Astrid Varnay as Kostelnicka from Jenufa

[helgeevju]

Astrid Varnay was the ultimate singer/actress! How wonderful that YouTube can bring us such magnificent documentation on her art. The heartbreaking violin referred to is actually the entry music for Jenufa's following scene, but comes when we are still mesmerized by the impact of Kostelnicka's outcry.

[55werther]

¡¡¡UNICA, MAGNIFICA; UNA ACTUACION ATERRADORA, ESTREMECEDORA!!!

¡¡¡QUE ARTISTA, QUE CANTANTE , INMENSA!!! ALGO FUERA DE SERIE.

[Kiovigbax]

Who hears this version will never in his-her life want to hear any other one. Simply supranatural.

[LohengrinT]

Still one year ago this clip remains for me the most sensational revelation Youtube offered to me in the Opera category :) I would have never seen that if it werent for Youtube and Onegin65

[Turand0t]

She is fantastic! The expression and the voice itself blows me away... Brava Varnay! :D This is "kunst" as we call it in Norway.

[rrgallo]

Mistake...said 40 years...it was close to 30...She made her debut in 1941 at 23

[rrgallo]

By this performance, She had been singing the most taxing rep for almos 40 years!!!!!!!!!

[astroboy1960]

Amazing.

[sutherland4l]

This is certainly one of the best performances of any aria I've ever seen. Such dramatic immediacy and intensity from Varnay. And she can deliver the goosebumps at such an incredible volume without sacrificing the sheer, steely beauty of her voice. Her final "geboren" would resound within me and haunt me forever were it not for that utterly heartbreaking violin -- the unexpected fragility --Kubelik brings in at 3:54. Sublime is hardly an adequate adjective for this performance.

[iValkure]

Vibrant singing and acting by Varnay - she is amazing and best in this role - can't get any better than this. Thanks for posting.

[cantanteporsiempre]

Marvellous

[lassisimo]

very, very intensive acting and singing !!

[etucker82]

Varnay is a better singer than either Silja or Rysanek, but isn't quite as insane.  The engine for this scene is Kubelik, whose accompaniment simply make my hair stand on end. The last forty seconds of this is the type of moment you spend an entire lifetime in an opera house waiting for.

[RVP57]

wouldn't all that hollering wake up that damn baby? (this is fabulous)

[inter215]

Astrid's performance of this opera at the MET several years earlier is what caused me to fall in love with this opera. At the MET she sang in english yet her performance was just as electrifying. We are lucky to have these wonderful video clips of her singing and acting from her 'second career."

[inter215]

I meant to say several years later. I believe her MET performances of Jenufa were in 1975.

[Lohengrin]

After all these years this video remains one of the most amazing clips I ever saw in youtube

[basselyrique]

Usually I don't approve opera sung in n non-original language. Yet in a performance of this intensity this point is completely irrelevant!

[Wotan123456789]

This is really glorious! Too bad there are not many videos of the fantastic Varnay.

[basselyrique]

OMFG...

[tomaskukla]

it's the best in czech...

[KORINADAVA]

a glorius singer

[mattyslipp]

You know, to me... it seems better in German. More fitting, I mean obviously Janacek meant it to be in Czech... but there's something about this German translation that's just so cool.

[meriomeri]

I can't get over how amazing this is!!!

[birgitnilsson]

I couldn´t agree more.

[jirizika1962]

awesome !!!!

[tantris39]

far too slow????!!! actually, parts of it are a bit slower than I am used to hearing, but as Rafael Kubelik is conducting and he did know SOMETHING about Czech music, who are we to say what is too slow or too fast? Isn't Jurinac the Jenufa from this Munich production? Wow, the two of them together must have been SOMETHING!!! Does this performance exist complete?

[birgitnilsson]

I think the Jenfa is Hildegarde Hillebrecht.

[meriomeri]

holy shit thats good

[owenboi66]

Fantastic singing. Forgot it was in German and far too slow. What a voice, and what a performer!

[ygorcs88]

Whilst she's not exactly in her prime anymore, Varnay is still so great. The laser-like precision of her high notes gives me chills, as well as her intense portrayal, just amazing. Her metallic and rounded timbre is also very beautiful.

