20 Dramatic Sopranos sing the Siegfried finale High C
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- Опубликовано: 26 апр 2022
- Part 4 of my "Dramatic sopranos sing..." series. Twenty dramatic Wagnerian sopranos sing Brünnhilde's sustained high C at the end of Siegfried. This is often seen as the most difficult note demanded of Brünnhilde, yet I was pleasantly surprised by how well many did here. In particular, the newer sopranos definitely faired better here than in the Götterdämmerung video.
Featured artists:
Frida Leider
Kirsten Flagstad
Martha Mödl
Gertrude Grob-Prandl
Astrid Varnay
Birgit Nilsson
Eileen Farrell
Naděžda Kniplová
Rita Hunter
Gwyneth Jones
Catarina Ligendza
Hildegard Behrens
Anne Evans
Eva Marton
Elizabeth Connell
Deborah Polaski
Linda Watson
Nina Stemme
Jennifer Wilson
Christina Goerke
*The Flagstad entry in this video is from a studio recording of the Siegfried duet where the first high C in “Ewig war ich” was provided by another soprano (Sylvia Fisher). I believe the C in this video is her own because it sounds nothing like Fisher, and does not sound clearly dubbed in as the first, but cannot confirm for sure.
![Kirsten Flagstad - A singing lesson: How to sing Wagner [1950]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/S6Stoi8DAqU/mqdefault.jpg)
The corresponding Siegfrieds:
Frida Leider - Rudolf Laubenthal
Kirsten Flagstad - Set Svanholm
Martha Mödl - Wolfgang Windgassen
Gertrude Grob-Prandl - Günther Treptow
Astrid Varnay - Wolfgang Windgassen
Birgit Nilsson - Wolfgang Windgassen
Eileen Farrell - Set Svanholm
Naděžda Kniplová - Gerald McKee
Rita Hunter - Alberto Remedios
Gwyneth Jones - Manfred Jung
Catarina Ligendza - Jean Cox
Hildegard Behrens - Siegfried Jerusalem
Anne Evans - Siegfried Jerusalem
Eva Marton - René Kollo
Elizabeth Connell - Stephen Gould
Deborah Polaski - John Trelevean
Linda Watson - Stephen Gould
Nina Stemme - Lance Ryan
Jennifer Wilson - Lance Ryan
Christina Goerke - Stefan Vinke
Gertrud Grob-Prandl!!!!!
There were just two Siegfrieds on record who were brave enough to answer Brunhilde's high C with his own;
Jeffrey Easter in 2008.
& Bernd Aldenhoff in 1951.
Sadly, Aldenhoff fails.
It’s ok to stop listen after Marton or Connell here…
Jennifer Wilson is good though.
@@MarioHernandez-qr4vx Very yes-amazingly legato!
Birgit Nilsson comes from another planet!!!!
Oh well, Nina Stemme.. What a shame.
Fantastica la Nilsson !
Astrid Varnay forever! The biggest voice of all!
Gwyneth was incredibly thrilling at this moment in the theatre
AWESOME! My friend Jennifer Wilson made your list!!! I sang with her for 10 years right before her career took off!
Wilson is fantastic! She's still an underrated singer.
My top seven favourite Brünnhilde High Cs come from Gertrude Grob-Prandl, Astrid Varnay, Birgit Nilsson, Eileen Farrell, Nadezda Kniplova, Rita Hunter, and Gwyneth Jones.
Not only nilsson sings this beautifully, but the orchestra and the conductor (Solti) are also the best!!
The only soprano that relishes the note is Birgit Nilsson
Two thumbs up to: Leider, Flagstad, Modl (surprised me!), Nilsson, Jones, Wilson (never heard of her, but she really nailed it!).
Astrid Varnay is my favourite.
Mine as well.
