I was there ... being invited to this historical perf by my beloved Leonie ... it will remain one of the most moving experience of my operatic life ... I have a complete video recorded from the audience of this stunning perf somewhere ... I promise I will put at least all Leonie's parts online ... I feel like sharing with you a story that exemplifies the human and heart qualities of Leonie (for me, it is those qualities that resonate in her voice and that can be perceived by receptive listeners that make the difference with others ... her voice was reflecting her soul ... and that is beyond technique of any kind) : after the perf, there was a diner offered to Leonie in the house by the Met management ... I was blessed that I was invited ... this was january, and a very cold and windy night (like it can be cold and windy in NYC ...) ... of course the diner started quite late (around midnight) and you can imagine how much Leonie could be exhausted (even more as we realized AFTER that she was already struggling with cancer) after this long performance (and ovations) ... around 2 pm, someone warn her that there were still people waiting for her in the blizzard ant the stage door outside ... before anyone could protest she immediately asked for a table and a chair to be put OUTSIDE (everything was closed at the MEt were all the staff had left) to be able to see the people and give them autographs ... !!! ... that is exactly how big was Leonie's heart ... and THAT is what you feel when you listen to (and even more when you see) her on stage ... she is forever the greatest in my heart... I feel so fortunate that I could actually not only attend so many unforgettable perf with her but also having the great fortune to have some personal contacts with her and Elu (her wonderful husband) ... after so many years tears are coming to my eyes when I think of her ... sorry for this long post ... I also promise that at some point I will put online the video that I personally made (so it is unique, only Elu and Hildegard Behrens had a copy) of her very las appearance on stage at Salzburg in Elektra for all her fans ... because it moves me a lot that even younger persons who have never had the opportunity to see her on stage could be deeply touched by her incomparable artistry and personality ... Leonie is the voice of love forever ...
I hope opera lovers in Rysanek's native Vienna see this video. It demonstrates how much New York loved the the little girl from the Dietrichgasse! She was not just another European singer shipped in for a few performances once in a while. She was idolized in this house for nearly 40 years.
@@sandraf.7380 Not really. Rysanek wasn't really appreciated as she should have been by Viennese audiences, everyone who was around in those years knew that. The Wiener Staatsoper wasn't even able to schedule a farewell performance for her. She had to retire in Salzburg.
But she was given a lovely farewell concert at the Theater an der Wien, the house was completely sold out and the atmosphere was marvellous. She looked marvellous, too.
@@sandraf.7380 I know, however with the hundreds of performances she did at the WSO, an Elektra or a Pique Dame should have been scheduled for her to have a proper farewell. The WSO wasn't kind to her and she said it towards the end of her career. A real pity.
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
She sang the Empress in the first recording of Die Frau Ohne Schatten under Karl Bohm. Today the opera is a recognized masterpiece and many recordings are available, but back then it was only known to a handful of aficionados. I credit Rysanek's thrilling performance in the role as part of the reason this opera is now part of the standard repertoire.
She was wonderful in all of her many roles. Her Wagnerian roles are described in one word: magnificent. She is the most thrilling Sieglinde that I have ever heard.
I was lucky, too. Saw her Sieglinde in San Francisco in 1982 or 1983 with Peter Hoffmann as Siegmund. I was still very opera green, but she was quite a force the way she abandoned herself to Sieglinde's passions. A friend of mine, years later, said he'd met her in the seventies and asked her why she never sung the role of Elektra. She said, sweetly, "Oh, my dear. I could sing it ONCE, but then I'd never be able to sing another note again." Modest lady, Leonie. What she does in that Fellini-looking film of "Elektra" has turned more people on to opera than anything else in movies. Such a nice lady, but willing to do anything if it served the role. And now I'm all worked up and will play the "Salome" clips on RU-vid.
