parterre box

62 comments

• CerquettiFarrell says:

  BTW my first impression of Fassbaender (on record, the great Frauenliebe from 1985) was her ability to make me believe that she was writing, inventing the music as she went along. Spontaneous isn’t exactly the fit description, rather the genius of re-creation. This was her particular forte in the Lied department.

  on July 5, 2010 at 8:29 PM
• Earl Koenig says:

  Certainly two of the most inimitable artists, in my experience.

  In addition to her riveting Brangane and Charlotte, I particularly cherish Fassbaender’s recording of Weill’s Sieben Todsünden; her muscular voice and attention to text make the work come alive in the most (satisfyingly) ghastly way. It’s a definitive performance of that unique work.

  on July 6, 2010 at 12:01 PM
  • Alto says:

    She comes by such drama honestly, since both her parents were famous actors — in the Third Reich, a very big (and, for her, problematic) part of her story.

    Has she done any autobiographical writing? Her story is riveting. Like when her family took refuge in Dresden just in time to experience the fire storms. She was, as a child, repeatedly a refugee. There was a long series of harrowing experiences beyond belief.

    on July 6, 2010 at 2:22 PM
    • armerjacquino says:

      Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender wasn’t an actor, he was an opera singer.

      on July 6, 2010 at 2:29 PM
    • Regina delle fate says:

      Her father was the baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender who took part in the first Glyndebourne seasons in 1934 and 1935 as Figaro and Guglielmo. Very late in her opera career Brigitte made her Glyndebourne debut as Clairon in Capriccio (opposite Kiri and Flott as the Countess) just because she always wanted to sing where her father made the first nearly complete Mozart opera recordings. Did Domgraf-Fassbaender have a shady Nazi past? I’ve never heard he did. Most of the Glyndebourne singers from 34 – 39 were refugees from Nazi Germany.

      on July 6, 2010 at 2:32 PM
      • Alto says:

        Sorry for my careless haste. I SHOULD have said “famous performers.” Her mother was a movie star and, yes, B.F. says — in a long, emotional BBC interview — that both her parents were forced by the fact that their prime years were the Nazi years either to collaborate or get out. It is for her, an only child, a troubling legacy to this day.

        By the way, in the same interview, she denies that she is a lesbian. She doesn’t deny female lovers, but she rejects the label with some evidence of anger.

        on July 6, 2010 at 3:07 PM
• jeepgerhard says:

  became a huge Fassbaender fan at her Met debut. her recitals were mesmerizing, as are most of her recordings, even when she pushed too hard. evidently she’s a fantastic teacher. To be admired as well for staying as intendant at tiny Innsbruck despite alleged offers from elsewhere. lucky me, i heard her octavian 3 or 4 times under Kleiber

  on July 9, 2010 at 9:04 AM