The most precise and secure high C's seem to come from those who do not take a quick breath before the big note (but rather use the note before as a springboard), and who do not clip the note at the very end (which sometimes results in a drift in pitch). Elizabeth Connell does both but, bless her heart, thought she nailed it anyway. The nod is like that split second before Bambi is told his mother is d-e-a-d. Of course, you can do whatever you want when you are Birgit "Imma hold it a bit longer" Nilsson. The rules don't apply either when you are Martha Mödl-you'll just put it all out there even if what does come out is, literally, a howl. Catarina Ligendza seems to be the last of the good ones; the dropoff after her is unnerving.
I was quite shocked how excellent Elizabeth Connell was. This performance was in 2007 when she was already 61 years old.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 I guess that kind of puts things in perspective. Thanks!
I think it's the other way around, those who have a secure high sing it in one breath, those who don't, take a breath to avoid cracking or being flat. Nilsson had a naturally high dramatic voice, but her middle wasn't as big as Flagstad or Grob-Prandl.
@@Khalid7a If I understand you correctly, we are saying the same thing.
@@wewper Your comment implies singing it in one breath makes it more secure.
Brava, Dame Gwyneth.
Jennifer Wilson was quite splendid!
I agree!
That was positively thrilling!
Love Frida Leider, Kirsten Flagstad, Martha Modl, Astrid Varnay and Eileen Farrell, but you forgot Ludmila Dvorakova.
And you forgot Nilsson 😆
Birgit Nilsson SINGS this better than the rest.
Flagstad, Varnay and for example Gwyneth Jones do it well but the tone isn’t as free and spinning as Nilsson’s.
She definitely was the most secure in this scene, and this isn’t even her best version.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 Nilsson was amazing but in that high C, Grob-Prandl was as amazing as Nilsson.
Kirsten and Gertrude were pleasant surprises, but only Birgit and, in second place, Catarina could properly sustain this killer note on pitch. Hildegard frankly sounds flat, Nina strays horribly, Deborah is inaudible. Jennifer nails it too. Nilsson is magnificent in the Decca recording under Solti, utterly thrilling in this impossibly difficult duet!
Birgit said in interview that she used to warmup with High Fs of Queen of Night before thr concerts, and if she manages to hit this note, Nilsson feels like "this concert would be a sucess!"
Love Catarina Ligendza.
Varnay, the one and only. Then: Leider, Nilsson, Flagstad, Mödl, Grob-Prandl.
Nilsson🙂👍
Real rarity are the tenors who are willing and or able to hit the final high note.
Indeed, Bernd Aldenhoff Bayreuth 1951. Un believable...
Wagner wrote middle C for the tenor not high C.
@@angryjalapeno I know, thank you. It stays unbelievable....
@@fjmlambour9640 Ive always found it weird that he would write middle C for the tenor which isn't a note a tenor can pump up the volume like a soprano's high C. Actually the whole last phrase for Siegfried is weird.
I think Stephan Vinke sings a high-C, but it’s hard to be sure since Goerke’s C is so resounding.
I was pleasantly surprised by Jennifer Wilson and Hildegard Behrens and disappointed by some of the others. Stemme was by far the least satisfactory; she seems to hit the note, lets it slide down, then gets back on it.
This came up again in my list, and I was struck by Frieda Leider, who I know many consider supreme in her day. Her singing here is completely wild, she omits all the consonants ti make the ending, and that vibrato flaps all over the place. Don’t get it. (Props to Gwyneth Jones, who actually puts the words ‘lachender Tod’ together as they should be, rather than taking a pause to set the voice for the C.)
I love her sound. It's so wild and sexy.
Oh, my dear Swedish Songbird for sure. But why always studio with her Wagner? Studio equipment didn't capture the full beauty and size of her cold Nordic voice at all.
Flagstad am sichersten, Leider mit flammender tongebung. Alle anderen kommen nach diesen beiden. Wenn man bedenkt wann Flagstad und Leider ihre Aufnahmen gemacht haben merkt man erst wie überragend sie sind
Love Grob Prandl in the entire Ring Cycle so I will go with her. As always, Flagstad, Lieder and Nilsson are delightful.
"Delightful" is a funny word to use for this piece! Kind of like "charming."
