Astrid Varnay - Vocal Range (C♯3-D♭6)

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

I'm sure she could go much lower but I wasn't able to find any off-stage vocalising/scales/exercise as with the others. Also, rather than going straight note-to-note, I've included the entire phrase into the note. Let me know if you prefer this or the older way!

[@juliamosley]

Is there a list of arias that these are taken from? 😊

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@juliamosley I'll do my best, will edit this comment when I find the missing notes: "Eb3" - Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Act 1, Scene 1 Gb3 - Salome finale G3 - Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Act 1, Scene 1 Ab3 - Parsifal, Act 2, "Grausamer!" A3 - Tristan und Isolde, Act 1: "Nun leb wohl, Brangäne" A#3 - Die Walküre, Act 3: "War es so schmälich?" B3/C4 - Don't know C#4 - Parsifal, Act 2: "Grausamer!" D4 - Parsifal, Act 2: "Ich sah das kind" Eb4 - Macbeth, Act 2: "La luce langue" E4 - Die Walkure, Act 1: "Der manner sippe" F4 - Il trovatore, Act 4: "D'amor sull'ali rosee" F#4 - Oberon: "Ozean, du Ungeheuer" G4 - Die Walkure, Act 1: "Der manner sippe" Ab4 - Salome, Act 1 finale A4 - Parsifal, Act 1, Scene 1 Bb4 - Die Walkure, Act 1: "Der manner sippe" B4 - Tristan und Isolde, Act 3: Liebestod C5 - Il trovatore, Act 4: "D'amor sull'ali rosee" C#5 - Macbeth, Act 2: "La luce langue" D5 - Tristan und Isolde, Act 1: Isolde's Curse Eb5 - Parsifal, Act 1, Scene 1 E5 - Die Walkure, Act 3 finale F5 - Die Walkure, Act 3 finale F#5 - Parsifal, Act 1, Scene 1 G5 - Don't know Ab5 - Die Walkure, Act 3 finale A5 - Die Walkure, Act 3 finale Bb5 - Salome finale B5 - Macbeth, Act 2: "La luce langue" C6 - Il trovatore, Act 4: "D'amor sull'ali rosee" Db6 - Macbeth, Act 4: "Una macchia è qui tuttora"

[@juliamosley]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 thank you so much! ❤️

[@Wotan123456789]

I attended todays Tristan in Bayreuth. At the cafe an aged man asked if we could share the table. He is been attending the Festspiele regularly since 1965. Among the many memories he had, one was of Varnay singing Gotterdammerung in 1967, she was in completely vocal decay and was booed at her curtain call, Wolfgang Wagner, who was at the wings, came out and embraced her in front of the public.

[@aetion]

Thrilling dramatic soprano voice! Thank you.

[@KajiVocals]

So exciting

[@quequitoAR]

I distinctly remember the first time I heard some of her records. I was astonished: this monumental voice coming to me, with this somehow bitter tone in her voice (very well suited for heroic roles). Her mezzo roles are difficult to match: Ortrud, Klytemnestra, and so on, are among the best interpretations from XXth century. Yes, sometimes her top notes sound odd, her attacks being a little uneasy. But all in all, give me Varnay before many others.

[@fjmlambour9640]

Thank you! Very interesting. The best Brünnhild Götterdämmerung on record in my opinion (compare for example her "Altgewohntes Geräusch" with other Brünnhilds of her age). It is also interesting to compare her hojotoho's in different years. The high c's are mostly short - as written - but in Bayreuth 1960 (I think) they are (glorious) long, as her dear colleague frau Nillson did (!). In the 1961 they are short again. Thank you again.

[@ПоэзияРоманаЛафоре]

The greatest voice!!!! ❤❤❤

[@WotanKlingsor]

Vocal genius

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Thank you for the video!

[@pixelchords3201]

The strongest soprano chest on the record along with Crespin (if she counts).

[@alleviation91]

Crespin had a chest voice? Yeah she counts, even when singing mezzo she sounded like the soprano she was.

