R. Wagner Die Walküre "Hojotoho! Heiaha" - Voigt, Terfel, Levine (2011)

[TwoUselessLegs]

Ugh! I feel like I'm hearing auditions. "Nope! Ain't found her yet"!

[MisterPapageno]

I prefered Voigt's large hips and large voice, instead of this pale sound ...

[MisterPapageno]

Ridiculous performance!

[mwk12kev]

embarrassing . . .

[panzer2525]

Bravo

[ccmebeautiful]

Its Terfel.

[iskenderuna]

Oh dear this is really bad! Forget the top - the middle of the voice sounds ancient.

[windstorm1000]

Voigt in great if not passionate voice (I don't think the latter is her thing). Great photos!!!!

[sahandaman]

a) where is the brass? (b) is she serious with this?

...not like I could do anything near that, but then again I'm not at the Met, am I? ;)

[jxfry]

Wow...not even close to the classic singers...wow...what a poor performance..

[SakumaRyuichiNG]

Probably this is a kind of excuse but she probably was nervious (well, MET must be a fearsome stage). It must have not been so evident, but i can't but try to understand how she probably felt.

I think she did a good job in other performances (well i watched the HD live broadcast)

[Lauritz1]

All of you do nothing pigs, whom have never done anything of merit in all of your shit lives added together can get on here and prattle mindlessly all you want, insulting an artist like Voigt all you want.... it and you, will never amount to more than a hill of shit that nobody gives a damn about... on the other hand Ms.Voigt is a gifted and sought after singer and not a damnable one of you is fit to kiss her feet and never will be in this life or any other !!!

[disneylandman66]

@Lauritz1 Yes! Tell 'em!

[dianastella]

@Lauritz1 I agree with you.

[lateralex90]

WTF WITH THIS? this is not a decent Walküre

[operaticsnyc]

Oy vey.  This is seriously awful.

[LazyBoy9476]

not liking this .. sorry guys .. today opera singers are missing something.

[jxfry]

@LazyBoy9476 I concur!

[eddythehunn]

Big boned or slender, she always sounds like an angel

[joutneyman]

if this had been in italy the audience would had booed her of the stage.

[Wranger243]

She sounds like a haggard old crone. Was there nobody else?

[100fulallmusic]

@Wranger243 Who would you suggest?

[Wranger243]

@100fulallmusic Waltruad Meier. What about you?

[100fulallmusic]

@Wranger243 Meier has chosen not to sing Brunnhilde. She continues to sing Seiglinde. An announcement of this was made by her after she received an offer several years ago from La Scala.

My first vocal choice would be Stemme, although (1) I know she has refused offers to return to the Met, and (2) I appreciate Voigt's acting and interpretation far, far more. Not a fan of Dalayman. Others who will agree to sing the role at the Met and commit for the length of time?

[TheWisemonkey8]

The pictures are nice...

The music? Completely disgusting... Hotter and Varney would spin their graves...

[skitzo429]

She sounded somewhat better in the telecast of die walkure, but I wasn't exactly wowed by her then either, I was expecting better. She isn't "old" for her fach, I liked her better fat, she missed a high C in this clip, at the METROPOLITAN OPERA

[ubedajils]

madre mía... si flagstad levantara la cabeza jajaja

[ViardotVSGrisi]

You want scary? Read the comments actually making excuses for this. The real big problem isn't that the artists are falling WAY WAY WAY below standard, rather its the fact that the new audience (the one Gelb et al is so desperate to get into the opera house) does not know anymore. They will applaud and brava everything. That's what keeps me up at night.

[RRydnew]

@ViardotVSGrisi

People are not making excuses, most have been dumbed down to thinking the role is sung like this. While I agree that the preformance is less than usual standard, I give Ms Voigt the benefit of a doubt due to living with someone who just had bariatric surgery and has to sing....ME! I am not a soprano and it is difficult to even speak let alone sing Wagner. Its all core and that has to be conditioned first. A for effort and bravery, c+ for the execution.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@RRydnew I will give her a B for bravery if she gives back all the fees for these engagements, she gives every patron their money back, and she gives Siegfried and Gotterdamerung to any other singer available. Even Yawn Upshaw would do at this time...