@@galanis38 Is it an understatement? I didn't mean it that way. They are masters of Wagner; as we've seen for more than 60 or so years now, these kinds of voices are not easy to come by.
Jennifer Wilson was cruelly overlooked in her prime. I heard them both, and her C’s were every bit as stunning as Nilsson’s, and she sang them a little sharp! (Has Stemme ever sounded anything but disastrously awful?)
I agree, by far the best we've had in the modern era but her voice declined quite quickly.
Who, me??? And which of my performances didn't you like? Keep in mind that no decline in my Siegfried Brunnhilde can be noted by anyone after 2009, because I was never hired to sing it again! :D
@@Postinaway If this is in fact you, Ms. Wilson, your Chicago ‘Gött.’ Brünnhilde was one of the greatest experiences of my life as an opera-goer, which extends now to 58 years. My deepest thanks for that.
@@Postinaway Thank you so much for your voice and art. I've expressed my thanks elsewhere on this video. My very best wishes.
@@PostinawayYOURE SUCH A QUEEEEEEN
In this compilation is the most secure high C produced by Birgit Nilsson. But i liked the results of Kirsten Flagstad, Rita Hunter and instead of the unfavorable audio recording Martha Mödl too. Some of the other well known Ladys caught good results also, with Linda Watson i will never fall in love. The sound is too wobbly and superannuated. I'm sorry for these words but it's my opinion.
Birgit Nilsson
Gwyneth for the win. Her Brunnhilde is one of my desert Island recordings. Nilsson was always undeniable, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Farrell.
Hard to find a really stunning Brunnhilde these days. Wilson was good…Polaski as always was meh. Stemme as always disastrously bad. There never been much I liked about that voice. 🤷
Seems like most people are clocking the general decline in quality since the 1960s.
Birgit Nielson
completely agree
Surely there's a better version of Nina Stemme out there somewhere...
It has to. Otherwise nobody would hire her (or maybe they'd do).
We prefer Gwyneth Jones. Her C has color from the top of her voice and does not sound like a white steam whistle from another register like Nilsson’s. She also notices the length of the note. Extending it robs it of being the exclamation point it is meant to be.
Anyway, did Flagstad sang Tosca? I mean, i asking because this particular outfit is very signature for Tosca. From my knowledge she did only Mimi and Aida from her Italian wing.
Very early on. I've seen that photo before. I think it's from Gothenburg.
@@wewper are you sure about that?
She definitely sang Tosca. I belive she sang it in Oslo (and Gothenburg?) in 1929, but only did a small number of performances and didn't sing it again to my knowledge.
Yes, she sang Tosca in Norway late 20s. This particular outfit is from a performance as Mimi in 1929.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 oh, that's interesting. Did she sang some other Italian roles beside above mentioned ones?
I can only say I went to a party as Brunhilde in the 70s...I can sing though ...
I think Brunnhilde's high C should be sung with Siegfried's high C.
Flagstad, wer sonst! 💜
I am pretty sure I already heard a tenor also singing that high C but I cannot remember who and where it was. Any idea?
Aldenhoff sings it with Varnay at Bayreuth in 1952.
@@alandun27 In which edition? I have de the MYTO one of Bayreuth 1952 (Keilberth/Varnay/Aldenhoff) and he goes for the normal C not the high one.
@@nicolasbrochet2147 Wrong year! 1951. It's on RUclips.
@@alandun27 Yes! That is the one! Thank you very much. And what a glorious high C! His voice was incredibly fresh and beautiful at the end of such a long evening. It is also featured in the "Tenor Heroes of Bayreuth" box.
Stefan Vinke NAILED it at the Met in 2019.
Along with Nilsson's, I thought Kniplova's was really good. Plenty of others are a little under the note.
Because plenty of others are exactly on the pitch while Nilsson's C6 is sharp. Perhaps it is the problem of the recording.
@@WongAndrew_ the sharp is not a problem, but recording Itself. This C is dead on, but the main problem is recording. I thought they just basically turning up recorded track either by +30 cents or by half - tone (in lesser amount of cases). However, recently I learn what "orchestra turning" means and everything else is not so obvious right now. But the note is dead on pitch for sure.
