Strauss: Elektra, Vienna 1982 (Birgit Nilsson, Gwyneth Jones)

[@wayneblackmonmdjd6870]

64 years old! You should have heard her sing this in her forties. Thanks for posting. Brings back wonderful memories.

[@davidsongarrett8087]

We will never have performances like this again. No one has ever come close to Nilsson in this role. Late Nilsson is still far more exciting than anyone out there today.

[@wotan10950]

Oh, I can’t agree. I saw Nilsson onstage as Elektra in 1980. It was thrilling to see her, but her actual singing was awful. I subsequently saw Behrens, Jones, Gasteen, Polaski, Stemme, and Goerke, who all sang better than Birgit in the performance here. Of course I agree that in her prime she was unsurpassed.

[@jonathanfinney7821]

Hans Beirer was 71 in this performance. Not bad either!

[@mjc5509]

ELEKTRA is probably the most demanding role ..Nilsson is to commended here.. RIP

[@fritzelas]

I know both of them from the stage door for many years. Happy adolescence in vienna.....

[@davidmayhew8083]

Thrilling. The orchestra is a WOW!

[@scottinpa5512]

She sang Isolde's Narrative and Curse (no walk in the park) at the Met Centennial Gala in Oct 1983. That's a year and ten months later than this.

[@SymphonyBrahms]

The great Birgit Nilsson and the great Gwyneth Jones.

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Nilsson's well-known intonation problems at this late stage are in full evidence here. Still, thank you for sharing and wonderful to view this again.

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Well, and Jones' as well 🙂

[@crazyorganist1609]

@@doGreatartistsgrowontrees Jones is so off pitch here, it's distracting

[@silviocorrea5271]

Miss Nilsson and Miss Jones Fantastic!

[@mckavitt13]

Yes, she was known for sharping. Understandable considering her usual range... she pushed the diaphragm a bit too hard.

[@ransomcoates546]

@@mckavitt13 But by this point her C's were way under.

[@jianchaowang7063]

1:21:59 Jones looked at Nilsson with such love and admiration and held her hand so tightly.

[@susannevollmer2347]

>Klobucar und das Orchester sind phantastisch Ein bewegendes Dokument. Die Intensität der Darstellung scheint bei Birgit Niilsson im Alter zugenommen zu haben. Mich rührt die Darstellung sehr an.

[@tabarro1877]

Berit Lindholm also sang all three rôles during her career. Crysothemis 1964, Elektra 1981, Klytämnestra 1993.

[@tantris39]

Where did she sing Klytemnestra? I was not aware of that. She was the greatest Elektra I ever saw (and I saw Nilsson twice,, who was no sluch either!!!)

[@tabarro1877]

@@tantris39 She sang Clytämnestra in Stockholm 1993!

[@tantris39]

@@tabarro1877 Would love to have seen that!

[@finylvinyl66]

Leonie Rysanek also sang all three leads and was excellent in each.

[@Yves_Ka]

I am pretty sure Varnay also sang all 3 Roles

[@martinjaviersalum7261]

Nilsson y Jones dos grandes. La primera con 64 años increible ( logico que no es igual que a sus 40 ). Las admiro.

[@roberthanff4354]

Not her last performance. That wss on June 16 of the same year.

[@noe3024]

Her previous Elektra was a 1980 Met performance where she was still in a bit better form voice-wise.

[@illyaismaili6413]

Wieland Wagner's staging? Amazing!

[@wotan10950]

Wonderful document! Unfortunately, Gwyneth was going through a wobbly phase in the early-1980s, and Birgit was at the end of her career. Gwyneth was one of only two singers who performed all three roles onstage. Eva Marton was the other. Rysanek recorded the music in a studio for a film.

[@mckavitt13]

I love Gwyneth, but when didn't she have wobbly phases?

[@wotan10950]

mckavitt13 I would say her recordings and videos from the 1970s are wobble-free. Her Trovatore, Don Carlo, and Aida could rival anyone’s. The Monteverdi Poppea is exquisite, as is Fidelio, Medea, Rosenkavalier, and Merry Widow. The Sibelius Lunnutar, Mendelssohn Elijah. It’s a bad cliche that she always wobbled, she wouldn’t have had an international career. By 1980, after all the Brunnhilde’s and Salome’s, it was hit or miss.

[@mckavitt13]

@@wotan10950 A lot of Brunnhildes & Salomés would do that. Thx for your opinion. I shall listen to some of the discs you mention & see some more videos & see if I have a new opinion. But I heard her both Live & on record when she hadn't yet sung one Brunnhilde & she often wobbled on the big high notes. I deduced she was forcing. I met her too. So beautiful & charming.

[@mckavitt13]

I prefer a wobbly Gwyneth to a solid Eva Marton. Dunno why.

[@janhermansson3990]

A younger swedish collegue to Nilsson was Berit Lindholm who sang all the three rôles in Elektra, Chrysothemis in Paris 1964; Elektra, Deutsch Oper am Rhein 1981; and Klytemnestra 1993 in Stockholm. Not bad for a singer who have had bleeding vocal cords 1972. Nilsson told her to study with a voice coach i N.Y.

[@jianchaowang7063]

17:00

[@Altonahh10]

We know that all Chrysothemis wants is pregnancy, but honestly guys - who would marry such a fierce foghorn? ;-) I love it when Chrysothemis is equally dramatic as Elektra because that is what Strauss wanted.

[@gerardmignon700]

La voix de Nilsson n'est pas stable et bouge terriblement, toujours en dessous du ton, on dirait qu'elle est fatiguée. C'est terrible car on ne l'entends jamais comme çà.

[@eduardomedrano1972]

the voice is over...better not to sing in this shape...

[@jacekzychowicz9047]

Better not to comment when one has next to nothing to say

[@manolis.799]

She was a legend. Many singers have gone on singing longer than they “should” have. But who are we to judge? When one has such a love for their art as Nilsson can one blame her for wanting to sing as long as possible? It’s none of our business what these artists do with their personal or professional lives.