[RRydnew]

@ViardotVSGrisi

Thank You. We finally agree to disagree. Dont get me started on Upshaw.....gives us of the lower vocal range a bad name. I still say that Voigt should take a year off and work on that core. THEN she will rock the Met like Flagstad (or somewhat close to it. no one sings like Kirsten) in days of Yore.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@RRydnew did you just say Flagstad? Wash your mouth with soap. Ive heard Voigt fat and skinny, it was never a dramatic soprano voice. ever. it was a full lyric with MAYBE spinto ambitions. . she is the queen of "im just gonna do what I want regardless of art" hence the italian rep which sounded ludicrous in her voice. Her PR labelled her dramatic soprano and she got used to that tax bracket. Wrong fach, plus messing with her body (talk about selling your soul to the devil) results in this.

[angryjalapeno]

@ViardotVSGrisi, being very obese and shortening your lifespan by 30 years just so you can sing big would be more in line with selling your soul/life. All for what? Just to satisfy skinny old cranky men? Good for her that she lost weight, but she should not expect people to pay $1000 to see her as Brunnhilde.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@angryjalapeno she can get kate moss skinny for all I care, just dont tell me you're gonna sing Brunhilde under the banner of, allegedly , the greatest opera company in the world and then serve this "whitney houston 2010" mess we are all hearing in this clip. I repeat: i cannot believe she didn't pack her bags and fled the country. Where is the artistic shame? Does that even exist anymore? is there an app for this?

[100fulallmusic]

@ViardotVSGrisi You'd rather she "felt sick all the time," as she said she did, and then died young? Saving her life was selling her soul? Seems to me she is doing roles she couldn't have done at 350 pounds.

You would have rather heard her obese as Brunnhilde? Well, you wouldn't have. She couldn't have done it physically - even if she was still alive at 50. And I'm amazed you're judging a full performance on an under 3 minute audio clip - directly after she fell.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@100fulallmusic oh i heard the full broadcast and saw it twice in the house. she was completely dreadful, has been completely dreadful, and this was NEVER a dramatic soprano voice even when she was fat. Fat she was at least even.

[100fulallmusic]

@ViardotVSGrisi Oh, I should have noticed earlier that you've been crudely insulting Voigt for literally dozens of comments, fighting with a myriad of other posters. Sorry. Do continue having your fun. Moving on.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@100fulallmusic the only thing crude here is the audio in this clip. you can excuse this all you want "she fell, she had a headache, she switched from lays to doritos earlier that day" what remains is this mess. Go to the rosenkavalier trio, go to the fanciulla, go to the Toscas, go to the chicago salomes and frau ohne schatten. its a wire of a voice with no expression to it.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

the greatest opera company in the world, the greatest operatic artists and the greatest operatic audience.

yeah....

[LeRinkRat]

listened to the Met 2011 broadcasts of both Das Rheingold and Die Walkure earlier this season and they were definately NOT up to the standards set by Levine's Ring Cycle of the late 1980's with James Morris, the late Hildegard Behrens, Matti Salminen, Jan-Hendrik Rootering, Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Siegfried Jerusalem and Heinz Zednik.

[Youkali67]

Estupenda la Voigt. Recuerdo que aquí en México cuando pusieron la Wlkiria una soprano ligero hizo el "Hojotoho! Heiaha". Seguramente le pusieron micrófono. Pero así son las cosas en este país.

[RVP57]

Dreadful, absolutely dreadful. If the Met keeps this up they'll be out of business.

[Soriehlam]

Oh God.... Just compare Voigt's and Anja Silja's Hojotohos... Worlds of difference apart. Sorry for Voigt.

[coryisawake]

Karajan's dead so no one can blame this one on him!

It's a shame that the MET apparently thinks audiences have forgotten what great singing sounds like and has disfigured another work.

The golden age of singing wasn't that long ago...people do remember.

