  g(11696700)a(1393595))
101367.2200@compuserve.com
| | Varnay Astrid | | soprano |   
| Her father, Alexander Várnay (1889-1925) was a Hungarian tenor, who went on to co-found the 'Opéra Comique' in Kristiania (today: Oslo) Norway, where he also served as head stage director. He later staged productions in Buenos Aires and New York. Her mother, Mária Jávor-Varnay was a coloratura soprano. Their daughter's full name is Ibolyka Astrid Maria Varnay. When she was three years old, the family left Europe for Buenos Aires, finally settling in New York City. She received her vocal instruction from her mother, then went on to study repertoire with the head of musical preparation for the German wing of the Metropolitan Opera, Hermann Weigert (1890-1955), whom she married in 1944. In 1937 she sang Ines to her mother's Leonora in 'Trovatore' under the assumed name of Inez Milani at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her official staghe début took place on December 6, 1941, when she substituted for the indisposed Lotte Lehmann as Sieglinde at the Metropolitan Opera. She soon became one of the most significant Wagnerian sopranos of her time, as well as an important interpreter of the works of Richard Strauss. Year after year until 1956, she scored great successes at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to the Wagnerian roles, she sang Amelia Grimaldi in Verdi's 'Simon Boccanegra', Santuzza in Mascagni's 'Cavalleria rusticana' the title roles in 'Salome' and 'Elektra' and the Marschallin in 'Der Rosenkavalier', all by Richard Strauss. She performed the role of Telea in the 1942 world première of Gian-Carlo Menotti's 'The Island God'. From 1944 she appeared at the Chicago Lyric Opera as Sieglinde in 'Die Walküre', Amneris in 'Aida' and in the modern opera, 'Lord Byron's Love Letter' by Raffaelo de Banfield with a libretto taken from the play by Tennessee Williams (1955). From 1946 to 1961 she made guest appearances at the San Francisco Opera Company, where she was highly successful in the title role of 'La Gioconda' and as Leonore in 'Fidelio'. In 1948, she sang in Mexico City, and came to Europe for the first time that same year to make her début as Brünnhilde in 'Siegfried' at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, later returning to the British capital in 1951 for Leonora in 'Il trovatore' and the title role in 'Aida'. In 1951 she sang a much-lauded Lady Macbeth at the Maggio Musicale in Florence. She was a mainstay at the Bayreuth Festival from 1951 to 1958, where she appeared in Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner's modern productions of their grandfather's operas. Her roles there were Brünnhilde (1951-54, 1966-67), Sieglinde (1954-55), Gutrune (1954), the Third Norn (1955-56, 1958, 1967), Kundry (1962, 1965-66), Isolde (1952-53, 1963), Senta (1955-56, 1959) and Ortrud (1953-54, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1967). She made very successful guest appearances at the Grand Opéra in Paris (début in 1967), La Scala in Milan (1967 as Isolde), Covent Garden (1948, 1951, 1958-59, 1968), the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg, in Hamburg, Munich, Berlni, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and many other important operatic capitals. She sang the title role in 'Elektra' at the Salzburg Festival in 1964-65. She sang Jokaste in the world première of Carl Orff's 'Oedipus der Tyrann' on December 11, 1959 at the Stuttgart State Opera. Starting in 1962, she gradually began moving over to character roles, such as Herodias in 'Salome', Klytämnestra in 'Elektra', the Kostelnika in Janacek's 'Jenufa' and the title role in 'Der Besuch der alten Dame' by Gottfried von Einem. She was invited back to the Metropolitan Opera in 1974 and in the course of the following seasons she performed some of the great character roles in her repertoire, the Kostelnika, Klytämnestra, Herodias and the Widow Begbick in 'Der Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny' by Kurt Weill. In 19 Metropolitan seasons she sang 24 roles in 158 performances. She had an extended career, finally establishing residence in Munich. After a long career at the Bavarian State Opera in that city she made her final appearance there as the Nurse in the original version of Mussorgsky's starting in 1991 and running on to 1995. She taught vocal interpretation both at the opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and at the Music Academy in Düsseldorf, where she received a professorship in 1970. Her heavy dramatic voice with its dark timbre and wide range and her deeply felt psychological depiction of the roles she sang were ideally suited for Richard Wagner's works. She published her autobiography (co-authored by Donald Arthur) first in a German translation as 'Hab mir's gelobt' (Henschel-Verlag Berlin, 1996) and then later in the English original under the title '55 Years in Five Acts' (Northeastern University Press, Boston, 2000) Recordings: Remington Decca ('Der fliegende Holländer', 'Lohengrin'), Columbia (Act III of 'Die Walküre' Bayreuth 1951), TESTAMENT ('Götterdämmerung' Bayreuth 1951), DGG ('Oedipus der Tyrann'), HMV ('Cavalleria rusticana'), Melodram ('Elektra', 'Lohengrin', 'Die Walküre', 'Götterdämmerung', 'Der Ring des Nibelungen', 'Parsifal') Cetra ('Der fliegende Holländer'), Replica ('Lohengrin'), Foyer ('The Ring' Bayreuth 1953), Decca ('Andrea Chenier', 'The Rake's Progress'), Myto (songs and arias) and DG-Video ('Salome'). |
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