Gertrud Grob-Prandl

Among the 3 potent Wagnerian heroic sopranos given birth to within a fifty percent year of every additional, Gertrud Grob-Prandl, according to varied co-workers, outshone both Astrid Varney and Birgit Nilsson in sheer amplitude. Soprano Irmgard Seefried swore that “the wall space shook” when Grob-Prandl sang Turandot, and even, the great-voiced soprano accomplished superstar in Italy surpassing actually that accorded her in her indigenous Austria. Grob-Prandl’s tone of voice was not simply immense, it had been strongly knit and accurate, with an easy vibrato that prevented any taint from the unwieldy. If her passagework in Mozart was somewhat labored, her dramatic functions had been all sung with lyricism aswell as power. Urged by her dad to get a occupation, Grob-Prandl thought we would go after a diploma in piano in the Vienna Conservatory to be remembered as a instructor. An amateur overall performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 brought auditions to complete the chorus so when the professors heard how big is her voice, your choice was immediately designed to enroll her inside a performing class. Working mainly with Papier Singer-Burian, Grob-Prandl discovered herself engaged from the Vienna Volksoper actually prior to the end of her four-year educational system. After her 1939 debut there as Santuzza, she was plunged in to the hochdramatisch repertory, including Leonore, Elisabeth, Ariadne (noticed by Strauss), and an extended list of huge Italian jobs, all sung in German. A hoped-for creation of Strauss’ Die Ägyptische Helena beneath the composer’s baton found naught because of the widening battle in European countries. In January 1944, Grob-Prandl became a member of the Vienna Staatsoper where she sang for pretty much three years, although from 1945 to 1947, she was the leading dramatic soprano in Züwealthy. Using the Vienna Staatsoper ruined by Allied bombs during WWII therefore many models and costumes decreased to natural powder, those operas that a production could possibly be taken together had been the ones to become noticed following cessation of hostilities. Hence, Grob-Prandl was noticed in a few 35 shows of Die fledermaus as Rosalinde, an extravagance rarely thereafter accorded her. In 1949, she came out at Salzburg in the key but rather short role from the Initial Lady. Grob-Prandl’s initial Walküre Brünnhilde was sung in 1949 with Clemens Krauss as her conductor. With conductor Rudolf Moralt, she undertook the Siegfried and Götterdämmerung Brünnhildes that same season, locating in them both power and lyric appearance. The function of Isolde was released using the Vienna Staatsoper quickly before the business took its creation from the Movie theater an der Wien to Brussels. Grob-Prandl’s tremendous success there led to her being produced a Kammersängerin when the business came back to Vienna. In Italy, the soprano relished dealing with Victor de Sabata, whose Tristan und Isolde she discovered elegant and poetic. Grob-Prandl made an appearance at Covent Backyard in 1951 to sing Turandot in British with Sir John Barbirolli performing. Her mastery of Turandot, actually, most endeared her to Italian viewers who valued her stentorian audio and fiery best records. Bayreuth eluded her, as do America, aside from the 1953 time of year in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA when she made an appearance as the Walküre Brünnhilde, Isolde, and Amelia. With Nilsson later on dominating the best roles in the us, there was small demand Grob-Prandl’s services. Apart from regular looks in Italy and periodic guest shows in other Western houses, Grob-Prandl mainly sang at her home entertainment in Vienna, retiring in 1972 while her tone of voice was still in its primary.