Nr1 Kirsten Flagstad , Birgit Nissan.
Appalling bad: Stemme, Goerke (in quite a "historical tuning", as low as it was). Frida Leider: leider very strange. Weak as expected Polaski and Watson. Quite pleasant Marton (being in her good times), Behrens, Ligendza, Jones. Surprising: Grob-Prandl. Mödl barely audible. Varnay at high notes middle class, as ever, but her remaining notes ..... wow! And la Birgit ..... Oh mei :) Ein c für die Ewigkeit. But in this roundel of diverse quality one voice thankfully is lacking: Jeannine Altmeyer in the Janowski-recording; while being a quite impressive Sieglinde, she is absolutely embarrassing and miscasted als Brünnhilde (as she was as Isolde in Bayreuth!). Well, as for me, three cheers for La Nilsson! :) Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland.
I'm sure Leider was magnificent and just suffers from the poor recording quality of her time. Very few Wagnerians come close to her reputation. Mödl never really had the correct volume on top notes to be a genuine hochdramatischer Sopran in my opinion, but I find her voice extremely beautiful. Agreed about Varnay. Grob-Prandl surprising in a good or bad way? She is very sharp here but it seems people are much more forgiving of sharp notes than flat notes.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 Hi back! Grob-Prandl suprising in a good way, I really didn't know her at all!! And about sharp vs. too low: I just asked my ears for confirmation lol and as for me I really cannot bear low singing, but that's more a question of a skilled ear. Very much people can rather hear/feel/sense a shrill note than a too low note. (So I value R. Scotto more than R. Tebaldi, for example.) This year's Bayreuth will present 2 great mistresses of the "low notes": Goerke and Foster, side by side with a startling aged I. Theorin - one of the reasons I certainly will not attain any performances there ...... Nevertheless: Viele Grüße aus Deutschland!
I think Stemme was at her weakest point there. She sounds much better today. Mödl probably wasn't helped by recording conditions from the Keilberth Ring.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 Off topic but Ive only heard Mödl as Waltraute from Böhm's Ring recording and there she is absolutely riveting.
@@davidbastardo4154
Stemme sounds horrendous today
Дякуємо за збірку. Ця нота особлива і має відтворювати пік жіночого оргазму, вона повинна бути і красивою і одночасно навіть "непристойною". Багатьом великим співачкам у збірці це вдається. Щодо невдачі Поласкі та Штемме, мабуть невдалий запис. Бо всі співачки видатні, хоча деякі зауваження про переоціненність Штемме та недооціненність Дженіфер Вілсон можливо доречні.
Top C contest are pretty boring for me as it's the top of the voice and the good ones tend to sound the same, where with the faulty ones., the way Tolstoy puts it, every wreck sounds different. But usually as recorded in curtailed sound, most dramatic top Cs tend to converge in color if not in quantity. Jennifer Wilson is one of the greatest Brunnhildes ever recorded and is fully there with the Australs and Leiders and Lawrences. Cultivated chiaroscuro, velvety middle, secure top, wonderful old-scool legato. Not the put-enough-money-in-the-box-and-you-get-high-Cs-aplenty Nilsson kind of approach. Not my type of singer. Wilson IS. I heard her in Gurrelieder in Israel and it was phenomenal. I see she's here so I'd like to thank you for your art.
Very unfair to describe Nilsson like that. There is so much more about Nilsson than her unique top notes.
@@Wotan123456789 I'm sure that in person I would have marveled at the security and balance and the ability to project text. On record, and that's all I have, I see a school of singing and musical thought that in my own set of preferences is inferior to a. The glories of the pre WWII Wagner singing b. my own formed opionion and perception of musicianship. I never hear any kind of harmony-related tension, vocal color or phrasing. And the middle on record never seems to have the tonal security (meaning not tone but re tonal system) or 'direction' in singing that I am looking for. And she rarely manifests a personal sense of vulnerability which makes characters come 'alive'. I'm sure we're hearing opera very differently with a very different set of preferences. That's fine.
