When I heard Kirsten Flagstad's voice for the first time I immediatly felt overwhelmed by emotions. I will never forget that feeling. Her voice is carved into my head. She left a huge legacy to her country and to the artistic world. Thank you for sharing this precious document.
A great voice, definitely, but she may not have been of the highest moral quality. The least she could have done after the war was to speak out on behalf of having Sweden & Norway accept as many Jewish Displaced Persons as possible as CITIZENS of those states. Instead of hundreds of thousands being accepted in this manner, hardly any were.
P1B1U1H1 Norway and Sweden were neutral countries. And why does Kirsten Flagstad have to advocate such a thing? Actually why would anyone have to advocate such a thing besides politicians?
So deeply moved, she was one of the best ever!!!. Her voice touches my soul in so deep way, that I tend to open my heart to her singing in a so easy way, taht I am amazed!!!.BRAVA!!
Thank you so much for uploading this documentary! Flagstad has always been a great inspiration to me as a singer, technically, artistically and of course the sheer beauty of her voice, to me the voice of the 20th century. I´m so glad people are still concerned with restoring her legacy and the historical truth about her. I´m so sorry she went through so much pain, frankly I had no idea about the extent of what was so wrongfully done to her. Thank you for enriching my life with this documentary!!
I am so pleased to be half Norwegian and half British [born 1961] that Norway has recognised Kirsten Flagstad. She is a hero of mine on the Level of Amundsen. Both controversial, and both great in my humble opinion, and will be remembered long after the critics has been forgotten ...
There have been countless fantastic singers...but this IS the greatest of ALL singers. EVER. NOONE has ever sung like this...noone! Voice teachers around the world has hailed Bjoerlings voice as the perfect singing technique, but the only one who does this even better..she is singing here! Thank you so much for uploading this wonderful program Afropoli!
VivaRenata darling, your ignorance makes you bold and stupid. meZZa voce is middle voice. meSSa di voce is a musical technique that involves a gradual crescendo and diminuendo while sustaining a single pitch. Messa di voce should not be confused with mezza voce (Italian, "half voice") which means to sing at half strength. The messa di voce is universally considered a very advanced vocal technique. To be properly executed, the only feature of the note being sung that should change is the volume - not the pitch, intonation, timbre, vibrato, and so on. This requires an extremely high level of vocal coordination, particularly in the diminuendo, so the technique is not often explicitly called for and is rarely heard outside of classical music. now educate your self so you don't look so fucking stupid. flagstad could do the Wagner bark but couldn't do a handel messa di voce. ofcourse Tebaldi couldn't do it either much less do a trill in messa di voce unlike Callas who could sing it all.
+Ninel Con D Fine, I'm surely not the only one who occasionally writes stuff in haste on youtube. Anyway, do thank me for making you feel educated and cautious.
I discovered opera when I was 8, in the form of Wagner and "Tannhauser". Shortly thereafter, my mother mentioned a Wagner record somewhere in a cabinet. I dug through years of things until I found a recording of highlights from "Tristan", sung by Flagstad and Melchior and conducted by Furtwangler. I remember putting on the record, and a short time later, my mom finding me crying inconsolably. "What's wrong with you ?" she asked impatiently. "It's too beautiful" I said. My mom and I both remember this moment these days after I have sung a role somewhere and I'm exhausted but extremely fulfilled. Thank you Madame Flagstad for making me the artist I am today.
I've been listening to Flagstad, through recordings only, for over 45 years. The choices of her singing for this documentary were perfect. Thank you for posting this.
The last music Flagstad sings at the end of this documentary is from "Oh Divine Redeemer" by Charles Gound. It was recorded in April of 1957 in London by Decca/London Records and was titled Kirsten Flagstad Sings Great Sacred Songs. It includes a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" and "Abide With Me". It is difficult to believe that the GREAT soprano was almost 62 years old!
her voice and interpretations were ineffably majestic and poignant. in the furtwangler recording of Tristan when she invokes Frau Minne is incredible. the voice rises like a calm cool wave which is also paradoxically burning with passion.
