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Label
and Album of Wagner's Lohengrin on Polydor PD-27395/8 conducted by Hermann
Weigert.
Images
courtesy Schellacksammlung
- Walter Schwanzer,
Austria.
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Looking at
a specific listing in an old long playing gramophone record guide,
in hindsight one often tends to think that a recording was made accidently,
or incidentally if you wish, as if there were no events leading up
to the release, as if there was no context. In
the case of the two early Remington recordings of Astrid Varnay there
is the fact that this soprano had conquered New York and captured
the attention of the listeners to the radio broadcast of Die Walküre
in which she sang Sieglinde, replacing an indisposed Lotte Lehmann.
Since that afternoon of Saterday, December 6, 1941, she was going
to establish herself at the Metropolitan Opera as one of the great
Wagner singers.
Don Gabor must
have been aware of the impact she made and if not, because of the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the folowing Sunday morning which
overshadowed Varnay's impact and made Gabor enlist in the Navy eventually,
Laszlo Halasz - who often was involved with Remington records before
he became recording director - certainly knew the significance of
Astrid Varnay's debut. So when ten years later, in 1951, she was performing
in Bayreuth and was singing in Vienna as well, Marcel Prawy sent tapes
from Vienna to producer Don Gabor in New York.
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The
Remington discs with operatic arias were released in the early
nineteen fifties. This is a booking ad of Astrid Varnay from
the National Concert and Artists Corporation in New York from
1953.
(From the SoundFountain Archive)
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Marcel Prawy
certainly had heard Astrid Varnay in New York singing in the Metropolitan
Opera prior to his leaving for Europe in 1944 as an instruction officer
in the US Army. Later he witnessed her singing in Vienna in the early
nineteen fifties and he could have attended the Bayreuth Festival
in 1951 when it had reopened and was trying to shed the bad reputation
it had accumulated during Hitler's Thousend Year Imperium which lasted
from 1933 till 1945.
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The
cover of one of the two records with Act III of Die Walküre
with Sigurd Björling, Astrid Varnay, Lyonie Rysanek, Brünnhild
Friedland, Eleanor Lausch, Elfriede Wild, Ruith Siewert, Liselotte
Thomamüller, Hertha Töpper, conducted by Herbert von
Karajan at the Bayreuther Festspiele, 1951. (on German Columbia
33 WCX 507.)
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The entry in an old music encyclopedia says that "Astrid
Varnay was a Hungarian-Swedish-American soprano. She was born
Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay on April 25th, 1918, in Stockholm, and
made her debut in 1941 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Sieglinde
in Wagner's Die Walküre and from then on was immediately considered
as one of the most prominent young Wagner singers. She performed in
London, Vienna and Bayreuth."
In 1944 she married Hermann Weigert (1890-1955) who was her
senior by some twenty eight years. In 1934 he had left Nazi Germany
and went to live in South Africa first but finally found his niche
in New York as rehearsal director for the German language at the Met.
Before he had left Europe he lived in Germany and as a director of
the Berlin State Opera, he conducted a variety of operas in the nineteen
thirties before World War Two, and had earned his laurels while recording
for the Deutsche Grammophon Polydor label.
Recordings
of Hermann Weigert with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra:
Georges
Bizet: Entr'acte and Prélude Act 4 from 'Carmen'
- PD-27190/1.
Georges Bizet: 'Danse bohémienne' from La jolie
fille de Perth - PD-27191.
Charles Gounod: 'Faust' (abridged version, sung in German)
with Hedwiga von Debicka, Helge Roswaenge and Heinrich Schlusnus
- PD-27377/81.
Engelbert Humperdinck: 'Hansel und Gretel' (sung in German,
arranged by Hermann Weigert and Hans Maeder) - PD-27891/4.
Albert Lortzing: 'Zar und Zimmermann' with Willy Domgraf-Fasbaender
- PD-27407/10.
Carl Millöcker: 'Der Bettelstudent' with Ida Perry,
Margret Pfahl, Irene Eisinger, Eduard Kandl - PD-95342/5
Otto Nicolai: 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor' (The
Merry Wives of Windsor - arranged by Weigert) with Else Ruziczka
and Eduard Kandl - PD-27399/402.
Giacomo Puccini: 'La bohème' (abridged recording,
sung in German) with Felicie Hüni-Mihacsek and Hedwig Jungkurth
- PD-27357/61.
