Kirsten Flagstad

Simply put, she was the greatest Wagnerian that ever lived.

Was she a Nazi?

Schwarzkopf was a Nazi.

R3 Many German singers, conductors, writers, professors, scientists, and philosopher's were Nazi's if they could not leave.

Bohm and Karajan were Nazis too.

As was Hans Hotter

She WAS Kirsten Flagstad!

What does Nazi possess?

New biography published: "Voice of the Century" by Ingeborg Solbrekken. Goes into great detail about her return to Norway to be with her quisling husband after the US declared war on the Axis.

Both Kirsten Flagstad and Eric Porter appeared in the July 1951 edition of Theatre World magazine.

I worked with her niece, in Kansas, back in the 1980s (bank tellers). The niece was surprised I mentioned Kirsten, as no one else had ever put 2 + 2 together and asked her about it,. She was originally from MN and her husband was in law school in KS.

There are many Norwegians in the Midwest.

Her husband was Nazi-adjacent.

Here she is, folks! Live from the middle of the ocean in 1938!

And here she is again in black and white for purists.

Flagstad, Varnay, Mödl, Nilsson are the four best Wagnerian sopranos of the 20th century. No one who came after can hold a candle to these ladies. These days, Lise Davidsen (another Norwegian!) is interesting, but it’s too soon to tell. She hasn’t sung yet Isolde and Brünnhilde.

She’s scheduled to do both in the next couple of years at the Met R16. She has been singing acts from Tristan in the past year, but has recently been taking time off for the birth of her twins. It is rather crazy that she’s trying to return to singing with a new production of Tristan at the Met. Gelb is putting a lot of faith in her.

Flagstad came out of retirement to sing the Goddess Fricka in the famous Sir Georg Solti- Vienna Ring Cycle.

Flagstad appeared along this roster of Wagnerians:

George London

Wolfgang Windgassen

Birgit Nilsson

Hans Hotter

Astrid Varnay

Christa Ludwig

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Gwyneth Jones

Gottlob Frick

Hermann Uhde

James King

Lucia Popp

Kurt Bohme

and Dame Joan Sutherland as Waldvogel.

She was Fricka only in Rheingold in the Solti Ring. Then she died.

R19 true, but damn she was good. The entire cycle is creme de la creme

R16 I think you could make the argument that Wagnerian sopranos are on a different level than other sopranos

R17, I saw Davidsen as Sieglinde in Bayreuth in 2022 (that was Valentin Schwartz’ godwaful Ring). She was spectacular. She has the material to become a legendary Wagnerian. Let’s just hope that she paces herself and doesn’t burn out quickly, like so many promising singers before her.

The 2010-2012 Ring Cycle at The Met was sad.

Flagstad, is that Swedish?

R24 yes