“The voice of the century” “The queen of singers”
“The world’s greatest dramatic soprano”
“The greatest Wagner singer the world has ever known”
These are just a few of the things that have been said about Kirsten Flagstad
In 1913 Kirsten Flagstad made her début as Nuri in d’Albert’s opera Tiefland
In 1929 she sang in her first Wagner rôle as Elsa in Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin. It would take a surprisingly long time before Kirsten Wagner was discovered outside Scandinavia, for it was not until six years later that she had her international breakthrough. At a matinée at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Saturday 2nd February 1935 she would in the course of the performance become the world’s greatest soprano.
Have a look at the photo gallery and study her rôles - the teenager wandering carefully across the stage in Tiefland, with her knitting clasped in her hands; as Odette Dari in Bajaderen doing a belly dance in flowing robes with a sequin in her tummy button; or with a feather in her hat in Queen of the Screen
Helmet, spear and shield in Die Walküre.
Strictly male clothes in Fidelio or Norwegian national costume in The Flying Dutchman. Kirsten had a huge range in her voice, but she always insisted that the groundwork she had from singing an enormous number of light operas and operettas led her slowly but surely into being able to tackle major female rôles in Wagner’s operas and romantic music.
Just marvel at Kirsten Flagstad in a selection of her many rôles!