Word: flagstads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Soprano Kirsten Flagstad was indeed back at the Met for the first time in ten years, for the first time since she left it in 1941 to join her husband in occupied Norway. The salute of the Met choristers was only a small part of the welcome...
...third-floor lounge of the Metropolitan Opera House one morning last week, 40 members of the Met chorus were taking a rehearsal break when a large, pink-cheeked woman passed their open door. Was it? Yes, it was. Choristers called out an impromptu greeting: "Welcome back, Madame Flagstad...
Five Costumes. Kirsten Flagstad had no serious doubts. The greatest Wagnerian soprano of her generation, she still possesses, at 55, a voice as incomparable as ever. As for the role of Isolde, she has worn out five complete costumes singing it since she first brought Met audiences to their knees...
...Flagstad said that she was not overexcited about her return: "No, I have stopped being sentimental." It was a trouper's speech, and Flagstad is a trouper. She has been singing opera now for 37 years, and the theater is in her blood and background. Her father worked in Oslo's Central Theater as a violinist and conductor, her mother as a vocal coach. The first score that flaxen-haired Kirsten ever "yelled out" as a child was Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. She learned Lohengrin before...
Operatic Home. Manhattan Banker (and Met Angel) Otto Kahn discovered her in 1929. After hearing her sing Tosca in Oslo, he told Met Manager Giulio Gatti-Casazza that she was a singer to watch. Before Gatti got around to taking this advice, Flagstad accepted a bid from Bayreuth. It was the first time she had sung outside of Scandinavia. Says she: "I was quite happy where I was. I was never ambitious. Always I wanted to be a private person...