Kirsten Flagstad - A singing lesson: How to sing Wagner [1950]

Kirsten Flagstad's advice for young singers who want to sing Wagner.
In the end, she sings an excerpt from Die Walküre a capella.
~~~
Picture artwork, editing and remastering by AfroPoli

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Flagstad
• Lehmann
• Leider
• Austral
• Nilsson
• Traubel
• Svanholm
• Wagner
• Isolde
• Brünnhilde
• Elsa
• Master class
• soprano
• singing lesson
• Walküre
• Walkure
• Götterdämmerung

[meltzerboy]

Fascinating lesson from the one and only Flagstad, who claims she is not a teacher! One thing is for sure: her own gift cannot be taught. Thanks for sharing this.

[steverlfs]

Her advice goes far beyond singing, just as the operas of Wagner go beyond mere music! She was a samurai of opera, and her advice would be well heeded by anyone engaging in an artistic pursuit!

[sdegrace]

the end of this video pull me tears because it si so obvious singing that it hurts.

[sdegrace]

She said she is not a teacher but it is my best lesson ever.

[sdegrace]

I listen carefully to what she said and I'm glad to know that singing like this is a long training because I was sure it was. No microphone here. Now it is practically impossible to hear the 'real' voice of someone with all the technology helping, transforming etc. I have a lot of gratitude for the real developing of the voice like here.

[AmhranaiAlainn]

Thank you AfroPoli, I found it very interesting. The reason for waiting is for the natural expression of the voice to mature to that which is called for by the role. One's mind has so much involvement here. Caruso and Bjorling both resisted the temptation to dive into Othello for exactly this reason. Although they both recorded arias from the opera, they knew mentally that they needed more time for their expression to sit naturally in the mind. For to go against nature is to go against the voice

[Federicopera]

@flicfan416 Varnay sang Siglinde at 25.

[gaemp]

you need to have the right voice... othertwise you can wait for centuries......

[raymondmodesti]

Thank you for placing this!

[omarihardy]

@flicfan416 This seems a bit confused. Perhaps I should say what I hope you meant to say, that is: No one is born singing (capable of singing) dramatic soprano repertory. Yes. The voice type depends on the physical makeup of the vocal apparatus, with which one is born. We should draw a distinction between what one's voice type is (naturally) and whether they have the adequate to skills to sing to their potential in this regard, I think.

[Jextxadore]

When she says "Leave Wagner Alone", she really does sound like a mythical character, full of power and authority.

[Klassik2012]

Viele junge Sänger sollten sich diesen Ratschlag zu Herzen nehmen meiner Meinung nach. Vielen Dank für das Video.