Grob Prandl - Robert le Diable

I had forgotten how well this shows that Grob Prandl could convey much more than just brilliance in her singing, so thanks, John, for asking me to post it. There's a great urgency and considerable passion in this performance - not to mention some blistering high notes!

[@PaulHankinsonMusic]

Sensational. My father saw her in Vienna in those days and told me she and Lehmann were the best ..

[@petergraham8681]

Here is as fine an introduction to this great singer that I can think of for those who have never heard her. Another is the OBERON aria. Her instrument had a mixture of power & melting lyricism that few dramatic sopranos could match. This holds true today as well, IMO. I never heard a more beautiful Meyerbeer aria than this.

[@2906nico]

Fantastic. I had never heard her until a couple of days ago. Thrilling discovery.

[@Bivolari]

What a pleasure to this aria sung by a dramatic soprano. I knew of her mainly through her Isolde. What a pleasant surprise.

[@pasavant]

The next time someone asks " Why dont they revive Meyerbeer operas?" Play this for them. There is no singer today who could even think of attempting this. Thanks so much for allowing me to discover this great singer.

[@kurtganzl4290]

I dont think anyone before or after could sing this as stunningly. She is an absolute phenomenon!

[@eduardobraivein8496]

Kurt Ganzl She would undoubdtedly have been an outsanding Valentine ("Les Huguenots") and Rachel ("La Juive" by Halevy).

[@gabribesanzoni7091]

Per me, la voce più perfetta al mondo. 💛

[@alexanderzaphir721]

Senza dubbio ,per la sua categoria vocale ,la perfezione in assolutto.L adoro.Anche communque un po prima ,M.Nemeth che ha cantato tutto da Salome a R.de la notte ,senza perdere la sua voce. Ma ancora eravamo nel periodo di grandi maestri di canto ,che sapevamo insegnare le voci

[@kurtganzl4290]

This woman is SENSATIONAL! Why have I at age 70 (50 of them occasionally around opera) never heard (of) her before ....

[@kurtganzl4290]

I just keep coming back ...

[@eduardobraivein8496]

Verity Grace Turner My late father had the fortune of hearing her at the TEATRO COLON (Buenos Aires) in 1950 as Bruenhilde ("Die Walkuere), Leonore ("Fidelio) and even the First Lady ("Die Zauberfloete"), the three operas conducted by Karl Boehm.

[@fan2jnrc]

She's astonishing. But... OH MY GOD! This aria sung in german instead of french, you believe that you hear something from Tannhauser or Lohengrin... This is amazing... You feel perfectly well what influence Meyerbeer had on the young Wagner, who was later so ingrateful!

[@LLehmannfan]

She was a real dramatic soprano! Such a well trained, powerful voice. Even in the upper register, although the voice sounds there very light. (instead of some sopranos of today which emit painful cries in the heights) Five stars for this real gem

[@robertevans8010]

Her voice even at the top was very Large and she was a very lovely Lady, I met her many times in London and what a sense of humour, unlike a few famous others I could mention, very successful in London and all over Europe, also in South America, she Toured the US in the early Fifties doing Concerts to great success, she had very good English and Italian also!

[@65attila]

starrman22 Thank you and what a pleasure to share this with others not familiar with her voice or this performance. John

[@jayraynido]

Is it just me or is her voice bigger than Nilsson's? My goodness!!! She sings this better than most of the lyric/coloratura sopranos who sing this arias! Very few are brave enough to take the C6!!! Brava!

[@jasonhurd4379]

Her voice was infinitely larger than Nilsson's. Next to Grob-Prandl, Nilsson sounds like Emma Kirkby.

[@alexanderzaphir721]

@@jasonhurd4379 haha! In deed! No1. .the walls shook

[@edwardamosbrandwein3583]

It's been said that, had Nilsson not existed, Grob-Prandl would have reigned supreme as the GREATEST WAGNER SOPRANO of her time@jasonhurd4379

[@OLIVCHEN77]

Well...What you need to become a Operasinger? Stimme Stimme Stimme This is one of the greatest Singer of the 20 Century!

[@alfredoloyola921]

For sure!!!

[@alfredoloyola921]

Brava. Gertrude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@mazzone1]

wow what a great perfomance.

[@acacia-bloom]

AMAZING!

[@alfredoloyola921]

Indeed!!!!!!

[@evgeny9965]

If you look hard enough you can find a complete Ring with this extraordinary voice under Rudolph Moralt.

[@nwdixieboy]

some say it was the biggest dramatic soprano voice of all time. Certainly at the top. Nilsson certainly looked a lot like her so you can see where all that sound came from. she had a fantastic voice but her career was confined only to Vienna or she was the chief soprano. she could stay at home which is really nice but she didn't have the international Fame that she could have had if she had toured the world.

[@starrman22]

In the early 1950s, Grob Prandl sang Turandot at Covent Garden - in English! - to considerable acclaim. Apparently, after a day rehearsing she said to her irish Calaf, James Johnson, "And now, Jimmee, we go for tea and sandwiches?" and she would be astonished and horrified to find that he couldn't because he was heading straight off to Sadlers Wells to sing principal tenor that same night. She did sing throughout Europe and in San Francisco, but I couldn't agree more with you about the career that might have been. I think I'm right in saying that when Regine Crespin sang Brunnhilde for Karajan at Salzburg, she pulled out of the second cycle, to be replaced by Grob Prandl who was covering. If that cycle existed in sound, it would be quite something to hear Grob Prandl in a recording that came somewhere near capturing her voice properly.

[@nwdixieboy]

+starrman22 Jesus! The things you know!!!!!

[@starrman22]

You're very kind, but these things are usually remembered at the expense of things I OUGHT to know, like where my passport is and where the hell did I put the middle CD of the Klemperer "Cosi"!

[@alexanderzaphir721]

@@starrman22 fortunately we have her Ring!!! How unfair the world of opera is.Perhaps the most perfect dr.soprano of the century.Her voice shook the walls.Volume ,pitch ,technique ,she had everything...except being helped. She said......in Bayreuth ,they didn't need me ,they had Varnay & Modl... Varnay certainly was great,& Modl had her own value as interpreter , despite her bottled technique that completely ruined her instrument, but nobody was like Prandl ,not even Nillson. At least we have her voice in all her splendour in Ring,Isolde ,Elektra,Elettra ,D.Anna,Turandot& the recitals. Who else was able to sing ......Was bluten muss & Robert, the way she did? How humiliating for her incomparable technique ,to be the cover of one of the most unbearable throaty (&stupid) person like Crespin(who remained voiceless after this Karajan's Brunhilde???)

[@robertevans8010]

I saw her many times in her career and I knew her as well, a more lovely generous happy and Humorous lady would be hard to find, she was in Wagner one of the greatest of the 20Century and her Elektra was spellbinding and she had no trouble with the Tessitura , I saw her in London in Turandot in English, the role was a great one for her. I saw her in Salzburg and Vienna and many times in Italy, sadly we will not here a voice of her quality and stamina again I believe.

[@65attila]

How true pasavant. !!!!! Regards-John

[@jro571]

Wonderful! I'd love to know the year of this recording, as well as the years of Grob-Prandl's other recordings posted to youtube.

[@judycadana]

what a voice; her two chest notes remind me of Anna Russell, though.

[@kurtgarmaker3719]

This is excellent. I prefer it in French and I prefer Bev Sills.. this lady may have a big voice but she does not have a soft voice.. as exhibited by Sills

[@cinziavidali411]

Una registrazione un po' più antica ma molto chiara. La cantante ha una voce sublime.