100Singers's video: 100 Singers - WILMA LIPP

Wilma Lipp, Soprano (1925-2019) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" Conducted by Herbert von Karajan (1950) My personal opinion: While preparing this reminiscence, Wilma Lipp died at age 93 in her house near Ammersee in Bavaria. Thus, this tribute becomes an obituary for a singer, who once caused a stir in the legendary Vienna Ensemble as the youngest Kammersängerin. She was only 23, when Josef Krips asked her to substitude for Maria Stader as Queen of the Night in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, a role described by Erna Berger as "a fit of nerves". Wilma Lipp dared the risk and was soon later already Furtwängler's Queen at the Salzburg Festival in 1949, one year before she sang the part in the first complete ZAUBERFLÖTE recording after the war, led by Karajan. From now on, regarded as Erna Berger's successor, Lipp completed in Vienna as the Queen 128 performances until 1956. Her portrayal was preserved in three studio productions and two live documents. It's interesting, that she sang the role differently: With Furtwängler at the helm, her Queen was more dramatic, and the high F's appear like "stabs from a dagger", as journalist Thomas Voigt put it. Under the baton of Karajan and Böhm, Lipp sounds more like a soprano leggiero - a reason for John Steane to write: "She makes little of the character, but gets all her high notes in place." In 1957, Lipp switched from the Queen to Pamina (88 times in Vienna until 1972). Anton Dermota in his memoires: "As a member of the State Opera, Wilma Lipp matured fast after the war. I witnessed the unusual development of her tremendous talent. She was a lovely straightforward colleague, who knew exactly what she wanted and what she could do. As Queen of the Night, as Pamina, Konstanze and Donna Elvira, she was my partner in Mozart. She was also my Olympia in HOFFMANN; a lovely doll with crystal-clear coloratura. And probably she was my most charming MARTHA ..." Let us dare a critical look: Highly praised was the classic Clemens Krauss recording of DIE FLEDERMAUS (1950) with Hilde Güden as Rosalinde, Julius Patzak as Eisenstein and Lipp as Adele. As I wrote in my essay on Güden, it is (in my opinion) a boring interpretation - and without dialogues only a torso. Lipp sings the clever chambermaid acceptable, but without esprit and wit. "Mein Herr Marquis" and "Spiel ich die Unschuld vom Lande" are stretched like chewing gum under Krauss' slow tempi. There are better recordings, also with Lipp - for example a very lively and still underestimated HMV album, conducted by Otto Ackermann and, not to forget, the sparkling Robert Stolz performance (1962) with Lipp by now as Rosalinde. Thomas Voigt: "There have been sopranos, who were more artistic and subtle in this role. But there are none on records who sang the feared phrase "Ach, es muss ja sein ..." (on C, B-flat, C and E) in the first act finale so wonderfully dramatic ..." Ambivalent is the 1950 Josef Krips recording of DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. Here we have an ill-matched pair of lovers: A girlish Wilma Lipp as Konstanze (who sings the great dramatic aria "Martern aller Arten" without any hint of drama) and Walther Ludwig as an oldish Belmonte, who sounds much too stiff, even if his tone is warm and soft. More suitable seems Lipp to me as Pamina, which she strangely never recorded commercially. A 1962 Karajan performance in the reopened Theater an der Wien was taped. Now with a more substantial voice than twelve years earlier, Wilma Lipp forms a very instrumental portrait: Flawless and with a flute-like tone. In the difficult G minor aria "Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden ...", she corresponds well with the gloomy darkness of the bassoon. But no rose without thorns: With Wilma Lipp I have a similar problem as with Hilde Güden: The ladies do not touch me. In both cases I miss individuality; a strong personality that speaks to me through the singing. A statement of composer Reynaldo Hahn comes again to my mind: "However beautiful a sound may be, it's nothing if it does not have something to express." I suspect, records were not the right medium to represent Wilma Lipp adequately (remarkably, there is not a single Recital disc in her anyway sparse discography). Maybe one had to see her performing live on stage to fell under her spell ... Shortly after her passing, Vienna State Opera Director Dominique Meyer said: "We bow down in gratitude and humility to Wilma Lipp, who gilded our house four decades with her artistry."