Giacomo Rossini: 'The Barber of Seville' (abridged recording
in German) with Armin Weltner, Sabine Meyen, and Julius Patzak
- PD-27353/6.
Guiseppe Verdi: 'Il trovatore' (abridged recording sung
in German) with Hella Toros, Lotte Dörwald, and Hertha
Klust - PD-27403/6.
Richard Wagner: 'Lohengrin' with Otto Helgers, Fritz
Wolff, and Beate Malkin - PD-27395/8.
Carl Maria von Weber: 'Der Freischütz' (arranged
by Hermann Weigert and Hans Maeder) with Armin Weltner and Deszö
Ernster - PD-27387/90 - Individual excerpts on PD-27153
Source:
The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music.
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Before going
to Europe and finally choosing Munich as her residence, Astrid Varnay
made guest appearances in Buenos Aires, Chicago, San Francisco and
Los Angeles. Her European debut was when she sang Brünhilde and
Isolde at Coventgarden, London, in 1948. In 1951 she performed at
the May Festival in Florence, Italy, as Lady Macbeth. In that same
year she was engaded by Wieland Wagner in Bayreuth in productions
conducted by the Three K's, Hans Knappertsbusch, Joseph Keilberth
and Herbert von Karajan. She remained on the playbill for many
years to come (not so Herbert von Karajan of whom she did not like
the way he conducted during the performance like a high priest with
eyes closed). Later that year she also appeared at the Städtische
Oper in Berlin.
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The
box with the live performance at the Bayreuth Festival 1951
of Siegfried with Astrid Varnay, Bernd Aldenhoff, Sigurd Björling,
Paul Kuen, Heinrich Pflanzl, Wilma Lipp, and Herbert von Karajan
conducting. Foyer
PO 1004 from Italy.
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It was in Bayreuth
in 1951 that John Culshaw put his first step on the road to
a complete Ring des Nibelungen and that he heard Astrid Varnay
there during the rehearsals for the performance of Götterdämmerung
conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch. In 'Ring Resounding'
Culshaw writes that this performance was not suitable for releasing
on record because there were too many flaws and irregularities, yet
he mentions his admiration for Astrid Varnay's voice. When John Culshaw
made a detour to try his luck with Capitol Europe, the Decca people
(Peter Andry, Kenneth Wilkinson, Roy Wallace, and assistant Gordon
Parry) recorded THE RING during the season of 1955 in stereo. Astrid
Varnay had established herself as a truly grandiose Wagner singer.
She also performed then and there.
When Culshaw
had returned to Decca he did not approve of these live recordings
for release because of the many imperfections caused also by the less
than favourable acoustics in the hall and the orchestra pit. Moreover
he obviously had plans for his own Ring and knew of course that the
release of the 1955 stereo Ring would stand in the way. When he started
his project with Sir Georg Solti, what would become the most
famous Ring,
he wanted Astrid Varnay to be Brünnhilde, Ortrud and/or Kundry.
But the people of Decca thought that only Kirsten Flagstad's
name was commercially right. After Flagstad's death in 1962 Culshaw
cautiously approached Astrid Varnay to take part in the recordings.
But now it was Astrid Varnay who declined.
This not only
shows Varnay's independant and strong character, but it also explains
why there are not too many commercial recordings of complete opera's,
studio recordings and recitals with the soprano made by the leading
record companies of the world. Taking part in Decca's Stereo Ring
could have been a prelude to more Decca recordings. Apparently Astrid
Varnay was a performing artitst more than she was a recording artist
and by the mid nineteen sixties she may have considered that she was
no longer at the height of her powers. Living in the shadow of Kirsten
Flagstad (who actually had been instrumental in the start of her carreer
and had recommended her to Hermann Weigert, the educator she later
married) and also somewhat in the loom of Birgit Nilsson, was not
easy. Hence the declination. There were many performances recorded
on private labels. The Remington records were genuine recordings made
in Vienna and were obtained by Prawy from the Austrian Broadcasting
Corporation (ORF).
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Soprano
Astrid Varnay's Operatic Recital on Remington RLP-199-45: Fidelio,
Die Walküre, La juive, Thais, Aida, Simon Boccanegra, Il
trovatore. The Austrian Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Hermann
Weigert.
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The Remington
recordings of Astrid Varnay:
Remington
R-199-45 - Astrid Varnay Operatic Recital
(released December 1951).
