Astrid Varnay - Never Before
rich...@gmail.com
has produced on Astrid Varnay, entitled, "Never Before: The Life,
Times and First Career of Astrid Varnay." It started just a bit late,
and was running for two hours, and unfortunately I had to meet someone
at a time I couldn't change, so probably missed about the last 15
minutes of it, but certainly, as the young people would say, 'got the
gist'. I have read Varnay's autobiography, and have familiarity with
her work from the time of her return to the MET, all in multiple
performances, and of course a fair amount of her pirate material over
her entire career.
The film is very much a labor of love and dedication, and is largely a
sequential narrative of her professional life - there were no film
clips, which was a bit of a disappointment, but still pictures of
productions, photos, programs and some narrative of an interview
between with Varnay with Donald, along with a number of audio
excerpts, largely, I think, from familiar material, although not less
interesting for that.
You have to get the Zinka story out of the way first, because there
always is one. Varnay has her own funny and admiring things to say
about Zinka, and also some appropriately insightful things (she could
be 'sloppy' in the ensemble work, which was Varnay's word, but was
wonderful always in the arias). In any event, Collup and Varnay are
talking about Zinka and Trovatore, I think, and Donald says that when
Zinka was once asked the story of Trovatore, she answered, "How can I
know? I only sing one role."
The Yugoslavian Gracie Allen. RIP Zinka.
I have always struggled with Varnay, and I went because I wanted to
get some clarity and hopefully resolution of that struggle, and in
some respect the film helped, if not completely. I don't think that
there was a role in which I saw Varnay in which was not indelible for
me, and frankly I don't think that anyone will ever be able to eclipse
that second act of Jenufa. If there was anything I was less than
impressed with, it was the Mahagonny, and that was largely, seen in
retrospect of three decades, because of every element of a distorted
(in my view) staging and elephantine conducting. It wasn't 'just' that
she was magnetic on stage - my dear, beloved Grace Bumbry was pizzazz
and magentism incarnate - but it's like Varnay was a very concentrated
tornado. Completely intense and focused, and yet without making me
feel that she was making an effort to be focused.
Completely unforgettable.
I almost never get that with just the audio side, and I don't know
why. I suspect some of it is because the voice as an instrument just
doesn't speak to me. I don't need a beautiful sound, but some sounds
just don't, and her's doesn't. I also don't hear, try as I might, a
lot of 'tone color inflection' in what she sings. If you take
Schwartzkopf as an extreme example of coloring each word, Varnay is at
the complete other end for me. I just don't hear those nuances.
Perhaps it is my insensitivity still to in German how subtlely one can
inflect, but still, I don't hear it, and didn't hear it again tonight
even in the few Italian excerpts. It may also be that ultimate
unfairness, which is that she was not ultimately a 'beautiful' person
in a conventional way. She had very strong features, and a lot of
character, and I think she was more attractive as she was older, but
there is always 'something' that attractive people get an edge on,
even if it's unfair, and maybe that's a part of it too. I have loved a
lot of not very attractive singers, but maybe somehow that plays into
it.
What did some across finally in the film is that she must have been
always a complete force of nature in her singing, not just her stage
presence (which is of course most of what I got after her return). In
the interview, as in the book, she comes across as very bright - maybe
not intellectual bright, I don't know, but sharp and canny and
nobody's fool. I am not sure it's always even 'good singing'; in a
funny way, she reminds me of what a very smart guy once said about
Crespin, which was that he doubted that she (Crespin) had ever really
vocalized on runs and trills and so on, and that ulitmately it showed
in the thickness of the voice. I thought that a bit about Varnay - it
doesn't sound like there was ever any real flexibility tried for (I
don't mean coloratura, of course). I would suspect that what it 'is'
in the voice is an intensity that carries all before it, rather than
primarilty nuance or shading, and that's the best I could do out of
the experience of the film.
edo...@gmail.com
wrote:
I guess I am not supposed to answer this, but, of course, I will,
because I saw Collup's first showing of this film about 5 or 6 years
ago, and, to be brief, found it a labor of love, but very boring, and
would not want to see it again.
Ed
Daniel Kessler
Back in 1961 I saw her Elektra in San Antonio...in those years...the
conductor of the Symphony offered a brief opera season every year as
performed in that large auditorium which did have excellent acoustics.
Astrid Varnay's Elektra was the greatest I ever witnessed.
In 1964 at the Bayreuth Festival I also heard her three Br�nnhildes and
that was very special as well...
In later years at the Met...I heard her as Granmother Burya in "Jenufa,"
and also as the Kostelnicka which was a huge disappointment for me...no
where near as riveting as was Leonie Rysanek in that role...and I attended
several performances.
I very much liked her Witwe Begwick in "Mahagonny" and after having seen
performances in that opera in Stuttgart and London, no one has ever
equalled her portrait, in my opinion.
rich...@gmail.com
the Witch in Hansel. I am sure that Leonie both had more voice
(particularly on top) and more sheer pizzazz at the Kostelnicka, but I
felt that there was something so complete about the Varnay (even in
Engish!). I think she would have been wonderful as the Witch.
On Jan 5, 8:50 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
> I was there ...witnessed the film and it brought back memories...
>
> Back in 1961 I saw her Elektra in San Antonio...in those years...the
> conductor of the Symphony offered a brief opera season every year as
> performed in that large auditorium which did have excellent acoustics.
>
> Astrid Varnay's Elektra was the greatest I ever witnessed.
>
> In 1964 at the Bayreuth Festival I also heard her three Brünnhildes and
> > the experience of the film.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
wagnerfan
news:9c2fb61e-bd91-4c0f...@21g2000yqj.googlegroups.com...
I would be surprised in the second part of her career if she never did
the Witch in Hansel. I am sure that Leonie both had more voice
(particularly on top) and more sheer pizzazz at the Kostelnicka, but I
felt that there was something so complete about the Varnay (even in
Engish!). I think she would have been wonderful as the Witch.
On Jan 5, 8:50 am, Daniel Kessler <dkess...@pop.cybernex.net> wrote:
> I was there ...witnessed the film and it brought back memories...
>
> Back in 1961 I saw her Elektra in San Antonio...in those years...the
> conductor of the Symphony offered a brief opera season every year as
> performed in that large auditorium which did have excellent acoustics.
>
> Astrid Varnay's Elektra was the greatest I ever witnessed.
>
> In 1964 at the Bayreuth Festival I also heard her three Br�nnhildes and
For me, Varnay never had a particularly "beautiful" voice - it could be
thick and unwieldy. However, she could do marvelous things with it, even in
a sheerly technical sense - her 1953 Bayreuth Walkure really has some
spectacular breath control. Moreover she has that special "something" that
is the mark of a great artist - I never find her dull even when the voice is
not quite the right "fit" e.g. her Senta. Her Ortrud is fascinating in every
sense. She also had a great stage persona - features that are too big when
seen close-up are perfect for the stage and she was a superb actress - we
need more of her. Wagner fan
Mark
> "richer...@hotnail.com" <richer...@gmail.com> wrote in message
I saw her several times in Vienna 1975 singing Herodias. Sensational.
As Richard L. said, great stage persona and superb actress.
SeattleJohn
of the voice, particularly in the middle. Did it have a huge impact
live, for those of you lucky enough to have heard her in her heyday?
alcindoro
That is why it is titled "Never Before" ... duh ...