Poignant and beautiful presentation. The sublime Flagstad ------ the greatest Dramatic Soprano of the first half of the Twentieth Century (Nilsson ruled the second part). The fact that she was treated so terribly and disrespectfully during and after the war in both Norway and the United States is disgusting. She never did anything to hurt anyone. Her husband was entirely responsible for her misery. May she be forever singing with the gods in Valhalla, where she certainly must be happily residing. I love her.
Gud!. A wonderful tribute. You must know something of Flagstad's career up to her return to occupied Norway in 1940. To really understand the film. To hear her speaking voice so much in Norwegian, such a wonderful intimate language! At the end with her singing "Oh my Redeemer" at the unveiling of her statue at the Oslo Opera -- I LOST IT! Incomparable! Kirsten, there is in our hearts a special place that is reserved for you.
An immense artist, greatest amond the very greats. I believe the 20th century's three greatest sopranos were Flagstad, Ponselle, and Callas. Everyone else (and I mean exceptional singers like Nillson, Simionato, Horne, Tebaldi, Sutherland, Caballe, Price et al) belongs in a category called "the others".
Flagstad and Björling were lucky to both have worked with Gilas Brod. Forsell no doubt has a great influence on Jüssi as well. What is so amazing is how things come together. Thanks again for your excellent taste and energy in identifying these wonderful examples and documentaries.
Excellent documentary-- and the negative comments seem to demonstrate that some people just can't be bothered with the facts. Flagstaff was an amazing artist living in horrifically difficult times. Her voice is a force of nature-- Truth to tell, there were American icons who were more pro-Nazi than Madame Flagstad.
Flagstad was Not pro-Nazi in the slightest! This was proved in court in Norway. The peoppeople who were so against her in the US were totally ill informed and believed Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan and the like...
Poor Kirsten Flagstad! A brilliant musician and artist! She was one of my heroes when I was a kid. Bless her Soul. .It sounds as if she is being blamed for what her husband did, and being punished for loving him regardless. Somewhere on you tube is "The Nazi Officer's Wife" which is about a jewish woman who married a Nazi officer when she was living on false papers in Germany during the war. It's a fascinating story. She also loved her husband. As far as I know she was not hated for what she did!
I can only agree with jose luis Sarre below and would add: A woman of genius who still fills our souls with joy and at the same time a human being who had to undergo undeserved offence and humiliaton. This might be the reason of her passing away so young.
Unclear that the offenses, such as they were, were undeserved. Ms. Flagstad's husband was the Nazi in Norway who was labelled the "greatest profiteer". She enjoyed the profits of evil during her career. She never saw vertical bars or the hangman's noose. One gathers the full proceedings are not available for all to see. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to charge both husband & wife as much fines as the husband earns in a life of crime.
P1B1U1H1 She had no need of the profits of her husband . She had earned her own considerable fortune. Incidentally every time someone visits the Metropolitan Opera they should say thank you to Flagstad. In the 1930s the Metropolitan Opera Association had faced financial collapse, but by singing for free at benefit concerts she saved it That fact is acknowledged by every major Metropolitan archivist./ biographer. No, this is a story about love and yielding to family pressure. - I think it highly plausible that Johanson's daughter wanted him out of the NS, seeking Flagstad's help and also it is clear that Flagstad held very conservative views about a wife's duty. We cannot denigrate her 'moral quality' - perhaps she had greater moral quality than those who accepted money to go and throw stink bombs at her concert.! At the most we get the impression of someone who was politically naive. In the end her belongings were restored to her and she became the Director of the Norwegian Opera. A face saving move on behalf of the Norwegian Government who by them understood that she was innocent?
I think she was one of the best singers ever. What they made of her in Norway is a shame. Horrible such people who go against such genius. They are mentally ill.
Nobody in Norway was more inside with the German ocupying force than the Norwegian Police was. Nobody. I mention this, because Norway always seem to have painted this positive picture of itself. The pacifist Government of Johan Nygaardsvold, from 1935-1945 confirms what most thinking people already knew, that it was the Norwegian themselves who, through the past tventy years before April 9 1940, the day when Norway was declared war upon, who were the real traitorts to their country. No country in post WW2 Europe was more aggressive and painstakingly gruesome to friends of the occupying forces than Norway was. And Kirsten (Flagstad) must have felt it too. A very sober and good film.
