Oberon's Glade

Tag: Reri Grist

  • Marion Lippert

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    Marion Lippert is a soprano I will always remember with affection, as she was my first (and a very lovely) Marschallin in a performance at The Met in 1970, conducted by Karl Böhm; she more than held her own in a stellar cast featuring Christa Ludwig, Reri Grist, and Walter Berry.

    Marion Lippert was born in Munich in 1936. Among her voice teachers was Annelies Kupper. Ms. Lippert made her operatic debut as Aida The Hague in 1956, later joining the opera companies of Cologne and Stuttgart, and singing in Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, and Venice. Her repertory included Lady Macbeth, Abigaille, Leonore in FIDELIO, Amelia in BALLO IN MASCHERA, Leonora in FORZA DEL DESTINO, Tosca, Norma, Senta, Elisabeth in TANNHAUSER, and Sieglinde.

    The soprano made her Met debut in 1968 as Turandot; she also sang Senta, and Elisabetta in DON CARLO   (which I saw) at the House in addition to the Marschallin.

    Lippert Turandot

    Turandot became a signature role for Ms. Lippert; here is her “In questa reggia” from an unnamed venue, in 1969. Her Calaf is Flaviano Labò.

    Marion Lippert – In questa reggia ~ TURANDOT – 1969

    Marion Lippert’s ‘Vissi d’arte‘ (though missing the opening line) may be found here.

  • Rudolf Knoll

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    German baritone Rudolf Knoll had an extensive career in Europe, singing at the Vienna State Opera, Zurich, and major German houses. He made several recordings of opera and lieder.

    He was less well-known in America, where his Met career consisted of two roles – Kothner in MEISTERSINGER and Faninal in ROSENKAVALIER – sung over a two-year span. He was in the casts of the first performances of those two operas I ever experienced, the ROSENKAVALIER being particularly stellar: his colleagues were Marion Lippert, Reri Grist, Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry, and George Shirley, with Karl Böhm conducting.

    In Europe, Knoll’s repertoire ranged from Alberich, Beckmesser, Pizarro, and Mandryka to Iago, Count di Luna, and Rigoletto. After retiring from opera, he taught at the Salzburg Mozarteum; among the singers he worked with was the prominent baritone Sir Simon Keenlyside.

    The only photo I am able to find of Mr. Knoll is from his teaching days (above).

    Rudolf Knoll as Donner – Rheingold

    Rudolf Knoll – Cortigiani vil razza dannata ~ RIGOLETTO

    Rudolf Knoll passed away in 2007.

  • Gertrude Grob-Prandl

    Gertrude grob-prandl

    While I was working at Tower, I got into a discussion one day with my boss and a couple of the other ‘opera people’ who worked there. We were naming favorite singers and in one breath I mentioned Nilsson, Rysanek, Behrens and Dame Gwyneth Jones. “Oh, so you’re a size queen!”, Bryan laughed. Well, not really…since I also loved people like Reri Grist, Patricia Brooks, Lucia Popp and Kathleen Battle. But if you want to stereotype me, go right ahead: because I do love big voices.

    The four ‘loud ladies’ I mentioned above were among the largest voices I ever heard live. I guess Dame Gwyneth’s was the biggest of all though I’d also have to mention Angeles Gulin who, in a concert performance of LES HUGUENOTS at Carnegie Hall (1969) unleashed an enormous voice in Valentine’s music. But there was one voice, often described as the largest of all operatic voices in living memory, that for some reason I had never heard: that of the soprano Gertrude Grob-Prandl.

    Of course I’d heard people talking about her, and I read the article about her in Lanfranco Rasponi’s excellent book The Last Prima Donnas. But I’d never heard her sing a note until about a week ago when I was sampling different versions of Ortrud’s Invocation from LOHENGRIN on YouTube. Grob-Prandl’s rendition blew me away both in terms of the dimensions of the voice and the easy top.

    So I ordered a Myto recital disc by the soprano on which she sings music of Weber, Halevy, Meyerbeer, Wagner and Strauss and it’s all pretty glorious. Now I’m trying to locate her complete recording of TURANDOT. The voice does tend to go off-pitch slightly here and there, and a few notes take a split second to tonalize after she hits them – an endearing quality she shared with Leonie Rysanek.

    Grob-Prandl sings Isolde’s Narrative and Curse here.