In my opinion, Truabel possessed one of the most gorgeous soprano voices ever! It's a shame that she was treated poorly at the Met for doing things that most stars now do today. What a voice and legato line!
Traubel was sublime in Wagner, but in little else. Still, she's the greatest Wagnerian between the eras of Flagstad and Nilsson. Traubel's only problem was that she had a very short top, and her effective range stopped at the B. The high C was never hers (nor was it Flagstad's in the years after the war), Nilsson had top C's in abundant supply, and when she hit one, the roof shook. All three together stand on a level that cannot be approached today --- and perhaps never again.
@spinto12 Actually no. Melchoir who sang with both of them put it well: Flagstad was like a brilliant sapphire while Traubel was like a rich ruby. In short, they had different types of voices but each was first rate in her own way.
Bing also threw out the legendary Astrid Varnay and Licia Albanese. Wthh Albanese he was particularly cruel. He sent her a contract for the forthcoming season FOR ONLY ONE PERFORMANCE. She sent it back to him--unsigned. He thought he was a god, In fact, he was a real shit.
My mother was a fellow student with Helen Traubel. She never performed on the operatic stage tho; she married and gave her children her musical gifts. She continued to sing however; the day she died, she was preparing for a musical engagement. Miss you Mom.
Bing fired Traubel and Melchior. And Callas. And snubbed Sills. The problem with Bing was, if you didn't play his little game or fit his little image, he brushed you away. Nothing I've ever read or heard about him is pleasant. A little dictator.
Bing obviously had his foibles...perhaps he wanted to create his own "stable" with newer singers. anyway..Nilsson had a favorite anecdote she joked bing with in later years: that bing did NOT take her when she was new but already accomplished...so - she herself said: it was good , because now you have to pay me MORE'. i heard her say that jokingly in an interview.
i saw Nilsson in person once, giving a masterclass. she was very good and FUNNY. a baritone asked her "madame..how LOW should I support the breathe?" she said..walking so close to him...whispered to the mike..in a throaty, sensual voice."my dear handsome man...so LOW where i can't touch it".....hehe
géniale Traubel, si saine, avec juste ce qu'il faut d'ironie et d'indifférence (son caractère finalement l'y portait, si on la lit en comprenant ce qu'elle laisse entendre) indifférence aussi bien au 'sublime' de ce passage qu'elle rend si bien en pensant sans doute à autre chose qu'à ce qu'elle dit ... qu'à son sensible dérapage hors de la note à la fin de l'air, qui ne la trouble guère, pas plus que le public.
Traubel's 1959 "St. Louis Woman" was the first diva memoir I ever read, is still a personal favorite, & well worth the effort to track it down. Refreshingly unpretentious, frank, and funny--it's easy to see why she clashed with a haughty Euro like Bing. (Her "Metropolitan Opera Murders," alas, is dreadful.) I was a Met super in the 1960's, & the backstage personnel around during her heyday adored her--stage manager Stanley Levine said she had the greatest laugh he'd ever heard!
thanks so much for posting this! I've been a Traubel fan all my life, and I've never SEEN her singing Wagner in her prime. This made me want to cheer. Just awesome---and the look on her face at the audience response at the end, she KNEW she nailed it!
Dear wotansings: You have a point. I listened to Traubel's 1943 and 1950 broadcasts of "Tristan" in the last week. Her ruby red voice is shining and beautiful and completely equalized from top to bottom. No question about it - she had the vocal goods in spaces with aces to spare. Maybe she was too "American" to be taken seriously at the time. Ditto for Farrell, though she wasn't terribly anxious to have a real career. We should have the likes of Traubel, Nilsson, and Flagstad today!!!!!
Nice to read that... indeed the 43 Tristan (imho) is quite unbeatable, especially the fabulous first act... (Leinsdorf conducting is pretty nice too)... tbc
wotansings: I agree with you. Both Flagstad and Traubel had one Achilles heel --- neither had a really secure top C, and both of them almost always dodged this very high note, which, due to the nature of their voices, never come at all easily. Nilsson had top C's that soared like trumpets over the orchestra, and had, I think, more sheer power and fullness on high than either Traubel or Flagstad. What we wouldn't give to have any of the three of them around today!