"Abscheulicher Wo Eilst Du Hin" from "Fidelio"
(Beethoven)
"Der Männer Sippe" from "Die Walküre"
(Wagner)
"Il Va Venir" from "La Juive" "(Halévy)
"Ah! Je suis belle" from "Thais"(Massenet)
"Ritorno Vincitor" from "Aida" (Verdi)
Amelia Grinaldi's Aria from "Simon Boccanegra" (Verdi)
"D'Amor sull all rose e vanne" from "Il Trovatore"
(Verdi)
Austrian Symphony Orchestra / Hermann Weigert
Remington
R-199-53 - Astrid Varnay Recital (released in the Fall of 1952)
"Senta's Balad" from "The Flying Dutchman" (Der
fliegende Holländer) (Wagner)
"Ocean Aria" from "Oberon" (Weber)
"Agatha's Cavatina" from "Der Freischütz"
(Weber)
"Voi Lo Sapete" from "Cavaleria Rusticana (Mascagni)
"Ecco Lorido" from "Un Ballo in Maschera" (Verdi)
"In Quelle Trine Morbide" from "Manon Lescaut"
(Puccini)
"Il est doux" from "Herodiade" (Massenet)
Austrian Symphony Orchestra / Hermann Weigert
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The
second Remington album was
RLP-199-53.
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Astrid
Varnay and Paul Schoeffler sing Wagner Arias on Remington R-199-137.
Cover by Alex Steinweiss.
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Remington
R-199-137 - Highlights sung by Metropolitan's Astrid Varnay and Paul
Schoeffler (released by the end of 1954)
The Flying Dutchman
Overture - Austrian Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Koslik conducting
"Die Frist ist um" - Paul Schoeffler, baritone and the Austrian
Symphony Orchestra with Wilhelm Loibner conducting
"Ballade der Senta" - Astrid Varnay, soprano and the Austrian
Symphony Orchestra, Wilhelm Loibner, conductor
Die Meistersinger
"Was duftet doch der Flieder" - Paul Schoeffler, baritone
and the Austrian Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Weigert, conductor
Die Walküre
"Der Männer Sippe" - Astrid Varnay, soprano, and the
Austrian Symphony Orchestra, Hermann Weigert conducting
This record is apparently a compilation of selections from R-199-45,
R-199-53 and earlier Masterseal recordings of Paul Schoeffler plus
unpublished material from the 1951 radio broadcasts. Some of the same
material can be found on the 2 compilations discs released by BASF,
reference 22 22645-3 on which she is accompanied by "Das
Niederöstereichische Tonkünstler-Orchester" conducted
by Herman Weigert.
R-199-137 was later also presented as a recording made according
to the Musirama microphone placement technique, but like a few other
recordings (Gustav Koslik's Polovetsian Dances and Night on Bold Mountain,
and Zoltan Fekete´s Bruckner 3rd) it was not.
Diamant BL
737 - Beliebte Wagner Arien
This is the German release with the same material from R-199-137 pressed
from Remington plates.
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Paul
Schoeffler and Astrid Varnay sing beloved Wagner Arias on Diamant
BL 737.
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An
uncommon performance: "An Evening of Song". Astrid
VArnay sings Dors mon enfant, and Attente (Richard Wagner),
Deita Silvane (Ottorini Respighi), Gypsy Melodies/ Zigeunermelodien
(Antonin Dvorak) all accompanied by Heinrich Bender at the piano,
recorded in Munich in 1961.
With Hermann Weigert conducting the Niederöstereichische
Tonkünster-Orchester: Ah perfido (Ludwig van Beethoven)
- recorded in Vienna 1951.
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At
left is the front of the Melodram 3 LP set of Macbethfrom 1951
with Vittorio Gui conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino with Ivan Petroff (Macbeth), Astrid Varnay
(Lady Macbeth), Italo Tajo (Banco), Gino Penno (Macduff), Gino
Sarri (Malcolm), Luciana Veroni (Dama), Camello Righini (Medico).
Melodram 335.
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Astrid
Varnay (soprano), Hertha Töpper (alto), Wolfgang Windgassen
(tenor), and the Bamberger Symphoniker (Bamberg Symphony) wirh
Ferdinand Leitner conducting: Liebesduett and Liebestod on Deutsche
Grammophon SLPM 136030.
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Astrid
Varnay at the time she recorded for Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft.
Image taken from the 1958 DGG record catalogue.
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On September 4, 2006, Astrid Astrid Varnay died in Munich.
This page will be expanded.
Research and
Text by Rudolf A. Bruil. Page first published January 19th, 2010.
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