@@kedemberger8773 It is certainly fine, for sure.
I think that Nilsson's Isolde was vulnerable, fragile and loving in her portrayal. Vocally, I think we agree on her talent.
I am just wondering why would you mention Austral, Leider and Lawrence; I think these 'glories' contributed into what Wagner singing was after WWII. On the one hand, the tree of them, among others, took the vocal part of Wagner singing from a more parlando dynamic to a full vocal prowess one, the tree of them had a wonderful top and they used it to accentuate their capacities, while other aspects of their singing was at the same level.
On the other hand, I don't think that any of them was particularly renowned for her acting capacities.
I can perfectly enjoyed modern singers like Behrens and Waltraud Meier, who sang, IMO, with an understanding of the text like few others and accept their vocal shortcomings, or Nilsson's or G Jones vocal majesty. The "Golden Era" concept is fad.
Leider was criticized for her fast vibrato, Flagstad for failing to convey a character convincingly, Rysanek for her pitch issues, Varnay for her metallic timbre, and Callas for her ugly voice and her non-traditional approach to singing, all of these are the Golden Age that was then so condemned.
@@Wotan123456789 As I've said, I'm considering singing first and foremost from the musicianship angle, given that a singer has basic vocal prowess and then I can 'move on'. In my consideration after the 50s and in Italy even before that, due to verismo aesthetics and later techique, singers lost the ability to sing with the harmonic progression in mind. If you can't hear a difference between the harmonic tension in Callas singing in say Ritorna vincitor and others, or her ability to really sing dotted eighths etc we're not in the same universe re aesthetic appraisal of vocal art. For me singers need to phrase like concert instrumentalists. Basta. They all lack in that respect post WWII and onwards and problems really started in between the wars. They just took over the art of singing afterwards. Technical brilliance is a means, not an end but it has become the 'glory' of the vinyl 'golden age' of singing. But I can't really explain what I'm talking about. I have a few classic examples but people usually don't care about them or don't hear what I'm hearing. Instrumentalists and conductors do, singers rarely do.
@@kedemberger8773 Although I might not agree with you in some points you mention, there are other points that I agree with you.
I do know Callas singing quite well, my teacher and good friend, E Kohn, was Callas pianist during her whole Juilliard Masterclasses and we spent thousands of hours talking about it.
Yet again, I am just confused about your compliments for Austral and Lawrence.
And for me, vocalist and instrumentalist are not be compared; human voice is not, as you would same, in the same universe as an orchestra instrument.
And the opera died definitely...🤦♂... to me best one will be always Grob-Prandl...
Stemme's crack is embarrassing, but only to be expected from this vastly overrated 'artiste'. I can't decide whether Hunter's dip in pitch is her or a faulty tape. Grob-Prandl is glorious as always.
I hate to disclose this since I am The Biggest Kirsten Flagstad fan but that is not her high C. The name of the soprano who sang it used to be on the computer but I can't find it now. It's from the recording made with Svanholm in 1951 when she was almost 56...
I believe you are thinking of Sylvia Fisher and used to think the same. I am fairly certain now that Fisher only provided the first high C (in “Ewig war ich”). Have a listen to Fisher own recordings, her voice was far too bright for the second C, which sounds much closer to Flagstad’s own voice. The two notes are definitely not from one voice and I find it unlikely that two different sopranos would be called in.
Flagstad sang three other high Cs in 1951, one from a studio recording of the Götterdämmerung duet and two in a live Parsifal (Covent Garden). I do not believe this note was impossible for her in the studio.
Either way, I will add a note in the description about this because I guess there’s no way of being sure.
I was not aware that there were high Cs in Parsifal. I will have to find my recording of Flagstad from 1951 and listen carefully. I am familiar with the high C from the Siegfried/Brunnhilde Gotterdamerung scene. I wish Svanholm had been in better voice for that...
@@randysills4418 The Parsifal Cs are not written but Flagstad interpolates two in the final Act 2 scene.
