. Damrau was the Zerbinetta and was fine but not spectacular. Really, for me it was Susan Graham’s evening- I love her in Strauss.

I have Gessendorf’s Ariadne on DVD, with Schmidt, Gruberova and Frey. She’s wonderful, and I’ve always found her strangely underrated.

Other Ariadnes I liked Gessendorf, Claire Watson to be sure. Leontyne Price sang with too husky a voice for my pleasure, Caballe was fine, Jessye Norman did not have a radiant top though her lowest notes were splendid, Voigt was too unattractive in the middle register.

We know Reining from the 1944 Vienna production and she was in refulgent voice. We do not know what Jeritza sounded like, nor Lehmann after she graduated from the Komponist. Cebotari had success with the role, Anna Konetzni, Zadek, and many others.

Schwarzkopf, who never sang the role on stage, was resplendent on the 1954 von Karajan recording – certainly one of Schwarzkopf’s absolutely best recordings and I think the best recording overall of he opera – one of the greatest performances of any opera ever essayed on disc.

Some I never heard, Crespin in Aix or Chicago (and with a long arching line in the pirated 1964 Chicago production under Jochum), Stich-Randall (Aix and Vienna), Studer and others and I have yet to hear Schwanewilms, Pieczonka, Nylund. Margaret Price, if she ever sang the role on stage, would have been ideal as Ariadne and in my opinion should have gone in that direction rather than that of Norma and Cilea.

These days is it is not easy to hear a live Ariadne wherein all 3 of the magnificent soprano roles are equally top notch in radiant execution. (The 1954 Salzburg live performance under Boehm now on DGG with della Casa, Gueden, Seefried would certainly come up to standard in all 3 roles).