But luckily, the repertoires Flagstad and Traubel sang, didn't really call for their highest notes all that much. Wagner focus more on a powerful middle, which they both had. And not to say anything bad against Nilsson, but what she had in her top notes, Flagstad clearly surpassed in the middle and lower registers.
And Nilsson not the lower register, which especially in Isolde is required. IMHO Nilsson was a class of her own, sure, but there were (and there will be... I hate all this peopele livuing in the past) others; if you want to listen to a top c which is ( fortunately) not a trumpet, listen to Farrell...
So many singers are not known or forgotten (Farrel, Traubel, Dvorakova, Schröder-Feine...) just because they were not recorded by EMI or Decca... That's a shame...
Bass Joseph Rouleau sung for 20 years at the Covent Garden and he told me that Nilsson was over the orchestra only in the high notes, Flagstad was over the orchestra sound as trombone in the low notes and trumpet in the highest notes but the truth is that Nilsson had more lyrical voice than the full heroic Flagstad with the dramatic mezzo type of voice
Prometheus2013, are you kidding? I heard Nilsson live, once, in Siegfried, and hers was the loudest voice I have ever heard in my entire life. It felt as if she was going to blow the roof off the opera house. Traubel is just awesome, if only she were alive today....
For me Traubel and Nilsson and Flagstadt have been unique and great - nothing else to say! THE WALKIRIAS OF THE MUSIC AND ORCHESTRAS! Traubel gave a little early up singing operas for jazz and modern music and HOLLYWOODstagione...but why not? I lover her!
Helen Traubel had the unfortunate luck to come between Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nilsson, both of whom were the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of the 20th century. Traubel had a truly great voice, and she easily became Flagstad's Wagnerian successor at the Met. She is somewhat overlooked today in light of the accomplishments of both Flagstad and Nilsson. If Traubel were singing today, she'd be the Wagnerian soprano of our time.
If Flagstad dominated with her "organ voice", in my opinion Traubel's was much more sensual, feminine, fabulous diction, wonderfull medium voice, and she was a much better (singng)- actres. For me She was THE IDEAL wagnerian soprano, powerful AND sensual. It's a fact that she was one of the greatest of all time.
i've read that even though she could sail through it, she didn't really like opera. this indicates otherwise! lots of great singers are/were ignored,why isn't there more commercial recordings of eva turner
The greatest Wagnerian soprano America ever produced. The intransigent Sir Rudolph Bing let her go in 1953, and the Metropolitan had to wait another six years to hear a voice of equal caliber. That was the one and only Birgit Nilsson. Bing was prone to hasty, idiotic decision. After all, he also fired Callas.
Rudolf Bing not only fired Traubel and Callas, but Melchior as well. And he refused to engage Beverly Sills. In my opinion, he was a very poor opera manager.
yeah, those 22 years were just awful. bringing back flagstad and milanov was just two stupid mistakes he did. and all those unimportant singers he brought to the house: anderson, price, nilsson, sutherland, mödl, tebaldi, rysanek, caballé and a whole bunch of other loosers
Rudolf Bing was a little dictator. The Met would have brought in the same great singers without him. He was not a great impresario. He wasn't worthy to touch the hem of Gatti-Cassatta.
How can you call Price, Nilsson, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Rysanek AND Caballe unimportant or losers? I'm not crazy about Bing either, but your comment is beyond ridiculous.
@winegum123456789 No offense, but by referring to Flagstad, Nilsson, Price, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Rysanek, Milanov and Caballe' "losers", I very seriously question your knowledge of opera, or even music, for that matter. Your obviously making a joke, or deliberately trying to get a "rise" out of other posters on this page.
The conductor looks like Fritz Reiner
alexmuso1943 2 months ago
Howard Barlow is the conductor, I think. That's from the Voices of Firestone series.
Phaedragon 3 months ago
He also tossed out Melchior! But then Gatti-Casazza let Fremstad go... big dope.