Gounod's "O Divine Redeemer." This is from an album of sacred songs that Flagstad recorded quite late in her career- maybe 1957 or so. This would make it among her very last studio recordings. She certainly sounds gorgeous singing it.
"Walter Winchell" ~~ real name, Walter Winschel ~~ just another hater like so many of his type. His specialty was destroying people whom he didn't like or whose perspective on the world was opposed to his.
Kirsten may have had one of the greatest Wagnerian Voices of all, BUT what a total boar of interpretation output, GAWD, give me Varnay, Mödl, Nilsson anytime. BummsAus
Would like to hear the other side of the story concerning her alleged Nazi activities. No one, it seems, actually supported the Nazis; even the conductor who joined the Nazi party before it became fashionable, von Karajan, is now said to have been anti-fascist. Accepted by me is the notion that Furtwangler risked his neck opposing the Nazis. Were Ms. Flagstad innocent, she would have likely done something to show this during the war.
P1B1U1H1 She did, by hiding away in the countryside, not singing - not accepting any invitations to sing for the nazis, neither in Norway or Germany or anywhere else.
Do you imagine for one moment that Furtwangler would have remained her friend and champion had she been pro-Nazi? Evidently, you are blind to the evidence when it is right in front of you.
Probably the USA citizens made such a fuss because the US was politically on Hitler's side, and certainly did little or nothing to stop his well known advances, until very late in the war and the building of it. Anyone ever see the movie 1926, I believe, entitled "The City"? Looks straight out of Leni Riesenthal's works, and the look and viewpoints could well have been exchanged with the atmosphere and ideas of the Nazis at the time..It was made in the USA..etc etc. So of course they were looking for a scape goat, and artists and singers are easy, because so vunerable, and because the intense work required and great talent often put political powergames in their right place as just another story that people are projecting onto instead of owning the real issues and resolving and finishing suffering. The artists at that level are busy being artists to alllll people, and often don't see how theu're being used as pawns. Mme Germaine Lubin was still one of the greatest singers of her time, and she had far more to do with Hitler's crew than Flagstad ever dreamed of. And let's not begin on the subject of Van Karajan...or the jealous Joe McCarthy, who couldn't sing or make anyone's life beautiful or heart glad and spent his life killing aand harming as many as he could, along with Richard Nixon, his right hand man, of those who did make people's lives beautiful or thoughtful, the artists and thinking people of the time.. Makes me think of many now in politics who willl and would, if they dared, do the same..and we see they are preparing for just that. Brrrrr. How many of them have ever made anyone's heart sing with joy and compasion?
Gwir Galon I knew her family. She was NOT on Hitler's side. She was married and went home during the war to be with her husband who requested that she come back home. She had an older I'll husband, an old Mother. Please get your facts straight. Don't believe the lies that Ed Sullivan and especially Walter Winchell wrote about her...along with Billy Rose!
When I heard Kirsten Flagstad's voice for the first time I immediatly felt overwhelmed by emotions. I will never forget that feeling. Her voice is carved into my head. She left a huge legacy to her country and to the artistic world.
Thank you for sharing this precious document.
Excuse me, did you hear her live?
ruby edelman
I wish I would but I am too young. I discovered Kirsten Flagstad in her recordings of the Grieg's Lyrics, a decade ago. Unforgettable.
A great voice, definitely, but she may not have been of the highest moral quality. The least she could have done after the war was to speak out on behalf of having Sweden & Norway accept as many Jewish Displaced Persons as possible as CITIZENS of those states. Instead of hundreds of thousands being accepted in this manner, hardly any were.
P1B1U1H1 Norway and Sweden were neutral countries. And why does Kirsten Flagstad have to advocate such a thing? Actually why would anyone have to advocate such a thing besides politicians?
A Jalapeño
The point is that she was likely like her husband.
So deeply moved, she was one of the best ever!!!. Her voice touches my soul in so deep way, that I tend to open my heart to her singing in a so easy way, taht I am amazed!!!.BRAVA!!