You can find the first here: ruclips.net/video/UUH_SlcsqJ0/видео.html
My particular Parsifal tape cuts out here but there is another C she sings about 20 seconds after the end of the linked video (which sounds very similar to the Siegfried studio C). The first is definitely an intentional C (and not a sharp B) as she does the same thing in 1938 as well. The second may be an overshot B. Both remain Cs even after pitch correction.
@@randysills4418Adding to my previous reply: here is the 2nd Parsifal high C ruclips.net/video/R-Rpdc8_cUQ/видео.html (2:00:39). It is a written B but Flagstad hits a C instead (the pitch is correct).
Am i the only one that liked Goerke's? Hers felt effortless (maybe slightly pitchy )imo although i don't know a lot about opera so m
Yes, I think you might be the only one. It really helps if the singer is in tune.
Irritating vibratos from Grob-Prandl, Hunter and Goerke.
Strong heroic from Flagstad, Nilsson and Wilson.
Barely sung or audible from Mödl, Watson and Stemme.
Grob-Prandl's vibrato always seemed very pitchy on the top notes. Often times very sharp as is here, where she is really hitting more of a C-sharp/D-flat than a C. I am surprised that more people don't take issue to this, but admittedly find it impressive that she could even sustain a note that high.
@@dramaticsoprano5168
I guess she was a true soprano as for example Nilsson, Behrens and Ligendza.
Mödl, Varnay and Watson for example came from mezzo roles.
@@draganvidic2039 Varnay didn't come from mezzo roles. She started her career as a soprano (Sieglinde) in 1941 and was singing her last Brünhildes and Elektras by the late 60's.
@@davidvscalvim2836
Well read her own words how she like Gina Cigna or Rosalind Plowright managed to train their voices to become sopranos.
@@draganvidic2039 But did she sing any mezzo roles at the beginning of her career?
Not the best from Varnay...
My favorites are Nina Stemme and Kirsten Flagstad (although... I hate to fan of the latter given her politics.)
What was wrong with her politics?
@@dramaticsoprano5168 she and her husband were Nazis. Her husband was even one of the founding members of the Nazi party in Norway.
@@PaulSmith-qs1es That is not true, I suggest reading her Wikipedia page, specifically the final paragraph in the “Career at the Metropolitan and elsewhere” en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsten_Flagstad.
Her situation was quite unfortunate and she was vilified for no reason of her own hand. Flagstad never once performed for the Nazis, and even performed benefit concerts for Jewish charities.
@@dramaticsoprano5168 well, her wikipedia page is written by her fans, isn't it? Like Walt Disney's, Charles Lindberg's, and Coco Chanel's, all of whom were also Nazis until the the weather changed, but then had never been Nazis, or at least had been too naive to really know what it meant.
@@PaulSmith-qs1es Dear Paul, Flagstad's was unfairly blamed to an affiliation or sympathy to the Nazi party, that actually never existed. There is a lot of academic material about it - I agree with you that Wikipedia might not be the most accurate source.
However, there are two documentaries on YT, one made by the BBC (if I recall correctly) and the other one by a Norwegian TV: both indicate and agreed that KF did not have any relation to the Nazis. A sad story
Wagner's music makes me laugh.
listen to the whole Ring without interruption and tell me if you still can laugh :)
@@gabrieleruffini4884 I've played the Ring. Wagner's music still makes me laugh. It's all super-ego, child-like stories dressed up in sophisticated garb. The only Wagner I like is Tristan, the only one I can relate to.
@@muslit So sad.
@@Operafreak9 I'm touched.
Fair enough. I know plenty of people who just can’t stand his music. But I don’t like people who call you sad because of your opinion. That’s what Trumpies say, you’re sad if don’t believe in their Fuhrer.
Hey there Dramatic Soprano. Any way that I can get you to email me? There is an email address in my About section :)
Hi, I can email you, but if you’re wanting to send me something my email is swiftdesposition@gmail.com. Thanks :)
@@dramaticsoprano5168 sent :)