Oberon's Glade

Author: Philip Gardner

  • Cheryl Studer ~ “Dich, teure Halle”

    Studer

    Soprano Cheryl Studer sings “Dich, teure Halle” from Wagner’s TANNHÄUSER in a televised concert from Munich in 1988. Leopold Hager conducts.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Infinito Amor!

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    Raina Kabaivanska and Carlo Bergonzi sing the final duet from Umberto Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER at a 1970 Munich Gala.

    Listen to them here – accompanied by some fanciful artwork – and enjoy the audience’s enthusiastic response at the end.

    In June of 1970, I had the pleasure of seeing Raina Kabaivanska’s only Met performance as Maddalena de Coigny. Sublime!

    ~ Oberon

     

  • Elena Mauti-Nunziata – PURITANI ~ Mad Scene

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    Elena Mauti-Nunziata sings the Mad Scene from Bellini’s I PURITANI from a performance at Palermo in 1974.

    Listen here.

  • Elena Mauti-Nunziata – PURITANI ~ Mad Scene

    E m-n

    Elena Mauti-Nunziata sings the Mad Scene from Bellini’s I PURITANI from a performance at Palermo in 1974.

    Listen here.

  • Julius Huehn

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    Born at Revere, Massachusetts in 1904, bass-baritone Julius Huehn’s career centered at the Metropolitan Opera, where he sang over 225 performances with the Company in New York City and on tour. He also appeared with the opera companies of San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

    His Met debut took place in 1935, as the Herald in LOHENGRIN. His Met roles included Wagner’s Wotan/The Wanderer, Donner, Gunther, Wolfram, Amfortas, Kothner, Kurvenal, and Telramund; Strauss’s Orestes, Jochanaan, and Faninal; Pizarro in FIDELIO, Escamillo, Sharpless, and the High Priest in SAMSON ET DALILA.

    Huehn left the Met in 1944 to serve in the Marine Corps during the final year of World War II. He returned in 1946 for a single performance as Wolfram. He subsequently taught at the Eastman School for many years, and passed away at Rochester, New York, in 1971.

    Julius Huehn as Kurvenal, with Lauritz Melchior:

    Julius Huehn & Lauritz Melchior – TRISTAN UND ISOLDE ~ scene from Act III

    Listen to Julius Huehn sing Wotan’s Farewell from WALKURE here, and the duet of Telramund and Ortrud (with Kerstin Thorborg) from the opening of Act II of LOHENGRIN here.

  • Stratas & Moldoveanu ~ O Soave Fanciulla

    Stratas

    Teresa Stratas and Vasile Moldoveanu sing the love duet that ends Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME.

    Listen here.

  • Stratas & Moldoveanu ~ O Soave Fanciulla

    Stratas

    Teresa Stratas and Vasile Moldoveanu sing the love duet that ends Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME.

    Listen here.

  • Franz-Josef Selig ~ O Isis und Osiris

    Selig

    Franz-Josef Selig sings Sarastro’s great aria, ‘O Isis und Osiris‘, from DIE ZAUBERFLOETE.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Rosette Anday

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    The Hungarian mezzo-soprano Rosette Anday made her Vienna State Opera debut in 1921 at the age of 18 as Carmen. Franz Schalk, the Company’s director, had first heard the young mezzo-soprano in Budapest, where she studied at the local conservatoire whilst also taking violin lessons. Schalk engaged her immediately, and following her highly successful debut, she went on to become one of Vienna’s most beloved stars. Richard Strauss – no less – was Ms. Anday’s accompanist when she gave her first lieder recital in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal in Vienna soon after her debut.

    Rosette Anday’s roles included Mozart’s Cherubino and Dorabella, Verdi’s Preziosilla, Amneris, and Azucena, Wagner’s Fricka, Erda, Waltraute, Brangane, and Adriano in RIENZI, Laura in GIOCONDA, Dalila, and Klytemnestra. She was one of the youngest singers ever to be named ‘Kammersängerin‘.

    Banned from the stage during the Nazi occupation of Austria, Ms. Anday was able to resume her career immediately after the war, joining the renowned ensemble at the Theater an der Wien. In 1961, she celebrated the 40th anniversary of her debut with a performance of Klytemnestra.

    Also beloved as a concert artist and recitalist, Rosette Anday toured North and South America and appeared in Berlin, Paris, and at the Salzburg Festival. She passed away in 1977.

    Rosette Anday – Erda’s Warning ~ RHEINGOLD – 1948 – with F Frantz

    Rosette Anday – Printemps qui commence ~ SAMSON ET DALILA

    Rosette Anday – Mahler’s Urlicht

  • Fineschi/di Stefano – CHENIER ~ Final Duet

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    Onelia Fineschi and Giuseppe di Stefano sing the final duet from Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER at the Teatro Communale, Firenze, in 1962.

    Listen here.