Lisa della Casa & D. Fischer-Dieskau in Arabella

[LeChevalierDuFeu]

lisa della casa is perfect!!!!!!!!

[seattle813]

Fi-Di: Der Hölzerne Prinz. This is the type of "acting" we used to call "the blind Italian staggers"

[machiequesto]

@seattle813 hölzerner prinz? look at his don giovanni in berlin or his falstaff and you will see that his acting depends very much on the role his is playing. maybe more than most singers he also used his brain to create a character....

[stratdoc]

D. Fischer-Dieskau is a reason people don't come to opera. Lisa della Casa is a reason we live to hear a voice so transcendent..

[MrOpernfreak]

@stratdoc gemein

[machiequesto]

@stratdoc what a funny opinion..!? I would travel miles to hear a singer of that intensity, stage presence, musicality, technical perfection like fischer-dieskau. opera will never be for "people" - they prefer michael jackson or lady gaga...!

[ekonvollm]

Herrliche Darstellung von den beiden überragenden Künstlern des letzten Jahrhunderts.

[operafan28]

I admire Fischer-Dieskau very much in this role - and what a beautiful voice! And Lisa della Casa=Arabella!

There is no DVD of this because - I think it's Wunderlich Medien - they don't want to "give it free". But it was 1960 and 50 years after the performance there are no more rights as far as I know ... and now we have 2010. So - maybe - one could get it within this year!?

O what a dream!

[konradeug]

Wunderbar!

[billyguns2]

Della Casa and Te Kanawa were the greatest Arabellas, IMO. How marvelous to have this video of one of the great scenes from this gorgeous opera!

[Cavaradossi1981]

Are you fucking crazy? How can you put the name of "Te Kanawa" together with Della Casa??? DELLA CASA RULES

[3tristan]

I've seen this opera the first time in Munich, also with Lisa della Casa and Dietrich Fischer Dieskau. Conductor Joseph Keilberth. Maybe it is the same production (Rennert or Hartmann)?

[operafan28]

@3tristan O you're SO lucky. so lucky!

[mckavitt]

@3tristan It is indeed the Keilberth, i believe:)

[web4pro]

The best Strauss-couple ever! Really difficult to sing Mandryka after Fischer-Dieskau ;-)

[podkivanok]

Great! Lisa della Casa is the one real Arabella!

[MReferee]

Jaime: Mattila IS Arabellissima. Whatever merits della Casa may still need, she will have to earn them all by herself, through her art.

[noesdedios]

oh dear... should I suspect nationalistic affinities to la Mattila? ;) Della Casa has certainly earned the fact that her name is closely associated with Arabella— Mattila might be a better musician indeed, but she is not a better Arabella...

[MReferee]

Whatever della Casa was or wasn't has nothing to do with Mattila who simply is Arabellissima. Comparisons don't flatter della Casa so building on them is plain silly. She just has to make it entirely on her own like Mattila too had to. I hope you understand my point.

[noesdedios]

if you were able to clearly explain your point, one of course would understand it.

[MReferee]

Unfortunately Google translator doesn't provide special services for della Casa widows so your best option is to just take the words & the phrases and engage your head.

[noesdedios]

I just couldn't be those very smart arguments— bravo, O bravissimo!

[MReferee]

You don't need to "be them" as they are no arguments but humble realities...

[callasnuts]

della Casa just HAS to make it entirely her own like Mattila too HAD too??? Hello! della Casa WAS predicted by Strauss to be his favorite Arabella since she sang the first swiss Zdenka in Strauss´s presence 60 years ago!! If somebody HAS to work on something else beyond musicality and just BEING the role its...Mattila!

[MReferee]

Mattila is on a totally different level in both singing and acting. Della Casa has short breath, tense phrases, uneven quality and registers and her acting is oddly nervous and artificial. The voice is nowhere near as lovely as Mattila's gloriously radiant voice. I'm sorry but judging by these videos Lisa della Casa simply does not compare with Mattila as Arabella.

[noesdedios]

I've heard la Mattila live— gorgeous, gorgeous sound— her sound just permeates through every particle of air: completely beautiful— great great artist. But della Casa IS Arabella— Strauss predicted it himself...

