Early Kirsten Flagstad's huge B5s and interpolated high C as Kundry

'Early' used liberally here as she was already 43 here, but this is the earliest recording you will find of Kirsten Flagstad as Kundry (Parsifal, 1938 @ the Met).
Flagstad was in exceptionally good form on this day, her family (sister and mother) were visiting from Norway so she must have wanted to make the performance extra special. This scene was complete with a huge interpolated high C on the "HaHa!". I do believe this was intentional, and not a sharp B, as she also did the same thing later at Covent Garden ( • Kirsten Flagstad's mon... ).
Parsifal - Lauritz Melchior
Conductor - Erich Leinsdorf

[@ransomcoates546]

People often forget that Flagstad was 39 or 40 at the time of her sensational Met debut, and was in fact contemplating retirement.

[@chocolatesouljah]

Wow! Didn't know that. Interesting indeed!

[@ransomcoates546]

@@chocolatesouljah Yes. She married her second husband (the one who caused her so much grief) in 1930, and thought about settling down, having sung for years a repertoire that included Desdemona and Marguerite in ‘Faust’ (!). Her first Isolde was not until 1932.

[@chocolatesouljah]

Hello, I just noticed this response! I’m a little bit late, but thanks so much for the background information. Didn’t realize she had a troubling husband situation. It’s amazing that she had this debut at this age. Helen Traubel had a late debut a few years later in part because Flagstad was no longer available, because she was in World War II Europe at that point.

[@susannevollmer2347]

It is nor onla the voice,it`s also her dramatic power! Breathtaking!

[@DCFunBud]

Flagstad was fearless.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Highlights: 0:17, 4:02 - B5s 1:48 - C6 2:22, 3:07, 3:49 - B-flats

[@crisha721]

4:02 WOW! the resonance is superhuman

[@Campuscoll]

My father, who heard both Nilsson and Flagstad sing Isolde at the Met, said that Flagstad's voice was bigger than Nilsson's. BUT, the quality was so different - Flagstad's being darker and warmer and Nilsson's being more pointed and "steely" to use his words, which seemed to carry better than Kirsten's. He attended Flagstad's performance of Isolde in 1941, and remembered her going home to Norway after the performance (she was 46 at the time.) He had never heard such an Isolde before and commented that she seemed to really live the part. He saw Nilsson's debut as Isolde and was very impressed with her interpretation of the part. He was hard pressed to pick a favorite. I also think that there were more orchestra players in the pit with Nilsson. I may be wrong, but it's a speculation. I heard Nilsson at the Met in Lincoln Center which was very different from the old Met house, or so I've been told. I thought Nilsson had the biggest voice I had ever heard up to that time. I've heard some bigger voices in my time, but none had the stamina and longevity that Nilsson possessed. Thank you for this post. I have the whole recording and have listened to it many times.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

What we perceive as 'loudness' is a combination of natural vocal weight, projection technique and pitch acoustics. I have read many anecdotes on KZbin where operagoers have said that artists such as Gwyneth Jones and Eva Marton also had bigger/heavier voices than Nilsson but none had the laser-like projection of Nilsson which helped her to carry better than anyone in living memory (at least on the top notes). I think it may have been a similar case with Flagstad vs Nilsson too. Although, judging from recordings alone, I think Flagstad's middle and lower registers were much heavier than even the other great heldensopranos.

[@Campuscoll]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 I have heard Joan Sutherland several times in several different houses. I was blown away hearing her Norma in San Francisco. The War Memorial is a great opera house considering its huge size. Joan filled that 3500 seat venue with tremendous sounds, bigger that anyone I have heard in that venue. I've heard some big voices there, including Marton and several others, but none filled that house with such warmth of sound and projection power. At various times, Sutherland's voice seemed to emanate from behind me at climax points, soaring over the great SFO chorus and 50 musicians in the pit. Otherworldly.

[@ocasuista850]

I think Flagstad’s voice was more diffuse and Nilsson’s, more focused

[@Khalid7a]

@@Campuscoll According to most who heard these great voices in the Met, Sutherland didn't have a huge voice that overpowers others like Flagstad or Ponselle, but she had great projection that her voice is always heard which is as you describe "seeming to emanate from behind". I think most agree that Ponselle, Flagstad, Ferrell, and Tebaldi were the hugest soprano voices at the Met.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@Khalid7a Would you put Tebaldi in a similar class to the aforementioned singers?

[@davidmuller9938]

Leinsdorf did MAGIC

[@KajiVocals]

Amazing.

[@richardrodriguez5359]

Seeing these videos , her voice was definitely bigger the Nilsson’s.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

I doubt recordings can reflect voice sizes accurately but I agree it does sound like Flagstad had more vocal weight. Volume is a little harder to tell, because we also have to consider projection as well as natural vocal weight, there I’m not sure.

[@ER1CwC]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Nilsson’s voice was actually not as heavy as many of the other great heldensopranos. Her voice sat a bit higher. But it was so penetrating and focused.

[@danielevans849]

@@ER1CwC how do you know that? I saw Marton, the great Gwneth Jones and neither had the heft of Nilsson's voice.

[@captainamerica-qw1gl]

Yes. I saw Marton and Nilsson in Frau Ohne Schatten. Marton stole the show with a far lovelier and pleasing voice, but Nilsson, at the end of her Met career was louder, albeit effortful and edgy.

[@elsalohengrin7777]

For me Flagstad the greatest: crecendi with full power, even after hours, Götterdämmerung Jumping from very High notes to very low, and both perfect sang and more... .

[@DimitrisLian]

A Parsifal Act II for the Ages!

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Absolutely, my favorite Kundry ever. I find it difficult to listen to anyone else in the role.

[@DimitrisLian]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Only Christa Ludwig. But Flagstad is the best!!!

[@XlikeZero]

@@dramaticsoprano5168 Astrid Varnay, Met, 1954

[@randysills4418]

Joan Sutherland's husband, Richard Bonynge, said that after he saw Flagstad as Kundry in 1951 the performance is burned into his mind and he doesn't want to see any other performance...

[@DimitrisLian]

@@XlikeZero Fantastic. Martha Modl too in Bayreuth 1951+53, super intensity.

[@draganvidic2039]

😍😍😍