This gal, she was right up there with the biggest and best.... Not a particularly femine sound, though. So declamatory...
Phaedragon 3 months ago
He also tossed out Melchior! But then Gatti-Casazza let Fremstad go... big dope.
Phaedragon 3 months ago
Mai sentita prima d'ora, ma che bella voce!
malamutet 7 months ago 2
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In my opinion, Truabel possessed one of the most gorgeous soprano voices ever! It's a shame that she was treated poorly at the Met for doing things that most stars now do today. What a voice and legato line!
MrNeilsy 8 months ago
Comment removed
MrNeilsy 8 months ago
who is conducting?
michelbril 8 months ago
who is the conductor?
michelbril 8 months ago
@michelbril Leopold Stokes, the English conductor who adopted a pseudo Russian name.
saagua1953 4 hours ago
Magnificent. Traubel is my favorite Wagnerian soprano.
SymphonyBrahms 8 months ago
Traubel was sublime in Wagner, but in little else. Still, she's the greatest Wagnerian between the eras of Flagstad and Nilsson. Traubel's only problem was that she had a very short top, and her effective range stopped at the B. The high C was never hers (nor was it Flagstad's in the years after the war), Nilsson had top C's in abundant supply, and when she hit one, the roof shook. All three together stand on a level that cannot be approached today --- and perhaps never again.
Zva26 1 year ago 2
no need to hear Flagstad and all the hype that followed her when you can stop here and hear Helen Traubel.
spinto12 1 year ago
@spinto12 Actually no. Melchoir who sang with both of them put it well: Flagstad was like a brilliant sapphire while Traubel was like a rich ruby. In short, they had different types of voices but each was first rate in her own way.
saagua1953 4 hours ago
Bing also threw out the legendary Astrid Varnay and Licia Albanese. Wthh Albanese he was particularly cruel. He sent her a contract for the forthcoming season FOR ONLY ONE PERFORMANCE. She sent it back to him--unsigned. He thought he was a god, In fact, he was a real shit.
jrtrmish 1 year ago 5
My mother was a fellow student with Helen Traubel. She never performed on the operatic stage tho; she married and gave her children her musical gifts. She continued to sing however; the day she died, she was preparing for a musical engagement. Miss you Mom.
blkchk 2 years ago
Did she mess up the words at "Als dein Blick zuerst mir erbluehte?"
jfbecks17 2 years ago
Yes: "Als zuerst Dein Blick mir erblühte" .... Could have been worse :-)
Lhaw666 2 years ago
@Lhaw666 Yeah, it could have been much worse! She could have said "Als dein Fick zuerst mir erbluehte!"
jfbecks17 2 years ago
@jfbecks17 what you wrote here auf Deutsch...translates as "Fuck me as your first blossomed"....what do you mean by that?
alternatehistories 1 year ago
Traubel was, in a word, magnificent. She is my favorite Wagnarian soprano.
jimthewriter 2 years ago
Bing fired Traubel and Melchior. And Callas. And snubbed Sills. The problem with Bing was, if you didn't play his little game or fit his little image, he brushed you away. Nothing I've ever read or heard about him is pleasant. A little dictator.
jimthewriter 2 years ago
Bing obviously had his foibles...perhaps he wanted to create his own "stable" with newer singers. anyway..Nilsson had a favorite anecdote she joked bing with in later years: that bing did NOT take her when she was new but already accomplished...so - she herself said: it was good , because now you have to pay me MORE'. i heard her say that jokingly in an interview.
tedly10027 2 years ago
i saw Nilsson in person once, giving a masterclass. she was very good and FUNNY. a baritone asked her "madame..how LOW should I support the breathe?" she said..walking so close to him...whispered to the mike..in a throaty, sensual voice."my dear handsome man...so LOW where i can't touch it".....hehe
tedly10027 2 years ago
His loss.
blkchk 2 years ago
@jimthewriter :and varnay!
michelbril 8 months ago
What a voice, what a woman.
Brava Traubel!