[@pixelchords3201]

@@alleviation91 Well yes kzbin.info/www/bejne/rouQpJR7bLhqbtUsi=x0FvhIn2DWGEb-nz&t=512 She sings lightly on the bottom but it is easy and natural unlike many sopranos who over-darken and exaggerate their chest notes imo

[@yuh8946]

Welcome back❤

[@judasiscariot6133]

Santuzza sounds great in German.

[@deivyss9564]

5:26 LOL 🤣

[@Thearchivebeyondimagination]

Great, great. But she was always a dramatic soprano, but with the deepest bottom among all.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

There are many who consider her a mezzo who learnt how to sing dramatic soprano. I suppose probably attested by her much heavier bottom, and the fact that she had to thin out more than an average soprano to access her top notes. That said, I do think she sounded like a natural soprano when she debuted, but I don't have a strong opinion either way. There is little difference between a low dramatic soprano and a high mezzo voice. On the other hand, one could argue that the aged voice was more due to her heavy smoking rather than a transition to an actual mezzo voice.

[@Thearchivebeyondimagination]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 she just changed the color on top. Around G/G#. She was a true dramatic soprano.

[@로보티니콜라스]

She's a dramatic soprano and BASTA. There's not such a thing as a "high mezzo" no composer wrote for that modern fach. "high mezzo" are quite often underdeveloped sopranos. It has nothing to do with Astrid

[@scottgrunow5201]

​@dramaticsoprano5168 she smoked? did not know that

[@scottgrunow5201]

​@dramaticsoprano5168 she wad always a soprano but after a vocal crisis in late 1940s which marked her definitive transition to hochdramatische repertoire she changed her vocal production.

[@Yoavmw]

Can someone name the first two pieces?

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

They are both from the opening scene of Die Frau ohne Schatten: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqWThaKYp7x_jKMsi=P8MlYt0ZeA1kkypU EDIT: Sorry, the Gb3 is from Salome's final scene: kzbin.info/www/bejne/emHXpKCkiaZmiZosi=g3IGkrv4HFiMCLG8&t=753

[@KajiVocals]

I don’t hear that Eb3 at all. She has D3s or something like that in an Orff opera in the 1970-80s.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Do you mean in the spoken monologue in this scene (kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHStnZaaaNyko7s) or is there a sung D3 somewhere?

[@KajiVocals]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Nope that’s not it. Ludus de nato infante mirificus in 1987. It’s in Opera on Video. She also didn’t use head there. She belted. The conductor asked her to sing the whole role down an octave. She may go lower than D3. I didn’t watch it. Just skimmed through.

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

@@KajiVocals we can find her here (ludus-de-nato-infante-mirificus-orff-munich-1987-ostermeyer-varnay/) on the operaonvideo at 38:55.

[@KajiVocals]

@@andrewgoretsky9654 C♯3!

[@andrewgoretsky9654]

@@KajiVocals I'm gagged. So she was more "tenor" than some "actual" ones.

[@hansjancker5057]

She sang Db6 in Il Trovatore act 1 final kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnnRdIZuhMiffKM

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Oh, I'm surprised she took that one because she dodges the one in "D'amor". Thanks for sharing!

[@onigbajamo]

where's the parsifal except from?

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@onigbajamo Which notes specifically? There's many Parsifal excerpts here.

[@onigbajamo]

​@@dramaticsoprano5168 around 1:15

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@onigbajamoStiedry 1954 - Act 2 Scene 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYbOgKyhd6ebepIsi=W3Zmhq7PVm36Ank3&t=9142

[@onigbajamo]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 thanks 😊

[@alleviation91]

Great, dark voice, with staggeringly deep lows and huge middle register. Her top notes are the fly in the ointment for me, however. Like Melchior, her entire method of reaching her acuti seem so artificial it rattles my head. Just sing mezzo (or baritone) if you're going to do all that!

[@Thearchivebeyondimagination]

She had a typical dramatic soprano problem - problematic extention above G/G#/A. It was typical for dramatic soprano goes "fissi", white in color, pushing, getting flat etc. But she had very secure top for wagnerian soprano of her reputation.