[mckavitt]

@noesdedios Strauss sure did and LDC was very proud of that, she quotes him in a television interview from 1962, saying he was "furschtbar nett" (awfully nice) to come to her after the premiere of ARABELLA with Maria Cebotari as A. and Della Casa as Zdenka, "a little beginner" to congratulate her and to say to others around her "The little Della Casa will be Arabella someday."

[gluemst]

how good she is ? just try the "Karita Mattila & Thomas Hampson" clip. I recon della casa beats Mattila in both singing and acting !

[1959franco]

She is perfect, isn't she?

[mckavitt]

@1959franco I think so. Check out the LDCFanClub on FB!

[Moegiust]

I cannot admire F-D's work here, but the last two minutes of this clip are a wonderful document of a Strauss singer who can never be forgotten - Lisa della Casa. Thanks for posting.

[mckavitt]

@Moegiust What bothers you about F-D's work/voice here? To me he is the irreplaceable Mandryka. At least for a long time.

[Moegiust]

@mckavitt : watching it again, I withdraw my reservations, which were based on interpretations of the character I prefer, not vocal skill. I have seen two Mandrykas do this scene projecting more visible anxiety about whether he's making a good impression, and I like that "take" on the scene. But FD sings it beautifully and I'm sure his presentation of the character, if I could see it all, was coherent. He was very stage-canny and knew what he was doing, I'm certain.

[mckavitt]

@Moegiust So glad you've at least given your opinion a re-evaluation. Good show. If you see the whole scene, he is THE Mandryka, altho' i'm the last one to criticise anyone for preferring G. London (I'm also the last one to like his Mandryka:). You may be so right about the anxiety issue, but romantically speaking--wow! Have you seen them kiss, arms outstretched on either side, bodies apart, only the lips touching. It's good staging and good acting.

[DemisLian]

She is perfect, and she was a perfect Zdenka as well, with Maria Reining & Hans Hotter in Salzburg 1947 (my favorite Arabella recording)

[hcusack]

wonderful recording well done I always had a soft spot for Della Casa, beautiful lady and R. Strauss's favorite soprano

[1000arabella]

always was looking for a husband like mandryka, langsam aber stark.

[belcantokai]

Lisa is one of the "best-looking" female singers in the world. As a Kiri fan, I really do admire Lisa too! Thank you so much for mthe historical film! so rare and precious!!!

[mckavitt]

@belcantokai I go ga ga over LDC, but you are right to mention Te Kanawa "in the same breath", as it were. Another true beauty, with a gorgeous voice. So, yeah, thanks for this wonderful video, onegin65! How would you rate their respective intelligence, i wonder? I have an opinion on that too:)

[rrgallo]

Oneguin: How do you get such fantastic stuff???? You're my hero. By the way, wouldn't irt be nice for TV/dvd companies to realease this kind of material commercialy????

[mckavitt]

@rrgallo I so agree with you! I was able to get by total accident (well, not total) the very good film on LDC, entitled Lisa Della Casa: Liebe einer Diva, 2008 from TV which i then transferred onto a virgin dvd. They have both German and English excerpts from the film on here. I'll be on the lookout for the commercial version, believe me, but i'm thrilled to have the basic film. (all in German and Swiss German, so it's been work). Catch the LDCFanClub on FB! Welcome.

[rossini02]

Really wonderful and amazing, the "dream couple" for Arabella! Thanks a million.

[CMOSjockey]

Oooo FD is terrible in this. Della Casa is her wonderful self, but FD is just speaking through it and often flat.

[tokric]

G. London on Solti´s recording is reall Mandryka.

[dermotafan]

I too prefer London too FD in this role.

[mckavitt]

@dermotafan I admire London in general, but cannot agree with you here. FD is just grand on the Live recording with LDC and the equally fabulous A Rothenberger.

See the LDC Fan Club on FB!

[mckavitt]

@dermotafan By the way, i just learned earlier that Anneliese Rothenberger just died on Monday, 24 May 2010. Very sad news. She was the lighter shimmery silvery Della Casa tone. They were fabulous separately and together. Listen to their ROSENKAVALIER Duos album (on CD now:), such sublime singing.

[cantanteporsiempre]

@mckavitt So sorry, she was indeed perfect

[jeffchester]

Wonderful video! Thanks!!!