Yoavmw 2 years ago
The voice is golden and such poise.
babydrane 3 years ago 2
géniale Traubel, si saine, avec juste ce qu'il faut d'ironie et d'indifférence (son caractère finalement l'y portait, si on la lit en comprenant ce qu'elle laisse entendre) indifférence aussi bien au 'sublime' de ce passage qu'elle rend si bien en pensant sans doute à autre chose qu'à ce qu'elle dit ... qu'à son sensible dérapage hors de la note à la fin de l'air, qui ne la trouble guère, pas plus que le public.
dp
villebaston 3 years ago
Traubel's 1959 "St. Louis Woman" was the first diva memoir I ever read, is still a personal favorite, & well worth the effort to track it down. Refreshingly unpretentious, frank, and funny--it's easy to see why she clashed with a haughty Euro like Bing. (Her "Metropolitan Opera Murders," alas, is dreadful.) I was a Met super in the 1960's, & the backstage personnel around during her heyday adored her--stage manager Stanley Levine said she had the greatest laugh he'd ever heard!
bobzeschin 3 years ago
A beautiful woman, a lovely strong voice, a grandiose way of singing and an almost perfect german diction. What else can one want ?
Love Helen ! Never saw her before on video. Thanks !
Hans NL
qklq42 3 years ago
thanks so much for posting this! I've been a Traubel fan all my life, and I've never SEEN her singing Wagner in her prime. This made me want to cheer. Just awesome---and the look on her face at the audience response at the end, she KNEW she nailed it!
hndymn1014 3 years ago
Wonderful! She is my favorite Wagnerian soprano. This excerpt shows what a great artist she was. Brava, Madame Traubel!
jimthewriter 3 years ago
Dear wotansings: You have a point. I listened to Traubel's 1943 and 1950 broadcasts of "Tristan" in the last week. Her ruby red voice is shining and beautiful and completely equalized from top to bottom. No question about it - she had the vocal goods in spaces with aces to spare. Maybe she was too "American" to be taken seriously at the time. Ditto for Farrell, though she wasn't terribly anxious to have a real career. We should have the likes of Traubel, Nilsson, and Flagstad today!!!!!
Zva26 3 years ago
Nice to read that... indeed the 43 Tristan (imho) is quite unbeatable, especially the fabulous first act... (Leinsdorf conducting is pretty nice too)... tbc
wotansings 3 years ago
wotansings: I agree with you. Both Flagstad and Traubel had one Achilles heel --- neither had a really secure top C, and both of them almost always dodged this very high note, which, due to the nature of their voices, never come at all easily. Nilsson had top C's that soared like trumpets over the orchestra, and had, I think, more sheer power and fullness on high than either Traubel or Flagstad. What we wouldn't give to have any of the three of them around today!
Zva26 3 years ago
But luckily, the repertoires Flagstad and Traubel sang, didn't really call for their highest notes all that much. Wagner focus more on a powerful middle, which they both had. And not to say anything bad against Nilsson, but what she had in her top notes, Flagstad clearly surpassed in the middle and lower registers.
operamagnus 3 years ago
And Nilsson not the lower register, which especially in Isolde is required. IMHO Nilsson was a class of her own, sure, but there were (and there will be... I hate all this peopele livuing in the past) others; if you want to listen to a top c which is ( fortunately) not a trumpet, listen to Farrell...
So many singers are not known or forgotten (Farrel, Traubel, Dvorakova, Schröder-Feine...) just because they were not recorded by EMI or Decca... That's a shame...
wotansings 3 years ago
Bass Joseph Rouleau sung for 20 years at the Covent Garden and he told me that Nilsson was over the orchestra only in the high notes, Flagstad was over the orchestra sound as trombone in the low notes and trumpet in the highest notes but the truth is that Nilsson had more lyrical voice than the full heroic Flagstad with the dramatic mezzo type of voice
Prometheus2013 3 years ago
Prometheus2013, are you kidding? I heard Nilsson live, once, in Siegfried, and hers was the loudest voice I have ever heard in my entire life. It felt as if she was going to blow the roof off the opera house. Traubel is just awesome, if only she were alive today....
shivastotravali 2 years ago 2
did you ever hear also Flagstad?