[ortego11]

Fantastic performance! Molto brava!

[RVP57]

This opera thrills and chills me like no other, and La Varnay is naught short of fabulous.

[Tompa4321]

Order: Done ;)

[Heldenexpresso]

hey!! could u tell me where u ordered this video from, because i so want it too?!

[Tompa4321]

WONDERFUL!!!!

She is just amazing.

I'm ordering this at once, if it's still available.

[00000ppp]

Amazing!! Astrid Varnay in a super form. Thanks a lot for posting this.

[jiminy22221]

What astounding technique from a singer past her prime! One of my favorite singers from live recordings, always true to the music and drama. She will be missed...

[nutty42]

True. She IS missed. She made me like this opera when no one else could, not even lovely Leonie Rysanek.

[Federicopera]

Astrid is the creme of the creme!!!!

Her Siglinde and Ortrud as genious pieces pof work!!!

[PretPierement]

Jenufa is my favorite opera. The only one that makes me cry. Espacially the CD of sir Charles Mackarras. I saw this opera several times in Amsterdam, Holland. Never kept my eyes dry.

[Mawrdew]

I saw this production in 1970 in Munich. The memory of Varnay at the end of ACT II...plastered to the wall, eyes and mouth wide open in horror...is seared into my memory. Seeing this piece of video only makes me want more. It's as good as I remember and as good as it gets!!!

[Lohengrin]

A Sacred Monster...

The German Callas...

A Goddess...

[butterscotch3701]

Absolutely riveting...beautiful voice, delivery and characterization

[Laeliapurpurata]

WOW! The Kostelnicka as I've never heard! And it sounds much better in German.

[DivaDeb1234]

I just saw Jenufa at the LA opera 2 days ago. It's an unbelievable score and libretto. It's fantastic. It's written

in Cech. BUt I think this video they did it in German...

DIVADEB

[marchesano]

never seen video of her. there must be more! The voice is in amazingly great shape - the tone and legato excellent. She IS 52 years old here!

[DivaDeb1234]

There is a video somewhere of her as mother in Electra.

divadeb

[SDCmorg]

Yup, the Goetz Friedrich film with Leonie Rysanek as Elektra and Karl Boehm conducting. Probably the best opera film around (right up there with the Katya Kabanova with Vishnevskaya). It's on DVD now, with 'making of' documentary on the 2nd disc. A must buy. :o)

[Heldenexpresso]

I looooove Varnay, she is one of my all time fav. dramatic sopranos. She has so much power and control and she reminds me of gwyneth Jones who is my fav too... they have almost the same kind of style in acting as well as singing, they always give 150% of every character they play, I LOVE IT!

[edgrow]

This video is amazing! I read her autobiography, the detailed explanations of her characterizations just show what a dramatic genius she was!

[Baltazarwalker]

Thousend of thanks, what a wonderful testimony of Stage Command.

I'd love to see Varnay course in the end of ActII...

[tinyvoicedgheorghiu]

Absolutely out of this world!

[Brunnhilda]

I'm listening (and watching)her for the first time... she is totally amazing! Now I'm dreaming about seeing her in some wagnerian roles...

[accuratisimus]

It is a crime that her great roles were never taped.

[VerdianoBR]

Great Astrid Varnay! I hadn't seen any video with her. She was really amazing on stage. The warmth and intensity of her voice are as exciting as her acting as well!

[meyerbeerBC]

Wow!!! What a performance!

[tinyvoicedgheorghiu]

Can you please post more clips of this performance? Thank you SO much !!! This is absolutely GREAT!

[chrisjw24]

Perhaps the greatest dramatic soprano? Would love to see the video of Elektra with Varnay, Rysanek and Moedl!

[nutty42]

Not perhaps. She WAS the most "complete" dramatic soprano; voice, technic & acting [& a great human being too.] Recording does not do her justice. She was incredible "live".

[boipussi]

I always thought she was also an amazing actor.

[SinginFool82]

F- in !!!! WOW !

[Comatose7890]

Astrid Varnay perfect as always. truly amazing, chilling