Word: wagnerians
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...pink-cheeked Kirsten Flagstad, a simple woman who says, "Always I wanted to be a private person," has had her fill. She has been singing opera for nearly 40 years. For nearly 20 of those years she has been the world's foremost Wagnerian soprano. She had postponed her retirement and capped her career by learning the role of Alcestis in English at 55. Now she was leaving the Met, after her 193rd performance, with a voice faintly fading but still incomparable for ringing power and eloquence...
...wanted to hear Gluck's somberly magnificent music again and 2) he cannily thought that the challenge of the big name part might be enough to induce Kirsten Flagstad to postpone her retirement one more year. He was right. Though she was tired after 23 years of singing Wagnerian roles, she was intrigued with the idea of learning a difficult new role at 56-and singing in English for the first time on the U.S. opera stage...
...proved fully equal to the challenge. The No. 1 Wagnerian soprano of her day, she demonstrated that she could be just as great in a demandingly difficult classic of the 18th century...
Just before a scheduled concert with the Dallas Symphony, Wagnerian Soprano Astrid Varnay got a phone call from the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan. Soprano Helen Traubel was ill. Could Miss Varnay come to the rescue? Miss Varnay finished her concert and grabbed a plane, arrived at the Met at 6 p.m., rehearsed until the 7:30 curtain rose on Gotterddmmerung and her Met debut as Briinnhilde...
...easily understand why Monteux has achieved such a high position among the world's conductors. The elephantine Frenchman handled the orchestra as if he owned it. He led it safely through the rhythmic complexities of Debussy, and went on to revitalize a bunch of Wagnerian warhorses that have been all but killed by dozens of inept performances. The response to Monteux's steady, relaxed beat was nearly perfect, and the obvious rapport between conductor and orchestra resulted in quick run--throughs of most of the music...