Christa Ludwig Nails Some High Notes

The incomparable Christa Ludwig as Ortrud the Witch in Wagner's Lohengrin.

Wagner really did his best to make us hate Ortrud. There are three moments in Lohengrin when she steps front and center and screams at the audience accompanied by the orchestra at full blast. It's a mezzo role, but Wagner was cruel - he gives her relentless lines that sit far too high for any normal mezzo, so what you get is a screechy, out-of-control witch. That is, until Frau Ludwig came along with this recording and proved that, with the right voice and technique, Ortrud can steal the show away from Wagner's precious tenor and soprano couple.

The 1964 Rudolf Kempe recording still stands in many lists as the best Lohengrin to date - and that's, despite Jess Thomas as a stuffy, boring Lohengrin and Elisabeth Grümmer as Elsa the Whiny. (And don't get me started on the Herald - I want the King to kick his ass into the pit.) No, this show is all about the villains. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in his early, heavy days is ideal as the desperate, powerless Telramund, and his duet with Christa Ludwig is opera heaven. The orchestra is immaculate, with brass that knock you off your chair. EMI's sound here still stands after 45 years as exactly how operas should be recorded.

Ortrud:
Go home!
Go home, you proud "hero!"
So that I can tell your blushing bride who that swan is that pulls your boat...
I recognized him by my magic chain around his neck - this is the Heir of Brabant!

Chorus:
Ah!

Ortrud:
I thank you all for driving the "Savior" away!
And now the swan will take him home.
If your hero had stayed any longer, he would have freed the Heir, too!

Chorus:
Loathsome woman! What a monstrous crime!

Ortrud:
Thus shall you all learn how the true gods punish those who turn away from them!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Christa
• Ludwig
• Lohengrin
• Ortrud
• Kempe
• Vienna
• Fahr
• Heim

[TheVaughan5]

What a fantastic recording - blows a lot of modern efforts into the weeds. The real problem is that despite advances in technology there are very few producers who know how to record opera - this is an object lesson on how it's supposed to be done.

[georgerannie]

DO IT  Christa!! There will never br anyone better!

[profgv]

@Funghiallapanna Yes I remember both very well...Thank you for bringing it up.

[whatever456]

I love Ludwig but Klose is the best Ortrud on record. There is a live recording I think from Vienna and the audience interrupts her with an ovation after the Entwihte Gotter. Its incomparable

[assindiastignani]

@Funghiallapanna There was also always applause für Rysanek and

(the young) Marton after the "Entweihte Götter" - in NY and San Francisco

anyway. In Europe it's pretty much unheard of, no matter how well the

singer sings that passage in the 2nd Act.

[90lysander]

Glorious singing from the always-glorious Christa Ludwig. But why, oh why, did you have to sour my viewing experience by insulting the also-glorious Elisabeth Grummer in your comments section?

[gabriellecorinne]

Ah Christa Ludwig, my favorite mezzo.

[saiserieht]

Well, maybe "far greater" is exaggerated.

[mannail888]

Don't ever believe what "saiserieht" writes here, for "saisserieht" probably has a lot of Klose recordings and wants to re-sell it.

[LohengrinT]

And Jehny Drivala! Dont forget Jehny Drivala, she is the greatest Ortrud of the last 5 centuries! Far better than Ludwig and Klole ;)