Thank you so much for uploading this documentary! Flagstad has always been a great inspiration to me as a singer, technically, artistically and of course the sheer beauty of her voice, to me the voice of the 20th century. I´m so glad people are still concerned with restoring her legacy and the historical truth about her. I´m so sorry she went through so much pain, frankly I had no idea about the extent of what was so wrongfully done to her. Thank you for enriching my life with this documentary!!
I am so pleased to be half Norwegian and half British [born 1961] that Norway has recognised Kirsten Flagstad. She is a hero of mine on the Level of Amundsen.
Both controversial, and both great in my humble opinion, and will be remembered long after the critics has been forgotten ...
There have been countless fantastic singers...but this IS the greatest of ALL singers. EVER. NOONE has ever sung like this...noone! Voice teachers around the world has hailed Bjoerlings voice as the perfect singing technique, but the only one who does this even better..she is singing here! Thank you so much for uploading this wonderful program Afropoli!
such a perfect technique and unable to sing a messa di voce.
VivaRenata darling, your ignorance makes you bold and stupid. meZZa voce is middle voice. meSSa di voce is a musical technique that involves a gradual crescendo and diminuendo while sustaining a single pitch. Messa di voce should not be confused with mezza voce (Italian, "half voice") which means to sing at half strength.
The messa di voce is universally considered a very advanced vocal technique. To be properly executed, the only feature of the note being sung that should change is the volume - not the pitch, intonation, timbre, vibrato, and so on. This requires an extremely high level of vocal coordination, particularly in the diminuendo, so the technique is not often explicitly called for and is rarely heard outside of classical music.
now educate your self so you don't look so fucking stupid.
flagstad could do the Wagner bark but couldn't do a handel messa di voce.
ofcourse Tebaldi couldn't do it either much less do a trill in messa di voce unlike Callas who could sing it all.
+Ninel Con D Fine, I'm surely not the only one who occasionally writes stuff in haste on youtube. Anyway, do thank me for making you feel educated and cautious.
Alexandra Rodén i AM educated. don't need anything from you.
I discovered opera when I was 8, in the form of Wagner and "Tannhauser". Shortly thereafter, my mother mentioned a Wagner record somewhere in a cabinet. I dug through years of things until I found a recording of highlights from "Tristan", sung by Flagstad and Melchior and conducted by Furtwangler. I remember putting on the record, and a short time later, my mom finding me crying inconsolably. "What's wrong with you ?" she asked impatiently. "It's too beautiful" I said. My mom and I both remember this moment these days after I have sung a role somewhere and I'm exhausted but extremely fulfilled. Thank you Madame Flagstad for making me the artist I am today.
You have been very lucky to hear Flagstad live! I am so curious to lesrn how the aczed on stshe to see at least snippets of her, film, on stage!
@@elsalohengrin7777 Yes how lucky she was and how touching that Kirsten Flagstad made such a magical impression. ❤️
A treasure to behold. One of the greatest voices of the 20th-century.
Danke für diese Doku...❤
I've been listening to Flagstad, through recordings only, for over 45 years. The choices of her singing for this documentary were perfect. Thank you for posting this.
This documentary is revelatory. I loved it...Someone should make a movie of her life story.
Fortunately, we have the incomparable recordings, and the nonentities will not outlive her glorious voice.
The last music Flagstad sings at the end of this documentary is from "Oh Divine Redeemer" by Charles Gound. It was recorded in April of 1957 in London by Decca/London Records and was titled Kirsten Flagstad Sings Great Sacred Songs. It includes a beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" and "Abide With Me". It is difficult to believe that the GREAT soprano was almost 62 years old!
her voice and interpretations were ineffably majestic and poignant. in the furtwangler recording of Tristan when she invokes Frau Minne is incredible. the voice rises like a calm cool wave which is also paradoxically burning with passion.
This was incredible. She was incredible. Highly recommended.
Poignant and beautiful presentation. The sublime Flagstad ------ the greatest Dramatic Soprano of the first half of the Twentieth Century (Nilsson ruled the second part). The fact that she was treated so terribly and disrespectfully during and after the war in both Norway and the United States is disgusting. She never did anything to hurt anyone. Her husband was entirely responsible for her misery. May she be forever singing with the gods in Valhalla, where she certainly must be happily residing. I love her.
Flagstad's voice is the greatest, most spectacular one of all times!
