Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - Isolde's narrative and curse - Frida Leider (1928)

Richard Wagner
Tristan und Isolde
Doch nun von Tristan! ... Wie lachend sie mir Lieder singen ... O blinde Augen! Blöde Herzen!
Isolde - Frida Leider
Brangäne - Elfriede Marherr
Berlin State Orchestra
Leo Blech, conductor
HMV, 1928

[@carlquistharris]

What a great performance. Leider is both lovestruck teenager in the narration and furious woman scorned in the curse.

[@meltzerboy]

Some consider Frida Leider the greatest Wagnerian soprano of them all, at least on recording. I think very highly of her singing, and not only in Wagner. She has that wonderful chiaroscuro coloring to her voice and is always highly expressive in her artistry.

[@glummdelclitch451]

Whatever do you mean by wonderful chiaroscuro? And what does highly expressive mean? Expressive of what? With all due respect to your proven capacities on the KZbin, I find such expressions to be fundamentally non-expressive of any useful or important meaning. Nevertheless, I do agree that Frau Leider was a very fine full throated Wagnerian soprano, whose control and clarity were quite superior to most of her contemporaries. Whether she was the "greatest Wagnerian soprano" of them all, even qualified by your "at least on record", is another one of those non-signifying statements which are often made about musicians, but don't really do much to help us to appreciate their actual accomplishments.

[@Shahrdad]

I agree. Wanger expected his singers to have an Italian bel canto technique, and he even expected them to sing trills (which he wrote in Die Walküre). Leider sang with beautiful legato, big voice, without being overly so, and she sang all the written trills. And she had a warm, expressive voice. I have always preferred her to both Flagstad and Nilsson.

[@XlikeZero]

@@Shahrdad there is Helen Traubel with warm voice too. For me she is the best.

[@Shahrdad]

@@XlikeZero sadly, she couldn’t really sing higher than an A. Great lady nonetheless.

[@XlikeZero]

@@Shahrdad But here Frida Leider ducked 2 Bs too) I would say Bb in late years - she sang it in Siegfried 1951. And she sang these two Bs in Tristan in Met in 1943 with a great quality

[@65attila]

Stunning voice and exciting singing.

[@tenorette2003]

I'm not sure if Leider comes near to Flagstad and Nilsson in sheer size of voice. But where those ladys are more on the heroic side of the role I find Leider much more involved in lsolde as a woman. Her wonderful differentiation in diction and colouring the voice like a Lieder singer amazes me. Where I'm overwhelmed by Nilsson and Flagstad I'm deeply touched by Leider.

[@carlquistharris]

You express the difference beautifully. In German, Leider is more "weiblich" or womanly than Nilsson for sure and maybe even than Flagstad, great as they are. Whereas I'd say Flagstad was a great Isolde and Nilsson a great Brunnhilde, especially a great angry Brunnhilde, I find Leider equally good in both roles.

[@juliustilghman27]

Nilsson remains unsurpassed in this music.

[@terrance7220]

If you ignore everything besides the high notes

[@remomazzetti8757]

Not for everyone. It's only your opinion, not some objective fact.