[mannail888]

A complete joke.

[mwk12kev]

Sad....

[RRydnew]

I still say that trying to sing this 100+ pounds thinner is a chore for Deborah @ this particular moment. She is still learning to breathe and sing those db's . Too bad Solti has passed. He would haved whipped her into shape quick!

[RRydnew]

This must be just after the last surgery. She needs to have her body catch up with her voice. She can still sing but she has yet to learn to breath with a thinnner bod. Give her her props though, shes working it!

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@RRydnew absolutely no props. this is a disgrace. This isnt a challenge in "celebrity fit club". this is Metropolitan Opera House and this is Wagner. She should have fled the country after this performance. instead she has the nerve to show her face the next day and the day after. The Fanciulla performances were also a giant joke, and it seems most of the HD transmissions from this once great opera house are one party tape after the next (the armida? wtf!)

[RRydnew]

@ViardotVSGrisi

CALM DOWN! Havent you paid attention. She is at least 100 pounds thinner and still trying to sing like she did @300#. I did not think she sang up to par(like she used to) but I will not discount her voice being effected by the weight loss. GIVE HER TIME to reset and retrain all of those muscles and she will be better. Dont be such a opera snob. Its not what the art form needs right now.

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@RRydnew "don't be an opera snob/its not what the art form needs right now". Good one. This is Wagner, this is the MET, this is religion. what the art form needs right now is great singers with great artistic hearts, not media moguls brainwashing the new generation into thinking that this is an art form to make apologies for. That we need to change opera so audiences can undertand it, and that we need young skinny singers who cannot sing to make opera acceptable. The result: this mess.

[RRydnew]

@ViardotVSGrisi

STOP ALREADY! Being a contralto in the DOC, I hear stage door jonnies and box quarterbacks like you ALL THE TIME!! Comparing opera with religion is not only snobbish, its dumb. We all rever the Met and the art form but spawn like you make it extremely difficult for those who want to see it (good or bad preformances aside) NOT GO! Again its ENTERTAINMENT (whether you like it or not) and not RELIGION!

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@RRydnew I apologize for loving too much. I, like you, should keep my feelings about the greatest art form in Western Civilization in the "dismissive" category and "sorta like it." I do sincerely hope that your singing does not reflect how you feel about opera: It will show, and you will turn off everyone except for the "shes just singing and entertaining, oh i got a text message about lady gaga" crowd. No Valhalla for you. This marks my final comment to you, CAPS person.

[angryjalapeno]

Come October, the dramatic awakening in Siegfried ... hope she can handle it. Not sure what she needs to do; maybe eat steak and lift weights?

[angryjalapeno]

Is this a farce??? Was this the performance where she fell? Gosh it sounds like a NYC rat got trapped in her throat! Her notes were certainly more secure during the HD Live broadcast.

[asdfopera]

@angryjalapeno

this is from debbie's debut as brunhilde and yes, she did fall.

[zinpgh]

@angryjalapeno lol

[glenfagelfors]

It sounds as though she has her jaw cliched and teeth pressed together :-S

[wTrevorh]

This is doesn't sound like a true Brunhilde. Voigt should have carried the character of Sieglinde instead.

[Piacevole]

This sucks big time. Let us go past the voice.. Her timing is horrible, no rhythmical sense which is so important.

[paminaase]

She's ruining her voice. I cannot believe that this is Madame Voigt...

[jeffper2]

i will agree it takes a strong almost masculine voice to take on wagners vixen. sf opera has had a string of leading ladies who could handle the role....but still a hard role to take on. i commend those that try to tackle it.....no easy task.

[callastimeless]

What a shame? She has a beautiful voice, Its voice is damaged.

[Giovannifabuloso]

Thisirole is too heavy for her . She is not a dramatic, but a Lyrico Spinto. She is a magnificent artist, but she should not be singing this role. Voigts voice is a lyrical instrument. It soars in lyrical works

[bcom11]

I think maybe she was just having a bad night. I found this other clip and was surprised at how much better she actually sounds, in the same production. Either that, or she's just inconsistent: youtube . com/ watch?v= woZlA2ThSN4

[jmahlon]

She needs to take some time off. 6 months to a year and find her support again.

