100Singers's video: 100 Singers - ASTRID VARNAY

Astrid Varnay, Soprano/Mezzo-soprano (1918-2006) Richard Strauss: ELEKTRA "Allein, weh ganz allein" ("Alone, all alone") Conducted by Hermann Weigert My personal opinion: When the bare stage set of the New-Bayreuth in the 1950's was criticized by the press, Wieland Wagner replied: "Why should I need a tree on the stage when I have an Astrid Varnay?" Her radiance had made more decoration superfluous. For the grandson of Richard Wagner, Varnay had "the face of a tragic actress such as one associates with the masks of Greek tragedies." Among fans she was simply called "The heroine of Bayreuth." Over a period of five decades, Astrid Varnay mastered with seemingly supernatural dedication the most demanding Wagner and Strauss roles. She was hailed for her dramatic intensity and her compelling suggestiveness. I don't hesitate to say that her aura was as intense as that of Maria Callas. Where Astrid Varnay sat, there was the head of the table ... Her Bayreuth career began in 1951 after ten successful years at the Metropolitan where she made a premature debut as Sieglinde in DIE WALKÜRE, replacing an ill Lotte Lehmann - two months before her scheduled first New York appearance as Elsa in LOHENGRIN. Varnay's acid test took place on December 6, 1941. It was the day before the fatal attack on Pearl Harbour. Hard to believe, only six days later she substituted for Helen Traubel as Brünnhilde. Within a week, a twenty-three-year old debutante sang both female major roles in WALKÜRE. This is still today a unique chapter in the Met history ... Highly regarded by the greatest conductors of her time (Leinsdorf, Kleiber, Stiedry, Mitropoulos, Karajan, Knappertsbusch, Krauss, Kempe and Keilberth), she was coached by Hermann Weigert (1890-1956), who became her husband while she consolidated her reputation as one of the foremost dramatic sopranos of her epoch. Courageous enough to point out the other side of the coin, it can't be denied that her voice changed dramatically as a result of too many difficult roles within a short time. No voice can withstand such stress. Already in 1945, Varnay was forced to switch from Elsa to Ortrud. Her meanwhile sharp singing was no longer suitable for lyrical passages. To make matters worse, it soon became evident, that her full-throated metallic vocalism was hardly tameable by the microphone. There are eighty complete opera recordings with Varnay (from 1941 to 1985), but only six of them were made under studio conditions. In other words: Without taped broadcasts and often criticized "pirates", there would be only a few sound documents of her voice ... After another disput in New York (she wanted to sing more Italian roles, but Rudolf Bing refused), Astrid Varnay paused from the Met in 1956 and went again to Bayreuth, welcomed with open arms by Wieland Wagner, who never got tired of praising her: "Her voice is of demonic depth." The "demonic depth", however, distanced some critics. John Steane confessed: "Astrid Varnay gives a first-rate example of Wagner-singing I try to avoid whenever possible." German author Kesting, skillful in copying the opinions of others, sang the same song: "She was admired by all those who appreciate a screaming and nagging voice more than sonorous singing ..." Past her peak, Astrid Varnay was smart enough to change in the 1960's her repertoire: Elektra turned into Clytemnestra, Salome into Herodias. Both roles she played in two thrilling films, directed by Götz Friedrich. Though she was in the sunset of her career, these TV movies give a late impression of Varnay's electrifying stage presence in the years of her prime. Her last stage role was the nurse in BORIS GODUNOV (1995). It was the final chapter of a life full of devotion to the music theater. Astrid Varnay died September 4, 2006 in Munich.