Beverly Sills as Louise

A mini podcast of scenes from acts 3 and 4 of Charpentier's Louise. This is 1977 under Julius Rudel and in addition to the great Beverly, one of the most beloved figures in opera, we have John Alexander,Frances Bible, and Robert Hale. The sound is a bit distant, but the voices come across pretty well. (38 min.)

Direct download: Sills_Louise_exc..mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:12pm EDT

Frida Leider in Wagner

Frida Leider was born at Berlin, where she studied singing while working in a bank. Her first engagements led her to opera houses in Halle, Königsberg, and Rostock. After an engagement with the Hamburg State Opera in 1923, she was hired by the Berlin State Opera as first dramatic soprano. After her retirement from the stage in 1946, she remained there as the director and manager of a studio for the rising singers of the Berlin State Opera.

Frida Leider made regular guest appearances for over 15 years at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at La Scala in Milan, and at the State Operas of Vienna and Munich. Naturally, she also made appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, where she was the unrivaled star soprano of the 1930s. In the 1920s she alternated Wagnerian roles with Florence Austral at Covent Garden and the two recorded large parts of The Ring for HMV.

Leider married the first concert master of the Berlin State Opera, Prof. Rudolf Deman. The couple had no children. She died in her home city of Berlin.

Leider had a wonderful voice, and especially the warmth and feeling is there. We hear first two excerpts of two commercial recordings of Tristan from 1929 under Leo Blech, with Elfreide Marherr as Brangaene, and then under Sir John Barbirolli in 1931. This is followed by live Gotterdamerung  Act 2 scenes from 1936 with Herbert Janssen and Ludwig Weber, followed by a commercial recording of the Immolation Scene in 1929 under Leo Blech.



Direct download: Leider_Wagner.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 10:36am EDT

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