Leonie Rysanek

Leopoldine "Leonie" Rysanek (November 14, 1926–March 7, 1998) was an Austrian dramatic soprano.

Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1959 as Lady Macbeth, replacing Maria Callas who had been "fired" from the production. She made her farewell to the Met as the Countess in "The Queen of Spades" in January 1996. Her final performance was at the Salzburg Festival in August 1996, as Klytämnestra in "Elektra". Over her lengthy career, she sang 299 performances of 24 roles at the Met. She starred in the Met premieres of "Macbeth", "Nabucco", "Ariadne auf Naxos", "Die Frau ohne Schatten", and "Katya Kabanova".

In 1951, she was the first Sieglinde of the new Bayreuth Festival in Die Walküre under Herbert von Karajan.

She was appointed curator of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) a few months after her retirement, a post she held until her death in Vienna at age 71 (she had been diagnosed with bone cancer during her last Met performances).

Voice and roles

Leonie Rysanek's voice was astride the spinto and dramatic soprano voices in certain roles. Although her voice fell in the upper end of the jugendlich-dramatisch and dramatischer sopran categories in the German repertoire, it was exclusively dramatic by Italian operatic standards. In the octave just above middle C, the voice could sound dry with wobbly intonation, but at the top of the staff it blossomed into one of the most glorious sounds of the twentieth century. Her endurance in the high tessitura of "Turandot" and the operas of Richard Strauss and Wagner is legendary.

She excelled in the music of Richard Strauss. She was especially successful as the Empress (Kaiserin) in "Die Frau ohne Schatten", the title role in "Salome", the Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier" and Chrysothemis in "Elektra". She occasionally sang Ariadne/Prima Donna in "Ariadne auf Naxos" and female leads in Strauss operas rarely staged ("Die Ägyptische Helena" and "Die Liebe der Danae"). However, cautious of playing out of her league, she didn't tackle Salome until 1972 when she was 46, although she kept the role of Sieglinde in her active repertoire from her early 20s until age 62. She avoided offers to sing Isolde in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" despite speculation that the role would be perfect for her.

Strauss sopranos often make excellent Puccini voices and accordingly Rysanek sang many "Tosca"s and a few "Turandot"s. She also sang a remarkable Leonore in Beethoven's "Fidelio".

In Wagner, she sang many "Tannhäuser" Elisabeths and "Lohengrin" Elsas, virtually owned the role of Senta in "Der fliegende Holländer" for two decades, but the role in which she was most revered, in addition to Strauss's Kaiserin and Chrysothemis, was Sieglinde in "Die Walküre".

Such a powerful, long and expressive voice as Rysanek's allowed her to sing many Verdi leads, notably Desdemona in "Otello", Lady Macbeth, Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera", Elisabetta in "Don Carlo", Leonora in "La forza del destino", and Aida.

As an Austrian and a "Mitteleuropäerin", Rysanek also took an interest in music from Slavic countries, both Russian (Tchaikovsky) and Czech (Smetana, Janáček).

Of the notorious five "biggest" soprano roles, Rysanek sang Turandot and enjoyed success as Kundry in "Parsifal" at the Met and the Bayreuth Festival. Starting her career when Kirsten Flagstad was still alive and Birgit Nilsson and Astrid Varnay at the peak of their vocal abilities, Rysanek knew better than to go for Wagner's Isolde or any of his three Brünnhildes. However, in 1981, Karl Böhm persuaded her to sing Elektra (opera) for a Unitel film (with the soundtrack recorded in the studio), not a live production in an opera house. She accepted out of consideration for and trust in the great conductor and wouldn't have done it for anyone else.

In her later years, and like many "big" soprano voices, Rysanek reverted to dramatic mezzo-soprano roles like Ortrud in Wagner's "Lohengrin", Herodias in Strauss's "Salome" and Klytemnestra in his "Elektra".

Officially published recordings

Work (composer), role, conductor, year of recording, label.

Only recordings marked thus ! were originally recorded by the respective record companies. All others are recordings of concerts or opera performances generally made by radio stations.

*"Die Walküre" third act (Richard Wagner), Sieglinde, Herbert von Karajan, 1951, EMI.
*"Die Walküre" (Richard Wagner), Sieglinde, Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1954, EMI
*"Die Frau ohne Schatten" (Richard Strauss), Kaiserin, Karl Böhm, 1955, Decca.
*"Fidelio" (Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonore, Ferenc Fricsay, 1956, Deutsche Grammophon.
*"Operatic Arias", Arturo Basile, 1958, RCA.
*"Ariadne auf Naxos" (Richard Strauss), Prima Donna/Ariadne, Erich Leinsdorf, 1958, Decca.
*"Macbeth" (Giuseppe Verdi), Lady Macbeth, Erich Leinsdorf, 1959, RCA.
*"Otello" (Giuseppe Verdi), Desdemona, Tullio Serafin, 1960, RCA.
*"Requiem" (Giuseppe Verdi), soprano, Herbert von Karajan, 1960, EMI
*"Der Fliegende Holländer" (Richard Wagner), Senta, Antal Dorati, 1961, Decca.
*"Die Frau ohne Schatten" (Richard Strauss), Kaiserin, Herbert von Karajan, 1964, Deutsche Grammophon
*"Die Walküre" (Richard Wagner), Sieglinde, Karl Böhm, 1967, Philips
*"Medea" (Luigi Cherubini), Medea, Horst Stein, 1972, RCA.
*"Salomé" (Richard Strauss), Salomé, Karl Böhm, 1972, RCA
*"Die Frau ohne Schatten" (Richard Strauss), Kaiserin, Karl Böhm, 1977, Deutsche Grammophon
*"Elektra" (Richard Strauss), Elektra, Karl Böhm, 1981, Unitel (video).
*"Jenůfa" (Leos Janacek), Kostelnicka, Eve Queler, 1988, BIS
*"Salome" (Richard Strauss), Herodias, Giuseppe Sinopoli, 1990] , Deutsche Grammophon
*"Elektra" (Richard Strauss), Klytemnestra, Friedemann Layer, 1995, Actes sud.
*"Elektra" (Richard Strauss), Klytemnestra, Jeffrey Tate, ?, Claves

Other recordings

*Senta in "Der Fliegende Holländer": Bayreuth Festival 1959, cond. Wolfgang Sawallisch.
*Sieglinde in "Die Walküre": Bayreuth Festival 1958, cond. Hans Knappertsbusch.
*Salome: Chorégies d'Orange 1974, cond. Rudolf Kempe.
* Gioconda in La Gioconda: Berlin Staatsoper, 1974, cond. Giuseppe Patanè.

Many roles in which Rysanek was virtually unsurpassed -- or performed with distinction -- were never recorded or published officially. These include, among others:

*Chrysothemis in "Elektra": Cologne Radio 1953, cond. Richard Kraus, Bavarian State Opera 1955, cond. Karl Böhm.
*Elisabeth in "Tannhäuser": Bayreuth Festival 1964, cond. Otmar Suitner and 1966, cond. Carlos Melles.
*Elsa in "Lohengrin": Bayreuth Festival 1958, cond. André Cluytens.
*Danae in "Die Liebe der Danae" (Richard Strauss): Bavarian State Opera 1953, cond. Kurt Eichorn.
*Helena in "Die Ägyptische Helena" (Richard Strauss): Bavarian State Opera 1956, cond. Joseph Keilberth.
*Aida (Giuseppe Verdi): Vienna Opera 1955, cond. Rafael Kubelík.
*Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera" (Giuseppe Verdi): Metropolitan Opera 1962, cond. Nello Santi.