Kirsten Flagstad collection, 1923-1962

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Summary

Creators:
Flagstad, Kirsten
Abstract:
Collection contains recordings of Kirsten Flagstad and Waldemar Alme in performances and interviews.
Extent:
86 sound tape reels
Language:
German.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains recordings of Kirsten Flagstad from the early 1920s until her death in 1962. The recordings are from live radio broadcasts, commercial discs, live performances, recording sessions, and private recordings. It also includes interviews, recordings of Waldemar Alme, piano accompanist to Kirsten Flagstad, and a gift compilation given to Kirsten Flagstad on her deathbed. Conductors, interviewers and other performers on the recordings include Lauritz Melchior, Arnold Gábor, Ludwig Hoffmann, Gertrud Påalson-Wettergren, Emanuel List, Julius Huehn, René Maison, Kathryn Meisle, Set Svanholm, Edwin MacArthur, Alfred Wallenstein, Artur Bodanzky, Oivin Fjelstad, Sigvart Fotland, Maria Müller, Rudolf Bockelmann, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karen-Marie Flagstad, Karl Böhm, John Gurney, Eleanor Lamont, Knud Hagermann-Lindencrøne, Sir Adrian Boult and Torstein Gunnarson.

Biographical / historical:

Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962), an operatic soprano, spent the first 18 years of her career in Scandinavia, singing opera, operetta and musical comedy. After performing Isolde in 1932 at the National Theatre, Oslo, she was invited to Bayreuth, where her performances in small Wagnerian roles led to invitations to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, to the San Francisco Opera, and to Covent Garden. She became known for her Wagnerian roles, particularly Sieglinde, Isolde and Brunnhilde. In 1941, Flagstad returned to Norway to join her husband who was later arrested as a Nazi collaborator and died awaiting trial in 1946; she, herself, was acquitted of any wrongdoing. In 1948, Flagstad returned to Covent Garden, performing there, and in other European venues, until 1951. Retiring from the operatic stage in 1953 after a performance of Dido and Aeneas at the Little Mermaid Theatre in London, she continued to give recitals, make recordings, primarily off Wagner and Norwegian composers, and was, for a few years, the director of the Norwegian State Opera.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Braun Music Center, 541 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-3076, US
Contact:
(650) 723-9312
soundarchive@stanford.edu
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