@@unclealand Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Ain't no one who's gonna fill THOSE shoes!! Talk about a Met career! Her Wagner (Senta, Seiglinde, Elisabeth, Otrud, Kundry) and her Strauss (The Empress, Ariadne, Salome, Rosenkavalier, Elektra) remain unchallenged. She was an outstanding actress, a beautiful woman, and had a flaming top voice. She had a fierce and fanatical following in New York, Vienna, Bayreuth, San Francisco, and just about everywhere else she performed. She was a diva --- in the Callas sense of the word. No less.
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Well, she sang Elektra only once for a recording and of course she never was a real Elektra. But it doesn´t matter. Her achievements, especially in acting more than correct but always emotional singing, are without any doubt.
@@paulwatson1080 I think he means that when someone claims that a singer has sung a role, the implication is that it was sung in an opera house in a live performance. I would have said that she sang the mother and sister in Elektra and recorded the lead in studio only.
It must be a sad moment for a singer to know that after such a long time of a successful carrer with devoted fans that the final curtain has fallen. I remember Rysaneks last Kostelnicka in Vienna and what a frenzy there was among the audience. It was most definitely the most emotional moment in opera I remember - a crying Rysanek, sitting on the stage because of the turmoil and love that was brought to her by everybody.
And 2 years later she was no more. Apparently had been diagnosed with cancer a couple of days before this performance. This was more than just a farewell at the Met - this was a farewell to life!
She was one of a group of artists who had sort of a reverence for their adoring fans. No matter what she always stopped to return a greeting and chat if you had a question for her. I was lucky to know a lot of them at the Met, but no one more charming and lovely than Rysanek. She will always live for me.
It was her undeniable JOY in singing. When she went to Jenufa she really gave incredible, beautiful performances everywhere. I saw her in Sydney, Australia. At the sitzprobe she was the only artist who stood to sing. A great, great woman and artist.
We had no idea of her stature at the time-I was very young, and new to opera. She was electric in Queen of Spades-creepy, hypnotic, prescient of her own death, although we did not know about it then. The house would not let her go. As you can hear, they shouted her name, calling brava, trying to let her know how much her life in art had meant to them. I think even she was blown away by the emotion from the audience. We left after a half hour because we had to drive out of the city, but the curtain calls continued. She died not long after, but this was a moment in my life I still tell stories about to unbelieving friends. To watch this is to understand the relationship of a truly great singer to the audiences who loved and appreciated the intensity she brought to her performances.
Impressive! I remember with joy and emotion her performance at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, in Elektra with Voigth and Beherens! that video is awesome! Colon was coming down.
I was there that night. Horostovskij sang beautifully. A lot of other opera stars in the audience. Jochen Kowalski was one of them, standing right behind me and applauding die Rysanek.
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Great artist and seems to have been a wonderful woman, a true friend to many people, and someone who people loved being around. The film she did of Electra is my first experience of Richard Strauss and the beginning of my love for German opera.
Impressive! I remember with joy and emotion her performance at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, in Elektra with Voigth and Beherens! that video is awesome! Colon was coming down. Official recording will be met! would have to ask to publish it!
I can't speak for others, but the main reason I loved Rysanek was not the thrilling voice, not the dramatic intensity, not the total identification with each role, though of course I did love her for these reasons, as well. It was the raw, emotional connection that leapt from her to the audience, like a thunderbolt. It grabbed you and enveloped you, in a warm, all-embracing, electrifying cocoon of love, and how she managed that is a mystery. I don't think it was a deliberate act on her part. I think it was a natural byproduct of the synthesis of two factors: the total identification with, and frightening intensity she brought to each role she played, merging with her immense affection for her public. She was nothing if not a benign volcano of emotion. When she says to the audience, at 3:35, 'I love you', they are probably the three most honest words she ever uttered. That titanic love she felt for us in the audience is the true secret of our equally enormous love and regard for her.