[strauss1987]

@jmahlon YES!!! where's that support!? totally off of it.



[babydrane]

@strauss1987 yeah there's no support whatsoever. Sounds like a school girl trying to sing Wagner. I'm not trying to be mean - I've heard her at her best and this is like hearing someone else. For other points of comparison check her out with Zschau in Salome. Magnificent!

[powerinpraise2000]

@jmahlon I've been saying this for YEARS! She should be at least a good Brünhilde, along the lines of Crespin, a Jügendlicher Dramaticher version. She certainly had the volume and the security in all parts of her range in years past. But she has yet to learn her new body, and the sound is TOTALLY different. She should have figured out how to at least make a consistently pleasant sound by now(6 years out from her surgery!) We deserve better from a world class artist/talent like Deborah Voigt.

[courtneybaritone01]

@jmahlon but she'll never do it! Ruth has her wrapped around her pinky. New voice teacher PLEASE

[cwarf1]

I reluctantly agree that her voice doesn't sound appropriate for this anymore. I heard her Minnie a few months back, and had a hard time hearing her during several passages. The high notes don't quite get there, with the voice sounding like its almost out of steam. :-( Makes me sad.

[bcom11]

@cwarf1 don't be sad. she's coming back. she's gotten a new voice teacher since Minnie, and is relearning how to use her voice with this new body. that's why she sounds SO MUCH BETTER here than she did with Minnie. I think she's actually returning in full force, from a vocal decline due to weight loss. Can't wait for her next role

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@bcom11 That they had entrusted the 100th anniversary Fanciulla to her, HD transmission world wide and everything. What the hell were they thinking? But they were so smart, they then entrust this new production + its mandatory HD transmission world wide to this singer again. why? And then the MET sends me mail asking for donations. Hmmm hmmmm. Mismanagement of funds....

[kirid23]

i like the horse...

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@kirid23 That's that the met is counting on! and the pretty ladies with the pretty outfits...

[Caskader]

Scheisse, that was all over the place and mainly too low.

[spinto12]

I guess Voigt feels that if she doesn't sing the heavier roles(Brunnhilde, Salome and Isolde) now then she never will. I can understand that logic but unfortunately these roles are too heavy for her. As dramatic and powerful as her voice is, she should stick with her "usual dramatic" parts. I think weight loss has EVERYTHING to do with it.

[Cissy97]

Both singers are underpowered. Pity!

[Johnny1206]

Brünnhilde is not suited to Voigt's voice and Terfel yells more than sings and is out of tune in the begining of Act II

[joanabanyeres]

Voigt is insufficient, sorry. a little bird.

[litgirl1]

Deborah Voigt totally delivered. Acting, vocal and charisma all at 100%. I can't imagine a better Brünnhilde.

[quetzalfr]

Pauvre Voigt qui s'est fourvoyée complètement dans un rôle nullement fait pour sa voix Au troisième acte , celle ci devient tendue et fine comme une crécelle ; à la limite de la rupture , incapable de tenir la ligne .Très décevante à la première à NY , la direction de Levine étant pire que jamais .



[visse264]

I thought, but I only heard the audio live stream from the premiere, Deborah was just great. It seems to me she's generally somewhat underrated, singing Brunnhilde. I think Kaufmann, on the other hand, is very much overrated. I realize I'm probably in the minority to think so but I just would like to give my honest opinion.

[jpryan31]

@visse264 I thought Debbie had a rough start (although later to find out she tripped on the planks on her entrance, it may explain it) but by the third act she was amazing! Anything in particular you didn't like about Kaufmann? His performance in the first act blew me away!

[visse264]

@jpryan31 Well, "just great", as I put it, might be a bit too general. It wasn't, of course, great all the time. But I do think, at this point in her career, her voice is capable of producing a satisfying/good Brunnhilde. She surprised me, I liked it. As for Kaufmann, I know you don't make yourself too popular these days by criticising him, but I did in a number of comments under his MET Walkure clip. And a question under his clip Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater.