Prometheus2013 2 years ago
I heard Nilsson sing Gotterdamerung in Chicago and I have to agree that she was the loudest singer ever and I've heard some big voices in my time.
For sheer musicianship though, at least with Wagner, Helen Traubel was the next best thing to Flagstad in my opinion.
Marvelous clip, this.
theringisking 1 year ago
For me Traubel and Nilsson and Flagstadt have been unique and great - nothing else to say! THE WALKIRIAS OF THE MUSIC AND ORCHESTRAS! Traubel gave a little early up singing operas for jazz and modern music and HOLLYWOODstagione...but why not? I lover her!
Heraopera 3 years ago
Helen Traubel had the unfortunate luck to come between Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nilsson, both of whom were the greatest Wagnerian sopranos of the 20th century. Traubel had a truly great voice, and she easily became Flagstad's Wagnerian successor at the Met. She is somewhat overlooked today in light of the accomplishments of both Flagstad and Nilsson. If Traubel were singing today, she'd be the Wagnerian soprano of our time.
Zva26 3 years ago 2
If Flagstad dominated with her "organ voice", in my opinion Traubel's was much more sensual, feminine, fabulous diction, wonderfull medium voice, and she was a much better (singng)- actres. For me She was THE IDEAL wagnerian soprano, powerful AND sensual. It's a fact that she was one of the greatest of all time.
wotansings 3 years ago
She followed Agatha Christie,because she wrote some criminal novels.For example:"Murder at the Met"
calaf0911 3 years ago
Traubel is unique!!!!
Federicopera 3 years ago
Fantastic !
DivaDeb1234 3 years ago
WOW WOW !
DivaDeb1234 3 years ago
WOW!!!
WiseMonki 3 years ago
God what a voice.
mrrk 3 years ago
i've read that even though she could sail through it, she didn't really like opera. this indicates otherwise! lots of great singers are/were ignored,why isn't there more commercial recordings of eva turner
BGSourgas 3 years ago
The greatest Wagnerian soprano America ever produced. The intransigent Sir Rudolph Bing let her go in 1953, and the Metropolitan had to wait another six years to hear a voice of equal caliber. That was the one and only Birgit Nilsson. Bing was prone to hasty, idiotic decision. After all, he also fired Callas.
MusicaParola 3 years ago 8
Rudolf Bing not only fired Traubel and Callas, but Melchior as well. And he refused to engage Beverly Sills. In my opinion, he was a very poor opera manager.
jimthewriter 3 years ago
i agree
wenarto 3 years ago
yeah, those 22 years were just awful. bringing back flagstad and milanov was just two stupid mistakes he did. and all those unimportant singers he brought to the house: anderson, price, nilsson, sutherland, mödl, tebaldi, rysanek, caballé and a whole bunch of other loosers
winegum123456789 2 years ago
Rudolf Bing was a little dictator. The Met would have brought in the same great singers without him. He was not a great impresario. He wasn't worthy to touch the hem of Gatti-Cassatta.
jimthewriter 2 years ago
You mean Gatti-Casazza? ;-) Agree with you on that.
But bringing back Flagstad is reason enough for me to love him :-) He did a pretty good job. Why else did he last for so long?
winegum123456789 2 years ago
How can you call Price, Nilsson, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Rysanek AND Caballe unimportant or losers? I'm not crazy about Bing either, but your comment is beyond ridiculous.
nclysander 2 years ago
Ever heard of sarcasm?
winegum123456789 2 years ago 2
Ah, sorry. Sometimes humor is hard to catch over the Internet. :-)
nclysander 2 years ago
@winegum123456789 No offense, but by referring to Flagstad, Nilsson, Price, Sutherland, Tebaldi, Rysanek, Milanov and Caballe' "losers", I very seriously question your knowledge of opera, or even music, for that matter. Your obviously making a joke, or deliberately trying to get a "rise" out of other posters on this page.
Well, it's not funny.
Zva26 1 year ago
@MusicaParola And Hans Hotter! Ans Astrid Varnay! And Eleonor Steber!
PrevitaliA 5 days ago