Christa Ludwig - Wagner - Lohengrin - Ortrud's Defiance

The incomparable Christa Ludwig performs as Ortrud in a scene from Wagner's Lohengrin, with Elisabeth Grümmer as Elsa.

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Ortrud: Get back, Elsa - no longer will I hold back, or follow you around like a serving-wench!
The place at the head of this column is mine, and now I will make you bow to me!

Chorus:
What does this woman want?

Elsa:
My God! What is this - what horrible change has come over you?

Ortrud:
Because I forgot my rank for an hour, you think you can make me crawl?
Now I will avenge my injury, and take back what is mine!

Elsa:
What? Have I been tricked?
You came crawling to my door last night, crying - Now you want to take my place?
You, who are married to the man defeated by the hand of God?

Ortrud:
If false judgement has banned my husband, remember that his name used to have great honor. Everyone called him a man of highest virtue - his sword was well-known, and well-feared. But your man... who will speak up for him here, since even you don't know his name?

Chorus:
How dare she say these things! Blasphemy! Shut her mouth!

Ortrud:
Can you name him?
Can you tell us if his nobility and lineage are real?
Where exactly, across the sea, did he come from?
When will he leave?
Where will he go when he leaves?
Ha! No!
He knows we'd see him for what he is, so the crafty knight forbade all questioning!

Chorus:
Can this be true? What horrible charges! How dare she insult him?

Elsa:
Ha, slanderer! Impudent woman!
Hear this - I have the perfect answer:
He is so pure, so noble, so virtuous, that all evil people must fear him and his Mission from God.

Chorus:
It's true! It's true!

Elsa:
Wasn't it God that, through my hero, struck down your husband in combat?
Now, all of you, speak truly: who alone is innocent here?

Chorus:
Your hero alone!

Ortrud:
Ha!
This 'innocence' your hero has - how quickly we'd all see through that, if he revealed his sorcerer's tricks!
If you yourself won't even dare to ask him about it, then we will all believe - and rightfully so - that you're afraid of him, afraid that his innocence is fake!

Chorus:
Save her from this witch's hatred!
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The translation is mine.

In these alternating speeches, Wagner gives excellent characterization to the heroine and the witch. Elsa, once she recovers from her shock, sings her lovely arietta in E-flat, accompanied by triumphant major chords. Ortrud sings at first over diminished chords in no discernable key, and then, as her argument climaxes, over fiery minor chords, cadencing in E-flat minor. Both women's speeches climax on high B-flat, but what a difference! Ortrud is a mezzo role, but with soprano tessitura - Wagner wants his mezzo witch to scream in rage. In many recordings, the mezzo is out of her range and out of control; I think we can safely conclude that Frau Ludwig and her flawless technique win the argument hands down.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Christa
• Ludwig
• Ortrud
• Lohengrin
• Kempe
• Ortrud's
• Defiance

[Horza1972ex]

Probably my favourite Fricka, Waltraute, Brangane and Ortrud! Her voice was powerful, accurate, dramatic and incredibly beautiful. It's the sort of voice that can never get tired of hearing.

[FredPlotkin]

To think that this woman sang Cherubino!

[georgerannie]

Christa is the Otrud of one's dreams.

[georgerannie]

Could there be a better sung Otrud than what Ludwig could do?

[Loismustdie26]

EPIC!!!! If I were to go into battle against anything - be it all of Russia during the cold war or invading aliens - the only weapon I would need is Ludwig's voice. More powerful than any warhead or laser canon out there