Gud!. A wonderful tribute. You must know something of Flagstad's career up to her return to occupied Norway in 1940. To really understand the film. To hear her speaking voice so much in Norwegian, such a wonderful intimate language! At the end with her singing "Oh my Redeemer" at the unveiling of her statue at the Oslo Opera -- I LOST IT! Incomparable! Kirsten, there is in our hearts a special place that is reserved for you.
This was a very sad, moving account of a truly magnificent singer.
Excellent documentary!
An immense artist, greatest amond the very greats. I believe the 20th century's three greatest sopranos were Flagstad, Ponselle, and Callas. Everyone else (and I mean exceptional singers like Nillson, Simionato, Horne, Tebaldi, Sutherland, Caballe, Price et al) belongs in a category called "the others".
Apart from Ponselle, who had the greatest soprano voice of all time, give me "the others" over dull Flagstad and squally Callas any day.
Flagstad and Björling were lucky to both have worked with Gilas Brod. Forsell no doubt has a great influence on Jüssi as well. What is so amazing is how things come together. Thanks again for your excellent taste and energy in identifying these wonderful examples and documentaries.
Excellent documentary-- and the negative comments seem to demonstrate that some people just can't be bothered with the facts. Flagstaff was an amazing artist living in horrifically difficult times. Her voice is a force of nature-- Truth to tell, there were American icons who were more pro-Nazi than Madame Flagstad.
Flagstad was Not pro-Nazi in the slightest! This was proved in court in Norway. The peoppeople who were so against her in the US were totally ill informed and believed Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan and the like...
It has been a heart broken experience to watch this, as well! But I am happy you brought this to us!
Thank you very much for posting this.
Poor Kirsten Flagstad! A brilliant musician and artist! She was one of my heroes when I was a kid. Bless her Soul.
.It sounds as if she is being blamed for what her husband did, and being punished for loving him regardless.
Somewhere on you tube is "The Nazi Officer's Wife" which is about a jewish woman who married a Nazi officer when she was living on false papers in Germany during the war. It's a fascinating story. She also loved her husband. As far as I know she was not hated for what she did!
I can only agree with jose luis Sarre below and would add: A woman of genius who still fills our souls with joy and at the same time a human being who had to undergo undeserved offence and humiliaton. This might be the reason of her passing away so young.
Unclear that the offenses, such as they were, were undeserved. Ms. Flagstad's husband was the Nazi in Norway who was labelled the "greatest profiteer". She enjoyed the profits of evil during her career. She never saw vertical bars or the hangman's noose. One gathers the full proceedings are not available for all to see. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to charge both husband & wife as much fines as the husband earns in a life of crime.
P1B1U1H1 She had no need of the profits of her husband . She had earned her own considerable fortune. Incidentally every time someone visits the Metropolitan Opera they should say thank you to Flagstad. In the 1930s the Metropolitan Opera Association had faced financial collapse, but by singing for free at benefit concerts she saved it That fact is acknowledged by every major Metropolitan archivist./ biographer.
No, this is a story about love and yielding to family pressure. - I think it highly plausible that Johanson's daughter wanted him out of the NS, seeking Flagstad's help and also it is clear that Flagstad held very conservative views about a wife's duty. We cannot denigrate her 'moral quality' - perhaps she had greater moral quality than those who accepted money to go and throw stink bombs at her concert.!
At the most we get the impression of someone who was politically naive. In the end her belongings were restored to her and she became the Director of the Norwegian Opera. A face saving move on behalf of the Norwegian Government who by them understood that she was innocent?
How horribly she was treated. The perpetrators should be hung out to dry.
Phantastic Voice and Pathos!Thanks afroPoli!
Takk for at du deler denne 👏🏻
Sorry to hear about Robert Tuggle's death in 2016. I'm sure his Flagstad biography would have been enormously detailed and beautifully written.
Artista e donna di assoluta eccezione!
I think she was one of the best singers ever. What they made of her in Norway is a shame. Horrible such people who go against such genius. They are mentally ill.
Thank you for uploading this.♫
Is there a full recording of the war cry at 28:30? It's mentioned she was 62 straight after and I thought she only did Sieglinde in the 1957 Walkure?
