Christa Ludwig
She is the charm, the style and the spirit of Vienna personified. This great Mozartian and Straussian mezzo-soprano made her mark over fifty years, on stage and on record. Her father was a tenor, her mother a famous mezzo-soprano who sang Fidelio, Elektra or Azucena under Karajan's baton at Aix-la-Chapelle. She was Christa's first teacher and it is thanks to her that she learned all the dos and don'ts of singing. She made her début at the age of 18 in the Viennese operetta which was then playing in all the biggest German theatres, as was the rule at the time. In 1955, she joined the troupe of the Vienna Opera, of which she became the Kammersängerin, a prestigious distinction awarded to singers in theatres in the German-speaking world.
As a girl she had dreamed of singing the part of Léonore (Fidelio) under Karajan's direction, like her mother, whom she had watched on stage: she would do so in 1962, but this horribly difficult role (Beethoven couldn't write for the human voice) gave her dreadful stage fright that would dog her through her life. She would later admit to one night having swallowed six Valium pills before going on stage, to calm her nerves...
In the manner of an actress of stage or screen, Christa Ludwig always psychologically prepared for her roles with care, liking to put herself in her heroines' shoes. She felt very close to some, like the unfortunate Dyer's Wife (Die Frau Ohne Schatten by Strauss), who is caught in a life she feels to be useless and sterile, and who does not hesitate to sell her shadow, until she sees the world with greater serenity and love.
Christa Ludwig would take on other roles in which she would feel quite at ease: Brangäne (Tristan et Isolde), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Kundry (Parsifal). This great Wagnerian singer would not, however, feel particularly at east in Bayreuth, which she thought populated by unwelcome ghosts. Christa Ludwig, who had a good sense of humour, would often say that she had three men in her life, three chiefs with whom she loved to work: Karl Böhm who understood her voice perfectly, Herbert von Karajan who taught her the beauty of the phrase and Leonard Bernstein who to her was a genius, and the only one of her colleagues at whose death she truly wept.
While singing opera, Christa Ludwig was also a wonderful performer of Lieder, which she sang a lot on stage and in the studio. In 1994 she bid farewell to the stage by singing the redoubtable role of Clymnestra in Elektra by her dear Richard Strauss, himself also being one of the "men in her life ".
© FH / Qobuz
Artisti simili
-
Bach: Johannes-Passion, BWV 245
Karl Forster, Berliner Symphoniker, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich, Elisabeth Grümmer
Classica - Pubblicato da Warner Classics il 16 feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Legendary 1964 Recordings
Classica - Pubblicato da RCA Red Seal il 6 feb 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
A Song Recital (In Memoriam (Album of 1959))
Pop - Pubblicato da In Memoriam il 30 apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (Stereo Version)
Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra, Christa Ludwig
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen & Kindertotenlieder (Stereo Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult, Christa Ludwig, Andre Vandernoot
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen & Kindertotenlieder (Mono Version)
Christa Ludwig, Philharmonia Orchestra
Generi vari - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, No. 8, No. 9
Aase Nordmo Løvberg, Christa Ludwig, Waldemar Kmentt, Hans Hotter, Otto Klemperer, The Philharmonia Orchestra - The Philharmonia Chorus
Musica sinfonica - Pubblicato da Infinity il 4 ago 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss · Der Rosenkavalier
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Herbert von Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra
Classica - Pubblicato da G.O.P. il 30 set 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder & Liebestod - Brahms: Alto Rhapsody (Mono Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Christa Ludwig
Classica - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 10
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 mag 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Fidelio
Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Jon Vickers, Walter Berry, Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Herbert von Karajan
Classica - Pubblicato da Deutsche Grammophon (DG) il 1 gen 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Live)
Christa Ludwig, Richard Lewis, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classica - Pubblicato da Archipel il 24 apr 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Fidelio (Mono Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, Christa Ludwig, Jon Vickers
Classica - Pubblicato da BNF Collection il 1 gen 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 8
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 mag 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: St. John Passion
Elisabeth Grümmer, Christa Ludwig, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Classica - Pubblicato da Past Classics il 3 ott 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 3
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 mag 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 7
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 mag 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 1
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 giu 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 4
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 mag 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die ersten Aufnahmen – Die größten Welterfolge, Vol. 5
Classica - Pubblicato da Documents 2 il 1 giu 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo