I saw NK do a hair-raising Ortrud in Hamburg in 1968. Elisabeth Grummer was the heavenly Elsa, & between the two of them I don't remember a single thing about the two male leads. The audience went berserk when NK took her curtain call. My German friends told me "Das ist nichts typische Hamburg!"
All those performances of Jenufa in my 6 years in Düsseldorf -- wish I could have heard that Ortrud! How is it possible that 2 little folds of flesh in a human throat can do this?
@@tantris39 I got curious about the menfolk in that cast, but the only reference I found to a Hamburg Lohengrin that year was a recording dated June 16, 1968, with Domingo, Arlene Saunders, Ruth Hesse, and Hans Sotin. The performance I saw was in early July, & I can't imagine the entire cast being replaced so quickly. If that was indeed a "second cast", I don't regret missing those big names. We Schwaermerei love to impress each other with our vast experiences in far-flung opera houses, and Grummer & Kniplova were great names to drop. EG sang very little in the USA, and to my knowledge NK never set foot in the States. (Somehow I managed to remember that Tom Krause sang the Herald.)
@@bobzeschin3154 In a German theater at that time with itw own ensemble, it wouldn't be too uncommon to have partly different casts in each performance. I know NK sang in New York (in old Met if I am not mistaken) in Jenufa when the Hamburg opera went on tour there, (because the soprano who sang Jenufa in those performance told me), and if I am not mistaken, she also sang some Wagner in San Francisco at some point.
@@tantris39 I stand corrected about NK's US appearances. The Hamburg troupe's visit was in conjunction with Expo67 in Montreal, so they'd have been at Lincoln Center rather than Broadway & W. 40th St.
Just a lovely giant heroic voice!
I saw NK do a hair-raising Ortrud in Hamburg in 1968. Elisabeth Grummer was the heavenly Elsa, & between the two of them I don't remember a single thing about the two male leads. The audience went berserk when NK took her curtain call. My German friends told me "Das ist nichts typische Hamburg!"
All those performances of Jenufa in my 6 years in Düsseldorf -- wish I could have heard that Ortrud! How is it possible that 2 little folds of flesh in a human throat can do this?
@@tantris39 I got curious about the menfolk in that cast, but the only reference I found to a Hamburg Lohengrin that year was a recording dated June 16, 1968, with Domingo, Arlene Saunders, Ruth Hesse, and Hans Sotin. The performance I saw was in early July, & I can't imagine the entire cast being replaced so quickly. If that was indeed a "second cast", I don't regret missing those big names. We Schwaermerei love to impress each other with our vast experiences in far-flung opera houses, and Grummer & Kniplova were great names to drop. EG sang very little in the USA, and to my knowledge NK never set foot in the States. (Somehow I managed to remember that Tom Krause sang the Herald.)
@@bobzeschin3154 In a German theater at that time with itw own ensemble, it wouldn't be too uncommon to have partly different casts in each performance. I know NK sang in New York (in old Met if I am not mistaken) in Jenufa when the Hamburg opera went on tour there, (because the soprano who sang Jenufa in those performance told me), and if I am not mistaken, she also sang some Wagner in San Francisco at some point.
@@tantris39 I stand corrected about NK's US appearances. The Hamburg troupe's visit was in conjunction with Expo67 in Montreal, so they'd have been at Lincoln Center rather than Broadway & W. 40th St.
Perfect!!! I wish one Brunhilde could sing it like that today...
Fantastic. Perfect
such a rich, powerful, penetrating soprano...
Fantastic
wonderful