Excellent. Thanks
Nobody in Norway was more inside with the German ocupying force than the Norwegian Police was. Nobody. I mention this, because Norway always seem to have painted this positive picture of itself. The pacifist Government of Johan Nygaardsvold, from 1935-1945 confirms what most thinking people already knew, that it was the Norwegian themselves who, through the past tventy years before April 9 1940, the day when Norway was declared war upon, who were the real traitorts to their country. No country in post WW2 Europe was more aggressive and painstakingly gruesome to friends of the occupying forces than Norway was. And Kirsten (Flagstad) must have felt it too. A very sober and good film.
Yes, you are quite right: the guilty require their scapegoats.
sie war eine wunderbare Sängerin!
Thanks for this!
Wow, just wow.
Great documentary- Although I look forward to more of a biopic compared to an apologetic film on her.
Jeg bare lurer på noe:Når ble Kristen Flagstad født?Var hun fra Kråkstad i Akershus eller Hamar? Hvor ligger den felles urnegraven hvor hun ligger?
LOVE HER in Vagner roles. Her life has a lesson on ignorance of the herd
Very interesting documentary about Flagstad.
Beautiful. Does anyone one know what is the song that accompanies the last few minutes of the program?
Gounod's "O Divine Redeemer." This is from an album of sacred songs that Flagstad recorded quite late in her career- maybe 1957 or so. This would make it among her very last studio recordings. She certainly sounds gorgeous singing it.
Has Robert Tuggle's biography ever been published or even completed?
"Walter Winchell" ~~ real name, Walter Winschel ~~ just another hater like so many of his type. His specialty was destroying people whom he didn't like or whose perspective on the world was opposed to his.
Kirsten may have had one of the greatest Wagnerian Voices of all, BUT what a total boar of interpretation output, GAWD, give me Varnay, Mödl, Nilsson anytime. BummsAus
Give me Frida Leider any day over dull Flagstad.
Would like to hear the other side of the story concerning her alleged Nazi activities. No one, it seems, actually supported the Nazis; even the conductor who joined the Nazi party before it became fashionable, von Karajan, is now said to have been anti-fascist. Accepted by me is the notion that Furtwangler risked his neck opposing the Nazis. Were Ms. Flagstad innocent, she would have likely done something to show this during the war.
P1B1U1H1 She did, by hiding away in the countryside, not singing - not accepting any invitations to sing for the nazis, neither in Norway or Germany or anywhere else.
Do you imagine for one moment that Furtwangler would have remained her friend and champion had she been pro-Nazi? Evidently, you are blind to the evidence when it is right in front of you.
Probably the USA citizens made such a fuss because the US was politically on Hitler's side, and certainly did little or nothing to stop his well known advances, until very late in the war and the building of it. Anyone ever see the movie 1926, I believe, entitled "The City"? Looks straight out of Leni Riesenthal's works, and the look and viewpoints could well have been exchanged with the atmosphere and ideas of the Nazis at the time..It was made in the USA..etc etc. So of course they were looking for a scape goat, and artists and singers are easy, because so vunerable, and because the intense work required and great talent often put political powergames in their right place as just another story that people are projecting onto instead of owning the real issues and resolving and finishing suffering. The artists at that level are busy being artists to alllll people, and often don't see how theu're being used as pawns. Mme Germaine Lubin was still one of the greatest singers of her time, and she had far more to do with Hitler's crew than Flagstad ever dreamed of. And let's not begin on the subject of Van Karajan...or the jealous Joe McCarthy, who couldn't sing or make anyone's life beautiful or heart glad and spent his life killing aand harming as many as he could, along with Richard Nixon, his right hand man, of those who did make people's lives beautiful or thoughtful, the artists and thinking people of the time.. Makes me think of many now in politics who willl and would, if they dared, do the same..and we see they are preparing for just that. Brrrrr. How many of them have ever made anyone's heart sing with joy and compasion?
Gwir Galon I knew her family. She was NOT on Hitler's side. She was married and went home during the war to be with her husband who requested that she come back home. She had an older I'll husband, an old Mother. Please get your facts straight. Don't believe the lies that Ed Sullivan and especially Walter Winchell wrote about her...along with Billy Rose!