Christa Ludwig

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Christa Ludwig

Christa Ludwig (born 16 March 1928) is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
retired mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of European classical music female voice type whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above ....
, distinguished for her performances of opera

Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
and Lieder. Her career spanned from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.

Ludwig was born in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
to a musical family; her father, Anton Ludwig, was a tenor and an operatic administrator, her mother, the mezzo-soprano Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig who sang the Aachen Opera during Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan

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Encyclopedia

Christa Ludwig (born 16 March 1928) is a German

Germany

Mezzo-soprano

Opera

Berlin

Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conducting, one of the most renowned 20th-century conductors. His obituary in The New York Times described him as "probably the world's best-known conductor and one of the most powerful figures in classical music." Karajan conducted the Berlin Philharmonic for thirty-five years....
's period as conductor. Ludwig's first voice teacher was her mother.

Ludwig made her debut in 1946 at the age of 18 as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus

Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German language libretto by Carl Haffner and Richard Gen?e....
at Frankfurt

Frankfurt

is the largest city in the German States of Germany of Hesse and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000....
, where she sang until 1952. She was a member of the Darmstadt Oper from 1952 to 1954, then sang the 1954–1955 season at the Staatsoper Hannover

Staatsoper Hannover

Staatsoper Hannover is an opera house and opera company in Hanover. It is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.During the course of its season from September to June, Staatsoper Hannover mounts productions of a variety of operas from the standard operatic repertoire as well as 20th century works....
. She joined the Vienna State Opera

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house - and opera company - with a history dating back to the mid 19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria....
in 1955, where she became one of its principal artists and was appointed Kammersängerin in 1962 and performed with the company for more than thirty years. In 1954, Ludwig made her debut at the Salzburg Festival

Salzburg Festival

The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart....
as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and appeared there regularly until 1981. Ludwig made her debut as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde

Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German language libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Stra?burg....
at the Bayreuth Festival

Bayreuth Festival

The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented....
in 1966. In 1960, she performed as Adalgisa alongside Maria Callas

Maria Callas

Maria Callas was an American-born Greeks soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts....
as Norma

Norma (opera)

Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet....
, in Bellini

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italy opera composer. Known for his flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of Bel canto opera....
's opera by the same title.

Ludwig made her American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicol? Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma ....
as Dorabella in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte

Cos? fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was written by Lorenzo da Ponte....
in 1959. That same year, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
in as Cherubino, and subsequently returned there regularly until 1990. Ludwig first appeared at the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", is the home of Royal Opera, London , Royal Ballet, London and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House....
, Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden....
in 1969 as Amneris in Aida
Aida

Aida an Arabic female name meaning "visitor" or "returning") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette ....
.

As Ludwig's voice matured, she expanded her repertoire from lyric and spinto
Spinto

Spinto is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between voice type and voice type that is capable of handling large dramatic climaxes at moderate intervals....
mezzo-roles to dramatic roles. Her vast repertory eventually grew to encompass Carmen

Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
, Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera

'Un ballo in maschera' , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The opera's first production was at the Teatro Apollo, Rome, February 17, 1859....
), Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi , was an Italian composer, viol, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the music of the Renaissance music to that of the Baroque music....
's Octavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea

L'incoronazione di Poppea is an opera seria in three acts by Claudio Monteverdi to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, based on historical incidents described in the Annals ....
), Dido (Les Troyens
Les Troyens

Les Troyens is a France opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid....
), Kundry (Parsifal
Parsifal

Parsifal is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the medieval Epic poetry of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
), Klytemnestra (Elektra
Elektra (opera)

Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted from his drama of 1903?the first of many such collaborations between composer and librettist....
) and contemporary roles by von Einem

Gottfried von Einem

Gottfried von Einem was an Austrian composer. He is known chiefly for his operas influenced by the music of Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev, as well as by jazz....
and Orff

Carl Orff

Carl Orff was a 20th-century Germany composer, most famous for his composition Carmina Burana . He has also become very influential in the field of music education for his pedagogy methods, which survive through Orff Schulwerk....
. She also ventured briefly into the spinto

Spinto

Spinto is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between voice type and voice type that is capable of handling large dramatic climaxes at moderate intervals....
and dramatic soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
repertory with performances of Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
's Lady Macbeth (Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)

Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's Macbeth....
), Strauss's Dyer's Wife (Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten

Die Frau ohne Schatten is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal....
), the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai and Moli?re?s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac....
) and Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical music era and Romantic music eras in classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time....
's Leonore (Fidelio
Fidelio

Fidelio is a German language opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly....
) .

In addition to her opera performances, Ludwig regularly gave recitals of Lied

Lied

, is a German language word, meaning literally "song"; among English speakers, however, the word is used primarily as a term for European European classical music songs, also known as art songs....
er and as a soloist with orchestras. Her performances of Schubert

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 lieder, nine symphonies , liturgy music, operas, and a large body of chamber music and solo piano music....
, Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic music composers of the 19th century....
, Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms , composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic music. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene....
, Wolf

Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovenes origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in technique....
, Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conducting. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day....
and Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic music and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Strauss was also a prominent Conducting....
are much admired. She also sang Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
and performed and recorded most of his major vocal works.

From 1957 to 1970, Ludwig was married to the bass-baritone Walter Berry

Walter Berry (opera singer)

Walter Berry was an Austrian bass-baritone.He studied voice at the Vienna Music Academy and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1947....
; the couple performed together frequently, notably in Die Frau ohne Schatten
Die Frau ohne Schatten

Die Frau ohne Schatten is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal....
. In 1972, she married the French stage-manager Paul-Emile Deiber.

In 1993–1994, Ludwig gave a series of farewell recitals in many cities and made her farewell appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, as Fricka in Die Walküre
Die Walküre

Die Walk?re is the second of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It is the source of the famous piece Ride of the Valkyries....
.

Ludwig's final live operatic performance was Klytemnestra in Elektra for the Vienna State Opera in 1994.

The same year, Ludwig published a memoir with Peter Csobádi. . Two English translations of the book are available.

Currently, Ludwig spends her time giving many Master Classes.

External links

(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

Quotes

In times where personalities are thinly sown, we have first class, yes excellent, musical practitioners, who lack intuition, imagination, and a feeling for composers, who, even though they lived in the past, can speak to us about today. Courage is needed to reveal one's own feelings in interpretation and not tell the audience with raised forefinger: "The composer wanted it like this, and no other way." But at the same time we singers must never forget that we are only the servants of the great minds who created all the wonderful pieces of music we enjoy today. - In My Own Voice (p.119) translated by Regina Domeraski