Above: Eileen Farrell
This recording of Eileen Farrell singing the Immolation Scene from GOTTERDAMMERUNG is quite a rarity. I first received it back in the 1970s when I was exchanging reel-to-reel tapes with contacts in the USA and Europe. Later, I copied it to cassette, and of course it was a priority in my two-year project of creating MP3 before discarding my cassette collection.
Eileen Farrell – Immolation Scene – Ozawa – Ravinia 1970
Above: George London as Wotan
During his years at The Met, I was not a great admirer of George London’s voice. The tragic early termination of his career is a very sad chapter in the annals of opera. Just recently, I have come to think highly of him.
George London – Abendlich strahlt die Sonne Auge ~ RHEINGOLD
Above: Ursula Boese at the Bayreuth Festival, 1965
Ursula Boese made her Bayreuth debut in 1958 as Flosshilde, following successes on the concert platform. Her international career extended into the 1990s and included such roles as Cornelia in GIULIO CESARE, Jocasta in OEDIPUS REX, Ulrica, Dalila, and Klytemnestra. Here is her doom-ladened rendering of Erda’s Warning:
Ursula Boese – Das Rheingold ~ Weiche Wotan weiche – with Polke – Hesse
Above: Peter Hofmann as Lohengrin
Peter Hofmann was perhaps better-admired for his stage presence than his actual singing, though he did give some perfectly fine performances. He is best-remembered for his Siegmund in the internationally televised Chéreau RING Cycle from Bayreuth in 1976. I saw him at The Met as Lohengrin, twice as Siegmund, and singing with Leonie Rysanek at her 25th Anniversary gala. Hofmann was slated to take on the Siegfrieds at The Met, but he wisely withdrew. After leaving the opera stage, he gave rock concerts, and appeared in over three hundred performances of Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, Germany. He passed away in 2010 at the age of 66 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease.
Peter Hofmann ~ LOHENGRIN Narrative – Bayreuth 1982
Above: Christa Ludwig as Fricka in a Louis Melançon photo
I think, all things considered, Christa Ludwig ranks as my all-time favorite singer. She gave me so many wonderful evenings, and so many hours of enjoyment thru her recordings. She was my first Octavian, first Dyer’s Wife, first Berlioz Dido. You never forget such firsts. In 1988, on the first night of the ‘Levine’ GOTTERDAMMERUNG, Christa sang Waltraute; she walked out unassumingly for a solo bow after the first act and the house literally exploded in an epic ovation. She seemed genuinely moved.
Christa Ludwig never sang Isolde onstage, but her recording of the Liebestod is among the finest.
Christa Ludwig – Liebestod ~ TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 