[tklogan111809]

I was there and this happened right after she had fallen from the machine, she sounds good considering this is Voigt and an accident had just happened. Die Walkure is not opera buffa so neither the fall or Voigt's cackling are appropriate but live theater is live theater and I was entertained. Listening to this again made notice that she's flat and out of tune on a couple of notes. She sounded better in the house. Oh well, it is what it is.

[LohengrinT]

@tklogan111809

you watch every single Met performance? Jesus :p I would fall asleep in 90% of them

Be the first one to upload Anna's Bolena :) It will be something truly big in the Met

[tklogan111809]

@LohengrinT Grand Tier is the best place to fall asleep in, the headrest is superb! It used to be worse, I used to be there almost every night. Not anymore that much, but I try to see every production at least once :)

[LohengrinT]

@tklogan111809

Of course I would sleep in the Met but I would throw tomatoes in La Scala :)) There things are x100 worse. I would throw the tomatoes if I werent so serius in my real life :))) I could never really boo or throw a tomato but La Scala performances truly deserve it

Global Operatic Decadence

[asdfopera]

@LohengrinT

you two are talking about sleeping, booing, and throwing tomatoes at opera. do you like opera? lol

[LohengrinT]

@asdfopera

yes we do like Opera very much that is why we talk like that :) We dont see opera as a social event for Old Gays and Old Ladies but as an Important Theatrical and Musical Event .

As Joan Sutherland had said: People who understand Opera very rarely go to the Opera House

[ploplisphilin]

@LohengrinT--I am always shocked at the tumultuous ovations Gruberova is receiving recently; perhaps, her fans are all tone deaf? Anyway, I watched Voigt on a telecast of "Fauciulla" and realized that with her old physique she would never have been hired to sing Minnie or the new Brunnhilde. (As Minnie, she really was hit-or-miss on the high notes which were very strained, but her acting and stage presence were extremely simpatico but I don't like her Licia Albanese sound. Many adore Licia!)

[LohengrinT]

@ploplisphilin

operatic audiences very rarely react by real awe - the legend is what they react to. Dont you remember how they were screaming in Callas' last perormances in 1973? and she was dreadful! Listen to her 1952 Firenzie Armida where she is singing like a Being from Outerspace!! no one screams (they didnt know what they were listening to). Callas herself had said once: when 20 years ago I was singing like a Goddess they were tearing me apart...

[LohengrinT]

@ploplisphilin

also think that who in their right mind would go today to hear Gruberova ? you need to have something ill inside your mind and soul to go and see a singer in full vocal decline singing

[LohengrinT]

the phenomenally easy Heihaas are very difficult to be sung without sounding screamish and unfortunately Voigt does not manage to achieve that. In some way they require from the voice a certain agility (when they glide from ha to a most singers push their voice and sound screamish while exactly there the voice must sound completely Bell-like).

[primohomme]

@LohengrinT

Indeed, this role is considered a subgroup within the Assoluta repertoire, not part of the main 9 though

[asdfopera]

@primohomme

i tend to restrict assoluta roles to bel canto only, but i guess brunhilde could be counted among them if you think of this as "wagnarian coloratura". it's about the livliest part of the entire ring cycle. ;)

[primohomme]

@asdfopera

There are some Wagner roles that are subgroups of the Assoluta manquee, none in the main 9 or even the second group, but some roles like Adriano, Kundry, Brunhilde are Assoluta manquee.

[alithecrab]

@primohomme Where does this categorisation of the 'nine assoluta roles' come from? I'm curious to learn more about the idea.

[primohomme]

@alithecrab

Research by musicologists and authors about the operatic repertoire :)

The 9 main Assoluta roles, requiring a diva that is both dramatic mezzo/contralto and high soprano as well as agility and heroic weight across the entire range that is at least G3-D6, are:

1- Elisabetta (Roberto Devereux), 2- Gemma di Vergy, 3- Anna Bolena, 4- Norma, 5- Abigaille (Nabucco), 6- Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), 7- Armida, 8- Reiza (Oberon), 9- Medea.