That's it in a nutshell for me. I think of all singers Rysanek is the hardest to understand unless you actually experienced her live or, better yet, built up a relationship with her over time. I was very fortunate to see her over many years and some of the time she really didn't sound very good and even dramatically she could go WAAAYY overboard. But the sheer impact of her presence, the sheer emotional catharsis she could bring even when her voice wasn't in top shape, was always overwhelming. She lived the music and even when she miscalculated she was ALWAYS giving herself 100%. She said in an interview once that the love of the audience mattered to her most and that was always apparent. The met audiences (well most of them, sometimes she wasn't treated so well) loved her and she loved them right back. But as an audio only experience she can be a tough sell if you are new to her work and unless you go on a binge and seek out certain performances.
@@petercallahan7321 In San Francisco, where I grew up, she was wildly adored as something not far removed from a goddess. In the 1976 season I was privileged to see her in three of her greatest roles: Tosca, Sieglinde and the Kaiserin (this last under Böhm himself, whose trips to SF were few and far between), and she was transcendent. Sure, she made some ungodly sounds in the middle and low registers, her top notes were sometimes a quarter tone off, and her acting was about as subtle as an early John Waters film, but we loved her. We recognised her total commitment to the roles she sang, and that was enough for us. We had a similar love for Gwyneth Jones, whose vocalism could be even more wayward than Rysanek's. Jones was just as committed in her portrayals, and she loved the audience intensely. I miss those days of imperfect singing from larger-than-life singing actresses.
I was lucky to be there that night. A great performance, not least by Hvorostovsky. Several operasingers stood next to me in the audience, Jochen Konwalski among them.
Indeed one of the most marvelous sopranos of the 20th Century. There will never be another like her. A very great artist just as Callas was. Isn't there a video recording of that performance??
Singers of this stature, with the exception of Domingo, are all gone now! And I doubt very much that any farewell by one of the current "dive" will come close to this.
Hello, it is wonderful to "meet" with fans of my beloved Leonie ! I just want to let you know that I will upload several private unreleased documents featuring Leonie on my YT channel in the coming times, it would be a pleasure to share them with you. Also that you are welcome to join the FaceBook Page in her honor set up by my friend Petros : facebook.com/leonierysanek.tribute/
Leonie Rysanek was made for the opera house - I love her live recordings, but the commercial ones do not show her to her advantage. This amazing woman achieved so much through her artistic temperament . Her voice could be thrilling - a powerhouse of expression, but also she could sing very out of tune, with some notes seeming to lack pitch at all in her Strauss. She remains one of the finest singing actresses the world has ever seen.
Why can't the people where I live in Johnson city Tennessee have this kind of high respect for the arts like the people in NYC, San Francisco, London, Milan, Paris, Rome, Chicago, Vienna, or even Berlin?
Joel Blake It's simply a matter of education. People anywhere and everywhere can learn to appreciate and even love great singing, if their exposure to it is gradual and engaging.
Sorry, I just didn’t like her, or maybe I simply didn’t understand her. Rysanek often seemed more intent on finding places to scream, rather than finding the right pitch. I eagerly looked forward to seeing her as Sieglinde and Elisabeth, and I was badly disappointed. She was more successful IMO in her mezzo roles, although they were more acted than sung. I never understood why she was so lauded; I thought she was way overrated. Just my opinion. She was always very charming though.
I LOVED her but yes she was very variable vocally (although she kept her voice much longer than most of her generation) and could er on the side of camp to a degree that didn't always work in her favor. For some she was and will always be a tough sell and I don't think there's really much to be gained simply by listening to her. I think she's the hardest of the "golden age" singers to explain. I was fortunate to have seen her over three decades so I (and many others) had built up this long term "relationship" and connection to her that was hard to break once she converted you. It was the intense need to communicate and the obvious connection and love she felt to her audience that invariably moved me. Personally I'm not really sure I buy the idea of her as an "actress" per se. There was very little differentiation between how she did one role versus another (though there were exceptions, personally I thought the Elisabeth was an extraordinary characterization even though it wasn't always a good role for her vocally). And I did see her weather some very bad evenings where nothing was working. But then the good night would come, the audience would know it, she would know it, and the sheer exaltation of it would overwhelm. I do think she was an artist, but in some ways a "niche" one.