And then there are subgroups :)

[alithecrab]

@primohomme Ah, cool. Anyone I should read?

[primohomme]

@alithecrab

Look for the book "The Assoluta voice in Opera"

If you want I can send you a complete list of the Assoluta manquee roles and its categories

[horn0viola]

@primohomme Hello, could you for me please (if it's not too much trouble). Thanks

[ViardotVSGrisi]

@primohomme This comes from Geoffrey Riggs wonderful book "The Assoluta Voice in Opera" of which I am the proud owner of a hardcover edition. He advances several interesting theories for the categorizations.

[primohomme]

@ViardotVSGrisi

Yes, I adore the book and find it so interesting

I've even been able to go through some of the scores of those operas

Very interesting stuff

[ploplisphilin]

She slipped and fell off of La Machine at her entrance and needed to steady herself a lot to sing this. It definitely is not the Voigt voice of old, but she's giving it her all. (Who knows how much damage she may be inflicting on her voice?)

[LohengrinT]

@ploplisphilin

well does she have to think about damage on the voice at this age? enough with all the singers singing like they are under heavy sedatives and with a thousand tricks in order not to "inflict damage on their voices" in order to be turned into walking Mummies (Gruberova, Caballe) and still be singing onstage torturing everybody

[kgarmaker123]

I love Voigt in the right stuff, be she is decidely underpowered in this role. She is NOT a dramatic voice.. She has lyric voice, and its size and volume has declined in recent years, with a lottle of motion too.. Man she has a hard time making those high B's and C's

[asdfopera]

@kgarmaker123

well, if you didn't notice from the pictures, she has a completely different body now. so yes there is some vocal decline, which is to be expected, but i think that overall she's good and this is exciting.

[kgarmaker123]

@asdfopera Yup i noticed and she looks great... I am not so sure weight loss had much to do with her decline.

I think she has developed some vocal issues, that coluld be addressed. She is some STrauss singer.. (superb!)

[LohengrinT]

@asdfopera

if they were waiting all these years to make a new Ring with these costumes and sets ... Someone needs severe spank in the Met :))))

[Operaman41]

@kgarmaker123 I could not agree with you MORE!!! I saw the "La Fanciulla" and I thought right and then all the weight loss has caused more harm to her voice than anything else. She really is working more as she has said it shows. The voice is not as BIG or focused as it used to be I am sorry to say. I do LOVE her but this was not good. and Bryn is NOT a Wotan either too light for the role sorry but I want a London or Hotter type of voice in the role!

Thick and MEATY!!!

[Operaman41]

@kgarmaker123 I agree with you. Do you think it's from her weight loss??

[kgarmaker123]

@Operaman41 I doubt it.. I think, singing .. Wagner is too taxing for her decidely round, lyrical voice.. WAgner..( Brunhilde is for a dramatic voice,and Voigt does not have it.. She took on Gioconda, with similar results( dissapointing.).

[Operaman41]

@kgarmaker123 You go and look up her in her heavy days specially her singing DIch Teure Halle It was Much bigger and a lot more lushus and fuller sound. SHE has never been a lyric!!

[kgarmaker123]

@Operaman41 She has always been a lyric voice.. and lyric does not mean small.. Lyric voices can be big.. as voigts, is, but she is not a dramtic.. She lack that cutting edge and the weight in the voice itself.

[Operaman41]

@kgarmaker123 I am a singer and I have studied voice for a while now about 20 yrs now and Debrorah Voight is NO Lyric!! When she came to the Met when she was Heavy she was a Dramatic soprano but now with the weight loss she is a lyric.

[Operaman41]

@kgarmaker123 P.S. go watch some of her videos when she was heavy and you will see she is NOT a lyric. She maybe singing it lyrical the way you are supposed to sing ALL music but she was NO lyric then!

[me148]

he was wonderful last night